Do you remember when phones were a rare luxury, cherished and protected? For much of my childhood, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. My first encounter with the concept of a telephone came from reading about scientific discoveries in school. Back then, owning a phone was a distant dream, and getting a connection was no easy feat. 

Even now, my memory of those days remains sharp. But try as I might, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I first saw a phone. Perhaps it was during one of my rare visits to my father’s office, or maybe at a friend’s house in Chennai—the one with the adopted daughter I had a crush on. But I didn’t use a phone until I started working, which was around the age of 16. 

The advertising firm where I worked had a phone, and I had free access to it. But with no one to call, I rarely used it. When I joined the bank, phones became more accessible, and officers were generous about letting us make calls. Yet, I remained a reluctant caller, using the phone only when necessary. 

It wasn’t until I got promoted that I started using the phone more frequently. Even then, it was mostly for receiving calls. Having a telephone on my desk often felt more like a burden than a convenience—it turned me into a part-time telephone operator. 

We didn’t have a phone at home until much later, so calling my wife or kids wasn’t an option. Even today, I use my phone sparingly, relying on FaceTime to connect with my sons and their families. I’ve kept in touch with only a few friends and colleagues over the years, and when I do call, the conversations tend to be long. 

The bank even offered a “telephone booking” loan—an option to finance a landline connection. I got my first phone in 1990, courtesy of my office, and my own home phone in 1996. But owning a phone wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed. The entire neighborhood would use it, turning me into a glorified switchboard operator, with the bills to match. 

For a hilarious take on the woes of early phone ownership, you should watch Jaspal Bhatti’s show on the subject. 

Contd. 342. Who Devised These? - Part 2