On June 6, Goa received heavy pre-monsoon showers with severe thunder and lightning. Two days later most landline telephones in our area went dead. My near and dear ones complained: We hear your telephone ringing, but you don’t pick up the receiver. I answered: May be its ringing at the exchange but I don’t hear the ringing. Till date the telephone is mutely sitting on the table.
At the Porvorim Exchange nobody answers the phone. There is a register book to write complaints but the one in charge doesn’t talk much to answer queries, he being a non-Goan, neither knowing Konkani nor English. Back home the telephone pole is in a pitiful condition with the junction box missing and the connectivity joints to four subscribers hanging low and exposed.
These are monsoon blues the subscribers have to face every year and bear the inconvenience. The point to emphasize here is in present times, the telephone is a necessity, particularly in times of need and emergency. However, for BSNL sending a monthly bill with warning to pay on time lest the telephone will be disconnected is of more importance than bothering whether the land line is in service or not. Come rain, winter or sunshine, BSNL is in slumber.
