Hello Tunes

Getting a prepaid SIM here is pretty easy..You do not need any documentation at all - just buy it off the shelf. For once, I was impressed with what is called "easy way of life" abroad. Got a SIM, called up ppl, and imagine my dismay when I found the next day that my SIM did not have network in office.....so my blackberry curve without network was somewhat like a raja with no praja!

This actually did not matter much because nobody calls me in office anyway....However, I do not really believe in the limiting prepaid funda and was dying to get a post paid connection. Normally post paid here is a lengthy procedure where in the contract is for 18 months and so on. Since I wanted only a monthly contract SIM, I was not really worried about the fact that I did not have even an accout yet. So off went I and P to T-Mobile shop (armed with a map for a 2 min walk - the high point was that I had forgotten the map on my desk and had to go back for it and on top of it, the shop was not where the map indicated - we finally had to ask for directions!)

The salesguy sold us the various schemes. After confirming that direct debit was not mandatory (thus removing the need of an account), I told him I was ready to purchase the SIM. And then came bombshell 1 - he needed to do a credit check! Credit check - for a SIM, not even a phone!! I had actually subconciously been expecting some caveat - readers of my blog might remember my opinion of the rules in "so called developing nations"....Finally, we decided that we could take the sim in P's name and then later get it transferred to my name....He asked P a lot of questions and then finally announced dramatically that he had passed the test and was eligible for a monthly 20 pound SIM!!!! Aho bhagya hamara ki hum sim ke liye eligible ho gaye.

Then came bombshell 2 - Name transfer was not allowed for 3 months and account information could be changed only after 1 month. I had too much of their rules by this time and was ready to walk out......But bombshell 3 was waiting for me - The credit check they had done was valid for 7 days and even poor P did not take a sim within that time, he could not get one from T Mobile for the next six months......By now I was the broken woman they wanted to me to be....and docilely took the sim at their terms....

At moments I ask myself a million dollar (pound??) question - why would someone want to leave good old India and stay here??

Note - Maybe I was punished for looking down on their system....I managed to lose the trackball of my blackberry! So now cannot do anything except make phonecalls (luckily I had configured my phone book to an external key).....getting msgs is a mystery to be solved - I keep thinking about who could send it - sending msgs is a big 'kaash' and the best part is that the alarm was set to 6.30 am - It rings at that time every morning and I have to scramble to remove the battery to stop it!! (better than not having an alarm at all! - thank god for small mercies).

Much ado about a phone and phone connection which are of minimal use to me!!