Some years ago, all of us had to bear with the roads, and sidewalks too, getting dug up for various reasons; one of them was OFC. "OFC"! said the little concrete signposts said, that came up later on the spot. OFC stood for Optic Fibre Cable; this was going to be the cable that would make Bangalore the city of the future, with internet connectivity everywhere.

Then there were reports in the newspaper that there were only the pipes laid down; the actual optic fibre cable itself was missing. "Ah!" we breathed; it was nothing new to Bangalore to have something promised not delivered; we turned the page and read about the sports or the stock market or the plight of farmers somewhere in Karnataka.

But nowadays, I often find rolls and rolls of optic fibre cable lying around, all over the landscape. The greenery of the parks is often overlaid with these whorls of slender orange wire.

And sometimes…..

OFC stands, not for Optic Fibre Cable, but for Optic Fibre Cow! Perhaps this bovine has dreams of talking in real time to its counterpart in the US, or of watching streaming video?

Wonder how much of this expensive cable is going waste all over the city….?

⊕