Ringtones

Few days before I found a way to make our own ringtones for iphone 3G and I could hardly wait to try them. I tried and I succeeded and now I am exploring which all songs/instrumentals will be good for this experiment. I bought my first cell phone when I got my first salary from my first job. I was working in a small firm in Pune and when I got the cheque of my first salary 8000 Rs. (minus tax and lunch expenses) ,I was the happiest person in the world. I was on cloud nine and I spent almost 2-3 days thinking what I should do with this salary. 8000 Rs. was too much for me those days but that was not the issue. The problem was the vast number of choices and ways I could spend that money. When human has lots of choices it doesn’t do well at least some times.

I made my mind to purchase cell phone for me and something for mom. In those days owning cell phone was something between necessity and luxury. I thought I can go for it now to stay in touch with friends and parents. Of course, like most chaps at my age I was under the impression that gals love guys with new gadgets and all. But let me make my point that this was not and never really top on my agenda (might be on 3rd position struggling to get on 2nd). I purchased my first cell phone Nokia 1100 (the one with torch) and also laminated it at the same time to protect my priced possession. I always kept it close to me and was waiting eagerly for it to ring every time. Then started the game of missed calls and sms. It was real fun.

Very soon I was attracted towards different ringtones. We friends used to share ringtones and having latest and different ringtones was kind of being in race. Funny ringtones like “Uncle utha lo.. aapka baj raha hai….”, some melodramatic sad song music, crying baby, barking dogs were quite popular. I personally always loved the ringtone for Malgudi days. It was instrumental of title song of R.K. Narayan’s famous serial Malgudi days. Then came A.R. Rehman’s famous Airtel tune and it got added directly in my favorite list. In India we get to hear all different types, kinds, tones and tunes and sometimes I believe that the ringtone you keep on your cell reflect your personality. My theory got firm approval when I read article in The Times of India under the same title.

Compared to US India is quite vivid and at the same time lot better in mobile communication. I know there was a time when charge for incoming call was around 8-10 Rs. Per min. Time flew since then and India has made commendable progress in telecommunication industry. Major cell phone giants like Nokia, Motorola and Sony cashed on this huge market opportunity taking no time to set their manufacturing and sales offices all over the country. Service providers like Airtel, Spice, BSNL started providing novel and lucrative offers to consumers and foreign companies like Vodafone, orange and many others joined the pursuit. It was all good for consumers. More the competition lesser the service cost says the law of market. Apple iphone and its 3G service is now big hit in metro areas irrespective of its humongous cost compared to other competitors. Cell phone has stepped up far ahead from being a necessity in India. It’s the fashion statement now, the craze, the lifeline of people. Reliance plan of cell phone connection with handset all inclusive 500 Rs. brought revolution in this sector. It was the time when milk man, cleaner, rickshaw man, watch man and every talking human was seen talking proudly with cell phone in his hand. It was emerging India, growing India, and developing India.

Answering an incoming call on cell phone in US and counting minutes in back of my mind makes me think why the hell this US cell phone industry is lagging so much.