Bangladesh Calling
Bangladesh is the first to welcome me to Agartala as soon as I land at the Northeastern state's capital.SMSs from 'GrameenPhone', our neighbour's leading cellular service provider, pour in as soon as I switch on my phone on disembarking. 'GrameenPhone welcomes you', is the first, followed by four more helpfully informing me of Bangladesh's emergency services numbers as well as those of the Indian embassy and consulates there. Large swathes of Tripura, I later learn, are covered by not only 'GrameenPhone', but also two other cellular service providers of Bangladesh. Indian cellular service providers don't cover any area bordering Bangladesh and since their Bangaldeshi counterparts have put up powerful towers all along the international border, residents on this side of the border have to depend on the Bangaldeshi cellphone companies to communicate with each other inside Indian territory. But visitors to Agartala need to be cautious, as I was advised to be. My cellphone connection kept migrating to GrameenPhone throughout my stay at Agartala, and especially when I went to Kamalasagar, a small tourist spot that has a 500-year-old Kali temple, right next to Bangladesh. The trick is to keep the network selection on manual mode, instead of automatic as we normally do, so that unsuspecting souls don't migrate automatically to a Bangladeshi service provider and gets charged ISD rates for outgoing and incoming calls and messages.
Pleasant Change
Tripura is just emerging out of the dark shadows of militancy and there's a cautious sense of relief, optimism and even happiness, in the air. The bulletproof-jacketed police and paramilitary forces are still visibly prominent, but they too look relaxed. The last time I was in Agartala three years ago, the place looked like a town under siege. There has been a vast improvement in not only the security scenario, but also the physical infrastructure in and around Agartala. Roads are much better, there are more new cars on the roads, dilapidated structures have given way to new buildings and branded goods sell briskly from gleaming stores. Ok,so it's nothing compared to Delhi or Mumbai or Bangalore, but things are improving fast.