Privy

Today, while making a call, this is what I received from my cell phone operator, atleast 25 times, before my call went through. The operator in question is Vodafone, Karnataka, (yes the one which leaves a dog behind you) Looks like in the present economic conditions, the dog is working overtime. And is going after more than one owners.

Now, even Hutch network in Karnataka was bad, and the impression is only that it has become worse after it changed to Vodafone. Airtel is only slightly better, here in Bangalore. For eg., it works well even in the interior elevators and lifts. Don’t know the reason, why I cannot see the level of QoS, that they keep claiming with their marketing and advertising campaigns.

I guess, if they spent half the money on building their network, of what they spent on marketing, we would have a better time. Some times its sheer frustation, when you want to make a quick call to inform some one. Since I have been using this number for over four years, I have learnt to adjust to its network’s shortcomings.

This makes me wonder where the number retention policy went. It was supposed to have been implemented by now in the metros and major cities, at least. I think the Mittals, the Sarins and the Birlas had some closed room dialogues and improved the economy of some minister.

I have now spent a good four years in Bangalore and despite its progress in many areas (it was already doing well when I came), there are many issues which even the lesser known cities in other states don’t face.

A lot has been written and said about the infrastructure woes and the poor traffic conditions. However, recently it is really surprising to see that the traffic congestion has reduced vastly. I can reach office within half an hour for more part of the day, from earlier one hour. However, roads are still bad, or worse. If you want to see the poorest condition, come to Ramamurthy Nagar.

However, the biggest problem faced by Bengaluru today is not roads, but power cuts. At my place there are five power cuts daily of one hour each. It is increasingly becoming frustrating. The chief minister has made lot of promises, only to break it the next day.

The condition is not likely to improve in the near future. Imagine how did Karnataka approach Tata’s for their Nano project and offer subsidized electricity.

The other day, I was reading an article on Rediff about Tata’s pullout from Singur. Generally, the discussion board below each article consistent of a lot of angry exchanges (people venting their frustration), but I happened to fine an very amusing oneliner:

NANO is now TINO.

The explanation given was TINO implies There Is No Option. Well, there was no option but to pullout. But, now after the pullout, there are actually lots of options. Gujarat, Maharastra, Karnataka, Orissa, all making offers. Yesterday, Tata Officials  even met Yedurappa, the Karnataka CM.

Where will Nano eventually rollout from is quite unknown at this stage, but NANO is definitely not TINO. Come to think of it what even happened to TINY.