Stuck

I heard today that it is impossible to bring my phone back to life with the existing cable and the only way to get it working again is to install a new cable.  This is likely to be an expensive business as it means digging a trench and then laying a cable over at least 500 meters.  Three weeks ago were told that the existing cable is all right, now suddenly, for some unaccountable reason it isn't and they can't mend our phone line.

Now I am in a chicken and egg situation where BSNL say they will not do anything with the cable because it was put in by the Auroville Telephone Service and the Auroville Telephone Service say that it is BSNL's responsibility.

This afternoon Rajan and I went on a trip to explore other possibilities for the internet in Buddha Garden.  Vodaphone have a portable wifi system but we found out that it won't work where we are because they only have 2G available and to have a reasonably fast connection we need 3G.  There was some talk of a possibility from Aircell, but as their office is in the back of beyond in Pondy we didn't have the time to check that out.  I am seeing the head of the Auroville Telephone Service tomorrow and see if something can be worked out but I don't hold out too much hope.  According to him there are 'political problems' which usually means that nothing can be done.

So it looks like we are stuck.

The picture is of the BSNL Auroville Telephone exchange where we went to find out that they wouldn't do anything about our cable.  The grey room was dominated by this huge construction where all the wires came together - as Rajan explained - this is where all our telephone wires end up!