Feature

Cell phone lost and regained

Shayera Moula

Day one of another busy semester and students are galloping around to pay last minute fees, add or drop courses or in my case work on a top secret mission and collect information from around the campus for document X (top secret it shall remain).

The bag's zipper is opened then closed then opened again all the way to work when suddenly at two in the afternoon I realize that my cell phone has gone missing! Someone must have stolen it from my bag no doubt. I mean come on, I am so responsible, so careful about my belongings, so protective over…okay yes, I was just comforting myself. Who was I kidding?? I am so reckless; there goes my digital camera-d, Bluetooth-ed, megapixel-ed cell phone! Always me…ALWAYS ME!!

Okay get a grip and focus on the plan of action (drum rolls). Should I tell my dad right now or wait till I go home? (heart beats faster than the drum roll)Perhaps if I told another five people to call my cell number, for all we know the last three people who tried calling to hear some robotized lady say “Mobile shonjok dewa shombob hochena” could all be false! Don't trust no one!

At this very moment, Shahnoor Wahid (the protector of freelancer souls like myself) panicked a zillion times more than all of the other staff workers combined yet assured me that locking the sim would be ideal at this point. Thus the plan of action is established. So without killing any further time, people stepped into the Grameen Phone site, took their numbers, calls were made and the sim locked. On the side, I quite busily called dad and told him that I lost my cell and would explain details later because I have my mind on too many things right now. Good, that saves me three hours to figure out what story to tell my parents and how to transit my role from a slapdash pathetic idiot to a pitiable victim.

“Uh…I gave someone to hold my cell and the next thing I know, s/he was missing with my cell!”...ok no…illogical… “I probably had my bag unzipped and someone must have shoved their hand in it, luckily discovered my cell and took it in a jiffy!” NOOO…too complicated. “I left my bag outside when I went to the washroom and when I came back it was gone” yes perfect story. Note: no one will believe me when I say that I honestly don't remember where I saw my phone last. All prepared with the long face, the upside down smile and the energy to dramatically burst out into tears I entered the house when mum turned around and said, “So you found your cell huh?” Ahem…uh…what? (There goes the chance of anyone knowing about my great acting skills!)

“Some girl found your phone and called A so that she can inform you,” she said in a very matter-of-fact like tone. So I called A who told me that she actually got a message from B saying that some girl called her. Then I called B and she told me that a certain C found my phone. So to sum it up C called B, B told C to put the cell in the lost and found section and C said she wanted to give it to me! B asked C who she was, C said that she was C along with other information. Well, this is all sweet of C… EXCEPT that my cell had been shut closed and so I had LOCKED MY SIM!!! So, question number one, WHERE DO I FIND HER??

Day two of another busy semester and students are still sprinting around to pay last minute fees, add or drop courses or in my case work on another top secret mission and collect information on who this mystery girl is and how I can find her. All set up with another plan of action, I venture out. When I went over to know about her by using the information she gave B, I was told that this is violating privacy. This could in fact be a prank on some poor girl and I should not go beat up some aimless wonderer known as C. Okay, I am irresponsible but I am not stupid!

As soon as I stepped out with all the information about her schedules a friend of mine handed me my cell phone. Ahem…apparently she had been waiting for me and thought of me as a silly girl who doesn't care about her cell so hasn't bothered to know where it is. She called A with her cell phone and was annoyed at the amount of money she spent on me (ekks…I thought you were just another cell snatcher!)

Anyway, now I am staring at the coal black phone and still wondering how I lost it. I never even went to the place where C had found my phone! I have to go to the office and unlock my sim again and I most definitely need to call C up and thank her.

Weird thing is “how…I mean HOW did I actually lose it and how did she find it?” So many questions and nothing make sense. Very few people actually find their phones back and yes a lot of cell phones are going missing in campuses and that too all over the world. I am jus lucky that mine ended up in the right hands.

So what's the plan of action now? Keep my cell phone in a “top secret” place and of course make sure that I treat my valuables valuably.

(Student of BRAC University)