Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

And now, it is God on the line

Sangeeth Kurian

Thiruvananthapuram: It might just be an indication that the State's booming mobile phone market has found God. At a time when subscribers are inundated with offers to receive news and sports updates on their handset, a section of the service providers are catering to a `growing' category of customers who are looking for services that satisfy spiritual rather than entertainment needs.

Be it the daily dose of selected verses from the Bible that inspires a user to confront the day-to-day challenges with equanimity; waking up to the sublime melody of M.S. Subbulakshmi's `Suprabhatham,' or alerting Muslim users to prayer times with an alarm that features an actual muezzin's voice, experts say mobile phones are increasingly being used by subscribers to assert their religious identities.

"Choosing a religious-oriented service or feature has become a way of expressing an individual's personality in public," says B. Ramakrishnan, chief operating officer of Idea Mobile Communications. "Today each member of a family has a mobile. Their individual preferences and taste varies," he says.

According to him, religion-based services are opted by subscribers who are above 50 years of age. Though "very much a niche market" the increasing number of greying population in the State also offers a lucrative prospect for the aspiring service providers.

Meanwhile, Idea Mobile Communications on Tuesday launched a new service that enables its subscribers to listen to `slokas' from the Ramayana through their handsets. The voice-based service is available by dialling a particular number and is charged Rs.7 per minute.

Some of the other popular services include offering Gayatri Mantram, Bhajans and devotional songs as ring tones and ring back tones and providing options that assist subscribers to download pictures of gods, goddesses and Holy sites and symbols such as Makkah and Crescent, the emblem of Islam.

"The pictures of Krishna, Vishnu and Siva are some of the most sought after mobile phone screen savers," said Bilal Aboobaker, managing director of a leading cell phone showroom in the city.

There are also occasion specific services like carols for Christmas and alerts for namaaz during Ramzan, said a senior official of a leading service provider who did not want to be identified. The company has already received requests from a number of Muslim clerics in Malappuram and Kozhikode to begin religion-oriented services, the official said. P.R. Harikumar, a selection grade lecturer at the Sree Sankara College, Kalady, who recently fed three `Kandas' of the Ramayana in Malayalam into his mobile, said he was surprised by the overwhelming response his feat evoked especially from people who are religiously inclined. "My intention was to popularise Malayalam language in a new medium through the epic. But I was amazed by the appreciation it received from people with religious fervour. But then whether there is any philosophical ground to their passion or not is debatable," he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Athiyannoor blazes a trail in community health action
Fight global terrorism: Joshi
And now, it is God on the line
Tradition will be preserved at Sabarimala: Minister
Kerala University re-launches insurance scheme
Muslim Educational Society offers formula for admissions
A hectic fortnight for city corporation
Farmers' darling
Campaigning for city development
Next issue
Around the City
In Thiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu