One of the finest movies of Hindi cinema,
Don has a car chase scene across the island city of Mumbai. Watching a movie
made during those days make you want to sit up and take notice of all that has
changed over the decades- the cars, fashion and music sense, infrastructure,
lack of people on the roads and most of all, the lack of mobile phones. You’ll
be hard-pressed to find yourself at a smartphone-free live concert of any sort
these days.
Mobile phones (or ‘mobiles’ as we call
them) literally brought about a sea of change. We no longer to wait near a
land line telephone for important calls. This round-the –clock companion has
grown into a powerful assistant. Right from providing utilities such as alarm
clocks and torch lights to entertainment options such as music and video and
support for communication via voice calls, video calls, SMS, email and VoIP
telephony, we've started using mobile phones for more than what they were
invented for.
We've come a long way since 1946 when for
the first time mobile phone calls were made using two, 36kg bulky machines that
used vacuum tubes. How was it like without a mobile phone? Well, here’s what
Martin Cooper, one of the very first users and creators of a mobile phone had
to say.
“As I walked down the street while talking
on the phone, sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually
moving around while making a phone call. Remember that in 1973, there weren't
cordless telephones or cellular phones. I made numerous calls, including and
where I crossed the street while talking to a New York radio reporter- probably
one of the more dangerous things I have ever done in my life.”
