(the below article was written by me on 28 November, 2012)  

     

   BUY the FREE

Hello Indians, I am  a BE 3^rd year mechanical engineering student, stayed in a privet hostel. For a hostel resident, there is nothing to do rather than sleeping or enjoying movie in laptop. I was also sleeping one day and something came to my mind by midnight, which I think, should be told to all of you. I think we should be very cheerful, because we all get everything for free, don't we? We are not spending money for lots of products right now, such as free internet available, free talk time etc. Or we are spending comparatively less money for some other things like LPG cylinder, kerosene oil, food grain etc. Among all, the most favorite free thing is the FREE SMSe and free DATA.

Well, let’s say about all this free or granted things, are they really free or granted? If your answer is affirmative, then think it twice. Have not you ever pay a single penny for the SMSes that you recently sent to your friend or girlfriend? Well, if you not paying for it now, then you must paid for it earlier (pre-paid), either when you brought that SIM card or recharge your number with massage packs (as they say!). After doing that, I mean recharging your phone with a certain amount; you are able to send the so called free massage. So the free SMSes is not for free at all, and the FREE internet also, because until and unless you recharge your phone with another amount, you can’t googled anything or can’t access to your most lovable place, the mighty Facebook.

Now talk about the concession. We can get almost everything on concession price, from water to gas, from railway ticket to the electricity, from kerosene oil to food grain and the very latest- a tablet computer (this is second of its kind, a better version of the first, which, I have not seen in any ones hand though!!). By the way, most of you know the problems associated with this type of low cost things, don’t you? If you get the water for concession then you may not able to take bath for the whole week, if you buy food grain, then there will be more pieces of rock than the food. If you want to get a concession ticket in railway then there will be more pain for issuing that then travelling. Now the recent activity of government is on the number of LPG cylinder. Recent rule says that we are allowed to consume only six cylinders per year. After that, you have to buy it for three times higher price. Otherwise, you may not be able to cook or eat! So my opinion is go for veggies!! It will be healthier than other. So at the end, all Indian should eat rice like stuff for six months and salad for the other six months. This is a very good decision made by the government to keep all the citizens healthy!!

Ah! I want to talk about something and keep talking about some other thing. The telecom regulatory authority of India, simply TRAI, is a government authority, which controls the telecom companies, and monitor how they treat their customer or what kind of things they do etc. I think TRAI is here for helping us, letting us enjoy more service with a minimum cost. But rather than helping us, they just help the telecom companies to gain more and more money from us. At first, TRAI pull their hand on the number of massage one can send in a single day and make that only 100. Once you spent 100 massages you can’t send any more to anyone. After a few days, they just increase the number up to 200 per day. Well, 200SMSes per day is enough for us, if we get 200, then we are happy at all. Now the main part, TRAI and the telecom companies says that these 200 massages are free, but you have to recharge your mobile with some certain amount. Once you get these 6000 SMSes (200 SMSes/dayX30 days), you are able to spent it, right? No you are absolutely wrong. Because this is India and anything can be happened here. You have to buy something which is already yours. You have to buy half of these SMSes once again. Do all of you understand? Let’s get to the point; TRAI has just made a new rule. According to that you can’t send more than 100 free or concession massages. If you send more than 100 massages, then every massage will cost you a standard charge, generally Re 1.00 for local and Rs 1.50 for national.

Rule is a rule. But I cannot understand one thing that once you buy 200 massages, then what is the point in buying them once again. As I buy 6000 massages by recharging my phone, after spending 3000 massages, why should I buy the other 3000 SMSes once again? Please somebody help me understanding this logic.(as this is a problem, a solution is also exists, i.e. use as many SIM as you need to send SMSes). I think I have got something. This logic will work only in India. Because this is India (as I said earlier), where a cartoonist can be jailed for drawing the cartoon of a politician, or youth goes behind the bars because of opposing the bandha for the death of a violent loving politician, or taking four years to punish a terrorist who killed hundreds of people without any hesitation.  Now I am really afraid that the government doesn’t put me behind the bars as I am writing this. O God, please help me, I am really scared. Incredible India!!!