Have u heard the BSNL ringback tone lately ?

So today morning I wanted to check who is going to be the teacher for my son's nursery class. I called up the school and heard a fresh, refreshing voice. No, it wasn't the receptionist. It was actually BSNL's latest ringback tone. It went something like this: "When u have to say, something to someone far away; BSNL paves the way..........say it the BSNL way". I was surprised; it was actually pleasing to the ears. Far far better than those expressionless jaded "Aap katar mein hain.........prateeksha kijiye" lines.

As I heard that, my mind wandered 20+ years back. And I remembered how excited I was to see a bunch of guys hooking up the telephone connection at our place. I could see that the neighbours were jealous. After all, in the entire apartment block housing 16 apts, we were the only folks who now had a phone. The phone connection had now put us among the "privileged class". Next day, I walked into the school with a sense of pride and announced our phone number to anybody who cared to listen.

Such were the days of "License Raj". A mere landline required a wait of several years; simply because there was a fixed quota that was supposed to be allocated every year. The 1991 economic crisis changed all that (a great example of how a crisis can become an opportunity; though it is unfortunate that India needed a crisis to move to a capitalist economy). Liberalisation happened. India opened its doors; first hesitantly and then confidently. And since then some things have changed for ever. On the communications front there really has been a revolution. Both Landlines and cellphones are available in a day or two and have become so cheap that literally everybody has it. The advent of private players in the telecom industry has forced BSNL to change. People still complain about their customer service; but they have surely come a long long way.

As I hung up the phone, I chuckled and offered a big thanks to Dr. Manmohan Singh (the then FM) and Narasimha Rao (though he was the then PM of India; people conveniently forget him) for making this happen.