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ITS LIBERATING Missed calls leave no trace and stand for no particular phrase or sentence

It sounds weird but communicating through “lost” calls is now an established practice. It’s free, leaves no trace and stands for no particular phrase or sentence. It’s liberating! Its meaning depends entirely on the context. It can mean a brisk “call me back”, the mushy “I’m thinking of you” or a stern “Bring the car to the door.” In Africa it’s known as “beeping” or “flashing” (“I’ll beep you when I get there”, or “He keeps flashing me”). The French call it “sonner” (“Call while absent”). The Spanish with their creative vocabulary have named it “jumper”. What we need is a contest – prizes for a catchy name for this lingo. Send it through a hit-or-missed call, please.

Misscom is a symbol of telecom technology leap - from trunk calls to missed calls. Proves our lead in language ability. Archana, who divides her time and friends between the U.K. and India says the British and the waiting-to-be-British take a dim view of live mobile calls. Calling a person on the mobile is rude. It’s intrusion. Then what’s a mobile for? Text-messaging. TM gives the receiver the time, space and mood needed to reply, spin yarns of excuse. The missed-call strategy could be a substitute.

This is how it works. “My nephew would call and switch off after a couple of rings, the cheapie,” said Kannappan, a businessman. “As the more responsible, model-setting uncle, I have to call him to find out why he called.” Smarty, not cheapie. Airtime is money. People who use the MC trick say it’s convenient. Can’t quarrel with that. You buy your driver a mobile that can only take incoming calls. Then give him the code, usually a three-ring circus. “If your mobile ring stops after three hoots, time for you to pick me up.” Whoa!

MC is pre-arranged communication. School bus drivers have perfected this signal art. They have the mobile numbers of the kids’ moms. (What, no mobile? Sure you want your kid to continue in this school?) As the bus winds its way, the driver calls – MCs to be precise - the next mom on the route. Four/five/six chimes. It means, “Come down to the gate with the brat!” Saves time. Besides, he’s not parked in the street, honking his heart away, while harassed mom brainwashes kid that school is fun.

“Yeah, I guess it has its uses,” conceded Kannappan. “But it stinks of disrespect. If you don’t want to talk, send a TM. It’s a sneaky, penny-pinching practice, shows lack of mobile etiquette. Why would you cut a call instead of waiting through?” Srikanth, a marketing pro feels the argument won’t sell. “I own a mobile to be accessible. If I miss a call ’cause I’m away, it is I who has to call back. Won’t it be disrespectful if I don’t? And what if it’s an emergency? You take crank calls with the genuine ones, I guess.”

A missed call is also known to have set off fear alarms. Kalyani a home-maker remembers, “A gruff voice called in to say he had an MC from my number. Before I could respond, he went on: ‘Are you the income tax person? I’ve been paying taxes, is there something new? Why did you call?’ I asked him who he was, what his number was. He panicked, kept repeating he had paid his taxes. He took awhile to calm down and answer me. Turned out my husband had placed the call for something he sold. Phew!”

A missed call could be a central theme for a thriller. School and college students have a perfect system worked around it. Said Anjali, “You have pre-paid cards with free TM and in-coming calls. So you save on the out-going ones. The understanding is: “I call, cut it off if I know you are near a landline, and you call back. Parents pay!” Cool. And eco, when you’re short of cash. Parents won’t welcome whopping post-paid bills, so MC is the way out for those hung up on telecons. “There is this unwritten law here. If Lavanya calls and I’m busy talking, she (the initiator of the call) has to call again.” She had to ring off. “I have three missed calls waiting,” she said.

It always feels great to beat the system!

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