Saamy gets connected. And how ...

Saamy, my neighbour living in the colony adjacent to our apartment complex has got
connected. He's got his own cellphone, which is great since it indicates that all sections
of Indian society are reaping the benefits of the telecom revolution.

BTW, I guess this must be the only instance where all sections of the society have solidly
embraced a new technology in the Indian scenario. TV comes close, but I guess it took a
lot more time to spread, when compared to cellphones. And even today, the spread of TV
in India is much less compared to that of cellphones.

Our cellular penetration is awesome, to put it mildly. Go to any city, town or village in
India and you can see people chatting on their mobiles. I don't remember seeing such
high usage even in the US or Europe.

Saamy, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is a house painter by vocation and I guess the
mobile phone helps him get more work / business. However, what I found irritating was
his kid-with-new-toy behaviour. Like any new mobile user, he wants the world to know
that he has a cellphone. So, he positions himself on the stairs of his first floor home, calls
up friends / relatives and then proceeds to chat at real loud volume. I am sure his banter reaches each and every home in a 20m radius around him.

Last weekend, he was again at it, talking in a loud voice with a friend about meeting him
in the evening for a few drinks. Luckily for everyone around, his wife stepped out of their
home as soon as she heard the "drinks" part and told him in no uncertain terms that there
was no way he would go drink that day. So, Mr.Saamy disconnected the call and tried to
persuade her to grant permission for a boy's night out.

I am not sure he succeeded because I did not hear at night the usual racket that he makes
on returning home drunk. Maybe, this incident will make Saamy talk quieter on the phone
from now on and us neighbors could have it easier.