If only I had 3G in my life ……….Sigh!

This post had been written for a contest on Indiblogger - What is 3G life to you?


October 18th I celebrated silently all alone my 21st wedding anniversary after wishing my hubby dear over the phone.
All these 21 years, we have always celebrated our wedding anniversaries alone in sadness. Like many Muslim men from my village my husband has been working in UAE for more than 25 years. He comes home to his family during his vacations. The lure is of high paid salary for not very highly educated men. In all these 21 years we may have at most spent 20% of our time together… and throw in Breast cancer, special needs child etc and it is not much of quality time either.
Coming from a poor back ground my husband did not get much of education and had to work at an early age of 11 years. He started off as domestic help in Mumbai before moving on to UAE at the age of 18 yrs.
When I got engaged to him, we started writing letters to each other and he would ask me to describe almost everything. Being young back then I did not realize how much he missed his native place and wanted to be there to share everything with his own people.
I can still remember the excitement of the first phone call we ever had. Back in those days’ people would not have one hand stuck to their ears.

It was a time when we did not have a telephone at home. Can you imagine that? Computers were non-existent in our lives. There was a shop called Indian textiles near our home which had a telephone connection. My husband would call up the shopkeeper and tell him to inform us that he will be calling in 20 minutes. The first day my mom and sister went and spoke to him. I was shy and also did not feel like going to a shop to talk to him. I was quite hesitant to talk into a phone. How funny that would sound to the generation 3 people?
When my first child was born my husband was in dark as to the happenings. He was worried but did not know how to get in touch. Finally after our son was born, a call was made to him through a STD nearby. My mom was so happy with the new arrangements of phones which allowed us to call gulf without booking and waiting for calls. How grateful we were to the telephone booths though most of the time I did not listen to what my husband was saying because I was busy watching the meter running as though Michael Schumacher was driving it.
Finally we got a telephone connection and what a joy that was.
Even then getting the calls through was not easy and even when we did it was difficult to get each other. At times I was not at home and at times my husband would not be available near the phone. We always had to leave a message that we are calling at certain time and the other had to wait.
With the advent of mobile, life became a lot easier. We could connect with each other more often. With internet we could at least have a glimpse of each other occasionally. The drawback of internet was, my husband had to go to the internet café which is quite far off from his factory which was not possible on working days, and Friday’s were rush hours.
I would not choose this kind of married life if given a chance to make choice again. I did not make it in my teens either. We can ignore the fact that I was misled because the post is about the adventure with 3G Tata Docomo phones in our future.
When I saw my son surfing on facebook and having fun with his friends, ignoring his approaching internal exams my Moms mind started wandering off - what if he has to go away to work in Gulf for higher pay like his dad and miss his family life?
Me : Hey son! Better log off the facebook and concentrate on your exams. You need to score good marks to make a mark for yourself in Indian competition. You don’t want to go Dubai and miss out the real life working or precisely slogging there. Do you?
Son: I will in a minute
Now I knew that was not made of 60 seconds like my usual minutes. So I went on to explain him how difficult life has been for me and his dad because we never got to live our married life at all. I told him I don’t want that kind of life for him.
He answered back in his usual cool style
Son: Being away from home is not going to be totally disconnected hereafter Maa. Check out this page I am surfing on facebook. This is about the advent of 3G life.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/tatadocomo.
Life is not going to be same any more Maa. You don’t have to worry about missing out important occasions with your friends or family. They will be readily available in your vanity bag. You can watch birthdays, weddings, parties and even fights if someone is willing to hold on the mobile phone for you.
Me : Isn’t that just another type of connection like BSNL, Airtel etc which is there in market already? So what is the use of not being there and just listening to the happenings on phone?
Son: LOL. It is not a new brand of phone or connection Maa. It is actually a revolution in communication technology. It is going to be much faster than the 2G connections. Movies, games, songs etc can be downloaded sooner than we are doing now on our landline broadband connection.
Real time video conferencing is going to make you feel as though you are actually at the place where you are not.
You don’t have to feel bad about missing world cup football or Sachin Tendulkars century anymore. You can watch it live on your smart phone even when there is a massive power cut.
No need to hurry back home to see your emails. Check them out while enjoying the cool breeze on the beach. You can carry the You Tube chefs to your kitchen and try out their recipes.
You can even fax your reports to your doctor through your smart phone so that you will save on the time
Me: Really! That is amazing. I wish I had the 3G connection in my life to share amazing moments with my loved ones. For a family divided by distance this is really going to be a great blessing.
Son: Yes. In less than a week the service is going to be available from the trusted name Tata. I checked out on the site and found that we already have the smart phone which is ready for 3G. So all we have to do is get a sim for the new 3G from Tata Docomo either in postpaid or prepaid. The tariff is also unbelievably cheap.
Me: Don’t tell me you have more to say.
Son : Do you know that it will be difficult for people to get lost hereafter because the GPS will tell you exactly where you are and how you have to get to any place?
Me: Wow. Thank you for the good information you have given me. I am going to write a blog to enter the contest on indiblogger with our little chat now. If I win you will get a new phone with Tata Docomo 3G sim.
But boy, I am sorry to tell you that doesn’t change the fact that you have to study hard and score good marks in your exams. Even with the new revolution your mobile is not going to write your exams for you. You have do it on your own.
Son: OK Maa. In a minute.
Me : Not a minute. NOW!