Cell out

All cultures impose one ?off day? in the seven-day cycle, whether it be Sabbath or Jumma or any other ?rest day?.

All cultures impose one ‘off day’ in the seven-day cycle, whether it be Sabbath or Jumma or any other ‘rest day’. That is till the advent of the cell phone. Oh, it’s useful all right, connecting you wherever you are to the rest of the world. But then, things have gone a bit too far.

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I have a deep respect for our advertising whiz-kids. But once they start dishing out discounted ‘talk packages’, ‘bonus talking points’, benefits on overseas calls to your wife, they may have crossed the line of hardsell. Now there is even an offer called ‘life-time in-coming free’ — an offer to all and sundry to burn holes into your ear drums — quite comparable to burning a hole in your pocket. You know all about noise pollution, but what about the repetitive micro-pollution every five minutes throughout the day that the cell phone brings into our lives?

No, I’m not talking about radiation-induced lesions in the brain secondary to presumed effects of radiowaves. These, unfortunately, have not yet been proven to cause any harm. But I have seen a lot of my erstwhile innocent friends no longer green behind their ears after using the cell.

So a legislation is required. Everybody should have a legitimate ‘Cell-free Day’. I have called my printer to put my cell phone number on my visiting card adding the day designated as being ‘cell-free’.

I hope penalty clauses are also worked out, so that every citizen of the country has the right to claim hefty damages.