Our greatest discovery

At many occasions we have heard the question, what is India's greatest discovery? There are many opinions. Many people say our greatest contribution is 'zero'. They have a strong point. Zero is the basis of all larger numbers. Though it literally means nothing, this number is very powerful, which any mathematician would agree. In common man's terms, without zero the salaries of people does't make sense, financial returns of companies will struggle, digital world comes to a stop, taxi meters get confused, stock markets crash. I think it is safe to acknowledge that zero is our greatest contribution from ancient world, of course having prime importance in modern times also.

But what is our greatest discovery in modern world? I don' think there is a universally accepted answer. Is it the Ramanujan number, contribution of Bose in Higg's Boson particle, C V Raman's discoveries in the field of physics? In my mind, none of these appear to be fitting the top of the list. I think our greatest discovery is in the field of mobile communications. Before you make  any hi-tech guesses like 3G optimization, frequency modulated encryption or 'think to call' (all of these are yet to be discovered), let me tell you that I meant a much more simpler, but powerful and long living one. It is 'the missed call'.

Most of you would know what a missed call is. It is the only method developed so far in history for communicating a message over the phone without actually making a call or sms. And of course, without paying a penny. It is done by just ringing the other party and hanging up before he or she picks it up, and thus by passing on a pre-defined message. It is commonly used for passing on a 'digital' or yes/no type of message. For example, it is a common scene of an Indian mother telling her daughter who is travelling to her distant hostel, "Dear, give me a missed call when you reach safely". The mom is concerned for her daughter's safety, at the same time she wants to avoid making a call, thus saving a bit more money for her daughter's marriage after another fifteen years.  

A fact about the missed call is that it is not discovered by one person, but a discovery that has naturally occurred in the minds of thousands of Indians at the same time. As the proverb says that necessity is the mother of invention, I think this one cannot occur in the same degree to people from developed countries. Also, it is not a possibility in the underdeveloped countries where many people cannot afford a phone. And India being a developing country, with highest rate of mobile phone usage growth, but people still caring for money, the Indian nature of this discovery is obvious. Hence, I believe 'the missed call' is our greatest discovery in modern times.

Though I said that the missed call is more useful for yes/no type of messages, I have personally tried it for more complex messages. As an example, me and my friend have used it in the following way when we used to play cricket near his house.
One ring - things are good, match is on.
Two rings - bad weather or other issues at home, match is off.
Three rings - doubtful, wait for next call.
Keep ringing - more complex scenario, pick up, need to talk.

The above was done using landline phones, also without caller identification. Hence it is not foolproof, because if someone else at home is expecting a call, it is trouble. On the other hand, it is risky to use this technique using mobiles nowadays, because many times the caller hears a caller tune, and the called person hears a ring tone. Gone are the days of fixed number of ringing at both sides, too much technology is also a problem.  

Finally, how long will this nice way of communication last before the service providers put a stop to it? I think it is very difficult to bar any missed calls, because a call gets dropped before getting attended due to technical reasons too. Moreover, the receiving party always has freedom to not pick up the call or being away from the phone, so it cannot be distinguished from the true missed call. Missed call technology or feature is very much built into the mind, thus without a proper mind reader, you can't break it.  

Since the 'missed call' adds 'zero' cost to our phone bills, both of them go hand in hand. One is our greatest discovery in ancient times, and the other one in modern times. But, both are here to last for a very long time....