Once it was a status symbol. I still remember vividly, the excitement of using it for the first time more than 35 years back. I was so thrilled that my grandfather was getting one. By the time it was installed and ready to use, it was about 4 PM. I had to rotate a wheel many times and wait for someone from the post office to say ‘hello’. He then connected me to my uncle. I recognized the voice and looked around the hall to see where he was hiding. But he was somewhere else in the village. 
Even when it became a necessary household item, getting one needed many strings to be pulled. In the mid 90s, when I wanted one for my Delhi residence, the waiting period was close to a year. I had to jump the queue with the help of local BJP MLA.
Then came its wireless avatar, which was nothing but an outrageous luxury. My first usage bill was about Rs.12 & Rs.8 per minute of outgoing & incoming calls respectively.
Yes, we have come a long way and it is no longer considered a luxury. Almost everyone has it and we keep it away from us only when we take bath since it is not waterproof.
Let me go back to the good old ‘landline’ phone. A cursory analysis of last 6 months bills indicate how poorly it is getting used. It didn’t make any sense to pay rental for paperweights. So, my beloved ‘landline phone’ was laid to rest with due respects today.
Years back, when the cassette players became history I had to literally give away hundreds of cassettes collected over two decades. Today, in that list of historical items, the poor old fixed phone has joined.
The way things are going, soon fountain pens and wrist watches might join that list. But I will not allow that to happen as long as possible. But one thing I am sure, will join that list, is the ‘CD/DVD’ players. With ‘Flash memory’ becoming cheaper by the day, the ubiquitous ‘pen-drives’ will become the medium to deliver contents before everything becomes a ‘cloud’.
I would give another 10 years for this to become the next item to join that list.
RIP – “Fixed Line Phone”
