Main Aur Mera Phone (Me and My Phone)

 “Main aur mera phone aksar yeh baatein karte hain…”.I often talk to my mobile, in other words indulge in soliloquy; if it weren’t for you I would be sitting and having a drink with friends, guffawing away to glory reliving old times with them and not merely texting them. If it weren’t for you, I would be out on an adventure trip driving out just for the pleasure of having the wind come rushing at me, sitting by a roadside dhaba for a well earned tea break. If it weren’t for you, I would be out playing a round of golf, hitting the dimpled balls into the OB area and cursing but occasionally enjoy the pleasure of the ball soaring on and landing in the centre of the fairway inviting envious glances from the four ball or just sinking a birdie with a 50 foot putt in a fluke. If it weren’t for you we would be out by the riverside/on the beach, on a jungle trail..just soaking the nature and relishing every moment of joie-de-vivre! If it weren’t for you I would be …… 

But alas all that has changed, now I know you are here with me and my only friends are on Facebook and Insta sharing their intimate and not so intimate, real and imagined details with the world, no personal secrets between the best friends any longer. Then there is the ubiquitous Whats App, what the hell(!!), I think this app should be rechristened as What the f***, really….with membership of myriad groups, each one belching out gyaan of all kinds of spiritual discourses on every possible religion, to performance of Indian athletes in Olympics, to Geo-strategic  significance of Joe Biden’s decision and of course the highly polarising real and fake videos. Not to forget the number of highly addictive games which you have got me hooked onto, as if that is not enough, your streaming of web series,TV channels and what have you..

You are my best and only friend and at the same time my worst enemy,  to paraphrase Dickens “these are the best of times these are the worst of times”….literally. During these pandemic times, if it wasn’t for you my friend, there would be no economic activity, no work from home, no classes, no meetings, no tele-medicine, no banking. We are indebted to you for all that you have done. We have been enslaved both bodily and in mind. Sadly we have succumbed that too without a fight. But it is time for you to take a bow and retreat to that corner, where you began your journey. Hoping against hope… “Woh subah kabhi to aayegi..”(We shall see a new dawn some day..) when I will be released from the evil clutches of this monster will get my life back….Main our mera phone aksar yeh baatein karte  hain…..