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?