I am a mobile addict

Can I give up my mobile for a day? I wonder. I can't even imagine my life without a mobile today, even though there are many who may not agree. I know that there are strong and disciplined people out there who detox occasionally from mobile but I am not ready to admit I need that. Staying connected to people is life itself for me. I can't imagine a day without my fingers not tapping, swiping or watching flickering pictures and staying connected. I know the world is not going to end if I put that mobile away nor are my friends going to go away either.

I am great at multitasking and creative thinking so what if I cut paste a wrong message to someone it was not meant for sometimes. So what if I hit auto text turning "dear" into "dead"...or "yoga" into "yoda"..and the one worst that I fear "peace" and not "pieces" (you know, the rest in peace one..I check this a 100% times over). In the morning, along with that cup of tea it's the newspaper and the mobile for me. Reading through whatsapp, facebook and the newspaper to check what happened before I woke up (well, it is another fact that I get up very late these days..retired you see!!!).  So what if the very next thing I do is to clear the chat of all those annoying good mornings, picture notifications and that one same message that pops up in each and every group like a tsunami on a particular day.... Okay, I do know it is a nice way to start a morning by wishing each other and I do appreciate your love, but no one needs a beep beep 365 days a year especially me, at unearthly hours. You are awake my friend, but my morning has not yet begun so then don't blame me for putting you on silent mode. Silent mode, indeed!!! ........ there I go checking whether you have wished me that morning. I don't want it to beep, I want it to beep, totally confused me.

You know what's funny. Let me tell you what makes me feel more sane than most mobile addicts. I don't text my family sitting in the same room or in the next room even if we are on the same group. Now that's what I call real crazy. So what if I use a missed call to my daughter, as a signal to come to my room. Now, that I think is an intelligent use of the mobile instead of shouting, is it not?

You may wonder what is it that I am missing out on by using my mobile consistently. You must also be thinking that I definitely need to be doing something else instead? That is never an issue with me. I work from home but get around a lot too doing crazy and fun stuff, in fact quite a lot than most people.....and when I am out the internet package is off because funny as it may sound, I just never seem to need it when I am with friends or out. I simply inform those I need to stay connected to during that day via sms that I am off whatsapp, etc. Simple but effective way to break away from face book and whatsapp because I become a photographer and need my mobile to stay alive through the day as I go click click. It's another story that once I am home, there I go posting all  those photos on social media. As corny as it sounds, I want to be able to watch a show without feeling the need to share a photo but then I am a pro at doing just that without looking at the screen. I know I will have that one picture of the many I went click click click looking over the mobile. Yes, I am a notorious shutterbug strong desire to capture every moment and  memory.

I love my sleep too, so switching off the internet connection the moment it is bedtime and that means the internet package of my mobile too is a done deal. Of course not the mobile calls, after all who knows who might need to call you. 

Besides I am also not one of those who think the theatre hall is the personal hall of my home. Yes, I do get up and tick off those using the mobiles in the theatre.  Silent mode indeed, but what about that annoying light that flickers in the darkness. Not to mention my counterparts who discuss menus with their cooks mid-movie or those who love to text or talk especially during a song sequence...Hello, I want to watch that song you know and I don't need additional disco lights from your mobile to enjoy it more!!!

I'm a good girl and don't text or talk when I drive even though you know, I am quite a pro and can do just that. I won't profess not to have done that before...but with a near disaster once, texting and driving is a definite no, no and even answering the phone today. My mobile definitely lies now in my purse hanging behind the driver seat completely inaccessible and away from temptation. Besides, I am just too much in love with life for that.

I just love mindlessly opening up applications, scrolling through and connecting with friends. Internet advises setting realistic limits for oneself of using the applications of not more than an hour or so in a day (not going to happen!!!) or for not longer than 15 minutes at a time (hmmmm!!).... Leave my mobile at home, switch off while on holiday. How stupid would that be in this crazy world where anything happens at anytime. 

Maybe I need to break up with my mobile..... even though I think I am doing fine.... 

My mobile is now my best friend, my love connection to my family and even more so with friends who I don't meet for months. Just maybe, just maybe, I am a mobile addict.......Maybe I do need to detoxify... May be I need to unplug from the unreal world to the world around me.. 

...........but then on second thoughts, I am already enjoying the best of both worlds... content to be on-line or off-line as I please.

I DRIVE..AND I AM A WOMAN ..............

When a friend mentioned to me the other day that he can’t stand women drivers, it got me thinking.  A few years ago, very rarely would the male counterpart allow women to touch their precious cars. It was clearly a defined honour to sit next to them while they drove.  I remember my dad landing in hospital with a stroke. Mom said he would never drive our  car again.  I always loved that old Morris car of ours with its leafy green colour, black cute fenders, and brown seat covers. I remember the number too MRZ 1660. For so many years, I had begged dad’s permission to drive the car and now I was actually being told to learn driving.  Twenty days later I was a certified driver and proudly walked into the hospital and stuck the licence under dad’s nose.  Two days later, dad was back behind the wheel, driving an angry me.  One day he relented and early morning we drove out to an unused road, with me on the wheel and continuous grilling on which gear to use and when to brake by  of course ,dad. That did it, I was not going to ask dad for the car anymore, and who was happier? naturally him. The licence lay in my cupboard for years, my first and last ambition seething in my heart, a car of my own. One day, many years after marriage, we bought our first car.  I was queen at last of my dream and refused to let my husband drive me around as he grumbled many a years away.

I had proved all the men in my life wrong, I was good and real good.  I was the safest person to have on the road. Never mind that at times, I use hand signals instead of using the indicators, drove at a tortoise pace occasionally, admired the scenery on the way, decided dinner menus in my head, causing blood pressure to drivers behind me always, never looking left or right.  So what if I was always singing whilst driving or enjoying the rain pouring in. And did I talk to myself, of course I did that too!! 

But no one ever knew the real me. No way, for if the road was empty then I would speed faster than any race driver.  I sing louder than ever, maneuvering like a maniac, raise a fist at cab drivers, never understanding why they cruise in the middle of the road always. And what can I say about the male counterpart talking into their mobiles, flicking their locks, admiring their faces in the rear mirror until they spot me, a woman driver behind.  Well! Then suddenly it’s a clash of titans, for suddenly the male counterpart breaks out of his slumber, drops his mobile, drops a few four letter words, steps on the gas and whizzes past content on having outdone “the woman”.   It’s another thing that as soon as he slumbers again, I have zipped past a shocked face never to be caught again on the wrong foot. 

Besides who said speed and control belongs to the males?  Women have known to conquer space and rule the world – then who dare question us the Jhansi Ki Ranis, on the road. We just let them be happy, because that very same insufferable out there will have to go come home at the end of the day to bow to the real master, the women in their homes..