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 .

Pictures

Here are some pictures taken in Manali earlier this year. I never got around to posting any of them, I thought I should put them up before the year ends.

Manali is a beautiful place, one which I wouldn't mind visiting again. Located in Himachal Pradesh, it took us around 16 hours from Delhi by bus. The route took a scenic turn once we neared Manali. I couldn't go back to sleep and started taking pictures from the bus, they turned out pretty decent.

We wanted to be a little adventurous, and we tried paragliding. They have a valley for it, I've forgotten what it was called. It had a beautiful backdrop of the Himalaya though. Paragliding was a heady experience. I have a fear of heights; and once I was up in the air, I really, really regretted trying something which involved being several hundred feet above the ground. And the close up pictures of me showed how scared I was, so I am not putting those up. H seemed to enjoy his ride though.

We also visited Zero point, which is at the foot of Rohtang Pass, they hadn't opened the pass yet even though it was May, because of heavy snowfall. It was my first time seeing snow, and it was yet another nice experience.

This pic was taken in one of their many parks. Aizawl should have just one of their parks.


Taken on the bus trip back to Delhi. The river Beas. People go white rafting here, they camp along the river bank, eat grilled meat etc and have loads of fun. But we didn't really have that much time or the inclination, so we missed that oportunity.

And here is our home, sweet home. The sitting room is obviously the most decorated room in the house.

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

New stuff

I cast my vote for the first time yesterday. It wasn't really an epiphanic moment, but it felt good to think I had some role in the making of a government, and I came away with ugly blue marks on two fingernails.

Besides that piece of news, H and I moved into a 'new' house last week. It's a lot of fun, cooking, and cleaning, making up recipes and feeding them to a non-commentative husband. I will one day post pictures of the house, when we have an internet connection at home, after we have a phone connection, that is.

My waistline is also rapidly increasing, which I know is not of national interest, but which I am still talking about nonetheless. Mainly because this is my blog, and I can bore people with personal things :). Back to the waistline, it's huge because H and I are expecting. And I am so far lucky because I was never plaqued by the nausea and morning sickness that to most ladies. Instead, I eat like a certain species of the animal world, and my only worry is I shall remain forever fat, my bottoms forever resembling my mother's backside. But God has been so good, and if we are blessed with a healthy baby, then I guess I can live with a little extra fat.

JOBS

It's raining jobs in Mizoram. One might say it's the election windfall. Anywhichway, this is when your political prowess and your knowledge comes in. Not your knowledge of your subject, but WHO you know.

Recently, the government took 66 contract doctors as Medical Officers through 3f. Now 3F was a new word for most of us. It is actually a regulation by which the govt, citing the people's welfare, can give jobs while bypassing the MPSC, so that nobody has to write boring exams or go through sweaty interviews. These 66 people's only reason for being given jobs was that they were contract doctors, no matter if you were not a contract doctor because you were slogging away preparing for a PG degree, or for an entrance exam, or working as a missionary in Timbuktu. They were simply picked up on the basis of how long they worked as contract doctors. These officers are then officially on the MPSC panel list and will be almost 100% guaranteed permanent jobs. When the list did come out, it was based on their seniority, but their place of posting, ofcourse depended again, on who they knew.

Now I know I bored everyone with my sad tale of how I hate exams and all, but since everybody who was not a contract doctor was denied the chance of EVER being on the 3F list, it kind of irked me. I craved to give exams, to be given atleast a chance. I remember how my friends from Sikkim, Meghalaya etc all rushed home from Delhi to give exams, interviews, whenever a handful of government jobs were being given in their states. I was kind of hoping for the same thing, that postgraduation degrees would count, etc. But here in Mizoram, when 66 jobs were being handed out, even people in Aizawl were exempted, forget the Mizo docs in other parts of India and the world.

Anyhow, after that, relatives ran helter skelter, trying to put a good word for me here and there. My dad, for one, is a staunch disapprover of favours, but I've come to finally realise that in this world, atleast in Mizoram, it's not what you know, but who you know. It's just sad that all of us have to conform to the unwritten rule in the end :( I'm just hoping the MPSC is made of members of Iron and steel etc, and that they'll demand exams, otherwise, it's goombye to a permanent job for me, and many others.