Tana Street Purasavakkam Chennai - 12.30 pm
August 1990: Don’t remember the exact date…!
Apart from rattling of the parroted content to doctors and chemists there was hardly any conversation happening in life. I started to become a loner of sorts, but for VJ - the only friend, who spent much time at the Nungambakkam CA institute during the day and was company for the snack dinner on Bells Road every night. The days were very long, the bus travel across the city was nothing but sweat and more sweat. I longed to strike a conversation with someone I knew…. No there were no phones at any of my known friends/relatives places – the only mode of communication was through letters, which meant a fortnight’s wait to get reply (think this in the age of sms and instant messaging).
The silent days
It was around this time in August VJ went to Bangalore and I had hardly spoken to anyone in 3 days… I was choking to find someone to talk to… Three days passed since I spoke to some one I knew, I had been speaking to vendors, waiters, bus conductors and hawkers, now I needed to speak to some one who will talk to me with my name.
The Thursday afternoon
Every day I passed by the Telephone booth - I felt I was actually being called in for a conversation - After searching the Madras Telephone Directory for an hour on that hot Thursday afternoon, I finally found the office number of a cousin, it took about 5 minutes to track his department, I was told he had gone out for Lunch and would be back in half hour. I waited the thirty minutes at the bus-stop beside4 the telephone booth and called again. This time he came online directly and was heard shouting hello… hello… hello… and all I could do was choke and hear to his voice for 20 seconds before he hung up. That one moment of silent monologue was enough to charge me for the next few days.
No, I didn’t speak to him that day nor did I speak to him about it when I met him the next week. Nor have I spoken to him about it in the past twenty years. I knew I was happy listening to someone I knew.
That day I told myself I will never want to be like this anymore. Today reminiscing the days of almost no communication – I wonder if it really makes any sense to have 24/7 connectivity to across all in the world through mobile phones and still yearn for that one moment of silence – one that gives immense strength. I surely miss that moment.
That absolute moment of solitude.
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
The TWENTY20 Series will bring back nostalgic memories
throughout this year Coming up next - "My greatest regret"!
10 comments:
Agreed. Wonderfully put! I remember in 1999, in Intermediate, I used to tell my friend, 9.00 am near the Pan Dabba, that's it. And he would be there with NO reminder on SMS or a phone call. Times indeed have changed!
Mumbai two years ago... I was stuck with no mobile phone for two days... Had trouble contacting people at home... who freaked out if I failed to call....
I remember the times when my parents would wait for that 'trunk call' to speak to my maternal grandparents and we wud inevitabely say a lot of things at once coz the call was expensive...then the times when i would save up money when i stayed at hostel to make calls to my friends from a coin booth coz i needed privacy ;) nicely put anna..brings back lot of memories..i guess i do miss waiting for the fone to go tring tring and yea i do miss those times when cell phones werent around :)
yesi aagree,what venki and priya says ,But those days ,were happiest daysfor all .perimma saroja
Touched with ur words........oh GOD!!! cant imagine a life without phone........truly speaking WE are lucky enough for having much better communication than u had that time ........
but still keep COMPLAINING !!!!!!!!!!!
really da....that whiff of fragrance, that enchanting air.....20 years ayirutha venky?????nambave mudiyala
anna yes reminds me of my days after my intermediate exams and i couldnt secure an engineering seat, i used to sit all alone in that room and talk to myself and no one else,
but those talks were very good thought provoking cause now i hardly find time to talk to self.
life really changes anna
This story is teaching me a lesson that probably i am passing from the same station in the journey of my life which u have might crossed way back.
But yes certainly now times have changed and we r much pleased thanks to the gifts of science and technology.
At times i too want to call my family but the fear that once again a feeling of loneliness would aggravate stops me to call them....
Nicely put. We undergo the harrowing experience of finding our cellphones switched off for a couple of minutes and thinking 'who would have called us by now?'. Some go the extra mile of contacting their close contacts to find out if they had called during the last two minutes! With more communication facilities and gizmos on hand, the less we tend to speak out from our hearts.
Till my 9th class we never had a telephone at home and having that at home dint even mean long conversations with our relatives and friends...everything was measured in time and money..!
Now when I look at my cellphone bill I realise how much times have changed !
BTW very beautifully written...really touching !
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