Landphones and Me: Part 1

Landphones and Me

Do you know what does PSTN mean? I didn't know this until I joined GP. It means "public switch telephony network", a moutful of name for the puny thing called landphone. No, it isn't a puny thing! Landphones are essential elements of a household, since like forever. When I was in Saudi Arabia, we didn't have a phone. But again, a phone was not necessary over there. There weren't too many people to call, and communique was done in physical terms. Feel like talking to someone? Go over to his house instead of calling him.

The first phone I used was an analog number. Surprisingly enough, I still remember the number. It was 508654. This phone was connected in my grandmother's home at Dhaka University staff quarters. My grandfather was a “Shohid Buddhijibi” of our great liberation war, and he was also a teacher of the English department of Dhaka University.

Later on, we moved to our own home in Khilgaon. First me, my mom dad and sister moved in to a flat, sometime in 1989. Later on, my grandmother and uncles occupied two other flats. Since then we've been living here. The analog phone number was soon transferred here. The number got changed to a 40xxxx number, soon. But it wasn't before a long time that we actually got our own phone number.

The generic handset from TNT was not a good looking one, in any aspect. The buttons were okay, and it was the first digital handset that I got an opportunity to experiment with. Previously I've seen one at my Khala's home, dialed numbers for a couple of times, but that was pretty much it.

I think the first call I received was from my choto mama. He asked me "Bashar number koto?", and I failed to answer. I hesitantly said that it's a new phone, and it's normal that I'll forget the number. But he kept on joking that "Nijeder number jano na!", etc. etc.

Since then, this phone accompanied me in times of sorrow and happiness. Cell phones didn't dare to intervene in to my life until I was 23, and we got the phone when I was 15 or 16, I guess. I received the good news of getting my first job via this phone. Our number and handset both got changed one time each, but it still felt like having the same phone.

I got called by the GP HR via this phone, for letting me know that I got a job in the Market Research and Development department. That phone call actually changed my life. From the lazy shy confidence lacking guy, I changed a lot, just because of that job of mine. I also got called by HSBC for the internship. However, I received the Banglalink job offer in my GP cell.

The phone used to be in elsewhere. But since 1999, it stays very near to my PC. I got the internet connection that year (a dialup, understandingly). I faced a lot of enmity from the family members, because I used to hog the telephone line in order to get online. I grew myself an email and chatting obsession during that time.

I also talked a lot with my buddies, Pintu and Murshid. This would happen before getting the internet connection.

Year 2000, March 11.

I got my first PC in the year 1999, after getting myself admitted in IBA. I worked really hard for getting in to IBA, and my dad promised me a PC if I could get in to a good institute. It was a Saturday evening, a quiet evening. Most of the people were not at home.

Back in 2000, we used to live as a big joint family. Four of my uncles, my grandmother, two of my aunts, and their families--we all lived together or nearby. On that day, me, my cousin Shomi and Muhaimein were sitting in my room.

I was playing the game "Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain" on my PC. Shomi was helping me out by sharing useful tips. It's a third person action game, i.e. you can see the game character from a third person view. Raziel, the hero of the game is a resurrected vampire, who was banished from his family for trying and getting a pair of wings. He was thrown in to a sea of Lava, and now he's back for revenge over Kain, the guy who announced the banishment!

Anyways, Muhaimein was also watching carefully and admiring the graphical beauty of the game. Suddenly the phone started ringing. The digital phone had a nice cring cring sound; which is a lot better than what can be heard from an analog phone.

I paused the game, and reached out my hand towards the receiver. My aunt was on the phone. She also happens to be the mother of Muhaimein. With tear soaked voice, she gave me the worst news I had to hear in my 20 year old life--the death news of my grandmother. Well, I did hear the news of my uncle (boro mama) losing a leg in a road accident, but I was a lot younger than, and I absolutely failed to understand the situation fully.

I did not cry. I delivered the bad news to my cousins. Shomi gave a disappointed and surprised look, Muhamein gave me a look of disbelief. I quit the game, turned off the PC, and stood up in an awestruck manner. My mind was at a loss, but I was still remained cool. The news was so unexpected and shocking, that I couldn't believe it. I wonder how I actually turned off the PC, in a systematic manner. Instead of just kicking or pushing the shut down button, I actually had the nerves to use Alt+F4 and the normal procedure.

Dadu was sick, but not that sick. She was a diabetic patient, and also had aasthma and other comclicacies. She was being diagnosed for aasthma and the local doctor suggested that she should be hospitalized. She was suffering from a mixed effect of diabetes and aasthma, which proved too tricky to be treated home.

Just the day before her death, I went to visit her. She was receiving treatment in Samorita hospital in panthopoth, and I was a student of IBA then. I went to Samorita from DU via baby taxi (yeah, those things were still there). I don't remember whether I had someone with me, but most probably I was alone.

I knew the room number, and I went to there to find a number of my family members surrounding dadu.

By the way, I wrote about dadu once before:
The Song of My Life: Soul Reaver...Sigh...

That was the last time I saw her alive.