It always happens when the mind wants it to happen!

There was a distinctive tinkle and I knew that my phone was ringing. I took the phone out of my pocket and paused for a while before allowing my index finger to swipe and let the caller in.

Strange that I actually paused… it was probably a signal to warn me from taking that call… but I went ahead and even as the swipe was completed I felt a strange suction force from the mobile in my hands. I was still some distance from panic but the first thought to strike me was, ‘Can a mobile phone suddenly become a living avatar of a python and start sucking in humans?’

‘Ha!’ I said, ‘This happens only in fantasy thrillers and sci-fi flicks from Hollywood.’

‘No,’ said a voice, ‘this is actually happening.’

I could now neither speak nor shout nor even move my limbs. This strange suction force was increasing and my power was decreasing… I was sort of, already helpless and was slowly being pulled towards a phone that was only a fraction of my size.

My mind was now in a thorough state of panic. It was shouting some instructions but they all seemed too far away and very fast getting inaudible too. I remember my throat was dry and my eyes were getting droopier every moment. No, I didn’t want to fall asleep or unconscious and something told me that I must stay awake and alert and that even this moment of trial would pass.

Pass, yes the moment did pass… but not before it had made the mobile much much larger than me… or was it the other way round? Had my size been reduced to a fraction of what it was originally was? There was no way of ascertaining anything. All I wanted was the power back to my semi-paralysed limbs and my thoughts back to their audible and supportive position.

And then it happened. Suddenly… almost like strong gust of wind sucking you in… and I was… I don’t remember anything of what happened then. I only know of what must have happened later…

It always happens when the mind wants it to happen!

No headache. No droopy eyes. No enervated limbs. No suction anywhere. ‘Ah!’ I said aloud, ‘It must’ve been a wild dream.’

‘He’s awake!’

‘We have visitors,’ I thought and looked in the direction where the voice seemed to come from. It was a fairly thin creature that bounced more than it walked and had a face like a zero. Yes, it did look like a massive zero.

‘Who’re you?’ I asked.

‘I am what I am.’

‘Right,’ I said weakly. This conversation didn’t seem poised to go anywhere. This was when another voice entered this rather confusing scenario, and said, ‘Even I am what I am.’

This one was quite similar to the one that I had met earlier with the only difference being that it had a face that looked uncannily like a one. It was at this point that I asked, ‘Where am I?’ and then quickly added, ‘And please don’t say something as confusing as – you are where you are!’

There was silence for a while and it seemed that both my new friends were talking to each other. Then both turned towards me and just whistled.

And lo! I was literally drowned in a sea of zeros and ones… ‘This is madness.’ I thought, ‘Why am I being surrounded by what seems like millions of twins?’

‘Twins?’ I said aloud. The clamour stopped and they rearranged themselves into pairs of 0s and 1s and began dancing to this song that they seemed to like very much:

We are the twins, the twins, the twins
We are the famous twins! 

We look and we cook
In every possible nook
Because we are the famous twins! 

We rap and we map
And we love any app
Because we are the famous twins! 

We play and we slay
In the game that we play
Because we are the famous twins! 

We write and recite
With a bit and a byte
Because we are the famous twins! 

We are the twins, the twins, the twins
We are the famous twins!

‘Now do you know who we are?’ asked one of the zeros.

‘You said you were a bit and a byte,’ I hazarded a guess, and continued, ‘does this mean that you guys are what computer programs are made of? The zeros and the ones?’

‘What computer program?’ said an angered one, ‘We are the twins who also control every mobile in every hand!’

And then the chorus began again:

We are the file in mobile
And a band in a hand
We are the famous twins!

‘Ok! Ok!’ I protested, ‘Now I know that I am inside a mobile. And you are the friendly zeros and the ones who run all the apps and every function.’

‘He’s got it!’ said one of the ones.

‘He’s a hero!’ said one of the zeros.

They were certainly a friendly lot and I was enjoying being with them… and so I thought it would be great if I can learn some of the reasons why a mobile was so much fun!

‘So you guys are the ones that make a mobile so interesting?’ I asked.

‘Yes! We’re the ones,’ they chorused, and went on, ‘We are the famous twins!’

‘Listen, when you speak together, it creates a din and I get dizzy,’ I requested, ‘could just one of you please talk?’

‘One of the ones stepped forward and said, ‘I’m the one and let’s have fun!’

The zeros seemed rather crestfallen at this development until I said, ‘I talk to a one and have fun and I’ll also talk to a zero who’s a hero!’ This surely brightened them all up and our discussion began in earnest.

They told me that they were the people who worked hard running from one end of the mobile to the other taking messages that made it work. ‘We do all the work, and you humans say that your mobile works!’ they complained.

‘And I agree with you,’ I said, ‘because I know that every tap in a smartphone and every punch on a keyboard could never be alive unless your team went active!’

And they immediately broke into another verse singing!

We’re the one and we’re the hero
We give you fun and zappiro
We’re the twins, the famous twins!

‘Zappiro?’ I asked, ‘What’s a zappiro?’

‘Oh! A zappiro in our world is when you humans find what you wanted to find when you jump in joy and clap your hands, we say we’ve given you a zappiro!’

‘Isn’t that cute!’ I said, ‘you guys are giving everyone so many zappiros all the time all over! You’re the ones, you’re the heros!’

It was after they had told me about all the various ways they formed different formations that meant different commands and solved every little problem that was posed to them, that I asked them what they thought of internet on the mobile.

The net, the net, our pet, our pet
It gives you fun and it’s fun we get
We’re the twins, the famous twins!

‘Yes, the internet on a mobile is what we love most,’ said a one, ‘we simply love zipping out of a mobile to rush to wherever we are asked to rush and then we do whatever we are asked to do.’

‘We do what we’re told to do,’ added the zero, ‘and we get what we’re asked to get.’

‘You mean the same one or the same zero gets back to the same mobile?’ I asked a bit incredulously.

‘No, it isn’t that way at all. Our brothers are everywhere and we’re the same, as you see. A lot of us move out and a lot of us move in.’

Moving in, moving out
With a din and a shout
We’re the famous twins!

‘We obey your command,’ they said, ‘we let you play games with your friends in the other corner of the world.’

‘I know that,’ I said, ‘and I love it.’

‘We carry your voice, your photos, and even your video clips,’ another 0 chipped in, and continued, ‘your texts, your messages, and your feelings.’

‘Feelings? Now that surely is what you’re making up. It can’t be true,’ I said.

‘We do. We know it when you tap harder than usual. We know when a tear-drop hits the keyboard. We know when you’re in a hurry and we know when you can’t wait for the answer.’

But we do what we do
And we are what we are
We’re the famous twins!

‘And we love to carry your Facebook updates, even the naughty ones,’ said one.

‘And the tweets that are sweet and the sour and the dour!’ said another.

‘Your files for the dropbox are safe with us,’ said yet another.

‘What about chess moves and the flying angry birds?’ asked a timid looking youngish zero.

‘He’s still learning. Don’t mind him,’ answered a brighter one, and added, ‘the truth is that we have fun when you have fun.’

‘Yes, that’s true,’ said a sombre looking zero, ‘we still rush out with all our sad packages that you want us to take and deliver, but we never like it then. We then wish you could be less sad and more happy.’

We love work, we don’t shirk
We don’t shirk ‘cause we love work!
We’re the famous twins!

It was at this moment that a booming voice announced, ‘It is time for the visitor to now go back to his world. We hope he tells everyone that the internet stores a lot of fun… and we make even work a lot of fun. We hope he would tell other humans that we also have a lot of fun in doing what we do for we are what we are.’

‘Who’s this voice?’ I asked.

‘Oh! He’s one of us who enjoys being a booming voice.’

Shaka-laka! shaka-laka! Boom! Boom! Boom!
We’re fun, we have fun. Bloom! Bloom! Bloom!
We’re the famous twins!

The moments spent with these fantastical creatures were lively and full of verve… and I was now without doubt that internet on the mobile is nothing but sheer fun. Even when it is work, it must be enjoyed… and then it magically transforms into a form of fun!

And then, just as suddenly as it had happened when I was to get inside the mobile, a gust of wind power appeared and I was literally blown out of the phone’s innards.

I opened my tightly shut eyes and found the phone lying on the table in front of me… but it seemed so much fuller of life. I looked at it, remembered the 0s and the 1s inside, blew a fond kiss and gently hummed:

The net is fun and thanks for your zappiro
I love the funny one and the hero that is zero
For, I know you’re the famous twins!

Now please don’t ask me if this is just a story… it isn’t. It always happens when the mind wants it to happen!

Inside a mobile!

This post is a part of the ‘Internet is fun‘ blogging contest on indiblogger. Contest is sponsored by Vodafone, that directs the zeros and the ones inside any device!

Arvind Passey
18 May 2012