Telephone blues

You thought you'd seen everything. Until one day, out of the blue, you got a notice from a magistrate to pay Rs. 35,743 for a telephone that had never been installed in your place. The notice warned you that if you did not comply, the little that you owned would be forfeited and you would be jailed.

Not again, you groaned. It had started two years ago. You had written many times to the telephone men about a bill they were regularly sending you, a bill for a phone which was not then in existence (and which had probably never existed). You had then got a letter from them to pay the bill or face disconnection of all your other phones. In utter frustration, you'd sent a letter to Dawn about the whole thing. It was duly published and, (surprisingly) the telephone chaps had responded. They were sorry about all the trouble they had caused, they said, and they would make sure you were not bothered again.