- by Amena Hassan Last week I drove behind a black Ford Escort that was weaving its way through traffic. Having nothing better to do, I decided to follow it, because I thought the driver was drunk and might need to be reported. Amidst the flurry of Ramadan shopping traffic (I am choosing Ramadan as the holiday because I am already tired of blinking lights and plastic reindeer) I wondered if the driver in front of me maybe wasn't drunk, but an 80-year-old man with an incorrect prescription for bi-focals. The truth is that it was a young man driving, with a very bad haircut and a cell phone plastered to his right ear. As I curiously peered at him from the next lane, my curiosity quickly changed over to irritation. He was so immersed in his phone call that every time he laughed he'd sway into the other lane, and each time he frowned at a unpalatable comment from his caller, he would push down on his accelerator. He was distracted, and his behavior was distracting me, so, in essence he had made ME put other drivers in danger. Of course, I put all the blame on him. But, why are cell phones such a common obsession, and a gadget that compromises people's driving, personal space, and the basic American right not to be interrupted during a decent action movie at the Dollar Theater? And why do people call us on cell phones: during namaz or right before you fall into the deep part of REM sleep after Roza ifthari or in a restaurant or right in the middle of the part of your own wedding ceremony when the maulvi asks, "Kabbool"? Well, who knows the real answers? Cell phones are just a jittery, unpredictable kind of species—kind of like your wives and sisters. However, I do have a solution during these times: TURN THEM OFF! My own relationship with my cell phone is a very strange one. I have carried a phone that was built sometime in the eighties (I believe it was during the Reagan/Star Wars era). This phone, my friends, is so heavy it is as inconvenient as putting a suitcase to your ear. When I dial the numbers to make a call, the beeps are so loud I wonder if I am transmitting a secret message to aliens, like in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is not a pretty sight. And why do I carry this phone around, you may ask, when companies such as AT&T, Alltel, Nokia, and Sprint have such nice sleek, silver models that are as thin as credit cards? The answer is that I was raised in a good family, which taught me basic cell phone tameez. Firstly, it was a free gift from my elder brother, a long family tradition, which still goes on today, where the elder sibling gives the used cell phone to the younger one. When this happens, my Ammi distributes laddoo. Secondly I am loyal to my electronic gadgets. Just because my cell resembles a computer monitor, does not mean I trade it in for a newer model. After all, what would become of our society and culture in this new world, if we are driven to become this superficial? |
