Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The "Phony" Phase

Have you lived with someone who is just engaged? How do you recall him/ her now?
I bet talking on a phone :-)

Imagine - when you get engaged – its good news not only for your family and friends, but also for the telecom companies. No muhurat for marriage for next 8 months, even better - longer the gap, happier they are. Though smaller gaps do not prevent one from spending – I had a colleague, who actually spent 1 Lakh in 3.5 months on phone (its not something which I heard from someone, I actually saw his mobile bills – 26000 for first month, 32000, 29000 and 15000 for subsequent months – rounded off to nearest thousand :-) After paying these bills, he was left with just enough salary to pay his house rent. For those who still not believe it - it was year 2002, and STD rates were much higher than that of today.

Another friend of mine, who was determined to match this figure, though in a longer period – 18 months, could not do that, despite of talking 6-7 hrs each day. Till then Reliance had come with a unique scheme – a boon for the engaged ones – just pay a fixed monthly amount – Rs 700 – and you call any reliance mobile for free – no matter how long you talk, monthly bill will be just 700.

So what will be the ideal gift for your fiancée? No points for guessing – a Reliance mobile, and you take the reliance landline. I have observed that mostly guys take the landline and girls the mobile, than the other way round. Why so, we can analyze it some other time. A more interesting analysis would be what these people talk for so long – 2 hrs, 5 hrs, even 10 hrs a day.
10 hrs appear impossible to you….You would ask – don’t these guys have to work? I tell you how it happens – as soon as the guy reaches home, say 7 pm, he calls up his fiancée. And then the call is on till they go off to sleep – say 12. There are a few gaps in between when they are having food and other activities. There are times, when nobody speaks for 20-30 mins, due to a disagreement, but the call is still on.

I also know of an incident, where the girl did not want to speak because she was annoyed for some reason. But the guy did not agree to put the phone down. Both were not ready to give in, so they end up holding the phones silently for the whole night. This was much before the reliance era, and the guy ended up paying hefty bill for the night.

Anyways, I was telling you how 10 hrs – 5 hrs in the evening, 2 hrs in the morning, and 2 hrs in the office spread between 3-4 calls at different times. Hmm 5+2+2, okay it makes 9 hrs….but weekends, the talking time goes up to 12-14 hrs, so on average 10 hrs a day.
I am sure these people wont talk this much even after marriage :D

My another observation is that, in general, the talk time is more in case of arranged marriages than the love marriages (during this period, and not overall). Any contenders on this….

But the million-dollar question remains - what does one talk for so long – since I am inexperienced in this, can the experienced ones throw some light from their own or someone else’s experience. Waiting for the responses………

7 Comments:

At August 10, 2006 8:27 PM, Blogger manish said...

well,the question is analogous to "What do lovers talk about ??"...It will take some 'decades' to answer this questions,bec. even they themselves don't have a faintest idea about what they would end up talking on as opposed to what they started with :-)

 
At August 14, 2006 9:36 PM, Blogger Ravi said...

How true!

Through my limited exposure with engaged people (two of whom who you already know of), I've seen how suddenly after being engaged these souls have less time for everything else. And you are absolutely true about "arranged" engaged ones spending more time on the phone. I guess the "love" ones have already gotten past the "heavy talk" phage and are heading towards the "silent" and the "quarrel" phases of the relationship.

 
At August 26, 2006 5:37 PM, Blogger Jammy said...

wow! you are making the people I've seen to be minnows. When I first saw a friend of mine get a bill of 5k, I was shocked. He just replied "You wouldn't know till you have a girl friend". When I told this to another friend, he exclaimed "Just 5k? I am billed for 10k and that's just one side u know"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'ld really like to see how a miser would behave after getting engaged.

 
At August 28, 2006 10:16 AM, Blogger Shilpi said...

@jammy - how a miser would behave after getting engaged?
That we would know after you get engaged
A suggestion from my side, keep a track of good schemes going from various telecom companies, and when there is a scheme, which ensures a low bill for you, then thats the time to get engaged for u :D

 
At September 10, 2006 12:37 PM, Blogger Jammy said...

I'm a miser? :( I would use the term "conservative" :D

 
At October 20, 2006 1:47 PM, Blogger R said...

What they talk about? It may appear to be a million dollar question. But the question it self is not right.

We must understand that phone is not only a medium of conversation (talking) but also a medium to feel each other through silence, breating, pause, and many other possible gestures.


If you know the answer of "what do lovers talk about when they meet in parks/beach/... ?" --- It is not the case that they talk and talk and talk over entire hours. Mostly they just keep quite and feel each other through silence. -- It has something to do with emotions and feelings.

Exchange of words is important, but not the only important thing to exchange feelings and emotions. And many times, exchange of words becomes very less important...

Possibly this is the reason why lovers (or those who got engaged) spend long hours over phone. The second best solution the opt for.

 
At January 12, 2007 5:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So now that you are finally experiencing the 'Experience' whats your first hand take on the subject

 

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