BENGALURU: It was a random weekday in the mid-’90s, when our English teacher told us of what the future would look like. ‘You will be able to see the person you’re speaking to, on your watch! No phone, no TV, nothing!’. That image left a lasting impression in my imagination. I would often dream of this futuristic future. I belong to a generation of people who has a watch around their wrist at all times. I grew up at a time when all watches of the world did the same thing – show the time. A time when you needed a clock hung on a wall to prevent your entire life going haywire.
Watches were aspirational because our elders wore them. Watches with names like ‘Akshay’ and ‘Vikas’. Every lane had a watch shop where miniature screws were inserted into delicate timepieces. Everybody wore watches. Heroes wore watches as they smashed villains to dust. Cricketers like Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad bowled with watches. The cool senior in every school had a swanky G-Shock strapped to his wrist. Even in semi-socialist times, the Capitalist in me got hooked on watches. While the elders looked for ‘decency’ in a watch, I looked for cutting-edge innovation.
‘Talking watches’ would read out the time on the press of a button. The dream-like ‘Train watch’ had a tiny train chugging in the dial. Like their real-life counterparts, these trains would often break down! Waterproof watches seemed like a sci-fi fantasy. But since the biggest problem in my life was mathematics, I feverishly fantasised about the ‘calculator watch’.
A watch with buttons so miniscule, it felt more relaxing to just learn about LCM and HCF. I bought my first watch in my early 20s and have always worn one since. Even at that age, I had perceptions of maturity and immaturity – so I chose an analog watch. Over the years, I have left some watches in bars. I have cracked the dial of others. Some watches have been forgotten in cricket grounds, and others have simply gathered dust in drawers. But I have ensured that there is a watch on my wrist at all times.
Watches faced their toughest competition when smartphones became popular. My friends would often ask me, bewildered, “Why can’t you just look at your phone to know the time?” They were right, of course. But it felt weird to tell them that my hand felt naked without a watch. And so I persisted on with different watches, cruising through the first wave of health bands and smartwatches.
For a brief period, I cheated with health bands. One of them only blinked if I completed my steps. Another beeped if I stayed in one position for an hour – making it hard to watch movies in a theatre. Health watches that were supposed to show me every health-related insight, but only gave me anxiety every time I looked at the battery levels. Smartwatches today are capable of doing everything. They can count the steps as you go on a hike, map your stress levels when you see a bear, count your heartbeat as you panic, and measure your steps as you flee from the scene.
Buddha said that desires are the cause of all suffering. So I have finally settled on a dumb smartwatch. It gives me the bare necessities – steps, alarm, and a tiny light for when I bang into the fridge at night. We are not far from the day that my English teacher prophesied about. But even on that day, I’ll have a timepiece strapped to my wrist. It’s a relic that tells of earlier times while showing the time.
(The writer’s views are personal)