ABSTRACT
Distinct patterns of cell phone use linked to civic and political act reconfigure a new thematic political public. One could think of our pockets and leather bags on which most of us carry the tiny gadgets; in particular
smartphones are importantly like public spaces on the go. The keypads, swipe pads, push button beep and touchscreens, while on the go, engage in a wide array of citizen activism and have turned out to be the new city squares of connected age. Now it is time to opine that mobile phones seemingly cut across a range of social variables traditionally associated with marginality, be it caste, class, religion, gender, region and all other distressing social cleavages and it ensures social mobility across rigid social layers in ways that were not possible in the past. Women display more liberating power as cell phones could beat patriarchy. Dalits and caste minorities adopt cell phone activism since they facilitate quick access coupled with instant connection that defeats old cleavages. Sexual minorities could be verbal about the power of cell phone that they are able to leverage in order to get out of a closeted life in a heteronormative society. Working women and housewives say they could escape from misogyny and sexist oppression as cell phones give them more sense of protection and quick connection while on the go. From fish markets to skyscrapers, cell phones affect lives in unusual ways. M-governance to m-market and m-politics to m-health and with a plethora of mobile-affiliated rich terminologies, cell phones could bring in change. And more particularly mobile phones are a political act for the oppressed.
