My First Mobile Phone

It was the year of 2003. I just passed out of Engineering college without a job in hand. Those were the days when mobile phones were still considered a luxury. But for me it was becoming more of a necessity, particularly for the smooth processing of my job hunt. My elder brother transferred me money to get the phone. I had a few choices but I opted for Nokia 3310. Even though I was already familiar with the epic snake game which was inbuilt in all Nokia handsets those days, it was only after I had my own that I gained expertise it the game. The game was more than just time pass, it was an addiction, it was a reason for pride. I had a wonderful four years of relationship with my first mobile. It slipped from my hand many times and almost every time the battery came out. But my phone was strong enough; as soon as I reconnected the battery it came back to live instantly. During the last phase of our relationship its entire keypad turned absolutely blank and colorless, but I was so much used to my darling that I was able to text any message and was able to dial any number, without any slightest pinch of discomfort. Most of my friends already had various colorful trendy handsets by now. Well, I was also tempted for those latest sexy models and waited desperately for my phone stop working. But the wait was getting kind of never ending and ultimately one day I took the painful step and betrayed my cellular.

Over the years I had many short term relationships with various trendy models, but with my first one it was a different matter altogether. A couple of months back I ordered an exotic looking, wide screen with a high resolution camera - Asus Zenfone 6, from Amazon. I felt some negative vibrations out of it from the very first day itself . The battery drained off exponentially and the heat it generated was scary. My friends suggested to ask for a replacement. Out of laziness I delayed and by the time I realized the urgency, I learned that Amazon only give ten days window for such replacements. Without any other choice apart from visiting a service center I simply continued. Pretty soon I got used to recharge my phone three to four times a day, sometimes even more. Couple of days back the situation turned worst, my phone lied dead and no power could bring it back to life. So I went to one of the Asus service center far away from my office, they have only three in Bangalore. They kept my phone and said it would take minimum fifteen working days for the fix. 

I missed my first mobile phone and wanted to have it for the time being. The same evening I went to a shop; I couldn’t get the exact model but I’m pretty sure it is one of the cousin sisters that I have now, an old Nokia model with only the basic features of voice and text.

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Story of Tublu, excerpt 3

In Tublu's hostel, life was a little different; loud music kept escaping from almost every room, guys desperately looked for a matchbox holding cigarettes in their hands, and blistering laughter, and frequent boozing – not to mention smoking ganja (grass) – was popular. There was a huge gang of grass devotees in Tublu’s hostel. Tublu also tried it a few times, but he somehow couldn’t tune in to the frequency of grass, the way he had tuned in to nicotine and alcohol. He was scared of marijuana and was very cautious while smoking it. During their freshers’ night, one of Tublu’s favorite seniors had advised him not to develop an affinity for ganja. Even though the senior was totally drunk and was behaving like Socrates that night, Tublu took his advice seriously.

'Drink as much as you can, there’s nothing much to worry. The maximum it can do, it will damage your liver. Well, in that case you can go for a liver transplant. But this ganja fucks your brain and, someday, when each and every part of your brain is terribly fucked, what would you do? You can’t go for a bloody brain transplant, my friend,' the senior said to Tublu.


An excerpt from my debut novel, Story of Tublu. It's a contemporary fiction book, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

You can grab a copy from Amazon or Flipkart.

The Wanderer

He is a traveller. He's from the city of Mumbai, but he doesn’t like to stay long in the same place. He’s a passionate blogger and quite active on Facebook as well. He regularly updates about his ongoing travel stories. Also, uploads some of the lively photographs captured by his lens. Travelling is not just a hobby, in fact, it is his oxygen. Everywhere he travels he gets involve with the culture, the architecture, the food, the views and the romance. He loves to take photographs of almost everything - Mother nature, human being, food, street and the list just goes on. It seems he already travelled half the globe, but this simply won’t quench his thirst, his thirst for travelling.

Mr Deepak Amembal is a wanderer. I am quite jealous of the kind of life he's living at the moment. A few months back he completed his long motorcycle trip across India along with his group. They even travelled to Bhutan and Nepal. They traveled 13000 km in 72 days. While not travelling and blogging, Deepak Sir loves to read books. He indulge in all these passions full time now that he has retired from a day job that has provided him with funds to satiate his passions. He’s an avid blogger and his blog Mumbai Daily is very popular. If you visit this blog, I'm pretty sure you will get the smell of Mumbai. Apart from Mumbai Mirror, Mr Deepak is also active on two more of his blogs, Instant Words and Pets forever.

I'm so happy that Deepak Sir read my debut fiction novel. Well, it seems he liked the book and enjoyed it wholeheartedly. I am grateful to him that he reviewed 'Story of Tublu' on his blog.

"I enjoyed reading it. It felt as if I was sitting with him for a couple of evenings as he narrated this wonderful tale. Despite it being a love story it is not mushy. The idiom is Indian, nothing fancy in the language which is day to day and practical. I also liked the fact that equal importance was given by Jahid to the girl’s thinking and actions. The pace is consistent and the end of every chapter wants you to continue to the next as soon as possible. It is refreshingly Indian in its language and laid back pace"

To read the complete review please click the below link:
InstantWords/BookReview/StoryOfTublu


 Image courtesy: Mr Deepak Amembal

Grab a copy of Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.