Where did they all go to die?

Remember them? Small boxes with dial pads that were not virtual images but real buttons, connected to a curly string where you have a receiver on the other end? They were substantial in number 2 decades ago and painted ugly yellow – which you get used to anyway because, after 10 of them in just one street your eyes were like – “Yeah, alright; ugly and bright.”

Yes! *shrieked excitedly* Those nasty looking 1Rs Telephone booths. Where are they? I miss them. Recently I found one near an old, very very old shop in Ganaganagar. I couldn’t suppress my excitement which made the shop owner and the girl using the phone very uncomfortable. Never mind about that!

At one point of time in history, these telephone booths had a box around it the size of a human – as if it needed protection; it connected nations worldwide and just charged us 1Rs-7Rs. Have you seen people back then waiting near these phones for a long time, or asking the owner of the phone to just give out a shout when they get calls? I always wondered – If mobility was not there to our phones, how will we be? I think that would be a better world. At least for me! I won’t have my mom calling 2 min after 8.30pm asking me why I am late! Or people just calling me randomly in the middle of nowhere “to talk.” “Yeah, sure guys. I listen to you talk incessantly for 10 min.” *smirking* The best thing that could happen is, people would man up and meet you face-to-face; talk out issues or fights, whatever that is, instead of a text or calling on the phone! 

Mind you, telephone booth was not a failed technology under any circumstance. It just became obsolete with the popularity of cell phones and internet communication services such as Skype. Recognizing industry trends, many companies changed their business models. *shrugs* But don’t under-estimate the telephones. However ugly, they never failed to show up in every corner and many other places on every street; no one ever complained – “there is not enough telephone booths here.” Our whole nation communicated joy, sorrows and hassles out in public, right with these phones.

I have a feeling they will be back. Maybe not for the purpose it was invented, but for “trend.” Just curious to know – would it be a powder room to retouch make up or a curious artefact in the middle of home space or a camouflage transporter that helps you hide inside and walk so you need not be seen!

What will you use it for? Lemme know.