Phone-y Business : A Tryst with Technology (or lack of it)

Just when I thought everything was perfect, life threw a curve ball at me. Last night I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet. In less than 12 hours, all of that changed. I went from amazingly delighted to absolutely distraught.
(Caution : I tend to get over-emotional. Read at your own risk)

Earlier this August

One of the most loved possessions in life was my Nexus 4, an amazing phone, which I'd used for over 2 years.It was THE PHONE and I had a rather good experience using it. However, it had started showing signs of ageing (read, death). There were battery issues because of which it would die at any instant or collapse into a coma for hours, and the touch was impaired, making my phone an inert glass slab. I couldn't even take up calls, and my phone was rendered to the status of an expensive showpiece in my hand, nothing else. By the end of August, I was by all practical purposes, phoneless and my life was crippled. No, it's not an exaggeration coz let's face it, there are 5 basic human needs- food, shelter, clothing, cell phone and WiFi. You don't have even one of those, and what follows is total chaos. However, I made up my mind to buy a new phone altogether instead of getting the old bugger fixed. I had my eyes on the iPhone because frankly speaking, I don't like Samsung and everyone unanimously hates Sony. If I wanted something from the Android domain, I wanted a Nexus, and the Nexus 6 didn't suit my taste much. So I decided to wait for the new Nexi or buy an Apple device when the rates would be cheaper. 

Last Month

The initial few days of phonelessness were troublesome. I was disconnected from everyone and everywhere. I was Mr. India of the social media scene. I couldn't call anyone even when I urgently needed to or contact friends for anything important when I wanted to. I obviously didn't have anybody's numbers, and it was irritating to be the last person to get any sort of news. I wasn't able to listen to music while I was traveling, and my mother was angry that she couldn't keep a check of my whereabouts while I was out. I was a modern Stone age (wo)man. I was the Homo NoPhonesis roaming about in a dangerous concrete jungle.

However within a couple of weeks, this digital isolation started to grow up on me. I started to kinda enjoy it and I felt a certain sense of peace. I was away from nonsensical gossip and hideously lame WhatsApp chats. I was talking only to those that I wanted/needed to, and I didn't have to entertain anyone else. I was reading more, and I was away from negativity. I became this hermit who decided not to get a phone at all, and live my life in this phonefree bliss. Two months (September, October) of not having a phone, and I didn't give a care in the world, much to the horror of my friends and parents. My friends and acquaintances were peeved that I was always unavailable, and they had no means of getting in touch with me. My parents were worried that I've been messed up in the head, coz it isn't sane in today's times for a youngster to be so nonchalant about something as basic as a cellular device. And I agree it wasn't a very normal thing to feel, but I was still at ease in my Non-technological bubble of Nirvana.

Sunday, this week

My parents lost their patience. All my resistance proved futile, and a shiny Samsung Galaxy S5 was thrust into my hands. A desperate attempt at luring me back into the cellular world, which I succumbed to but expressed my obvious unhappiness and stated bold and clear my loath for Samsung devices. But they were insistent, that I use it for time being and this weekend they'd buy me a phone of my choice, and then we could pass on the S5 to my sister for use.

Last Night

I was asleep, when around 11;30, my father came home and woke me up gently saying he wanted to show me something. I rubbed my eyes and he told me he got me something. I half-heartedly asked if it's a phone, and then the unbelievable happened. My dad placed a white box in my hand, and I obviously knew what was inside it. I gingerly tore the plastic covering apart, and in a motion slower then Ashutosh Gowariker films, I took the lid off the box. The object of my awe was unveiled, and there it lay in all its glory, and I gasped. I touched it and then instantly withdrew my finger because I was afraid I'd spoil it. MY iPHONE 6! I had trouble believeing any of it was real. Not 5 minutes ago I was in sound slumber, what if this was a dream? But suddenly I was wide awake. Technology, thou art a bitch. You captivated me again! You bewitched me and charmed me into your complex web and broke my sanyaas! 

I had a tough time believing the sequence of events and falling asleep again. Eventually, I went to my parents' bedroom, slipped in between the two of them, and felt like they were the best thing to have happened to me. I dug my head in my father's chest and fell asleep like a happy little baby. 

This Morning

I decided not to use my new phone instantly, partly because I wanted to get a proper phone cover before I used it, and partly because last night's feeling hadn't really sunk in yet. I left for college like I usually do, and on reaching Dadar, I took the fast train to Kasara with a friend. I was reading Two Brothers by Elton Ben, a book that has gripped my attention with utmost ferocity. Before getting off at Kurla, I placed my S5 in my bag for the heck of safety, and also because the phone wouldn't fit into my pocket. I had 2 bags to carry, one holding Diwali decorations that I was supposed to take to college, and the other was a satchel, slung around my shoulder, in which I kept my phone. We boarded the 7:23 Panvel train from Kurla, and we found ourselves comfortable seats, like we routinely did. I was still reading, when around Vashi I decided to check my phone. To my surprise, the zips of the two compartments of my satchel were undone, and I didn't remember them that way, they were supposed to be closed. I started looking for my phone. Slow calculated searching turned into a frantic frisking. My friend called my number, but it was unavailable. Where the hell was it? This couldn't be happening! It is all just a good dream gone bad, NO NO NO NO! 

In a frenzy, I decided to get off at the next station and go back to Kurla. I decided to retrace my steps, and if possible request the police to check if I'd forgotten my phone in  the previous train. BAD MOVE, KRITIKA. I alighted at Sanpada station and jumped onto the next train. I searched the platforms at Kurla station, interrogated the shoe-polishwala besides whom I was standing that morning, all in vain. I went to the station GRP, where no fucks were given to my grievances. They wouldn't even so much as look from their desks while they wrote something, and they told me straightforwardly, that they can't help me. They asked me to go to Vashi and register a complaint there. I requested them to at least maybe check on the Central Railway train (what if I had absentmindedly forgotten it. Small, but possible window), but they wouldn't comply. 

So I went back to Vashi, where my complaint wasn't registered because they wanted the IMEI number of my phone. And I offered to call home and procure it, but they were adamant that I get the box of my phone with the bill, only after which, my issue will be redressed. Right besides me was another girl, who had lost her phone yesterday, and the complaint was being registered only 24 hours later, i.e., today. She gave me a sympathetic look and the policeman said they'll do everything that they can (typical). I personally thought, it'd be too late by then. 

I was on the verge of tearing up, when they told me I could make a call if I wanted to. I called my father, and I could only muster enough courage to say,

"Phone chori ho gaya. Kurla station. I'm sorry". 

I stepped out and decided to go home. In 10 hours, my heart had gone from cloud 9 to six feet under. And I know this happens to a lot of people everyday, but trust me, you don't know it, till you don't face it. To quote a friend, "Pickpockets are scum. Police is lazy."

For now, I'm just holding on to the ghost of my phone. My puppy love with that S5 met the most tragic end.