Voices

Its funny how things become crystal clear to you like an Eureka moment. In this age of mobile telephony, we have lost the charm of using landlines. Before the advent of technology like CLI, we could hear the ring of the phone, had absolutely no idea of who was calling so there was always a sense of anticipation. Our voices used to be at your best & we used to pick up with a firm hello. Then basis who it was on the other side calling would decide our next voice modulation.
With the advent of CLI( Caller Line Identification for the uninitiated), this whole equation changed overnight. Even before picking up the call we knew who was calling & accordingly got ready. If it was a friend who we really like it would have been a sweet hello, if it was someone who we want to avoid, our hello would have been say frosty. If any researcher was to record voice modulations & map it to relationships, it would throw the most interesting patterns
However what happens if you have a mobile phone but somehow don't have the number stored for people. How would you react? Lets take my example first. If I don't have anyone's number stored, I would look hard at the number & try to place it to someone, something I know & am familiar with. I would start with a circumspect hello & then based on the person open up the conversation or close it. I wonder what the listener would feel. Usually human senses are quite good. The caller can usually sense the behaviour & thinking of the other person from the voice of the person. So if I am uncomfortable, the user can sense it & then would based on his or her smartness would cut short the discussion

The other kind of reaction is completely possible as well. If you have an unknown number, you could pick it up with an ebullient hello & then your voice suddenly gets punctured. chuckle chuckle. There is this moment of uncomfortable silence where in both the parties think & try & guess the other person's thoughtprocess. Its fascinating how once discovers so much in that moment of silence than months of conversation. That is the moment of truth as they say in management. Well most fables of management apply in real life too

I am beginning to discover my moments in life. It is great that I now have got back my ability to discern between right & wrong once more. Lets hope the book reading habit continues & this discerning capability nevers deserts me again :)