Having a mobile phone became a necessity once I sat foot on India’s IT capital- Bangalore. I had to receive calls from …er…you know. So, I got myself a new Nokia handset sometime back. But I found by the end of one month that it was eating up my pocket as it turns out to be me who do all of the callings— instead of receiving calls. For the next two months, I reminded myself not to recharge every week but the service providers get me hooked by offering me new schemes… an offer I can’t refuse to let it go. So I gave up and talked as much as I could.
Sometimes, somebody at the other end of the line would just say, “You’ll be spending too much…” to which I would simply shrugs off saying, “ Don’t worry about that I got great offers to call you!”
I spent lots of time talking over the phone. The handset must have been very tired sometimes— if it were human. If ever, it were to complain, it would surely have done it or throw me a punch right on my ear!
Last week, somebody up there must be feeling pity for my overworked phone. It was finally relieved from my very own pocket under my very careful instinct. It happened when I was looking for a ‘safe house’ to rent it out as someone, you know, was coming to stay with me. Instead of finding a safer place, I landed up in an area where pick-pockets make their living.
I was returning in an over-crowded Bangalore Mahanagara Transport bus, constantly putting my right hand in my pocket to feel the presence of my ‘slave’ mobile. But as I was about to get down from the bus three people also tried to get down pushing me… the next moment I put my hands into my pockets I realised that my mobile had been taken away from me.
I saw one of the guys, who was half drunk, putting something under his armpit. I chased him and the bystanders looked at me as if they have never seen a Northeast lad running after a Southern crook. I caught him and frisked his pockets but I didn’t find my handset. Before I could tell the policeman who had been watching from the distance all the time, another crook hurried over to the next side of the road never to be seen again.
Not knowing exactly what to do, I went to the public call booth at the bus stand and called up my number. The thief picked it up but spoke in Kannada — a language I wish I could drive with my tongue.I pleaded him to bring back the mobile and even offered him something… but he cuts-off the line. I tried to call several times but I could only hear, “This mobile you are calling is not reachable. Please try again.” I got tired after several attempts so I went to my office in the afternoon to start the days work. But I miss my mobile… that’s for sure as I could not concentrate properly on my work. I gave some extremely hilarious and overtly serious headlines. My colleague, quite a mused, by all the headlines send me a note (via the intranet): Robert, did ‘someone’ call you up? I replied saying, “ No, I had just lost the tool…damn it.”
During office break, using a colleague mobile, I called up the customer care service to block my SIM which they could not do under new guidelines for registration of lost mobiles and number blocking. The customer service man politely explained his helplessness and advised me lodge a police complaint.
The next day, I went to a police station, located in quite a posh residential area. There, my Northeast or ‘foreigner look’ gave the police constable the liberty to asked me Rs 100 — a fee for filing a police complaint!
I never knew that there was such provision in the Indian law, but when I reasoned with the constable he took me to the sub-inspector who was also expecting the same ‘fee’ from me. But he made a big mistake of asking me my job and profession. When I told him that I belonged to the media fraternity and working as a jounalist in the city, he quietly took my complaint paper and signed his acknowledgement!
Clutching the paper, I walked my way to the nearest Airtel showroom telling them that I have got the police note to confirm my claim. They, as customer friendly ever, politely expressed their regrets for the lost of my mobile! The lady at the desk assured me that I could get my same number and a new SIM card at no extra charge. “ Sir, your new SIM will be activated within three hours,” she added.
On my way back home, I bought a new Nokia again, inserted the new SIM card and eagerly waited for the assured time. At exactly one minute past three hours it was activated leaving me to ponder over the way the police station and an Airtel office functions in providing service to the people. Before, I could give any judgement to what I was thinking, a call finally comes from that… someone: U Malsawm, Thank God I could reach you finally. I’ve reached Guwahati… don’t worry too much about me. I will reach Bangalore on Tuesday.
1 comments:
Interesting dude. I have had the same experience in Chandigarh, but had not the courage to chase the Punjabi dudes :)
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