A place caught in fire is tragic and unfortunate. More often than not, it causes untold misery to people who are directly affected. Something of that sort crossed my mind when the broadband service went kaput late afternoon yesterday because of massive fire at Telephone Bhavan.
I curse the fact that Telephone Bhavan stands of all places opposite Writers Building, its ugly façade blocking forever a majestic 360-degree view of BBD Bag. Yet over time the necessity of having a telephone connection has mellowed me a lot. And though a BSNL telephone is no longer the only choice, I must say its broadband service is thus far above par.
When the fire disrupted the broadband service yesterday, I kissed goodbye to all my writing assignments that are to be sent latest by today. In fact so off-mood was I that I even started visualizing that perhaps 2 weeks it would be before the broadband service comes back to life.
There are reasons to feel concerned. I do writing for offshore clients, and for them no time must be lost in delivering works except in emergencies like natural calamity that are widely reported. Fortunately, the fire at Calcutta Telephones has been covered well in the media (the BBC story for example), which incidentally is a classic instance of Internet’s spread.
However, the bad time didn’t last beyond the night that is just over. BSNL staff literally worked on war footing over the entire night, and so here I am, blogging as intently as I can.
The incident once again proves the adage: competition brings better service. For BSNL, the prospect of lost revenues on account of non-functioning broadband service must have acted like magic. Which is – keeping my fingers firmly crossed – very welcome indeed.
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