Full Circle - 2

The '2' in the title is because I remember writing a post titled this way earlier...some time in March, I think. I'm not sure if it's still here, though. Between my own whims and the even more whimsical Blogger, I never am sure what stays and what doesn't.

But life does have a way of coming full circle in the strangest ways. I have had my Airtel prepaid number for five and a half years now. I bought it when I first came to College...and it has seen me through graduation, M&A research, a million highs and lows, scores of emergencies and a thousand impulses. When I finish post-graduation next year, I will leave Delhi. Till then, 98*******8 will continue to define me to my family and friends as the girl who misses more calls than the rest of the world put together, and writes text messages that read like theses.

The reason why I'm talking about those five years and this number is that, if I choose, I can enable calling on my phone at one paisa a second to any number in India. That, people, is a big (albeit expected) leap from what things used to be, not just for me or for Airtel (in different ways, of course), but for telecom in India as a whole. There's a whole lot of economics and marketing and strategy there, but I'll think aloud about that some other time. I just happen to be in a phase where the most mundane things bring back associations, and Airtel and 1 paisa are doing exactly that.

Back when I first got to Delhi, a local call cost 2 bucks a minute, and a single message set you back by a rupee. STD calls (I made a lot of those to my folks my first year, before I went devious and started missed-calling them for every little thing ;) cost 2.65. Roaming charges were nothing short of daylight robbery. So when Airtel came up with their one-rupee-a-day-rental one paisa per message scheme, it was a relief godsend. Rezzies are perpetually broke, so it helped tremendously to have to recharge with, say, 50 bucks a month, and text away to glory for everything from sharing notes on tutes to planning a surprise birthday party.

But I don't remember how much I saved from my allowance with that scheme (whose expiry all Resident Airtel users mourned for weeks). What I do remember, and will always cherish, is the friendships those SMSes helped build and cement. My closest friendships to date are ones that began with random PJ forwards, moving on to banter and longish, typed conversations and growing deeper with exchanges on lectures and life and everything in between. That is not to say that there weren't conversations in person or time spent together or the other things that go into the making of the most wonderful relationships. What 1p/message helped me discover in myself and my friends, though, was the beauty of thoughts, questions, misgivings and smiles articulated as, and as soon as, they occur, without the inhibition that being face-to-face can sometimes bring. And that kind of sharing builds stronger bonds.

And then there came along special rates and lower charges and reduced roaming and, over three years, we'd pretty much begun to take local and STD calling at one buck as the standard.

Till DoCoMo came along whistling. (Pretty interesting how TTSL's GSM service got its name...apparently, docomo is a Japanese compound word for 'everywhere', which suited NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest telecom company, just fine as an indication of its network quality. Also, 'docomo' is a portmanteau for 'do communications on the mobile network'...very Japanese English, but interesting nonetheless! :)

And suddenly, all the others were scrambling to provide 1p/sec calling to their subscribers.

For a brand that is new to India, bright and colourful and tiny DoCoMo exudes the endearing energy and confidence of a little child, and has created quite a stir.

And so I was thinking, as I walked past yet another Do the New hoarding this evening, that life has, indeed, come full circle here, too. Now, I can call people for a song if I choose to...but the people I want to call the most are too far away. There's less time, more worries, less candour, more uncertainty. I wonder what it would have been like to spend only a paise a second five years ago. I know what it is like now...but I wasn't looking for this answer :) Short of declaring outgoing calls free of charge (or actually paying subscribers to make calls or send text messages), there isn't much telecom companies can do now. They're on their way down to the bone here.

Maybe I should take a cue from DoCoMo and do the new instead of brooding so much over the past like I am wont to do sometimes. But before I put all this ruminating out of the way and get back to the mad merry-go-round...to all the friends I met, got to know and grew to love over those fifteen months and afterwards, I miss you.

This post is dedicated to 1-paisa-per-message friendships that have come to mean so, so much.