Spice of Life: Mute mode, landline no more family lifeline

After a two-year wait, we got our landline connection at home; my mother promptly served sweets to the two linesmen who had come to install the phone

For three decades, the landline instrument held a pride of place in our lives. However, there came a time when, reluctantly, we had to let go of our sentimental attachment to the landline phone. During the ’80s and ’90s, much like many middle-class families in India, the landline was our primary connection to the outside world. Every time the phone rang, a wave of excitement would sweep through the household. The comforting voices of our maternal aunts and uncles from Kolkata never failed to fill us with a sense of joy and elation.

For three decades, the landline instrument held a pride of place in our lives. (HT File)

In those days, getting a landline connection was not only fashionable but also a necessity. Mobile phones had not yet arrived in our lives. Apart from postcards and inlands, there were hardly any effective means of communication with those living thousands of kilometres away. I remember when father booked a landline phone, we were over the moon. There used to be a long waiting period because the telephone department would get overwhelmed with applications for connections, making it difficult to handle. Finally, after a two-year wait, we got our connection at home. My mother promptly served sweets to the two linesmen who had come to install the phone.

After my elder sister got married in Kolkata, my parents would call her up regularly from Delhi. They would talk to her, their son-in-law and their grandson. Who can forget those days when one had to wait for hours to get connected with relatives through a trunk call? Sleepy-eyed and with patience wearing thin, one had to stay awake until midnight to get connected with near and dear ones. There were moments when a trunk call from our relatives in the dead of the night would shake us out of deep slumber. My father generally took the call with some amount of trepidation, hoping there was no bad news.

Thanks to technology, communication has become easier and convenient with mobile phones. One can reach out anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye.

In the mid-nineties, while negotiating my marriage, my parents and future in-laws maintained regular communication through landline phones, at a time when mobile phones were on the cusp of entering the Indian market.

After decades of holding its ground against the relentless advance of smart phones, our landline began to show signs of weariness. The dial tone disappeared for months. Despite repeated complaints, the linesmen couldn’t identify the issue. Finally, we decided to surrender the connection. The instrument, perhaps aware of its redundancy, had fallen silent; becoming a decorative piece in our drawing room, gathering dust. Comatose, it came to terms with the fact that it had been outsmarted by smartphones of the day.

(The writer is a Delhi-based freelance contributor.)