Stepping into the World of Missed Calls

Well, till 27.03.2008, 7.00pm I was this 'lavish owner of a post paid cell phone'. Whenever I needed (or even not needed) I’d pick up my cell phone and call whoever I wanted, for as long as I wanted. No warnings, whatsoever, would come my way throughout the month. If the bill, in any case, showed an outrageous amount, only then my father would shout at me. But it was a matter of 10 minutes in one whole month. So I cared the least!!!!!

The beginning of the entry shows that I am no longer a 'lavish owner of a post paid cell phone'.

The headline shows that I am still an owner of a cell phone.

So what is that has changed?????

Am I not lavish anymore? The question actually is – Do I afford to be lavish anymore??

No… No….. No….. L

Now I am an owner (just an owner) of a prepaid cell phone.

What went wrong??..... My sister’s mobile bill for the month of February (a staggering Rs.1972.85).

Why MY cell phone connection had to be made prepaid??.....

“Unfair!” it really was……..

So, the story goes like this …… my sister got this bill amount of Rs.1972.85 for the month of February. Hence, my father decided that both of us (??????) would be given prepaid connections as soon as possible and there it is!!!!!!!!!!!!

There’s a bigger tragedy……. We had to undergo a 72 hour cell phone connection black-out.

"Impossible!" as it was for me.

I had bought this spare prepaid SIM sometime back (another long story), which I decided to use during this period of time. So I gave no second thoughts and recharged the SIM for a month long validity with Rs.99 and won talk-time worth Rs. 10!!!

"Cool!" as it seemed, but it was not!

And it's then *drum roll* that I started giving missed calls to everyone in my list of contacts.

Why missed. calls??... Did I afford anything more than that, with just Rs.10 to spare (for a payment of Rs.99)?? After all how much could I pay for just 3days?????

So, i started giving missed calls! (I'd would have sent SMSes had it been a new post paid connection). The beginning of it was like fun and I thought I knew what made Pupul demand, "Why don't you give missed calls?" (And there, I go recalling, I, the lavish owner of a post paid cell phone, would reply to her, "I'd rather call you up!")

Amasikha, Mahi, Arka called me back after having received the missed calls and we chatted.

"Really cool!" as I thought it to be , but not for long!

The very first uncool thing happened....... Ankita "caught" my missed call and there, my balance was down to Rs.8.01.

Next Ritika caught my missed call, followed by Arkopravo and whoa, my balance fell to Rs.4.03! I was like really mad at all three of them... I kept muttering, " what do they do? live, sleep, eat with their cell phones in their hands or what????? 1 ring and damn, they catch it?????"..... I was playing the missed call game with Aditya, it was then that I called him up, sorry, missed-called him up and I heard a voice say "Your call is being connected, you account balance is low, so please get it recharged." !!!!!!

"Hell!" as it really really is.

I paid Rs.99 for 3days instead of a month and there were only 3 mistakes on the first day and I had to be given warnings and that also by a computer: something that has no life, but the audacity to tell me that Rs.99 is not enough a payment to survive having fun with the cellphone connectivity for 3days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Within 6hours I had this sinking feeling that should not have spent Rs.100(almost) for 3days of cell phone connectivity (and now, outgoing disability, thanks to Ankita, Ritika and Arko). What more????? Most of my friends don't even know what number am I using now! Because, I had just given missed calls to everybody and only a few cared to call back and ask, "who's this?". Today, I had to travel across the hall to the landline phone to make a few phone calls I required to, instead of picking up my cell phone and just dialling and calling up the number I required to....

The Realization

I am now a 'poor owner of a prepaid cell phone'. :( All this makes me wonder,"Did I deserve all this at all? It was my sister's fault!!!!!!"

But yes, I deserved it!!!! True, if it hadn't been for my sister, I wouldn't have had to see this day. But I truly needed to mature and understand the value of money. I spent Rs.99, i.e, Rs.100 (almost) and got a talk-time of Rs.10, which is 10% of the money I spent (almost). So, the first-hand value Rs.100, that I spent, was only 10% of it!! Oh Economics! I am so ignorant about you! I am completely thriftless and I should learn to value the money I get and use and spend it judiciously.

Hopefully, I will not repeat these mistakes and misjudgements in future. (Usually, I am known for repeating my mistakes time and again and saying, "Ok! Ok! It was my mistake, I'm sorry" and then I turn away, not hearing what my mother or anybody else has to say after that.)

This was quite an ideal lesson learnt. Because nobody else was involved and hence, could be held (even partially) responsible for the mistakes and misjudgements. Nobody made me realize I was wrong and over too impatient to withstand the black-out, unlike my sister who went through the punishment gracefully.

Ok! So, there's this balance. She deserved to be punished, so she was punished and she gracefully accepted the punishment. I didn't deserve to be punished and so, I was forced to fall prey to prejudice and melodramatic thoughts and falter and hence, deserve it all..........

Awww! I lost my chance to say to my father that he had been unfair with me!!! Now all this absolutely makes sense and is definitely fair........

So, let's look forward to what my future in prepaid cell phone connection has in store for me and whether I can become a 'judicious owner of a prepaid cell phone'...............................