When I first got Motorola L6i, which my brother deserted when he got w810i, I was, in a way, excited. 
Because it was my first bluetooth device, my first gprs enabled phone, my first mp3 ringtones etc etc…The transition was from Nokia 2600 (2005 model)
Now imagine what it would be like, to the author of this post, when the transition was from a second hand L6i to this..
The features are awesome. Never seen a qwerty phone whose dimensions are just a cm wider, a mm lengthier and a mm thinner (yeah thinner) than L6i. I was in desperation to buy a phone, because my L6i needs to be properly positioned in the space-time continuem in order to maximise the signal strength. Moreover, 10MB of RAM cum harddisk is too much for me to handle.
Rahul, who was also vexed with his phone, wanted to buy a phone. Both of us went to Reliance Digital in banjara hills. Varun once suggested me to buy wifi enabled phone if at all I buy a new one. If at all you buy a wifi phone, go for qwerty, and if we are going for qwerty there is no other option but E71. It took both of us some time to make up our minds to empty 20K. Eighteenth October 2008 was decided as the muhurtha, just because it was a saturday and I can have the whole sunday to explore the phone and show off about it. 
We thought we would go to the air show in begumpet and decided to find the rate of E71 in every mobile store in the way. In Big C madhapur, he quoted 20.8K for a special offer piece which contains Bluetooth headset. Sounded fair enough and we asked for two pieces. Apparently it was big PIA for the mobile stores to get E71, because of high demand to supply ratio. He said he would arrange for two pieces by afternoon. So we left for begumpet.
On our way, we thought to check in RPG cellcom outlet in Shopper’s Stop. As the publicity for the upcoming film ‘Fashion’, RPG cellcom, the official blah sponsor of that film, quoted the bata rate of 20K. (Rs 19,999). He promised the same set, the diwali offer from Nokia: E71 with Bluetooth headset free of cost. So we said we would take two and started for air show. Because of huge rush, police were not allowing anyone inside. The ripple effect of that jam in begumpet is felt in somajiguda, punjagutta, khairatabad and to my shock necklace road.
Without going for the airshow, we had lunch in nanking and came back to shopper’s stop to buy that. There we waited three and half an hours, for the guy to get the pieces: one from A.S. Rao Nagar and another from S. R. Nagar. 
. After the wait, we felt that we have done it. Got the best rate for that awesome phone. yipeeeee. Like any other tale, there is a ‘but’ here too.
The E71 pieces they brought were not Diwali offer pieces. At this point of time, I should tell what we have done in those three and half an hours we waited.
The person who was behind the glass showcase of mobilephones in shopper’s stop seriously know what he was/will-be-selling. Explained to us, the current market trend of phones, the technological aspects of different phones etc etc and all that. And he clearly mentioned in this conversation we had with him, that the bluetooth headset costs around Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 and is an inaugural offer as that headset was not release in Indian markets yet. So, after getting these pieces from other RPG cellcom stores because of the lack of the diwali offer pieces there, we called Big C and confirmed that they have two Diwali offered pieces which were brought there from other Big C stores in the city. The original guy who explained the specs of the phone kept quiet and following is the conversation with the other two.
Rahul: we called our friend in madhapur and he confirmed us that he saw two diwali pieces of E71 in Big C and they are giving it for 20.8K
Guy 1 (the dumbest of the two who talked to us): Sir, they tell you that the box has bluetooth set inside it but actually there won’t be any.
We: wtf?
me: Actually, the other person told us that bluetooth is worth nearly 1.5K to 2K. Obv for 800 that (Big C) offer is tempting. So we are thinking if you could give us some more discount on this, it would be profitable for us. (Seriously we dont want bluetooth, we are just taking it because its free
Guy 2: No no no. That headset wont cost you more than 800.
Rahul: But the other person told us so its around 1.5K.
G2: No sir! it wont be more than 800. Trust me
We: yeah right!
me: So can you give us some more discount or not?
G2: No sir. This is our fixed price.
G1: Actually, the data should be entried into the computer… ( I think he actually told us how they enter the values in their computer, didn’t pay attention to him)
Rahul: We will go there once and check it otherwise we will come back and take this.
G1: That bluetooth is not that worth sir!!
me: Anyways, till what time will you be open?
G2: 9:30PM sir.
me: we will come here again if we don’t get it there. Thank You
We didn’t buy it there because we didn’t trust them. Came to BigC as soon as we could, thanks to punjagutta flyover. There they are, the diwali offer of E71.
yours truly
The Proud Owner of Nokia E71
Upcoming Posts: The Adventures in Manali, Timeplane 2: Timepaths
