Emtional distance and mobile phone

The advent of mobile phones signalize a remarkable change in our daily lives. A day without this small gadget is unthinkable.

Besides many other things, mobile phones have significantly narrowed the emotional distance of our hearts.

My family and I live apart in a distance of 120 Kms.The mobile phone that I use cannot reduce this physical distance. But emotionally I am always with them. In other words I carry my family and the dear and near ones(You are included) in my pocket. Of course metaphorically. Whenever I have the urge to talk(You are included again) to them, I fish out my mobile phone and my wish is instantly realized.(We are living in an age of instancy--instant coffee, instant noodles...right?) Be it on a busy street or in my small cozy room or during a comfort break in prolonged official meeting.

Now read the following poem by late Bireswar Baruah roughly translated by yours truly:

' Rays from the stars travel for many light- years to reach us.
I get your news from a different town.
The gap between what I get and what I do not,
seems to be a distance of light-years.'

Surely the poem talks about emotional distance in pre-mobile times.(Bireswar Baruah did not have a mobile when he wrote this I am sure).

A person like me who sleeps with the mobile phone is incapable of comprehending such a thought. And I am sure 'I am not the only one'.

Mobiles phones are bound to rob us of such transcendent poetry.