'Blue Angel' & The Mobile Revolution

The first mobile phone in my life was a Nokia handset in early 2005 whilst transitioning from a banker to an altogether different role in IT.It was a small compact mobile phone and it stayed with me for almost 9 years. Its sudden disappearance one evening during an auto rickshaw journey was heartbreaking and marked the end of an era in my life.

We called on the number that same evening and it rang for a while indicating that some fortunate soul must have found it. A note was additionally sent on the office intranet requesting people to get in touch if they happened to come by it somewhere but to no avail. It was gone.

If memory serves me right India first witnessed pagers in the early 1990’s and mobile phones followed suit soon enough in the mid 1990’s.During my early years, first as an auditor and then as a banker the atmosphere was very people focused and technology was not really very high on anyone’s agenda.The theme back then was that life is first about people, then about communication and then about work.Technology was appreciated but people were not awed by it in any way.

Then,most unexpectedly my arena of work shifted from bank branches in the traditional bastions of Pune such as Tilak Road,Shaniwar Peth and Deccan Gymkhana to Kalyani Nagar’s IT hub.News was received on the company intranet about a private minibus service that was being provided by one Mr Maarnay ( the name funnily enough quite literally translates in to English as Mr Killer) and we promptly signed up.It appeared to be an altogether better proposition than having to drive back home on a Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycle amidst traffic and evening heat. The Nokia handset accompanied me.

The minibus was predominantly blue in color with shades of white thrown in to provide variety.It came to be named ‘Blue Angel’. Starting from Kothrud it would travel down Karve Road,pick me at Garware College and then speed along to Kalyani Nagar.It took us 25 minutes to get to office in the morning and 45 minutes to get back home in the evenings on account of traffic.Nonetheless those years on ‘Blue Angel’ provided rich learning.

The first thing to do after boarding ‘Blue Angel’ in the morning was to cast a rapid glance in all directions to ascertain where a seat was to be found. There were about 12 to 14 members on that minibus and there were enough seats but finding one was a daily exercise.Once the seat was found it was time to relax….and observe the surroundings.

Some of the passengers would be looking out of the window as the vehicle sped along, some would be catching up on sleep, a few would be listening to music and fewer still would be reading books….this then was the morning mood. Evenings were slightly different in that the day was over,people were relatively more relaxed and some kind of friendly banter took place in addition to the music and books. It was amusing to see people shaking their neck and feet as they listened to music via their ear phones.Basically there was more personal conversation in the evenings than there was in the mornings probably because there was a day’s work interaction and office happenings to share,not to mention grapevine.Occasionally,people took short conference calls from their seats.

Over the next few months a bond was formed between the members and social interaction increased.‘Blue Angel’ would stop at ‘Bipins’ for ‘poha’ ( a kind of Indian flattened rice stirred fried with onions, peas ,potatoes and coriander) and at Santosh Bakery for ‘pattice’ ( a Santosh Bakery specialty straight from the oven) …then there were occasions when someone would get ‘Appeys’ ( a South Indian delicacy) from ‘Vyadeshwar’ on Fergusson College Road …those were the simple joys of life on that minibus. The sonorous Himesh Reshammiya and later ‘Rang De Basanti’ were very much the musical flavors of the times.

At times people would debate whether Sourav Ganguly would ever manage to stage a comeback despite 5 successful years as captain and 10 as a batsman. The office canteen food would invariably get a mention with people debating whether the rice had generous proportions of soda mixed in it. It was fun to hear.

On the odd occasion, there were moments of tension as when an associate insisted that the bus depart at 6:15 PM instead of at 6:30 PM.This was not acceptable to most of us since we had meetings that would extend till almost 6:30 PM at times.The problem with most Indians is that they do not speak up immediately and the associate actually got her way for a while with the bus leaving at 6:15 PM on a couple of days.That is when yours truly decided it was time to act,first on mail,then in person.The lady left the bus in a huff labelling me ‘aggressive’ and some of the other ladies made it known to me that a 15 minute savings in time means a lot to the evening kitchen routine at home,making specific reference to the Maharashtrian ‘poli’ ( ‘roti’ or Indian bread) making schedule.We ignored it all and order was duly restored. It was happily the only incident of its kind.

There were other occasions of mirth.One of the ladies on the bus sported plaits (a pony tail rope braid) and it just so happened that one of the men folk accidentally touched the plaits as he was sitting down.She turned with indignation to glare at him and he hurriedly apologized,saying “ Sorry ….” with his palms raised.We had a good laugh viewing the scene from behind.On another occasion an associate returned a book by passing it back multiple rows over the shoulders of several passengers.Returning it in person with a thank you was the expectation but who was to explain fundamental manners? Again, we doubled up with laughter especially when we saw the look of bewilderment on the face of the owner of the book.

Then there was one occasion when three of us waiting for the minibus in front of the office narrowly escaped being run over by a white ‘Contessa’ car that came speeding along and veered awkwardly as it turned at the corner.We instinctively turned and jumped to safety in three different directions,watching with bated breath as the car hit the trunk of a coconut tree under which we had been standing and conversing.The four occupants of the car appeared non plussed and sped off casually after backing the car.The office security personnel at the main gate also behaved as though nothing of note had transpired and were duly reprimanded.Had we not moved to safety instinctively we would likely have sustained serious leg injuries.Maybe some of us were praying inwardly at the time and that saved the day.

As the years rolled by,‘Blue Angel’ gradually passed in to history partly because some of us (including myself) had to work overseas and partly because Mr Maarnay or ‘Maarnay Kaka’ as we would address him found other more commercially viable propositions.The only time we had any kind of interaction relating to ‘Blue Angel’ in later years was when the driver (popularly addressed as ‘Driver Kaka’) called once to enquire whether we were interested in a similar service which he was now spearheading.It did not work out for him since the company had by then started its own bus service.

This however was a different kind of bus,big,broad and very impersonal with some 50 associates on board at any given point in time.More importantly the mobile revolution was now complete and people on the bus seldom if ever spoke to each other, morning or evening.They would be immersed in their respective mobile phones,watching movies, looking at FaceBook snaps, laughing at pictures and images,smiling to themselves as they listened to music ….life was no longer first about people, then about communication and then about work. Rather it was first about technology, then about technology and finally about technology.

People simply stopped talking to each other,leave alone enjoying simple wholesome snacks occasionally. Even the bus driver appeared to be in a realm of his own, flustered one day,indifferent the next.We hardly if ever saw him smile or have a pleasant conversation with any of the passengers…..and so it was that ‘Blue Angel’ became a distant memory amidst the mobile revolution that made people and communication subservient to artificial electronic gadgets.

When I started working as an independent management consultant,I witnessed a world that was drugged with technology and feel privileged to have experienced a kinder,more humane world as a child….joys which coming generations will likely only hear about.Not surprisingly,span of attention has decreased alarmingly,people are impatient and even rude ( because they are used to getting most things at short notice by tapping on their mobile phones) and pure mind power has declined because people no longer learn simple math tables or anything basic for that matter….it’s all available on the mobile phone….and as if to signify the different kind of world we now live in ‘Blue Angel’ received an altogether different color pattern.I happened to see the mini bus one day near a traffic signal filled with school children and it was now yellow for the most part with shades of white and black thrown in for good measure.I mused to myself ,“ Well,that pretty much sums it up nicely !”

The story however has a happy ending. A recent visit to the on line Nokia Museum led to a joyous reunion with that 2005 mobile phone model under ‘Nokia 1100’. It brought back a lot of memories but I have now got over it.I rather like my new mobile phone ….so you may say I have moved on in life.