I’m… I’m still settling in to the fact that it’s been twenty-five years.
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A few weeks ago, the BSNL SIM that I had purchased when I moved here to Bangalore, stopped working. The iPhone did not detect it and other phones gave a “SIM Corrupt. Contact Service Provider” error.
Knowing how the workings in a governmental agency in this country are and considering that I had physically cut the SIM down to a Micro SIM so it’d fit in my iPhone, I did not have any hopes of getting a free replacement. So I head out to the local BSNL Quick Service Station to get a replacement, stating that I had lost the SIM. I was asked to fill out a form, give a photocopy each of my address and ID proof and Rs. 10 for the replacement SIM card. To try my luck, I asked them if it was possible to get a Micro SIM instead, so that I wouldn’t have to cut it down again. Technically, they could just give me a Micro SIM and use its SIM number instead of the fresh SIM they were going to issue. Sadly, they were not ready to go out of their way to do me a favor.
Fast forward to yesterday, where I had this sudden urge to purchase the iPad special plans from BSNL. BSNL offers three special plans for iPad customers in India, wherein Rs. 99/day give you unlimited data browsing, Rs. 599/month gives you 6GB of data while Rs. 999/month gives you unlimited data browsing. What’s interesting is, BSNL actually gives out Micro SIMs if you opt for this service. I figured I’d just give it a try.
I dropped in a request on the website yesterday and received a phone call this morning from the executive who was willing to visit me at home and collect the documents. This was pretty cool in itself. I submitted the documents this morning and received a Micro SIM that was supposed to be activated by 6PM. Surprisingly, the card started working by 3PM itself, but the 3G data service wasn’t yet active. I tried a few hours later and viola, I was browsing at supersonic speeds again. Well, not really.
While I was told that you cannot make or receive phone calls on this service, turns out you can. I just tried to make and receive phones calls and what do you know! It works.
I guess if you’re looking to get a new BSNL connection and want to use it in your iPhone, you have this as a choice.
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After spending about eleven months in the beautifully pleasant city of Bangalore, I’ll be making a move back to my beloved city of Bombay for good.
Back in June 2010, I took up a gig at Sourcebits which required that I work from their offices in Bangalore. In my 24 years of existence, I’d never lived out of Bombay except for the yearly travel trips we take. So this was a great new challenge for me and saying that I was excited would be understating it. This was also going to be my first full-time employment after having worked as a freelancer for close to 5 years.
Since I was a total alien to Bangalore, I decided to reach out via Twitter if anyone could offer a helping hand. Dkris did, which is by far the best thing that has happened related to my move. He set me up with a booking in a small hotel and gave me directions to get there from the Airport. He helped me look for places in and around the area I wanted to stay in and was of great help. I’ve had some great fun times with him and the other friends and I’ve made here, specially since November when we officially became roommates. I love the house I’m currently living in and having him as the roommate has been the icing on the cake.
Unfortunately, the landlord has asked us to vacate the place by May. I left my job at Sourcebits back in December, so I’ve been working from home on things at iXyr Media while also taking up a gig with old friend Aayush at Caramel Cloud. Instead of going through the trouble of finding a great place all over again, I’ve decided to get back to Bombay. I’ve missed all the fabulous things about Bombay while I was here, so it’d be great to touch down there again.
Bangalore has been a fabulous host for these last nine months and the general culture here is awesome. I’ve spent some fantastic moments with friends here, which would have never been possible in Bombay. Sure, I’d prefer Bombay over Bangalore any day, but have I a chance to come back here, I’d jump on it faster than a pack of lions on a baby deer.
I’ll be leaving the city at the end of May, so I still have a good 50 days more and I hope to make the most of it.
Cheers, Bangalore. You’ve been awesome.
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A little over two years ago, a wrote a post called Things you will always find in my Backpack — that peeked into my then backpack. I figured I’d just update about the bag I carry today and the stuff I carry around in it.
Today, I usually carry around a booq Taipan Shadow XS. It’s a fabulous bag to carry around your iPad along with a few other things.
The booq houses the following —
- 16GB iPad (WiFi)
- Allen & Heath Xone XD-53 Headphones
- iPhone 4
- Reynolds Trimax (Black)
- iPhone dock cable
- Staedtler Mars micro
If I have to carry my Unibody MacBook Pro with me, I carry the Kensington Contour. It’s a sturdy and solid backpack, specially design to carry around notebooks. It has a special adjustable plastic support for your lower back, which helps when you’re carrying a heavy notebook.
It usually houses —
- Unibody MacBook Pro
- Allen & Heath Xone XD-53 Headphones
- Ultimate Ears MetroFi 170vi
- A T-Shirt
- Reynolds Trimax (Black)
- iPhone dock cable
- Staedtler Mars micro
- Pogo sketch
This pretty much lets me move throughout the day without any hassles in getting my work done. What are the must-haves for you?
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