Memory is too short. All good things of life are forgotten by the mind and only the bad & unpleasant things are remembered. This is very sad! I was going through the contact list of my mobile, saw father’s phone numbers. To be honest, I do not remember them. I have already forgotten them! This however, can never mean I forgot my father and my hero!
My father’s mobile number used to be 9xx011xx50. This is the oldest number of my father. And to speak to me (during my stay abroad) he got the international calling facility added on this number. This alone talks of his unfathomable love! This number became an important part of my entire life. I always picked up any call from this number on the second ring. This number fell silent from 24th March 2023!
Father’s second number used to be 7xx365xx17. He had a Himalayan desire to learn. At the age of 80 he realized that he does not know anything about the smart phones. All he had was a Nokia feature phone or simply a button phone. Hence, we purchased ‘Motorola’ (Moto) smart phone for Rs. 10,000/- in 2018-2019. He wanted to learn to use WhatsApp, Email, Camera etc. For this purpose, we applied for another SIM card / Phone number. The local AIRTEL’s (telecommunications company) manager was kind enough to complete all formalities at home. Even this phone too embraced forever silence!
Father’s landline or fixed line number was 27xx81xx. As far as my memory goes into my life, there was one single landline phone number, and on that number, I spoke to my mother millions of times. I recall that number with difficulty today! In those days there used to be one telecommunications company called BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd). And this phone was installed at home 45 years ago! The number was just 81xx. It became 70xx1xx. In late 2000s it became 27xx81xx. My siblings & I called this number to talk to our parents. There were times after 2010, no one made a call on this number. It was just lying on the table, purely ornamental. Father and I went to the BSNL office and through hell to surrender this phone.
And finally allow me to append few lines about my own phone numbers. I had a landline Phone 27xx26xx for over 30 years. While working abroad, I kept the phone active by paying rentals regularly. I grew up using this number, surrendered it in 2018. Much later in life, in 2001, I had applied and got the present mobile number from BSNL – 9xx069xx81. I also kept international roaming facility for this number. In 2017 got this number ported to AIRTEL for better services. Since then, I am with it, for life, till life! I am sure, this number will certainly fall silent sometime in future.
I will be doing injustice to myself if I do not remember yet another great man in my father-in-law late Shri. Gurbakhsh Singh ji. Frankly speaking I do not remember his mobile number. It used to be 8xx65xx635. If I recall right, it was belonging to IDEA cellular company. He too had a feature / button phone. At any given point of time, I do not remember him talking for more than 30-45 seconds! The conversation invariably used to be:
“Hello Gopal! Sab theek hai?”
“Haji Papa Ji. Sab theek hai”
“Edhar bhi sab theek hai.”
The telephone is disconnected, end of talk! All are safe. What else can anyone wish to know? He was a well read and extensively travelled Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer; never left home after retirement. He was contended to sit and enjoy life. His phone fell silent on 1st Jan, 2020.
All the above numbers only exist in my heart in their honor. Many other numbers in my contact list turned permanently silent. It is an emotional journey to look at these numbers. I do not have and can never have the courage to call or delete these numbers. I am a coward. I do admit it. Recalling these numbers in my solitude, and the endless conversations I had with my parents I am contended. And I tell you, memories are too fragile and too short!
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
