Long long ago, I bought a Nokia phone. It was a basic phone which enabled me to listen to music in addition to making calls and sending text messages. I loved my phone, and we lived happily for about 2 years. I got married, had a kid, got a better job, and then started feeling that I needed a better phone, one that is smarter and more stylish. Of course, I was not willing to pay much and buy a very expensive phone, nor did I want to buy a phone of dubious make which won’t be reliable. I decided to buy a Dell phone that ran Android, and had a good enough screen for what it costed. I took extreme care of my new phone because it was my first ever smart phone. Again, we got on famously until that fateful day about 8 months later when, all of a sudden, my phone stopped working.

My phone switched itself off and refused to come back to life. I did all I could to try and resuscitate it, but my efforts were in vain. On closer analysis, a bulge on the battery came to the notice of one of my friends. I took the phone to a service center since it was still in the warranty period of 1 year. While they took their time to find out the problem with the phone, I stood disconnected from the world of mobile communication. That is when I remembered my old companion – my not-so-smart phone.

Where was my old friend when I needed her the most? I walked back the semi-lit lanes of my memory, and it came to my mind that I had given my old phone as a toy for my daughter to rough up. I fished for it in the closet where all her toys where stored, and finally pulled out two or three different components which when assembled together came back to the form of my trusty old phone. Trying to switch it on, it did not work – no wonder, it had not been charged in the last 6 months. I plugged it in and it started charging. In a couple of hours, it was back to okay. My phone, which stood by me all through its service and then had to undergo untellable hardship for my sake now serves me again, without complains, without grudge.

As for the Dell phone, my worst fears were confirmed when the service-center guy called me and said that the battery was dead and the phone was okay, because the battery had warranty cover of only 6 months and I now have to get a new one. Anyway, till that time, I’ll make do with my Nokia phone. Hats off to the makers of such a sturdy and resilient model, which comes back to life like a Pheonix even after it has been dismantled and manhandled!Update: The Dell phone recovered after some time with a new battery, but its touch screen had issues, and so could not be used. Since the company shut down its mobile device business at about the same time, I couldn’t get it repaired or replaced from them, and so continued to use my endurant Nokia phone till today, the first of September 2013, when I am retiring it for my new Nokia Lumia.