17.9.07

Hello?

Imagine yourself in this situation. You are at a meeting, which decides what needs to be done to save the company from closing down. Grim faces. Dark lines on the forehead. And just the sound of one deep breath. And there goes "Arrey babua, uthana hi nahi tha, tho khareeda kyu??" (If you had no intentions of picking it up, then why did you buy it?) All eyes on you! And yours, wide open like never before! You hurry towards your pocket, grab your cell out and with a lot of difficulty, cut the call!

Déjà vu? You feel like digging a hole for yourself right below your feet, squeezing yourself in, and covering it up! But come what may, changing your ringer music is out of question. Because, on a different occasion, you would have been the centre of attraction if your cell rang. Is that the reason why ringer tunes are such a huge business these days? Every body has at least a couple of funny, foot tapping numbers on their cell as their ring tones. And current models also give you the option of choosing any song as your tone. I've got a Chinese song as mine.

So, what exactly is the need of a musical ring tone? I guess it's gone far beyond just another interesting way to ring. Well, if that's so, why do people take the effort to change their tones from time to time? I see it this way. Ringtones have hugely become a tool to attract attention. The faster and peppier the music, the more number of heads turn towards you. And wow! What a feel that is! Well, provided you're in a coffee shop or party and not at a meeting. And then, with a smirk, you go on to answer your call. (Well, after the phone rings sufficiently enough for everyone to hear though.) And unless the song doesn't have the catchy music right in the beginning, the very purpose of it goes down in the drain. You'll have to wait for it to ring till the foot tapping music begins. And by then, it's time for the call to end. On another note, people keep ring tones to differentiate callers. Romantic songs for the loved one, barking dogs for the not so loved ones etc etc. Helps you decide whether to pick up the call or not, before the caller id helps you.

There was a time when I set tones, because I liked the song. It has, at several instances, managed to lift me from the dumps. Every time my phone rang, it would bring a smile on my face and I would hum along for a while and also spread the feel to people around. But not for long. Soon, listening to the same song day after day, hour after hour or even minute after minute got boring. Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh was one of my favourites. And so, set it as my ringer tone. In no time, I began developing revulsion towards it. Largely because, I got to hear only half the song. And so, changed it to my next favourite. Wonder for how long.

If the only purpose of a ring tone was alerting you on a call, then there's nothing better than the conventional trring trring. Or maybe interesting versions of it. All said and done, I would still continue setting Shakira or Abba as my tone. And change it maybe after a couple of weeks. You may ask if it's for heads to turn, I would say yes. Musical ring tones are after all for the people around. Music always spreads joy. And so does it, through ringtones. Otherwise, if it were for you, how many times would you laugh at your own funny tone? Or sing along with your own favourite song? And if you were so in love with that tone, why would you want to cut it half way through?


10 comments:

craving to love life said...

hey,..nice work,..for the record,...i prefer the loud blaring song,...y??so tat i cud kno tat m fone is ringing,...as for differentiating the callers,..i jus got a spl tune for ur calls and also another person,....it's tru tho, the amazing , punk ring tones always goes off at the most inapropriate times,...i lik the ring tone is HALLO tho,...the girl aound asking u to pick up,..

Jayasuryan P said...

Well it all depends on d mood n d person using it.
yes d gud ol' phone has travelled a longway n its new child "d mobile"
is nw a display of attitude like whos who? dan jus to make ones call
yes its a matter of fact these ringtones do lead to raised eyebrows n frowns esp @ funerals,meetings,places of worship...
n d only solution seems to be better switch off or keep it in silent mode, but who cares..
hey u dont have to wait for it ring till u want to listen to ur fav lines. all u've to do is edit d song with soundforge n play it cool.
so dat u can play d particular part of a song or bgs u love to hear.

Vivek said...

Hey sis....
a nice one ....
one of the best of ur blogs...
and every word u scribbled is true...
Even I had and still have the same habit... I always try to get a unique ring tone.. and I also play with the dialer tones....
But am still on search for the right tone....

Vimal Pai said...

Truly said!!! However, there are other kind of ringtones as well. I remember, being in a theatre at Chennai, watching a pretty serious Hindi movie in one of the multiplexes. Just when the suspense was building up.... with the bone chilling background score in the movie..Suddenly there's this phone ringing somewhere in the crowd...to spoil everyone's evening. And it wasnt a song...it was a sentence you would least expect..that too in a theatre filled with more than a ton of people. That guy's ringtone said " Phone uttha-be ma*&^% ch*&@!!!".
What a jackass would have such a ringtone?? I remember agreeing with what the cellphone was saying!!!

hope n faith said...

u know wat???i hadnt actually thot of this ringtone epidemic until i saw the latest mallu movie "HELLO" Its true that it rings in the most inappropriate times.but then why in the first place wud a oerson opt for a tune like this...i think its the need to be heard!!!u want that attention...those raised eyebrows..the grumbling frowns(its coz they didnt get to that tune 1st).everybody craves for attention.u wanna be different...u wanna be heard!!!

Saritha Rajagopal said...

@ Craving : Point noted there. About blaring songs for differentiating. But still it aint a justification to musical tones right?

@ Jayasuryan : Wow! Dats info jaya! Will try doing dat.

@ Vivek: Etta, join the club!! Even my search for the right tone is on!! And glad u agreed with wut i said!

@ Vimal: Dat must have been ONE hilarious instance!!! But all i cn say is, he's kept that tone realising wut he is. SO hats off to that. ;)

@ Rashmi : Welcome to destiny darling!! :) And bingo! U said exactly wut I feel bout the need fur ring tones!! SO keep reading and keep commenting.

Anonymous said...

Again, well said.

After a self postmortem, I came to these conclusions.

1. Everybody wants to keep their individuality. Keeping an offbeat ringtone always reminds you of your own uniqueness.

2. As mentioned earlier, the thurst for attention. Especially for those people, who often think that they are least attractive.

3. The people who think inside the box. They simply presume that whatever they like, others also enjoy it.

That said, I would always prefer a unique ringtone as far as it never disturbs a prayer, hospital, meeting or it does not irritate somebody's ears and brain.

Bottom line: Everybody would like be attractive and unique, including me and you, though we can cover it up easily depending upon our smartness.

har!s

Joseph said...

I remember this gal who used to be in my Team. Her cellphone played that whistling music from 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' at least 15 times a day blowing off even the last bit of tolerance from your ass. Inspite of repeated requests and warnings her phone kept ringing at its peak volume. And then came a day when I saw her phone flying over my head to the lift lobby. It crashed against the wall and fell down on the carpet like pieces of shit. It flew off from a meeting room just because it whisled while the Team was in the middle of a priority 1 teleconference with the client. We knew that our Team Lead who was reposible this never apologized for what he did. And whenever we got a chance to talk about it someone would always say, "We should have done it long back." And in our Team, nobody ever heard a cellphone ringing ever after.

In a Coffee Day, you'll find people who discuss business, couples lost in love, friends chatting about their old college days, guys digging deeply into a book. They're not there to be awakened by your 'tring tring!!!'. They're there to be in their own personal space and we need to learn to respect that. And the same holds good in all public places including your office.

My phone is always in the silent mode, not because I'm afraid that it will fly to the lift lobby but because I do respect my colleagues. You will keep your phone silent it if you were the victim.

Vik Rajagopalan said...

To me ring tones are a mess. Not surprised you and you frowned at me. Well let me explain. I have seen these sorts of people who get into the movies, public places with these loud jarring muzik with no compassion to the fellow people. I come from a different planet may be not to like what almost every other person said they liked ! But to me it is this respect for the rest which is lagging that pisses me off. I mean the movie that is good to me may not be good to the other guy but that does not mean he can play loud muzik. They repeat it so much at work too. And I am beginning to hate the loud muzik part these days :-( .. For me the phone remains in silent mode pretty much every tiem.. So I seek to disagree...

Anonymous said...

Everybody wants to keep their individuality Keeping an offbeat ringtone always reminds you of your own uniqueness.