The Blackberry Saga

We are suckers for technology! Ever since I can remember, the number of gadget freaks has been increasing. I think it all began when the landlines were launched. For a couple of years having a landline made you the “Cool One” (Yea, we’re going to refer to the gadget freaks as the “Cool Ones”). All the telephones had the same features so innovation happened on the look and feel of the product. From local calls to STD/ISD – a Delhi resident would call a relative in Jaipur and say “Bhaisaab Ram Ram...humney phone mein STD lagwa li hai to socha aapsey hi hello kar lein”....This lead to peer pressure to increase coolness factor so everyone went ahead and got the connections.

We gave in to the cordless phones in a few years. There were the classic designs, and of course, those who were cooler went a few steps further and bought themselves phones in different shapes...the banana, ham burger, car, etc are some that I can recall.

Technology is supposed to uncomplicated things, which is exactly what it’s doing, but somewhere along the road the human race has surrendered completely to it, to a point where even a minute without the gadgets brings out feelings of paranoia, depression, irritability....even “turn-psycho” in certain extreme cases.
Just like everyone does, even I had a favourite brand of cell phones. I started with the one which was as big as a shoe, and after a few years of upgrading, finally arrived at the E 61....Then began the Blackberry Saga.

The Blackberry was launched as a corporate handset when we first started hearing about it. As the number of users started to increased, more and more people talked about it and discovered the coolest part about the product – The Blackberry Messenger. The global BBM wave hit our sweet country in a big way. The “Cool Ones” obviously went ahead and bought the swankiest models possible...with fancy, colourful Blackberry covers and all.

I wasn’t the first in my friends circle to get me a Blackberry. A few of them got it before me and all I wanted to do was snatch the damn phones from them and throw them out the window. The situation was such that we would all go out to our usual hang out and four of my friends would be BBMing each other while sitting on the same table. My friends said “Taru man...you have to buy a fuckin Blackberry dude!!! It’s awesome! Look how many messages we can send each other all day...and voice notes and pics too!!” The boys were more into Facebooking on the Blackberry. Who sends instant pics and updates is the coolest......followed by the Facebook Wall wars with 50 comments on the same post, all in a span of 15 minutes.

I just had to buy a Blackberry!!....which I did..:-). A Curve with a bright pink silicon cover....i actually sold my brand new E 61 which I bought for Rs. 22,000, so I could go an pick up the Curve for half the price.....the things people do to stay connected..:-p

They are smart I tell you...these Blackberry marketing guys. They make the features so cool that even the users of the products can’t stop bragging about them. We’re hooked! Corporate or not, we are hooked! You know you’re hooked if you do any three of the following:

• Make sure you carry your charger everywhere you go
• Update your messenger status once in 2 days
• Check recent updates of those who’ve changed their profile pictures or status
• Check your phone for BBMs before you can open your eyes every morning
• You suddenly have a lot of jokes to tell....and every time you get a joke from a friend u respond saying “damn old dude....” or “stop killing me with such old ones” or just an angry emoticon does the trick
• You have client conferences on your BBM
• Your BBM contacts list is almost the same size as the contacts on your phone book
• You love sending smileys and make full use of the ones on BBM
• During meetings you keep your phone on vibrate mode so you don’t get late in responding to BBMs.....the moment you get a BBM you excuse yourself saying you need to respond to an urgent email
• You start getting paranoid when your battery starts running out....you would sell your soul to the devil for a charger
• You have a fancy cover for your Blackberry
• You regularly search for cool blackberry themes for your phone
• You send BBMs to friends who are sitting with you at the time
• You are a member of at least one Blackberry group
• You really hope that the Blackberry services never get banned in India
• You know everything about what Rajnikant can or cannot do
• You take your phone to the loo just in case someone sends you a BBM
• You start making frantic calls to the customer care guys the moment you experience a slight decrease in the speed your incoming and outgoing messages
• You’re never alone...you have your BBM
• You’re never bored for too long...plans are made at the speed of lightening through the BBM....someone’s got to be doing something for sure
• You almost never forget anything ever...coz at some point you have shared your thoughts with one or more of your BB contacts...so all you gotta do is go back to your BBM and check
• Weekend plans are made via BBM conferences


The Blackberry is such a rage that people have now started putting their BB Pin on their business cards. If you go for a meeting and see the clients/agency carrying Blackberrys, you don’t ask for the cell phone numbers, but the BB Pin instead. I’m sure that pretty soon there is going to be a list of Blackberry etiquette too.
Some of us still believe that the Blackberry is taking connectivity at an insane level. I guess in time they too will emerge as the “Cool Ones”....

I guess I’m done talking here....just going to leave you with the tip of the day...

“ALWAYS TAKE A BACKUP OF EVERYTHING ON YOUR BLACKBERRY”....”DO IT NOW”!!!!!!!!!!