Can we even think of not hav ing a mobile phone in today's times? The most probable answer would be "No!" Let me share an incident. It was the time when Reliance had recently launched its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile phone service with much fanfare and a lot of publicity. At a traffic signal on a busy road in Kolkata, several vehicles were waiting for the signal to turn to green. In the front row was a wiry rickshaw-puller with a burly passenger seated in his hand-pulled rickshaw. Next to him was a taxi with its driver; and beside the taxi was a Mercedes car with its liveried chauffeur and a passenger sitting in the back seat, whose attire showed that he must have been the owner of the vehicle. Now, all the socio-economic classes in the society were represented in that small group of people. But my objective of narrating this is not to elucidate on the subject of social classes. It is something else. This would become clearer as I move ahead with the incident.
Suddenly in that row, a mobile phone began ringing. The first one to check his pocket for his mobile phone was none other than the passenger in the Mercedes car, who represented the rich class. The other persons, who represented various dimensions of the middle class (lower-middle, middle and upper-middle) also became alert to check out whether it was their phone which was ringing. But none of their mobile phones was ringing. To my great astonishment, the rickshaw-puller pulled out his mobile phone from a pocket under his loin cloth and began talking animatedly. This was totally unexpected at that time. But thanks to Reliance, which made the mobile phone so affordable, even rickshaw-pullers, who represent the lower economic strata of society, can now own one. |
