phone for 999 rupees anyone?

Chiku is fascinated by the mobile.There is nothing earthshaking about it.D talks to me and he immediatley wants her phone in his hands. She does not budge and tells him, you are all the time talking and blabbering to your mother. I also want to talk nice stuff with my mother. So there.

He is sometimes diverted to other interesting stuff  nearby and wanders off for a few minutes. Then he wants to be lifted up, so he is nearer the toy that mother is enjoying. Of late he has also started giving me stories.There will be a constant BGM when D talks to me nowadays. It is chikku chatter!

D know that she cant keep the chatter in the background for long. And Chiku will not be a silent spectator. So she told me, when you are coming here, get him a toy phone. If it is really dumb then he will not want it more than a day at the most.

So I told S to get a toy phone. He tried to wriggle out saying, I dont know what to buy, I get really confused seeing so many features and models of toy phones that these shops display. So you go and buy as per exact specs that D wants. I am a little clever in this game now.So I said, yes, I will but I would want you to go with me.

That made S buy the toy phone this weekend. I saw the price tag! 999 rupees. I was stunned. It was a simple plastic dubba, how can it cost so much. On closer examination, it teaches the numerals if you press the keys once. You press them twice, then it sings different song bits for each numeral on the keyboard. If you press it three times then it is nursery rhymes. OK, I have only deciphered this much after a lot of prodding and pushing.

I think Chiku will figure this out faster than me. He will keep jab jab jabbing at the same key and will get to discover more features.

All that is in the realm of the future. For now,would he be interested enough to fool around with it when  D wants to have extended conversations with me.

If yes, then the BIG investment  is paisa vasool. Otherwise we will have to make cost benefit analysis. You see I just found out that  the secondary market price of a  REAL base model phone that my maid has is 1000 rupees.