End of the Landline Era - End of the Tel File

So we had these files at home for our utilities - electricity, phone etc. And ever since we got the landline disconnected a year ago I have been meaning to get rid of that file. While looking into it I found a few interesting things. 

A bill!

Landlines

Dad got this landline connection on August 8, 1979 for our house in Sundar Nagar. As a government official he would get priority just as doctors would. Others had to wait years! It would be in that little room in front that he used as his office and sitting room. Later that room was converted into a store room and then Ram's room while the extended portion of the house became the hall etc. It was a four-five digit number then and slowly more digits got added until the last one which was some eight digits - 23701304!

We would mostly have short calls because the phone was in a public place - no loong conversations like we have on mobiles. STDs were still not in vogue so you had to dial a number to get to the operator and then 'book' a trunk call if you needed an outstation call.They would take down the number connect to the other person and then call you back. Many times you could make out that they were listening in because they would butt in. There were some calls which were called lightning calls also if I am not mistaken. Normally the lines were so bad that the farther the place the worse the line would be and we had to shout out of our skins to make ourselves heard.  

Internet application

Other Services

Telephones also provided services like sending telegrams for weddings, funerals and such. There was a service called directory help or something if you needed to trace someone. You could set an alarm to wake you up and so on. Midnight calls often meant bad news or good news - deaths and births. 

Earlier we had phones which had no dial - everything had to go through the operator if I remember. Then came the rotary dial phones which would take a hell of a lot of time if one needed to dial them again and if you had more 9s in your number. Thankfully that gave way to the push button phones where we could push buttons and get our numbers. 

PP Calls

Since few people had access to phones we had this system of giving our neighbours number (with their permission of course) which was called a PP number. So the operator would call and tell the neighbour that there is a PP call for x and the neighbour would fetch us (if we were already not in their house by then because these were well coordinated). Then the call would come and we would speak with the entire family listening in. News from home, job news, admissions were the generally accepted PP reasons. Now for those who did not have PP facilities it was even more weirder - we would land up at the central telegraph office which had a phone and an operator - regular rates till 9, may 9-11 washalf and after 11 was a quarter rate. We would have to give our number to the operator in a large hall and we would be called one by one and numbers dialled. You get three tries and then go back and come later. Again all conversations were before the hundred or so people there in the hall! I think we were allowed one call at a time!

STD Booths     

Then came STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling?) which we could dial from home directly. and when telecom was privatised we had STD booths which provided a safe haven for long conversations. (Until then all long conversations were through letters I think!)

Internet

Just when we were thrilled with the fact that we could make calls whenever and wherever without having to depend on the neighbour or the telecom company when the internet came into our life. The idea that we could access mails was the biggest thing about the net. Of course we had the internet centres which were used to send mails for those who did not have it at home. So the next piece of telecom advancement was to have an internet connection at home.

I don't know how but we seemed to have bought our friend Aruna's internet connection because I found some paperwork with her name and then we paid 3800 to the telecom dept for it - July8, 1998! It was broken up into terminal dial up service - 500, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet protocol fee 3000, and even a 300 buck charge for change of password! I think we had to take a Demand Draft and submit with the application and stuff! Then I renewed it with an application in 1999 for a further 100 hours with a demand draft for 2400! Looking at the bills I see they were advertising student internet plans and such.

Interestingly our telephone bills in the 90s were in the range of 2500-3000 for two months which was quite high.Over a period it came down and finally settled down at about 700 bucks for two months. In the last few years I only got a call or two and rarely did I feel the necessity to use that and we got it disconnected.

For many years paying bills was a chore - standing in lines, change problems and so on. Earlier you had to pay only in your circle or something which was pretty poorly organised. When I discovered that the Vikram Building came up and telephone bills could be paid there I experienced one of those wow experiences customers have - I would park the bike, walk in, find empty counters, pay and get out in 5 minutes. Even the youngsters behind the counter were quick and snappy!

Mostly the landline did not work or was in bad shape. The same linesman would come all his life and maybe he did not know his job or whatever it never worked very well. We would remember numbers then, maintain phone books and so on. Now I remember only two or three numbers.       

I had one crazy experience with the telecom department. When I was away working at Mumbai my brother forgot to pay the tel bill and they disconnected it. Mom was at home and the phone was a lifeline for her.I came down once and since Ram was busy took up the job of getting it reconnected. They produced a long list of unpaid bills and I took all the bills we had and had to reconcile some which were missing at our end (someone did not maintain the files then!). It took me over 10 days to get that sorted and guess what, I had to pay in cash for a long time after that - no cheque was accepted. Only after paying consistently in cash and establishing my creditworthiness and then filing an application expressing my penitence and desire to be put back in cheque class was I reinstated. I don't think I ever took the facility again.

A cheap pleasure was getting the telephone directory. It was amazing how they managed to pull that book off with any errors - simply amazing. I think the department was ahead of its time in many ways and lost out once private operators came.

Now to burn the file an all those old bills. Good bye 23701304!