Sublimity…

That’s right everyone, I, Shane Warner now have my own personal mobile (cell) phone! I’ve built up quite a stigma against mobile phones, never wanting one, always trying to avoid them, and never really understanding why you would actually want one. However, even before coming to India, people here were telling me that if I was planning on coming for awhile, I really should get a phone as it would make my life so much easier. I understood the logic – that there would be a constant number that friends/family could reach me at (landlines are rare here and going to a specific STD booth at a pre-arranged time to have someone try to call you just doesn’t work in most cases – and assumes that the booth will actually be open at the time and that they allow incoming calls). Having my own phone also means that I can always make a call if I need to, and although there are STD booths everywhere, they’re generally pretty sketchy and dirty and don’t inspire confidence that they will work, charge a reasonable price or be a place I want to sit for any length of time. Finally, they’re pretty cheap here, everyone has one (and I mean everyone from the high-ranking government officials to the local vegetable-wallahs whose only other possession is their hand-pushed cart) and they always use them (it’s impossible to go anywhere without seeing/hearing someone talking on a mobile phone).

I arrived in India undecided if I would actually get one, but after one hectic week staying with Rupi and trying to organize meetings with NGOs, I came to realize that I really should get one. During the week, I had casually looked around wherever I was, but had been unable to find anyplace with a selection of more than 3 models, let alone a place where the clerk spoke enough English to help me figure out what I wanted in a world where I didn’t know the lingo. So just before I left Dehradun, I went down to the clock tower (centre of town) and found over 10 phone shops along the 1km stretch I walked, all with a selection and English speaking clerks. I had just gone on the logic that there are more shops downtown and so I’d likely find at least one good one, but based on what I found, that stretch should be called “Mobile Bazaar”. In my typical style, it took me awhile to find what I wanted, but in the end I had a phone and a connection so now I’m 100% connected. I’ve been using it a bit now for the past 2 days, and am starting to get used to it (and admittedly, starting to like it), so I think it’s going to work out for me.

So, if you ever get fed-up with this passive means of communication and want to actually talk to me, all you have to do is dial: +91 971-9346650. The + sign means “international access number” (011 in Canada and the USA, check the phone book in other parts) and 91 is the “country code” for India, with the rest of it being my actual number. Before you call, remember that India is 3.5hrs ahead of GMT (so 9.5hrs ahead of Eastern time now) and doesn’t use daylight-savings time (so it will soon become 10.5hrs I think…). This means it’s best to call in the early morning (which is my afternoon/evening). I’ll try to leave my phone on at these times, but it won’t always be, and even if it is, the signal levels can be bad (especially in/around the mountains like Mussoorie here) and the network can get overloaded, so you may not get through. I don’t have voice mail (that I know of), but I get notified of missed calls, so I’ll try to get back to you if you don’t get through. Finally is the financial side, it depends on your phone plan and can range from $0.25 to $1.50 a minute from what I found before I left, but should likely be close $0.75 or so.

Incoming calls are free for me, and my schedule is pretty relaxed/quiet for at least the next 6 weeks so I’d love to chat if you want to call! I’ll wrap this up with a little warning: if I seem a little confused at the beginning of a conversation, don’t worry, it’s not you – it’s just that I’m still getting startled when my pocket started beeping…

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 23rd, 2005 at 8:17 pm and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.