All Intensive Purposes

Gautam Malkani's piece in yesterday's Financial Times about ethnicity and masculinity in British Asians -- not to be missed, but for subscribers only, so sign up for the free 15-day trial or find a paper copy -- had much to say, including this aside about mobile phones.

Asians have typically been early adopters of new technology but even 10 years ago top-of-the-range Nokia handsets were being brandished by schoolboys in ways that they couldn't always do with the latest sports car, widescreen television or video game console. . . . [M]obile phones represent more than just fashion accessories . . . . They are also weapons that enable a new kind of technological truce between domineering Indian mothers and sons, one that somehow gives both parties more potency. Boys are able to conduct their affairs in greater privacy while mothers can exert their overbearing presence even when their sons aren't at home.