Offline for a Day

I un-smartphone-d myself for a day, and things went by just fine.

No matter how many times I unlocked it, the screen only showed the time.
There was nothing on the phone at all, not a thing to keep a hold on my mind.

I saw some television uninterrupted at night. 
There were no posts to scroll through while the ads rolled by.
No click-bait mails about shopping sales, for things we’d never need.
Conversations and observations about the movie that baby was seeing, 
We made plans for the rest of the week, and myriad musings in between.

I got into bed shortly after baby’s bedtime story. And slept.
I did not check for insta-feeds of my friends in exotic locales. 
I did not check for how many likes my recent photo got, 
Nor the memes hatched (and rehashed) on the most recent sport win and loss

I woke up without an alarm. The doorbell interrupted my dreams. 
No fitbit sync, no news to check, no self-righteous trolls to make me wanna scream
The clock actually managed to tick tock on, without a whatsapp good-morn’ 
Or that facebook Happy Birthday!! to the long lost forgotten one.

Not everything was easy-peasy, some things were sorely missed,
My baby boy cribbed and pouted, in the car he wanted his playlist.
I had no nursery rhymes or songs to calm away his Monday blues.
We talked instead, and tried to sing along to the not-so-familiar radio tunes.

After the day-care drop, at the coffee shop 
I remembered that my card too can pay. 
I did not have their app installed and could not “wave” the bill away.
Smiled at the regular baristas and waited for my brew to brew; looking at other folks for a change
Each one doing things (or passing time?) with a screen, unaware of who else was there.

I drove to work, with the radio on; the known unknown songs a pleasant surprise, 
No beeps and tweets broke into my thoughts as I waited for that green light.
My grocery subscription needed a check, but again it had to wait. 
The app I used for veggies and fruits isn’t on my phone today.

I reached my desk without a clue, of who mailed what overnight to whom.

As my laptop started, I longed to see my first glimpse of the interwebs since I wiped my smartphone clean

Eh…

There’s no big drama that has unfolded?

No pressing matter has made the world collapse?

No panic distress that needed my immediate resolution?

Things (and Life) so quickly managed to go by just fine, 
They didn’t even care that I was Offline.