I distinctively remember when I
was studying then telephone used to be a luxury and you had to book in advance
to get a connection. At that time the instrument provided to you by the only
provider the Department of telecom now named BSNL and could be used only to
talk whether incoming or out going. If you wanted to talk outside the circle
then you had to book a trunk call with the telephone exchange and then wait for
quite sometimes even at times for a couple of days for it to mature so that you
could talk to your loved and dear ones. Words like STD and ISD were never heard
of and for listening to the news one had to turn to the only available radio
station of All India Radio. There was no choice either you listen to AIR or you
do not listen to radio at all, of course more powerful receivers could tune in
to BBC or radio Ceylon for hearing to the legendary Amin Sayani giving out the
famous Binaca Geetmala. The choices were
the famous Aristotle’s logic of yes or no. Either you have the telephone from
DOT or you did not, or either you listen to AIR for news or did not. Life was
so simple and so less complicated.
Now the life has become a nightmare with a large number of
choices in every product, be it a food item, telephone, TV, TV channels, scooters,
cars, etc. The choices are so many that it is not possible for a simple mind to
grasp all, analyze them and arrive at a choice keeping your budget in mind. The
other day I went to buy a laptop as the faithful old one was troubling me. The
salesman asked me what processor I wanted, screen size, memory size RAM and
ROM, whether with DVD drive or without, Graphic card or without and with what
memory, 3rd or 5th or seventh generation and lastly he came to the most
important question of price range and by the time I was so thoroughly confused
that I decided to keep using my faithful old simple laptop rather than get into
the maze of the specifications of new generation computers from where I was
sure I could never come out with a sane mind.
If this was not
enough then I had a much worst experience when I went to buy a mobile phone a
modern day necessity but a troublesome piece of equipment in my opinion. It
rings when you least want it to ring, that is while in bathroom while sitting
on the pot or taking a shower or sleeping or when you are driving in the thick
of traffic. And the worst part is to
listen to a voice in this madness who is trying to sell you a property, a
credit card or worst telling you that you have been selected for a loan or for
a free vacation in a place which you have never heard of, only if you become a
member. I wonder whether these persons are a die hard fan and followers of the
Murphy law. I wanted a simple phone from which I could make a call, receive
one, receive and send messages and keep a record of my contacts. The experience
was nothing short of a cultural shock and to me it appeared that I have come
out of stone ages in to an alien word. The charming, pretty salesgirl looked me
up and down as to trying to fathom as to how much money I am willing to spare
and to mentally calculate her share of commission. On being told my requirement
she looked me up and down twice as to make sure that I am really of this world
only and then to start off with her sales pitch of the attributes of a mobile
phone which to me appeared to be of belonging to science fiction movie. Screen
size, quad core or octa core, android or windows, 4 GB or 32 GB in steps of
doubling it, gorilla glass or normal, battery size, selfie megapixels and the
main camera and then went on and on and by this time I was so thoroughly
confused with the choices that I forgot as to what I had to come to buy. I do
not know whether she was trying to impress me with her knowledge of modern day
gadgets or she was trying to make me feel inferior due to my lack of knowledge
or it was just that she was repeating her sales pitch for the younger
generation and did not know how to deal with an old antique piece like me.
I thought gorillas
were in Africa or in the zoo only and I wondered as to what it was doing in the
mobile phone but kept quite as not make a public spectacle of my old knowledge.
Later on my son told me that dad did she tell you whether it is 3G or 4G with
or without wi- fi and whether it has an audio and video player or not. I
mentally thanked my stars and decided to stick to my son and daughter to
present me one on my birthday rather than go through the ordeal of buying one.
Of course I forgot to mention the large number of companies making these mobile
phones. The choices are overwhelming and bordering suffocation as the mind just
simply cannot grasp or analyze the various choices of companies, model and characteristics
to reach a conclusion without going insane. In my young days it was as simple
as there were only one or two companies and only two to three models to choose
from. This choice of plenty is probably the cause of so many emotional,
personal and most importantly health problems in younger generation. They start
suffering from a very young age of acidity, heart problem, anxiety and tension.
This dilemma of choice is not only limited to me but it is
faced by everyone in their day to day life. Take the highway or short cut, move
or stay in the same place, go by bus or metro and so on and so forth. It starts
at a very young age with what school what sort of career, and with each passing
day the number of choices are increasing and it is becoming more and more
difficult for a person to accumulate, assimilate, analyze and come out with a
reasonable good choice. To compound this misery is the advertisement blitz
created by the companies and newer and newer models being introduced with some
new features every day. I am sure that for a normal person it is not possible
to even know what all functions the instrument is capable of what to talk about
having used all these features either on a regular basis or at some time during
the life cycle of that instrument. Probably in future we will need an instrument
just to tell or inform us as to what all the other instruments are capable of
doing. It will be just that as who is going to mind the minders and where it
will take us or where it will all end. Of course I have not mentioned about the
tension or problems being created in the environment when we use these precious
resources so blatantly without a thought to the future and not paying any heed
to the waste which we are generating.
This wide choice of various goods and services leads one to
discontentment and we start worrying whether we have made the right choice or
not. When there are 50 or odd choices then it is natural for one to worry
whether the choice is right or not for him and to add misery there are others,
friends and well-wishers who further confuse you with their choices and trying
to look that you have not made a right choice for yourself and this starts a
fresh cycle of further thinking and self-pity and depression. So what is the
way out of all this? Think before you buy and sit down and write what you
require and what all attributes the gadget should have which are useful to you.
Do studies before you go to the market and internet and the information brochures are the best bet in trying to find out about the gadget and its characteristics
and the reviews. Refrain from taking the advice from your close friends and
relatives who have a particular model only except for that model only. Once you
have narrowed down the choice to just a couple of brands and models then
further narrow them down by the budget constraint and do not get carried away
by the advertisement blitz about a
particular model but always ask the question do I really need this model with
this feature and at this price band or not? Finally, once you have made a
decision to buy a product or a model then do not regret it irrespective of what
other may or might say. Remember nobody makes a bad choice deliberately and
that you always make the best choice based on the available information
available to you at that time and it is best decision or choice. There is no
perfect decision or choice in this world but are always relative to your
requirements and constraints.
