Meena’s our maid. Her association with my mother is longstanding, since they both value “professionalism”, are mothers, and are normally finding it tough to find time. Both, also push their children (;)) to study hard, and work, well hard. But the reason, we’re talking about Meena today is that she was my first interviewee (yaay! ).
Meena got mobile a couple of years back. Her husband was the first one to get the mobile at their place. But she’s now already got on to her second phone. All people at her home infact sport their 2nd phones. The household income would probably be Rs. 10,000- 12,000 a month. She is financially independent working as a maid in apartments in NOIDA, and earns about Rs. 4000 to 5000 a month. She’s got 2 daughters, and both are “mobile” savvy. One of them got married in “homeland” Bihar this year. On her wedding a mobile phone was a “wedding gift”- imagine!- we’re probably taking mobiles the Humara Bajaj way. The daughter thought, she was ready for a “camera” phone after having gone through a basic phone. So Meena had to revert the basic phone “gift” to herself, and buy a new camera phone for the daughter. And thus she now sports a Nokia 1200 with Hindi language settings on- which to be honest I found tough to navigate since I’m used to the English version. But Nokia phones are so similar and simple in their navigation, that probably I can now walk through them in my sleep .
Meena’s usage pattern was quite intriguing. She is on an IDEA prepaid. And is aware that for the connect she needs to pay Rs 300 for a year’s validity, after she showed her pehchaan patra(ID) and home address proof . She wasn’t quite sure of how much she spends in a month on the phone- which I felt was quite a thing. More so, cos we keep harping about price senstivity of the segment. So, maybe we need to take a fresh stock of what people want as opposed to assuming all they want is ‘how best to spend less money’. Oh, and got get me wrong, she duly sold her old mobile first before she got the new one!
Being the ’smart’ financially independent woman that she is, Meena knew that IDEA to IDEA calling would cost her less, and calling her daughter in Bihar would take much more. She infact talks as long as the pre-paid voucher lasts- which she picks up from the local shopkeeper. She typically gets a Rs 36 voucher which gives her a near about 100mins of IDEA to IDEA talktime. When calling Bihar, she typically buys a card and exhausts it in one go. Talking to the daughter takes precedence, she says with a mom-like glint-in-the-eye.
The most amazing part I felt was she can’t read, but she recognises numbers and thus knows who’s calling and how to call. She shows me her phone book with just numbers displayed, and when I ask her if she has saved names, she tells me (all knowingly) that “we can save names too” and then quickly resumes to show me a number saying – “this is from Bihar”. Quite fun. And then, ofcourse, like the young crowd these days, she promptly exchanges her number with me .
While we’re talking we’re interrupted twice with a “missed call” and a “message” – she uses these exact terms to describe them- which to me is a great thing- considering my mother (after all her University learning) refuses to learn and adopt “text messaging” (Oh, but ma knows Skype, mind you, cos she used to talk to her daughter everyday India-UK free! ). Anyhow, so after that we proceed to click her a picture with my N95- which I feel has completely made me camera free. After two attempts, and an unsatisfied Meena, we finally manage a “good” picture. While I’m fiddling with the camera, she quickly stops to tell me that her husband also has a camera phone
Meena with her mobile
I ask her if she uses any other mobile phone features. Oh the younger daughter, she yaps proudly can use games, songs, ringtones on any mobile, but Meena forgets how to use the apps, even after being taught! Point is, exactly when will things be simpler to use? I genuinely feel simplicity is the killer app!
Finally her husband calls to ask her whereabouts and she looks slightly uneasy about having spent a lot of time with me already. Though, she’s quite amazed that I transfer the phone pics to the laptop using bluetooth. She’s sort of shy – though overjoyed to see herself on the laptop . Finally, I ask her about what the mobile has changed for her. Slowly, but in a decided tone, she tells me, she can call anyone, anytime she wishes to. She talks to her daughter (frequently, not everyday) and her daughter has a direct number to call her too. Infact, it was just yesterday that she got a call from Bihar. She also feels, it eases her work, people whose houses she works in can call her directly. And with that, she smiles, and gets up in a hurried mode, already thinking about dinner that needs to be cooked, and the next morning, which needs to be started.
My mother’s very smart. It’s a Sunday, I was lazing in the bed, and she took the opportunity to wake me up with a- “you’ve got Meena’s number, she’s not in yet, I have to call her” -agitated tone. And thus, we made our first “work” call to Meena’s cell.
These stories never fail to amaze me. It’s like the Nokia ad, “mere paas bhi permanent address hoga, kismat ki ghanti bajegi”*. It’s truly just that, a sea of amazed users, a great connectivity tool, which makes it all seem possible, and for once people can feel the change and aspire for even more.
*I’ll also (one day) have a permanent address (for now I have a mobile, and a number). I’ll also (one day) hear (the ring) of a new (amazing) future, by happenstance.
No comments:
Post a Comment