Where's My Phone?!

     I had the biggest scare of my life today. I lost my smartphone. It is one of those things that the modern generation has grown so attached to, that losing it is like having part of your life taken away from you. And why not? A smartphone is such a brilliant device that it seems to find its way into every part of our lives. We use it not just to make or receive calls, but also as a camera, music player, radio, internet browser, game station, personal organiser, and even alarm clock! With the countless apps available for downloading, the smartphone can be even 'smarter', performing many more functions.

     So, you can imagine my devastation when I realised my smartphone was not in my backpack, where I remembered was the last place I had put it in. The worst case scenario came to mind. All those data stored in my phone: contact numbers, vital information contained in text messages... they could be gone forever, bringing a huge impact on my personal and work life. Instinctively, I tried as hard as I could to retrace my day, hoping to remember a point in time when I could have taken out the phone or where it could have possibly been misplaced. Calling my phone was useless as I had put it in silent mode earlier on before the start of a meeting. My search efforts proved to be futile. I returned to my hotel room where I was staying during the course of the 4-day meeting, praying hard that I would still get it back somehow.

     After dinner at the hotel coffeehouse, I decided to search the meeting room again. I concluded that it was the most likely place that I might have lost my phone, after mentally retracing my steps. I searched more carefully under the table, and there it was, lying under a chair! It was the chair next to where I was sitting during the meeting, and like all chairs in the room, it was draped with a cover which reached to the floor, as how banquet chairs look. Somehow, I did not spot the phone in my first search, no doubt due to my panic-induced hastiness. It must have slipped out from my backpack as I was busy putting my things back into the bag at the end of the meeting.  

     For three hours, my phone had been lying under the chair. I am just thankful that it was not left out in the open where it would have been stolen sooner than you can say "Samsung smartphone". One thing is certain -- I will take very good care of it in future, so that history does not repeat itself.