Cutting the Chai: June 2009

The ambience of an Indian railway station is incomplete without the pre-recorded female voice that informs passengers of the arrivals and departure of trains. The arrival of computerised announcement system in the Indian railways meant that the variety of voices blaring from loudspeakers in railway stations across the country was replaced by those of a select few. Thanks to our linguistic diversity, or it would have been the same voice announcing the late arrival of of a train in Agartala and the departure of another in Bhuj.

For those who love travelling by trains (like me, though rationing of leaves often forces to take the aerial route) or atleast like the sounds of the railway station here are a few ringtones to bring the feel of the railway station in your mobile phone.

Kripaya dyaan dijiye, Indian Railways train announcement ringtone sunne ya download karne ke liye niche dekhe:

Train Announcement - Bilingual

Download ringtone [MP3 500 KB 00:00:30 128kbps Stereo 44 kHz]

Train Announcement - Hindi

Download ringtone [MP3 274 KB 00:00:16 128kbps Stereo 44 kHz]

Train Announcement - English

Download ringtone [MP3 262 KB 00:00:15 128kbps Stereo 44 kHz]

(This ringtone announces the arrival of the 2919 Malwa Express travelling from Indore to Jammu Tawi and was recorded by me at Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, New Delhi on October 27, 2008)

No one that I know got a raise this year and costs keep increasing. My landlord raised the rent, though I managed to bargain a bit with a little recession sob-story.

With stagnant cash inflow, we need to make some cuts in expenses and for me it has to start with the magazines. I purchase an unnecessary number of them and since I don't want to sell them to the raddiwallah, they eat up a lot of prime space in my already congested abode.

Therefore, I decided to go the Arnold Schwarzenegger way and put together a list of Indian print magazines that are available in a digital format (an e-replica of the print edition) and I was surprised to find so many. Also happened to discover a few that I never knew existed.

Most of these e-versions are either in PDF or flash, though there are a few in HTML too.

Here's a simple way to slash those magazine bills in these hard times (the publishers might be a bit upset, but they earn more from advertising than sales):

List of Indian print magazines available in a digital format online: