Broadband Service in India: A Love Story

It took five weeks for Airtel, the supposedly most reliable mobile and broadband service company in India, to connect Internet in my house when I moved there last year.

The day they finally came (on a Friday around 9:30 PM), there were five technicians in my living room… one was holding the computer, one was reading some kind of manual, other was proofreading what the guy holding the computer was typing, and the other two were watching supervising what the other three were doing (I assume).

Since I recently moved to a new apartment with existing Internet connection, I stopped by the office of my previous provider to inform them that I am cancelling the service. It is true, I confess, that I didn´t had any bill or account number with me, but they were not able to locate my phone number in the system, perhaps because it´s from another mobile company (Aircel). Next thing they asked is my account number, for what I reply that I am walking-in in a rush and I have no bill whatsoever, as I declared myself guilty of previously.

One would think that perhaps the easiest way would be to search by name, and I do understand that within 1.2 billion people there could be a lot of matches of people with the same names and my logic could actually be nonsense for them, but yet for undisclosed reasons they said it was not possible to search customers this way. Then I don´t want to sound too idealistic, but apart of a number I am also a person… right?

Then I spoke to some kind of manager to explain that I was there trying to end our customer-company relationship amicably, and that I just wanted to know the balance so I can pay and close the account.  She kept arguing that she needed the account number or registered cellphone number in order to search for my account.

I asked her what would happen if I would owe a lot of money to the company and it was perhaps their last chance to ever see that money again, for what she responded: “Sorry for the inconvenience sir, we can´t help you without this information”. It is obvious that it is not me who they should be helping, but themselves…

But since I am in India and learnt to be a patient and positive person, I was looking at the bright side of singing up with them for some iPhone package to be paid in installments, get a free phone with my previous address and then disappear!!!

Morning Espresso

I just moved into a new apartment with my best Italian friend in Bangalore and, since I lived before in an closed apartment complex, there are some new things that I am trying to get used to. The new house is very cozy and comfortable in a quiet neighborhood right in front of a park.

The first things I noticed is that I have to stand dogs that you see sleeping all day just to bark endlessly during the night. Once I am able to sleep, the next thing that happens in chronological order is people playing in the park around 6:00am. I haven’t figured though if they are playing cricket or soccer, but that’s irrelevant, it’s still noisy. I remark the possibility about them playing soccer because for the lack of sport spaces it’s been months since I don’t play and I would like to join them… in the afternoon of course.

Next to the house there is a small kindergarten for which between 8:20 to 8:45am there is some traffic. The problem is of course not the cars dropping kids for school, but the fact that people have no respect whatsoever for residential areas and they honk like if there was no tomorrow, regardless weather if they are parents, auto/taxi drivers or motorbikes.

So once I get up in the morning I feel already a bit tired of not being able to get good sleep at night. The good news is that the house is literally a three-minute scooter drive to my office, so I can “wake” up a little later than before. Moreover, I have one of the most decent coffee shops in town around the corner on my way to work.

At this point what is making up my day nowadays is when I arrive to the counter and say “Hi, can I have an Espresso, one shot please…”, for what the nice and gentle Indian lady answers me back: “Sure sir, would you like it single or double?…”