Prepaid mobile services in Mizoram

With the recent hula-bula created by the MZP about prepaid services in Mizoram and other parts of the north east, let me add my two cents.

When we came back to Aizawl last year, we needed new mobile connections. H went and got a SIM card for both of us. It was done within a day, and he paid some 250 bucks for each. I didn't look that closely at the packet of the SIM card. Some months later, we needed another connection, and this time I went to an Airtel outlet. The lady gave me a SIM card which was again priced at Rs.250. This time I happened to look at the MRP, which was Rs.45. This was more than 5 times the company price. So I asked her why this was so.

The lady explained to me that this card was pre-activated, with someone else's name, that if I wanted a SIM card in my own name, then I would have to go to alot of trouble of submitting a xerox copy of my ID etc. I said I was fine with doing all that, and so to her consternation, I didn't buy her 'ready-made' SIM card.

We went to various outlets, and several places rejected us. We finally found a place in Chanmari where a sweet old couple took our necessary papers and got the SIM ready for us in less than a week.

What I am trying to say is that more than 90% of prepaid cellular subscribers in Mizoram get their SIM card from the 'black' market, using cards issued in God knows whose name. And the worst part is that I'm sure more than 90% of these people are probably unaware that they are paying 5 times the asking price, that they even have an option of getting cards issued in their names, that what they're doing is illegal. The most interesting bit is what part the service providers themselves, AIRTEL, AIRCEL, RELIANCE etc are playing in issueing such large numbers of activated SIM cards into the market. I think this is something the public should be aware of, and what the government should look into. If the authorities from the central government do stop prepaid mobile services in Mizoram, I think we will only have ourselves, our greed and our ignorance to blame.

Chivalry, Manners, etcetera in the local bus

I once read an article by an Englishman about manners. He said that in England, for most things, people queue-up, and wait patiently for their turn. In India too, he said, people do queue up, and wait for their turns. The difference between the two countries is when some rude person breaks the queue. In India, a righteous person in queue would loudly admonish the line-breaker, and the rude person would hopefully slink back in line without creating further ruckus. In England, if someone breaks the line, the other people would most likely let the rude person be. And if someone would admonish the offender, the rest of the people would most likely feel embarrassed and shuffle their feet.

I don't know if the England example is true, but I know the Indian story is. Since I've started working, I take the local bus quite regularly as taxi fares are exhorbitant in Aizawl. The buses here are tiny, barely seating 10 to 15 people. And since all buses are private owned, the enterprising bus conductors stuff people like sardines in tin cans. So obviously, there are always people standing throughout the ride.

In other parts of India, the buses have seats allocated for women-folk. Men can sit on these seats as long as all women in the bus have seats. However, a lady without a seat can always ask a guy sitting in the women's row to get up. Besides this concession, hardly anyone ever gets up to offer their seats, whether it is for the old, the infirm or the fairer sex. And we Mizos would wistfully remember how back home, no senior citizen would stand while there were young men sitting.

Things have changed back home. You see school kids, young abled men and ladies sitting while old men with gray hair stand, hanging on to the railings with their gnarled hands. I know everyone pays for their bus ride, whether they get a seat or whether they are standing. And it's their prerogative if they want to give up their seats. But it used to be a wonderful example of our Mizo chivalry to see younger people showing their consideration for the older generation. As a pregnant commuter, I do get offered seats sometimes, and I have to add that it's mostly by other women. It's true, chivalry is quite dead, and especially among our men-folk. And we shouldn't really complain, because like the English, we probably should just let the unmannered be .