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WHAT A RELIEF

 

WHAT A RELIEF

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

27/II/2023

 

It was such a difficult day yesterday and the day before. It wasn’t work tension. Bijli-Paani was there. Sabji-Bhaji came to the door step. Guppies and mollies were fine. Many hibiscuses bloomed. Road was swept. Bai came too. Then what could be the reason for the strain.

 

Till the afternoon everything was fine. We watched a serial on Netflix. As usual we went out for a walk, leaving behind our cell phones at home. One checked for missed calls and messages on return. There were none. Surprising!

 

As the night started to descend, there were still no messages on social media, which is quite usual. People those who wish you good morning at 8 pm also were silent. Evening turned to night, no messages still. Tension started to build up.

 

First question which comes to mind, Kya internet hai? My Vodafone number was showing all bars and 4G, while the Jio number was displaying the same with 5G. People must have got busy, was the second thought. All of them! Not possible. Something is wrong.

 

Net to hai par chal nahi raha hai. By dinner time people were on the streets. No one wished good evening but were asking…. Net Hai? Hamara to kal se band hai. BSNL broadband to mahine main bees din band rahta hai. Jio bhi nahi chal raha. Are bhai good evening to bol do. So, what net nahi hai, ki sirf whats app par hi wish karna hota hai, I said to myself.

 

Now the question arose, kab tak net band hai? No one had any clue. ‘Riot’ to nahi ho gaya Shahar main. That was one time when the net was switched off for two weeks here. Some wise man said, net must be under maintenance.  That sounded probable. How can internet be under maintenance for all the service providers together? Good question, said some one.

 

What must be my friends thinking? Kahin mar to nahi gaya sala? Koi message hi nahi bhej raha hai. There was no way to tell them hamara net band hai unless someone called, which is rare.

 

Now the people started asking, net kyon band hai? That sounded a logical question. On the second day we get a message from a service provider that from 6am to 6pm the net would not be available. Why? Kyon? Kis Liye? Aisa kaise kar sakte hai? Jab marji ho tab net band? Koi mazak hai kya? Main BSNL katwa dunga, main airtel ko port kara lungi and so on were the murmurs in the colony.

 

It was a ‘no cheating day’ actually. Some people cannot help but cheat. The baniya weighed less, so did the meat wala. The medicine man charged extra. Municipal officers are famous for it. Police I won’t utter a word. Who doesn’t cheat. We, the cheated know it but live with it.

 

Yesterday, it was exam time in Rajasthan. Many had been preparing for competitive exams like REET, which is an eligibility test for Sarkari Naukri pakki in the state government. Our city had a price to pay by being deprived of the umbilical cord to nirvana called the internet. Desh ki janta was feeling cheated.

 

Surprisingly, this exam had to be cancelled or postponed so many times because of mass scale cheating. The examination papers would leak and the solutions would be available on the net on a premium. For one exam, the whole city was in a tizzy. The government decided, na rahega baans na bajegi bansuri.

 

Electronic transactions were unavailable. Net banking didn’t work. These days one is not used to carrying a wallet due to so many payment portals. Even the thele wala accepts e payments.

 

The carpenter next door asked me, aap ro paas internet ro dabbo koni. I said no. Bindani ko message karno tho. I smiled. He was asking if I had a wifi router, to video chat with his wife in the village. Internet ka kamaal.

 

In the evening when it came, the whole city jumped up in the air shouting AA GAYAAAA, like we used to shout when electric current used to be restored after a power cut.

 

Suddenly everyone went indoors. We were lucky to meet people whom we had never seen in the colony. The only welcome sound was the ting-ting of the mobile phones.

 

Can our country live without the exam papers leaking and there after mass cheating and without internet? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND & JAI INTERNET BABA RI

©® NOEL ELLIS

 

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