The 13 year old woke up in the
morning and instinctively reached out for her smartphone. Eyes closed she felt
around for the phone. It was not there. Her mind raced – where had she left it?
She could not remember. In panic she jumped out of bed. The phone lay on the
ground. Smiling, she picked up the phone and the smile quickly disappeared. The
glass panel was broken and the phone was not working.
“Mom”, she screamed, “What is
going on in this house? Can’t I keep anything safe around here?” Her mom did
not even respond. She stomped in to the kitchen and sat in a huff. “This is
ridiculous. There is nothing safe anymore. The phone is broken.” Her mom
reminded her calmly, “Please say, I broke my mobile.”
She approached her dad
tentatively but with a smile and told him of the broken phone. He was busy on
his laptop and, without even looking up, he replied dryly, “Leave it on the
table. I will send it out for repairs. And, you are not getting a new one.”
It was evening and she was
actually waiting for her dad to return. Her mom had a mischievous smile which
actually irritated her. When dad came that evening he did not bring good news
for her. “It will take another month to get back your phone. They have run out
of stock of some parts.” Suddenly, a sinking feeling took over her. How could
she manage without her phone? She turned around and asked her mom for her phone
and got a prompt “no”. She did not have the courage to ask dad as she knew what
the response would be. Her younger brother did not have a phone.
That evening, after months, the
family was having dinner together at home. They had never sat at the dinner
table together when at home in a long while. It seemed very odd for her. She
looked around and, for the first time, saw the other three were chatting and
laughing. She quickly got in to the conversation. It was amazing fun. Mom, her
brother and she ganged up together against her dad. Being a sport, he just
smiled it away and actually even had fun in the whole conversation. That night
was not the same for her.
The next day she walked in to
school and all her friends asked her as to why she was not on Messenger the
previous night. She told them of the broken phone and the time she had with her
family. When it came time to get back home in the evening the same sinking
feeling took over her. She reached home and sunk in to the sofa set. She could
hear lots of children playing outside. She peeped outside through the window.
They were all playing. Was this not a game that she liked playing on her phone?
She wished she had her phone. Her mom who came by called her and asked her to
go down to play. Reluctantly, she followed her mom. She was shy to approach the
other children. Her mom helped her get introduced to all the children in the
ground. Within few minutes she was playing on the field. It was a completely
new experience for her. Till now, she had played only in the confines of her
home. Everything was on her mobile. For the first time, she was playing on the
field. She was so engrossed that, at first, she did not hear her mom call out
her name. Then, she looked around and gestured to her mom to wait for few more
minutes. Those few minutes became an hour. This was absolute fun. When she got
back home, she took a hot shower and came to the dining table. She was
famished. That day was “get at her” day. Her dad joined in the fun and they all
pulled her leg. She was such a sport that she could take as much as she could
give. After dinner she completed homework, studied, spoke to her mom and her
brother and was off to sleep.
One week went by and suddenly she
was looking forward to playing on the field, eating dinner with everyone,
spending the evenings with her dad, mom, brother and friends. This was so much
fun. Yes, these guys were really nice people. There were so many nice people
around.
Weeks went by and her dad came
over that evening. He smiled and said, “Guess what I have got for you?” And,
without adding another word, he pulled out the mobile phone. It was repaired.
It looked lovely. But, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach.
