About two weeks ago, I had been to my dear friend Billu Uncle’s place to offer my greetings on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. Billu uncle was busy clearing up all paraphernalia from the mandap preparation activities while his wife Sanju (Aunty) was occupied in the kitchen cooking delicacies. As soon as I greeted Billu Uncle, he smiled and said ‘It’s a good thing you decided to drop by beta, I was just about to ping you on Whatsapp asking you to visit us.”

Quickly diverting the topic from the ‘What not’ of applications, I said: “No need for all that Uncle, I would definitely drop by, ping or no ping.” Not paying attention to my dialogue, Billu Uncle was busy scrolling down his Whatsapp screen when he looked at me with a quizzical expression and asked ‘By the way beta, why is it that I am unable to find you on Whatsapp?’ Giving a sheepish grin, I replied ‘Uncle, actually, I do not have a smartphone’. ‘WHAAAAAAT! ‘Billu uncle gave a loud shout as if I had uttered something blasphemous, contaminating the utterly religious atmosphere of his house. ‘How can you not have a smartphone??’ he asked. Acting witty, I said ‘I am already smart enough uncle, I do not need a phone to prove I am smart.’

He asked: ” You are an IT professional and you do not have a smart phone’? How do you manage to stay in touch with your friends?” I said ‘Uncle, I have a basic phone which allows me to call and message my friends, which suffices my needs of staying in touch.”

Placing freshly made laddoos on the table in front of us, Sanju Aunty patted my cheek and said ‘Doordarshan zamaane ka IT professional hai Billu. he must not be into social networking and all’. As she was leaving, I tried to make sense of her comment. I had a HD cable line running with access to all the latest channels, then why did Doordarshan figure in the conversation?

As I was recovering from her reputation-tarnishing comment, Billu uncle got into his salesman mode, trying to explain why I needed a ‘smartphone.’ “Look beta, smartphone is the need of the hour. Using Whatsapp on a smart phone will help you contact all your friends instantly. You can even have conference chats which your outdated phone will not offer. Sharing photos is easy too, just select and drop on screen. For example, how will I share my Ganesh visarjan photos with you if you don’t have Whatsapp? Please don’t expect me to open my mail and send it from there. It’s just too cumbersome. So do yourself a favor. Go and buy a smartphone. I will suggest you some options…”

Clearly, the world had moved ahead and it was time for me to become ‘smart.’

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