Last night I dreamt that my phone went missing. Not that it walked away on its own having had enough of me, as it would seem from the way I framed that first sentence, just that it couldn’t be found.

By the way, even if it did, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least, you see. And here I have a confession to make, by penning which I would be putting myself in a vulnerable situation were the children, the L&M, or my doctor, to come across it, giving them fodder to be used against me. Just kidding. They are all angels in human form. [I have to say this!]

Anyway…

The confession: I use the phone a lot. A LOT. How do I know? One day, my previous phone, the One Plus 7, actually told me in so many words, ‘Shail! Keep the phone down and enjoy other activities for a while’. Not kidding, at all. I was not sure whether I should be embarrassed or pissed off. Look at the gall, the cheek, the audacity of the watchammacallit, telling me, ME, what to do! I own you, phone, not you me! No, I did not say that out loud. I did one better, I went ahead and did just what I wanted.

The word ‘a lot’ here obviously covers checking messages, but of course, and reading stuff that needs reading. Apart from that I play games. No, Not Farmville, which I do play as you all know, but which is reserved for the bigger screen of my iPad. The better to enjoy the graphics, my dear! The games on my phone are mostly related to words. Wordle. Waffle, Stackdown, One Word Search, Flipple, Word Chase, Word Grid. Phew, quite a few already. But there’s more. Crossclimb, and Strands. Zip, Queens and Mini Sudoku too, though they aren’t word related. In addition, being an incurable dog-lover, I watch videos, mostly of dogs and then some cats too.

So you see, I wouldn’t be surprised if the phone were to walk away on its own, muttering ‘enough is enough’, though to be fair, I do give it lots of rest in between, when I cook, walk, write, read and go have fun with friends. But walking away is not what happened in my dream, the phone went missing. By the way, did you all forget that’s how the post started, a dream about losing my phone? Don’t worry. For a moment there, I did too. Sigh. Digression is my bane. But now thankfully we are, rather I am, back on track.

In my dream, I was in one huge hall which was being decorated. Lots of people were milling around, curtains were being put up, flower arrangements perfected, tables were being set. The people included a mix of family and friends. When I couldn’t find my phone, I went about asking each one if they had seen my phone. The answer was in the negative. ‘Hey! One of you please call my phone.’ I called out even as I continued my search, beneath some papers, the gathered ferns and flowers, the napkins, the paper towels… I couldn’t find it anywhere.

In the meantime, busy that the others were none of them had made the call to my phone. It was time to close up the hall and leave for the day. I was by then miffed that none had bothered to ring my phone. ‘I asked one of you to call my number!’ I called out in some annoyance, and someone or other sprang to it. No luck. No ringing.

I sighed and followed others out of the hall into the beautiful park outside. The grass, and the leaves on trees were till wet from the shower earlier. We walked through the walkway towards our cars. On either side were beautiful arrangements, of shrubs and in between them driftwood and potted flowers in wrought iron holders.

As I walked the trepidation in me, grew. How was I going to tell my family, especially my elder son that I had lost the phone? He had got me the latest iPhone as a gift, last year, and now I had lost it. More than even the loss was the knowledge that this would mean I wouldn’t be trusted again with anything from now on. I could imagine a future where the L&M would constantly ask me, ‘Do you have your phone?’ or ‘Where’s your phone?’ (which he does now too, every single day when we go out, or in the middle of an outing, even without my having ever misplaced it!) driving me up the wall.

Sigh. I was resigned to my fate and soldiered on towards the car park with downcast face, when…. what do I see? My phone resting between some ferns and flowers arrangement in a wrought iron holder kept on a raised platform by the side of the pathway. Mysteriously enough, though the grass was wet, and the leaves and the flowers were adorned with raindrops, my phone was completely dry. I was so relieved. The day had been saved.

That’s when I woke up and felt even more relieved when I realised it had all been a dream, and my phone was exactly where I had left it on my table. There’s one thing that struck me while I woke up. Why hadn’t I used the ‘Find My Phone’ feature instead of asking my friends to call me? Hmm… May be that feature doesn’t exist in dream phones, who knows!

©️ Shail Mohan 2025

I have written a really long post after a long time. You are forgiven if you left it halfway or fell asleep reading it. As for me I am so happy to be back and writing a rambling post, digression and all. No pictures to break the monotony either! 😉 Those of you who have finished it, you are truly the best and I love you 🥰