Telephone Travails

The cellphone hardly stopped ringing, and that too in the national roaming when my balance was on reverse mode. Still, i picked up calls and following is a series of conversations with unknown numbers! 

Sir, we are giving you special 10% discount on down payment for your dream flat in Greater Noida. When can you come for a visit?
No, I don't need it right now.

But after Navratri, you will not get any discount Sir.

But i don't want to buy a flat at all.... forget discount!

Sir, i heard from one of my friends that your company is hiring. Can i send a CV?

Right now, i'm not at office. Can i call you back next week?

But Sir i'll be in Delhi then. My cellphone will be switched off.

But i'm in Shimla for a mountain bike rally. How can i say my office is hiring or not?

Sorry Sir, i must be disturbing you. Are you riding now?

No.

OK. Then let me send my CV to your mail. Can i have your mail id Sir?

Yes. Write it down....

Am i speaking with...

Yes.

Sir, your DP account has gone into negative.

Yes. That's because of the non-performing stocks in a bad market.

Yes Sir. It's just an alert and a reminder so that you can deposit Rs 880.13 to our account.

OK. i'm out of Kolkata at present. Can i do it next week?

Sure. But can you please write down the amount? Rs 880.13.

Thank you. 

Hello.

Yes.

Do you remember me?

Of course. I usually don't forget anyone. But i can't make out who you are as the number hasn't been saved.

Oh! Then you must have forgotten me!

OK. Whoever you are, can i call you back in 10 days after i'm back to Kolkata.

Where are you?

I'm middle of nowhere. At 7,500ft, i cannot tell you the exact name of the village but it's in Himachal.

Wow! Enjoying with wife?

Not at all. Haven't had lunch yet. Going to rescue a cyclist who fell on downhill broken tarmac?

Oh! How come? Where's your wife?

She is in Kolkata.

So what are you doing in Himachal?

I can still do a lot of things without my wife.

You must be joking.

No. I'm serious. 

OK. It seems you are not in a mood to talk now. Give me a call once you are back.

OK. Will do.

Sir, your subscription is due to expire in December.

Yes i know.

Sir, we are offering fabulous discount and goodies to our existing subscribers.

OK. 

Sir, for how many years are you going to subscribe?

Right now, i cannot take this call. Drop me a mail. Will get back to you.

But Sir, our subscription offer ends today only. You will get instant Rs 500 off, a pair of shoes, a pair of sunglasses, a trolley bag, two holiday guide books.

OK. I'm in Himachal at present. I can consider if your offer is valid for at least one more week. 

So Sir, should i put a tick on five-year plan?

Nope.

Then 3 years?

Nope. I've net connectivity problem here. Let me take a look at the mail and i'll get back to you.

But Sir if you don't give your nod today, i'll miss the target.

Target? What?

Yes Sir. Please. I have promised them 10 subscriptions today.

Tomorrow, we are meeting at Chowringhee. Are you coming, na?

No.

Why? You have been riding cycle for so long and a long associate with us.

Right. But i can't join the Chakra Cycle Satyagraha on Gandhi Jayanti.

But you are supporting our cause to demand in lifting the cycling ban in Kolkata, na?

Yes, of course. 

So, we can use your name as one of the signatories, right?

Sure!

Arreh boss!

Bataiye!

Your Reliance number is unreachable! What happened?

Nothing. You have reached me. That's all. How does it matter if another phone is unreachable?

But where are you?

I'm in a small village near Narkanda. 

Narkanda?

Yes. Himachal.

What are you doing there?

Helping riders finish off MTB Himalaya.

Oh! Are you riding? Should i call back later?

No. Have i said so?

No. But i thought...

Anyway. But who are you? Your number is not saved.

I'll be in Kolkata during the Puja.

Great!

Yes, we should meet one day. 

Sure!

Happy riding!

I'm not riding idiot!

Musically Yours

An elegy has been scripted across all media this morning: shutdown call of a music store in Calcutta. As if representing the city of culture in this subcontinent, it came as a “shock” to my fellow citizens – some of who have made it big in the industry in the last 13 years. Certainly, they owe a lot to the music store, promoted and owned by a company, which is one of the last few still headquartered in the city once considered next only to London for its sheer royalty and financial prowess.

That financial prowess is over. We have conceded that to Bombay long back, maybe just a decade after Independence. Now, is business over? Or have the businessmen shifted their focus to something else? We, the laymen, have hardly an answer. Coming back to the music store. It will, as has been reported in one of the leading English dailies, soon make way for a coffee joint – a perfect proposition to lure couples for a sip or two in the lazy afternoons after a stroll in the Maidan – especially when the famous Coffee Houses of the yore are also struggling to survive, forget profits.

At least two major reasons have been cited by the company to shut down the music store. 1. Virus of virtual onslaught on CDs. 2. Piracy on the Net and elsewhere. But hasn’t it affected a store like M Biswas Symphony in Esplanade or Modern Music under the Sealdah flyover? While the former is still the largest selling music outlet in the city, sale figures of the latter decides chartbusters in Calcutta. In terms of business, where did the Park Street music store figure? It had, still has, fabulous collection of albums and movies but could not match – maybe because of its maintenance cost – the fabulous discount the Esplanade store used to offer for decades. Isn’t Symphony older than Music World? How can they survive the scimitar of piracy and Cloud? Somewhere, Bengalis are still cash-conscious. If someone gets an original barcoded CD for Rs 100 instead of paying Rs 149 for the same in Music World, why shouldn’t s/he make a queue that would spill on to the pavement? Such is the craze at Symphony that they had to open another outlet on Lenin Sarani some five years back.

The shutdown saga could have been seen in a different way. With changing times, and listeners of music, several audio firms and shops have gone the digital way. CDs and DVDs would be obsolete in another 15/20 years, Clouds will cover the entire world in its different avatars. Music World could have evolved – like they sold accessories such as Walkman or earphones – ways to sell CDs along with coffee or tie up with companies like Yamaha or Gibson to sell even musical instruments to utter fulfilment of music lovers. Shutdown is sort of escapism. Survival, battling against odds, is the key in life, particularly when the life concerns thousands of citizens. We have seen Oxford bookstore to survive even in the world of e-books and Kindle; we have seen Starmark (launched as Landmark almost the same time Music World was born) to spread its wings; we have seen Crossword making its foray into the malls also. What ails Music World then?

Has it anything to do with the demise of RPG, the quintessential Bengali with music and culture in his blood? Is it a symbol of beginning of the end of Bengali cultural journey? Questions like these have many answers, or raise further queries.