OFF WITH THE OLD. . . . .

I am being wooed.

Sms-s, emails, phone calls, the whole works. Day in and day out. But my reaction is silence, an impassive silence, while I rub my hands together in glee.

When I needed your help, you never paid me the slightest attention, ignored my phone calls, and sent me vacuous emails full of no information.

Now you beg and persuade, plead and beseech me to renew my association with you.
Thanks, but no thanks.

I have found someone new, who is just perfect for me.

BSNL - my new service provider.

No more waits of up to seven days while cable problems (which were as frequent as once a month) were sorted out. No more of having to talk to courteous, yet indifferent, call centre employees, who insisted on being civil, full of empty politeness, but were of no help at all. No more calling them up and not getting any feedback.

I only have to open the Internet, and there I am connected immediately and am ready to surf.

Or so I thought . . . . When suddenly two days ago I found that I could not connect to the net. I called their Call Centre. The line was busy for very long, and I could not get through at once. But once I did, the person there, without being obsequious, very clearly told me (without any ornamental flourish - no ‘have a great day’, no ‘thanks for calling us’)that my problem would be addressed as soon as possible.

When I called the person who had come home to connect us to the service, he said he would come to check the lines. But before the appointed time he called to say exactly what the problem was. It was a major one, with the server being down, and so he would not be visiting since it was not a problem related to our line. I appreciated that service. The connection was restored without much delay the same day. A nice change. The next day the newspapers reported a major snag in the BSNL service, which had disrupted connections state wide.

I am happy now, though I realise that if our telephone lines go, so would the broadband connection. But I am prepared to take that chance.

WHO IS READING MY MAIL?

I have been using gmail for quite a while now to keep in touch with my family and friends.
And very convenient it is too - it retains the threads even after a lapse of several days. When my friend answers questions I had asked three months ago, somehow my original mail also pops up with hers, nudging my memory.

And I have been using it insouciantly, never bothering to look at the ads that have been creeping up insidiously.
Never suspecting that my mails are subject to the scrutiny of some unseen eye - after all it is my personal PC, not my boss's or anyone else's - I have not bothered to restrain myself in my mails.

It was only recently I found that the ads were related directly to some word/phrase in the content of the mail I had either sent or received.

Take for instance my friend's mail telling me that she had travelled Thai Airways just the day after the recent accident - and alongside I found the following ads -

Thinking Thai Property?

Cheap Tickets To Chennai

Properties In Thailand

Learn TEFL In Thailand

Save On Chennai Flights

Teach English in Thailand

Thailand Travel


Granted, I am using a free service which could do with fiscal aid!
Is it still right?

So how private is your email?