'I will teach you a lesson'

Cellphone Menace

A metaphor for the young age could be “cellphone”. Such is the influence of mobiles on youth. Its sheer ringing makes people active, messages make them emotional. For youth, it’s almost an inseparable part of their being.

The mischievous minds of youngsters have also found ways of making fun with cellphones. They indulge in making blank calls and prank calls with their cellphones just for some small thrill or simply for kidding. Mostly, prank calls are directed at girls.

However, after initial irritation, girls know how to deal with pranksters on the other end of their cellphone. Metrolife spoke to few girls who have discovered ways and means of overcoming this nuisance.    

Soumya, is one such girl, who knows what to say to the blank callers and pranksters. “I am not a novice in managing these calls.” Sharing her experience, she says, “Some times, I dial a wrong number by mistake and from then on my misfortune begins. If the number is of some boy, he starts giving missed calls or sending messages. Most of the time, they do it for fun without any evil intentions. But I feel very uncomfortable. Then I take my brother's help, who takes care of the rest,” she reveals.

“Recently, one of my friends became a victim of prank calls. So we decided to teach a lesson to the trouble-maker. We shared the number among all our friends and we started giving blank calls to him. After two days, he apologised and gave up his wayward behaviour,” adds Soumya. Preeti is another girl with ideas. She herself uses many tricks to teach a lesson to the prank caller.

“I don't know how people get my number. Initially, I ignore and don't reply. If it continues then I pretend to be a journalist and warn them of the consequences. Thankfully, it works out,” she says.
In several cases, known people make prank calls for fun. Call makers keep their identity secret and provoke other person to find out who they are. “It is one thing I dislike the most. Making such guesses to an extent is okay, but I don't want to give wrong ideas to the person by entertaining him for a long time.”

Vinay had a bitter experience due to his mischievous act on the phone. His thirst for thrill was mistaken and he lost the friendship forever. “Once I got one of my friend's number whom I hadn’t met after school days. I just wanted to kid her. I started massaging her, enquiring about her and I played hide and seek with my identity. Finally, she got annoyed and yelled at me saying she knew all this while who I was. Now, she doesn’t talk to me. I have lost a friend because of my stupidity. So, no such time pass for me of this kind,” tells Vinay disappointedly.