Retired Phone

One of the co-researchers during my collaboration with the young women collective in Delhi, shared her experience on receiving her first mobile phone.

Just as every girl wants a mobile phone, I too wanted one. The very first time a mobile phone entered our home was a very happy occasion for us, because the first phone belonged to our father. The second phone to enter our family was my elder brothers’ who bought it with his salary. The third phone that entered our home was that of my elder sister. Looking at the order, the next in line should be me...and so I thought that I would be the next to get a mobile. A couple of days passed just like that, after which I asked my father for a phone. He replied by saying: “we already have so many phones, what is the need for you to have another one?” I told papa that I wanted a personal phone, one for me. He agreed and told me that he would bring me one. After a couple of days, my younger brother got a separate mobile phone. I got really annoyed and angry, since now even my younger brother had a mobile phone and so did everyone in the family, except for me.

After bothering my father for a long time, he told my brother to change the body of his really outdated, old phone and give it to me. No one was allowed to say anything and no one was to call the phone the old retired phone.

When I first started using my new phone, I knew nothing regarding the various functions and how to use the cell. By asking my younger brother, I learnt how to use my phone in various ways; I learnt how to type and send messages, how to save and delete numbers. Like this, I slowly understood the different features of my mobile phone. Now I have become so good, that I can easily operate brothers and sister's mobile phones.

Lipika Bansal