Kerala   

The ring tone menace

There is no end to the variety of ring tones that mobile phones can have. The laughter of a child, the sound of a bottle being popped open, the crowing of a rooster, the latest Indipop hit... it is only when someone says `Hello? Yes?' that one realises that what sounded like somebody laughing was actually an incoming call on a cell phone.

But what if these ring tones were to invade places that by their very nature demand some amount of quiet? Variety, then, becomes a nuisance and etiquette is given the go-by. Even hospitals these days are not free from this `tone-o-mania.' With ring tones going off all round, patients, the elderly in particular, are put to much difficulty.

They suffer in silence and probably wonder why mobile phone companies bother to provide the `silent mode' in their products.

G. MAHADEVAN

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