Phone in the water!

(image source: www.gettyimages.com)

How would you react if your mobile phone fell in water? This was a predicament I faced in Hyderabad recently. I had gone to Hyderabad for official work last week. Just before leaving office, I went for a wash and my Redmi 2 prime mobile phone fell into the water (let us not go into where it fell). Though I panicked for an instant (it is just 6 months old), I switched off the phone and removed the cover, battery, sim and memory cards, shook the water off from the phone and wiped them clean with my handkerchief. Some common sense (whatever of it is still left) told me not to assemble and restart the phone.

At office, I searched the internet (God bless internet, it gets you everything in life...well almost!). There were many suggestions ....use a blower, take it to the service centre and.....tell the truth, hold it close to a fire (!), pray (duh!) and the most common of all - say 'bye-bye' to it and get yourself a new one!

However, I was surprised to see a grandma-like cure listed for phones falling into water. Clean them and.....leave them in rice for 24-48 hours! In rice? Well some users had attested to the efficacy of this method and I decided to try this out.

I had to fly that that night to Madras. Once in Madras, with lingering doubts in my mind, I hid my mobile phone and the battery under a heap of rice. I left it that night and till the next evening. Close to 20 hours later, with the same frame of mind as a doubting Thomas,  I took the phone out, fitted the battery, the sim card and started the phone. Lo, it started! And it started working as fine as before!

I hope you don't drop your cellphones in water...........still, if you do, you know what method to try first!