Mobile phone proved saviour for a man left to face a tigress

The recent incident of a trusty cellphone saving a villager from an angry tigress and her cubs will be immortalised when the Panchatantra- and Jataka-equivalents of our era are chronicled. It will be told and retold to young and old alike as proof that the worth of a forgotten friend can never be underestimated. That technology can often mean the difference between life and death is an oft-quoted truism, usually in the context of life-saving diagnostic machines. But armed with killer apps, the unassuming mobile phone has also become crucial for people confronted with a host of modern travails from getting lost to getting bored. Now, the device has assured itself a place in modern legend too by demonstrating its usefulness in unusual emergencies too, losing neither connectivity nor battery life despite prolonged neglect in the man’s pocket and valiantly helping its owner to summon help from nearby villages to scare off the tigress and her progeny.

Thus, the humble mobile is the true god of our gadget era. It most certainly deserves to be given pride of place alongside the more conventional divinities on that grateful man’s mantelpiece. After all, it effortlessly fulfils the role of friend, protector, companion, guide, illuminator and more — that too in a universally non-contentious avatar.