Unheard voices, untold stories - Desert Flowers 5

Beyond the seas, communication matters to every one. Whether personal, business or social, remaining connected to the maximum extent possible is inevitable. Modes of communication are innumerable. It may range from mobile calls, voip calls, live-chats, mails to scraps in social networks. The advancement in digital technology has made the global village accessible on the go.

The thoughts and words of pravasis are more unheard. His or her stories are mostly untold.

A single day is more than actually what it is. Some times, the science of time is something different to pravasis. There are many who have completed silver and golden jubilee of their very existence in the deserts. But majority live a life that is least exposed even to their core circle.

Rather, most of the near and dear back home are least bothered about pravasi life?

When one feels to say something, circumstances pull him back from doing so. He keeps calm.

With time, they learn to talk to themselves and then it becomes a routine. This tranquility amidst chaos can be read as the noble sign of their positive attitude towards life. They long for the well-being of their family. With regrets pravasis tune themselves to let go off most desires. Gradually they also get accustomed to refrain from projecting even their wants for the collective good will of their peers.

Pravasi life is like a coin with just two sides. Work at the office and leisure back at the camp, that too with all activities running on tight schedules. Generally, people belonging to construction firms are the most confined lot. As the whole day is fully engaged with strenuous jobs, half of the night belongs to entertainment. Lion share of recreational space is used to stay connected with their family. 

Usually, after a days’ full work, when buses and vehicles enter residential camps, employees split according to the state of their personal life. Some are excited as they rush to their camps to communicate with their family and friends. Net calls, (using VoIP-Voice over internet protocol); signing to social networks, chats, checking e-mails and browsing; here starts another wonderful evening with memorable events.

Cafes become lively as it get filled with browsers, callers, and chat mongers. There are others who maintain regular practice of reading local newspapers online while some others browse the internet messenger for daily home updates offline/online. Yet another group has a special skill of simultaneous chatting on many windows.  Errors are a common place in such situations and many a time, it creates ripples of comedy amidst serious personal discussions.

Cafes witness a mix of different languages. Malayalam, Hindi, Filipino, Bengali, Nepali …the list of languages is simply exhaustive. Notably the leading language spoken in net cafe during internet calls is Malayalam.

Some callers are hesitant to open up or speak loudly during personal conversations in these public places. Those guys wait for hours to have the Wi-Fi area clear of rush. Silent expressions communicate the feelings extraordinarily. In our hometown there are cubicles or at least separators in net cafes, that ensures minimum privacy for users. However, the cafes in overseas camps are simply an array of computers all along.

Outside the cafe, there are many who make calls from their own mobile phones. The Wi-Fi system has become a blessing for many. During the last two years the number of Wi-Fi cell phone users has increased. The facility of making net calls from one’s own mobile set is the advantage of Wi-Fi phones in addition to chat and check e-mails from the handset.

The sight of men in laptops chatting on web cam is also a usual sight of pravasi evenings. They also occupy areas in and around the net cafe for access to the Wi-Fi network.

Passion, emotion and deep pain of missing get expressed in calls. As words flow across barriers, the sounds and beats give the true picture of one’s joy and sorrow.

Before net calls became familiar, there had been a system of calls that was possible through representatives, agents, etc. These telephone calls were arranged from Kerala. There were local centres of operation to connect these calls. Popularly called “hundi”, this illegal system was economically beneficial and hence most popular than normal calling modes. Low income group employees largely depended on the hundi system. In this process, the overseas caller would first call the concerned agent, who would guide him through to the requisite number and the receiver is connected in via the service centre in the local network.

There are uniquely blessed ones who can even engage in live chats in their office desktop in-between their job. Downloading and listening to music, watching movies, creating materials for social sites all flourish right under the nose of superiors. While at times, these may lead to total blocks on all public access facilities through firewalls, many a times genuine workers suffer at the hands of others.

The difference of time zone also concern pravasis while calling home. When fresher’s make calls the conversation starts thus: “What is the time there now?” When he gets the reply, he would try to make calls shorter to avoid the loss of sleep of his family. (Most Middles East countries are 2-3hours behind Indian time.)

Loved ones from home have an unending urge to at least hear the voice of their dear ones, staying beyond the seven seas. Sleep vanishes into thin air. The practicality of time flies past. As voice travels in the form of analog and binary codes, distance over seas is immensely reduced and the feeling of missing pops out. The realization of mutual presence communicated with clarity over equipments, facilitates a feeling of togetherness in fantasy beside each other and gradually triggers pain and fires up deep longing to be together again.

Net facility in accommodation camps is a free service to camp residents because in a distant desert there is no other option to interact with family in an economical way.

Mobile phone calls have been highly expensive, when compared to home town rates. When new mobile firms like Vodafone came into reality, the monopoly of Qtel finished. Thus Qtel was compelled to introduce attractive offers to maintain its customers.

When VoIP calls were prohibited for a limited period, net callers became frustrated. In Doha, Alkhor and some other small cities, there are internet phone centres exclusively for making calls. The price of call is lower than mobile calls.

Even if communication is generally smooth in this digital era, there are many senior citizens who are not so equipped with computers and internet facilities. They depend on hand-sent (messenger) mails and postal deliveries. 

In office, personnel in charge of in-house communications, deal with the receipt and distribution of postal mails. They would get enormous enquiries from employees especially new comers. Normally a land mail delivery system would take at least one week. Though aware, recipients would pray for some magic for quick delivery of anticipated mails!

Indian telephone cards (BSNL) are also available for purchase in limited conditions. Some people opt for this way of communication; where they send in the secret code to their kith and kin, to call them back at leisure.

Communication is the vital sign of existence in modern times. Today anybody can be reached anytime anywhere, thanks to internet revolution. Modern transformation in communication helps people to reach globally. Even if the facilities are at hands reach, pravasis do not indulge more. They have been tuned to a disciplined world of resources and schedules. 

All are concerned of planning their time management .Every one wants to sleep six or seven hours daily to wake up in the wee hours next day to get ready for their duties. Company bus will start at sunrise. By then daily routine including breakfast should be completed. Existence of stringent work conditions also compel him to adhere to these schedules automatically, to ensure one’s survival in the desert.

Recent Articles by Author: Desert Flowers  - July 21, 2010
 

Please write your comment on the subject / presentation at our Binsar.com Blog forum