When You Learn

I learnt a thing or two about myself over this weekend. I don’t know whether to think it is just my thought process or whether it is human nature in general. I will be keeping it in mind now on.

About a month back, I bought a new smart phone. An HTC 8X. The thing about me and phones is, I am never too sure of which one to buy. I never narrow down on any one. My way of buying phones is – go to the shop, go through the collection, compare the prices, see which one suits my personality. 3 days later buy one. I don’t know whether this way is wrong or right. It is my way. I also end up using my phone till the very end. I manage to find every reason to keep on using the tattered-looking model as long as I can.

This year, after my results, I could have asked for a new phone straightaway. Exactly what all my friends did. I thought, my current model is good, let’s continue with it. Until, those days came, when the model started going to pieces. I started with an online screening of phones. And there it was, that HTC 8X. Standing tall in that California Blue matt finish colour, the Windows Phone tiles emitting an eerie glow, that big screen telling me to come get it…..It had everything I wanted and more. The only issue was its price.

I have never stubbornly asked for anything. I am always practical and adjusting (at least where phones are concerned :-p). This time however, I had to fight tooth and nail to get what I wanted. I wasn’t sure I was getting it, until the very last moment, when that guy finally opened the box. I still remember that moment. I fell in love. Again. With my HTC 8X. With my Blue HTC 8X.

Over the past month, I have been so careful about this phone. I wash my hands before touching it, I clean it every weekend, that screen may have gorilla glass, but I still put a scratch guard. There is a fixed place in my bedroom for it (away from dust, dirt and any danger of falling down). I can spend hours just looking at it as it gets charged. Yes, I can be passionately in love and possessive about something. That’s the first thing I learnt.

This weekend, as a part of our Annual Family Trip, we visited Della Resort in Lonavla. Wonderful place by the way….there’s an Adventure Park there and I did all that there was – Ziplining, Rock Climbing, Rapelling, High Ropes, Zorbing, Reverse Bungee Jumping, Archery and the Arcade games. Lots of fun in lots of rain…getting wet in the rain is an out-of-the-world feeling!! Everything went well, until Lunch time when my phone stopped working. It refused to start. And it kept vibrating every 40 secs. Charging did not help, it worsened the condition. And there went my awesome happy mood down the drain. All I wanted to do was get back to Pune and repair that phone. I couldn’t stop worrying about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My phone was sick and I was helpless. The feeling of helplessness is the worst feeling in the world. I had thought of not taking this phone to Lonavla. I regretted not taking that thought seriously. I just wanted my phone switched on. I didn’t care about the data, I didn’t care about the formatting. I just wanted it show signs of life. Signs of being around for some time more. I couldn’t sleep for two whole nights. In fact, as the end of our trip came closer, my tension, apprehension and jitteriness increased. I don’t know how I managed to sleep through that Sunday night. I had to get to the Service Centre on Monday. Whatever happened.

They called yesterday and said that phone had been repaired. There had been water there, so my warranty period is over now. All my data is lost. But, you know what, I don’t care. I don’t care about the contacts, I don’t care about the videos, the images, the songs, those notes I keep on my phone. All I care about is seeing my phone in a working condition again.

What did I learn? You love your phone, right? Don’t test it and its tolerance capacity. I might call myself moderation personified, but when it comes to the things I desperately love, I am an Extreme. In every way. I also learnt that I can desperately love something. I can be desperately worried about something. I can be desperate about something. That scares me and makes me feel good about myself too. When you feel too much about something, you are more liable to get hurt, more liable to harbor grudges, more liable to senseless action. That is scary. But, when you feel too much about something, you are motivated to work at it, more dedicated towards it, you don’t lose yourself when things go bad. That is a part of the recipe for success.

I am more of the Moderate and the Extreme. But, I have the tendency to become an Extreme. Do I need to work to change this? Only time will tell….