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`Mind your manners'

Mobile phone users should follow etiquette, stresses Poorna B.

Mobile phones should come with manuals. Not ones that explain the buttons and the menus, but those that talk of etiquette, for, people these days need to be reminded to watch their manners!

I happened to travel by auto one day, when it suddenly jerked to a halt. The driver had got a call on his mobile. I did not grudge him the time till I realised he was discussing the bajjis he had eaten at his friend's house. Angry, I asked him to resume his conversation later. I was taken aback when he turned around and accused me of being impatient!

With technology comes responsibility, and this is true not only with regard to nuclear bombs. How would you feel when you are in a cinema hall, enjoying a nail-biting sequence and a mobile phone starts ringing? You look around and hope the owner would switch the instrument off. But thanks to technology and the number and variety of phones in use, the owner fails to recognise his or her ring tone for a few annoying seconds.

Once, when I had gone to a cinema, a man seated behind me was heard loudly describing entire scenes to someone over the phone. I badly wanted to request him to allow the others around him to watch the movie in peace. Why did he not realise that he was being a disturbance?

Another meeting that had me mystified took place in a coffee shop. A girl seated at one of the tables was messaging someone. A boy walked in and took a seat near her. They barely spoke to one another, but kept sending messages instead. People today talk less and `text' more. Perhaps, they think it is cool!

If a mobile phone manual is being made, I have a few rules to add. People should keep their phones in silent and vibrating mode when they are at a meeting. When somebody is addressing a gathering, it is important to pay attention, rather than answer phone calls. This is an insult to the speaker. Why indulge in loud conversation over the phone and make what is private, public?

In this age of technology, it would be absurd not to own a mobile; everyone has one. But, it is essential to mind your manners.

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AS TOLD TO ASHA MENON

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