I feel the humble mobile earphones have a magical quality to unite
people and bring about happiness. Looks like I am not the only one to think so
as you can see from this cartoon created by lastlemon.com (Thank you guys for having created exactly what I had in
mind. Hope you don't mind me referencing it on my blog!)
I was on the upper deck of a
train from Chennai to Bengaluru, on a cool November morning, seated with 9
co-passengers on the only row with 2 tables surrounded by 10 seats. 6 seats on
one side and 4 on the other. I was on the table with 6 seats, lucky to get the
aisle seat but unfortunately facing in the opposite direction of the journey. I
looked out the window and felt like being dragged from behind at 100kms per
hour with green fields, coconut trees and rocky hills whizzing past me one
after another, which made me feel dizzy.
To distract that dragging
feeling I diverted my sleepy eyes to the inside of the coach only to find many
pair of eyes staring at me. Their size, intensity and curiosity varied and were in
sync with their corresponding built. But, there was something common among most
of them, almost all of them. They all had an earphone hanging from their ears
in various colors, white being the dominant. The thin wire from the jack of
their mobile phones split into two with a molded earphone at both ends that
found a resting place on the ears of their respective owners. Well, not all of
them. I noticed a few that were branching out to two people, carrying audio
signals to 2 minds united in the pursuit of happiness. Be it watching a YouTube
video or listening to classical music or collaborating on a business
presentation.
A mild humming male sound from
my right got my attention and to avoid being seen like one of those curious
souls, I glanced in the direction without turning my head. The sight was so
beautiful that my head turned automatically ignoring the "don't do
it" signals from my brain. There was this lovely south Indian couple, old
by their looks but young at heart listening to some classical song whose lyrics
was scrolling on the smartphone the beautiful lady was holding on her left
hand. The old man was humming a song and the lady was tapping on the table with
fragile fingers manicured with turmeric powder. It felt like she was tapping in
sync with husband's humming listening to it through her right ear. Her left
ear was holding one of the earphone and the other was plugged on his right ear. His
left ear was free and possibly listening to her tapping with those tender
fingers that he held for life some 50+ years back. Their eyes were closed and they
were nodding in harmony enjoying something they loved doing together feeling
happy and not worried about what the world in front of them will think!
Touched by the beautiful scene
and to avoid my tears of joy becoming visible to the young man in front of me, I quickly turned towards my left. Was it a coincidence? A similar scene was
waiting for me on that side too. Diagonally opposite were two young ladies
neatly dressed in colorful salwar kameez sharing an earphone plugged into one
of their mobiles. Their expression was different to that of the older couple,
which was expected. They were mostly glued to the screen of the iPhone 5s and
whatever they were seeing brought on them frequent smiles and at times a loud
giggle or two. I could only guess that they were watching some funny movie but
what I could see for sure was happiness, being shared together.
Just curious to see if this was
not a dream I jumped out my narrow seat only to knock my knees on the table that
sent a sharp signal of pain to my brain. That assured me it was not a dream and
with a slight limp I walked on the narrow strip in the middle of closely
arranged seats on both sides, 3 on one side and 2 on the other. To my surprise
there were a few more such scenes of joy, listening and watching together. Two
young boys wearing similar shirts, possibly a uniform of the company they
worked for, laughing out loud in unison. A family with a small boy enjoying the
classic Tom and Jerry on a Samsung galaxy tab. The mother partaking in the
episode without audio as both earphones were used by the father and the lad!
I wondered, why no one has invented an earphone with three earpieces yet? That would help mothers like her to be not sacrifice her feelings for the sake of her family.
The joy and happiness were
contagious as I started smiling myself until I passed a few guys wearing formals and classy ties glued
to their laptop looking serious and frantically typing something on the
keyboard. Well, they too had earphones plugged, but to themselves. Were they
listening to music to cut sound originating from speed typing? There was
another gentleman watching a movie on his laptop computer. The small curve at
the end of his lips gave away his happy feeling, which I am sure would have
been a burst of laughter if he was watching it with someone.
As I retreated back to my seat I thought about
all those moments when I listened to my favorite song "Happy" by
Pharrell Williams on my smartphone with headphones and clapping my hands in
joy. My wife would pass by me wondering what happened to her husband. Next time
I am going to drag her to the side and plug one earphone on her soft ear and see what
happens! I hope we will experience the joy of listening together!
©Balaji Palanidurai
