“STD LSD”

There are signs everywhere here that say “STD ISD”. When I first saw them, my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

It seems that they have a complicated way of handling telecoms here. You don’t get a phone and have local versus long distance rates. You order them as separate services it seems. STD stands for “Standard Trunk Dialing” and ISD something else, perhaps international. There are many concession stands where you can walk up and make a phone call; and all have a large sign proclaiming “STD ISD”. We don’t have STD dialing in the temporary apartment. I know this because every time I dial a number that requires STD, I hear a recording of a sweet sounding, Indian accented woman telling me that…

STD functionality has not been enabled

STD means “Sexually Transmitted Disease” in American English, so standard trunk dialing has provided no end to my merriment. ISD looks like LSD (as in the drug) at first glance and only adds to the fun; hence the title of this post.

Today, I tried to reach the relocation consultant and ran into the standard trunk roadblock. I was able to reach his colleague. There seems to be a patchwork of telephone exchange switches in Bangalore, some of which I can reach without standard trunk dialing and others where this functionality is needed. This evening when we were sitting out on the balcony, enjoying the evening thunderstorm and reviewing the day, I sent my wife into fits of laughter with…

I don’t have STD, so I could not call Buddy

It seems that not having STD limits my social contacts.