They were a rage when first introduced in India. Nice when musical, they can be annoying if someone selects Gabbar’s dialogues for their caller tunes.
Even though they don’t come cheap, a caller tune can be heard in a lot of phones. For every person the caller tunes differs. Call a local chaatwaala or an office boy or even your man servant and you are sure to hear Teri meri, meri teri from Bodyguard. A youngster is sure to have a popular Hindi or English number as his caller tune.
The older people prefer a Hindi film song or even a devotional number. Still others like to proclaim their faith loud and clear. But everyone’s caller tune is a reflection of their mood and their state of mind at that particular time.
Vibhuti Verma, a textile designing student at NID, Ahmedabad, says, “As of now it is Apologise by Timberland because I really like the song but previously, most of them were according to my mood – loud and pumped up.”
She feels that a caller tune should be set according to what the person would like to hear. “I even thought of putting Ek Chatur Naar and Washing Powder Nirma as my caller tune, just to pep the caller up!” she laughs.
Sarthak Kakar, a public school teacher, used to change his caller tune every month. “My tunes reflected my moods,” he says. Akash Rai*, working in an MNC, has his company’s promo as his caller tune.
“At first it sounded promotional but the music was so positive and every caller liked it so much that I decided to keep it. It’s just Rs. 30 per month but it keeps callers happy!” he says.
However, there are people who do not like this concept at all. Shreya Katuri, a journalism student at Kamala Nehru College, says, “I’ve never used them. It’s actually a stupid idea. The songs do not even sound good over the phone. Besides, I’m not listening to it! I’d much rather have the song as my ringtone.”
While caller tunes reflects one’s state of mind, they may also become a source of embarrassment for some. Common sense says that a song like Bheege Honth shouldn’t be playing on your business phone. Comments Sarthak, “As soon as I got a job, I had to do away with caller tunes.”
They affect a caller more than you think. “People start judging you when you put a caller tune and it is often negative. Irrespective of whether you have a romantic, outgoing or even a religious number, the person calling you is likely to judge you,” he says.
Setting the tune to suit one’s mood, one has to keep in mind that only a youngsters’ friends would care about. Others would probably just think that they have dialled the wrong number! So just keep it simple, straight ringtones work just as well.
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