Originally posted on 14 July 2010 :
This is my prayer to Thee, my Lord,
Give me and my compatriots the bandwidth of international standards
If there are power cuts, we will sweat it out, but inverters will keep us going
If there are pot holes on the roads, we will wriggle through and reach our destination
If the water comes in the taps for limited hours, we will fill our pitchers and quench our thirst
If the traffic lights fail and there is chaos, we will rub shoulders and elbow our way through
But if the Internet speed is inadequate, we are forced to helplessly wait for our downloads and uploads. And time once lost is lost for ever. It is a non-renewable resource.
As an old soldier, I say to the government of India,
“If you can not afford to give us rational pensions, don’t give. We will tighten our belts and manage within what you are giving us. But give us better Internet speed, so that we can reach out to our friends and comrades. “
And as a humble citizen of this land, I would say,
“Sadak, Bijli and paani cost more money than Internet infrastructure. We have been able to produce an excellent network of mobile telephones. That same methodology needs to be extended to the Internet backbone. Just ask your minions to clear the files quickly, and industry will do the rest. It is not beyond the genius of our people to do so. All that the government has to do is to get out of their way. IT is our strong point.
If Mirza Nosha was alive, he would have composed a couplet like this one.
Pilaa de oak se saaqi, jo hamse nafrat hai (‘oak’ means ‘cupped’ hands)
Piala agar nahin deta, na de, sharaab to de!
I am also tempted to add one which tells us about the importance of time. This one has been written by several poets in different forms. The version which I like is:
MeharbaaN ho ke bulaa lo mujhe chaahe jis waqt
Mere dost,
MaiN guzra waqt to nahiN hooN ki phir aa bhi na sakooN!
Let us all do what we can to ask the ‘system’ to improve the Internet speed. It will help our youngsters in being able to outperform the ‘developed’ world. We have it in us!
Surjit
Very well written
Very appropriate prayer.
Well said about time as being a non-renewable resource.
I always look forward to your urdu verses.
In Pilaa de oak se —–you have used ‘agar’ instead of ‘gar.’
Who else has written the following?. It seems to be an exact quote from Ghalib, except for the addition of ‘Mere Dost’,
use of ‘chaahe’ instead of ‘chaaho’, ‘guzra’ instead of ‘gaya’ and an extra word ‘hooN’.
Howcome that you did not attain the rank of Lt. General!
am a ‘Reliance’ customer…I wonder why they are called thus….i have been promised speeds of ‘upto 3 mbps’ but it never goes beyond 512…it’s like the government asking you to pay for HIGH SPEED EXPRESSWAYS with this in fine print *only after midnight, and in low traffic conditions….
Recently Finland became the first country to guarantee free internet as a right to its citizens…we must press the same for India too.
In short, I am with you on this crusade. Lead on Sir
Sent by Gen Surjit Singh (Retd). The power of the Internet is as yet an unrealised tool in India. You and I are some of the few who have hitched on to the knowledge revolution but it needs to go much beyond. I foresee most of us working off home in the near future provided we have the most reliable means to remain netted through data and video.
Gen Surjit has his own unique way of communication which is indeed charming. His repertoire of Urdu couplets seems endless.
Thank you for your useful advice.
A very fervent plea indeed, Sir!
MTNL claims it is giving me 2 MBPS here in Delhi — give or take a couple of hundred kbps.
Tested speed: Download 597 kbps, upload 214 kbps. It is not bad at all.
i dont think even a farmer with a parched throat , looking at his even more parched fields would have the pain in his prayers as u have demonstrated in ur couplets….wah wah…..great….i think we should send a wired internet connection from france to chandigarh….kundi type…we r good at kundis…no? Dear masad…the gen population in india is not intrested in high speed internet…it is only the users who have the love for netting as u that find the speed bad…..by the way if i am not wrong the new internet connections as tata photon and the usb types have phenomenal speed…also it is a fact that bsnl is faster than airtel and the lot…..try and research it…
many thanks…as always…for your nuggets
great idea…re. bandwidth…..and some poignant poetry….may I quote you….?