True Love & Cell Phones

By Reza Ganjavi

Left phone on the bus seat – saw it on the way out – a bit later lost it again on a train! Looked everywhere for it – and unhappy because of the data in it (mainly song ideas). Turned every stone. Gave up in home town so took a train to the big city today in search of the lost phone. Met a friend at the station and told him I am optimistic because in this country lost things come back – I’ve had experience where wallet with money in it, keys, phone, even once a laptop disappeared but came back.

Some years ago, I found a cell phone – took it to the lost & found office, and later they wrote and said no one claimed it so you can have it. That’s how I ended up with a cell phone years ago, and it gradually crept into my life. To this day, it plays a very minor role – can’t stand the radiation – always gives me headaches, and I feel it cooking my brain with its microwave – so I always use the speaker phone. In the USA, it’s very nice to have a smart phone because you drive everywhere, and it’s so convenient… In Europe I don’t need one – I have a laptop all the time with a full-size keyboard and Windows XP, which is very stable and doesn’t have the Windows 7 & 8’s shortcomings.

Can’t believe how expensive smartphones are. Most people only use a few apps, and the value proposition is questionable. But nice toy to have if one can afford it – but on “airplane mode” as much as possible to avoid radiation. To carry it “live” in one’s pocket is a bad idea.

City life in Europe is cool -- i.e., regularly being so close to actual people than just cars. And Swiss is particularly fun because people look you in the eyes and there’s a high degree of trust, which I love.

The lost & found office had my phone – I screamed, “Yes”!!!! And prayed for her :-) … She said they get a lot of phones and expensive ones too, back. Whereas in some other places they end up quickly in second hand markets. It’s puzzling though that in a nation so based on trust, some entities, especially banks, so irresponsibly cater to criminal money like in the recent case of the Swiss branch of HSBC, a shame of an organization. And there are many other big businesses that abuse the trust of the good Swiss people.

Celebrated the found phone with a piece of goat cheese with vegetarian rennet (instead of from animal gut), which is used as commercial rennet in most cheese). It was like chocolate (which I love but never eat).

True love is like that cell phone – if it gets lost, it comes back ;-)