I Got The Signal!!

as i sit here typing this post, this feels to be one of the weirdest moments in the past one year of my life. the reason might seem trivial to some, but what is happening right now in my room is ... something that has never happened in the past year. I HAVE SIGNAL ON MY MOBILE PHONE!!!

arrived on campus an year ago and took the Airtel connection which came with some incentive scheme for students. since that fateful day, i can count on my fingertips the number of days that i saw one bar (maximum) of signal on my phone in my room. if i had to call someone, i had to walk out of my room...right thru the corridor, turn into the right side of the wing, hold the mobile phone up like a tracking device till it showed some signal, and then stand exactly there and make the call. and dont even ask what happened if someone called me. in all probability, i would be unreachable if i was in my room. in my work life, i would have paid extra to get a phone which was unreachable all the time, but here...i wanted signal. so if someone called and fortunately my phone rang, i would pick it up and rush out thru the corrridor to find a spot where the signal showed two bars and then i would take the call. the situation was so bad that if my frends in other blocks wanted to find out whether i was in my room or not, they would call. if i was unreachable...they trooped to my room.

one day i even lost my temper and marched to the guy who had sold me the connection. and his telling me that he was AWARE OF THE SITUATION didnt help my temper either. i demanded the number of the person incharge of the area from Airtel. and i blasted him like anything and told him to refund my money. also because i had promptly paid up a HUGE deposit in advance for an year long validity while signing up without realising that my room did not have network coverage from airtel. after getting lambasted, the guy promised a repeater tower on the roof of my block. and true to his word the repeater tower appeared on the rooftop within a week, with some bulb like things being extended throughout my corridor, one of them right in front of my room. so when i see this bulb like thing in front of my room, i am filled with happiness hitherto unknown. so i take the phone out of my pocket - only to find ................................zero signal. i decide to give the buggers the benefit of doubt, so i hold up my phone again like a tracking device in the direction of the bulb. No signal still. i follow the cabling all the way to the repeater tower, holding the tracking devince in my hand and voila!!! i have signal: right under the tower!!. but how the heck is this situation better! i still have to run to the tower rather than to the other side of the corridor which was anyway closer. for a few days i sat right under the tower to make any phone calls, trying my best to ignore the swarms of mosquitos that i think have been overlooked by people trying to find a way to reduce their weight. come to think of it, it's a totally organic, natural and effective way if you can adjust with the side effects!

the situation was so bad that i even thought of cross marking with a chalk the points where we had signal in the corridor so we dint have to search everytime.

and today, finally, after exhausting the advance that i had paid to airtel an year ago, i feel like a completely new and free man. i have a reliance Smart connection. and it shows full signal with all bars in my room. to tell u honestly, somewhere deep inside i am scared that when i get up tomorrow, the bars would be gone. and i would have to find new spots in the corridor. i hope i dont get nightmares tonite about this at least. i know its weird to be scared of THIS of all things, but yes, i feel the fear. its palpable. its real. who knows what ll happen tomorrow morning. i am calling my frends tonight.