Texting and the Old Carbon Copy

Over here, I've had to learn to use a little bit different lingo when it comes to cell phones and texting in order for the locals to understand what I am talking about. A cell phone is ONLY referred to as a mobile. I'm sure in parts of America this could be fairly common as well, but where I come from, I've only heard cell phone before. Generally, it's just easier to say Blackberry. Also, I have yet to hear the words "text" or "text message" since I've been here. Rather, a text is referred to as a "SMS". I know that if you looked at your cell phone bill/plan, the actual service is called "SMS", abbreviated for short message service. I guess being in the "Silicon Valley" of India, they elected to use the literal term (just like many other things) of the service rather than a clever slang name developed in the states.

On to the carbon copy. In today's age, I feel like carbon copies are beginning to be phased out more and more. That is, even for documents that require signatures and the carbon copy was a great idea for these type items, it seems places now will just print out their copy and your copy. Well, carbon copies over here are definitely in abundance. Even though someone will put the information into a computer system, they still end up manually hand writing the information out on a carbon copy form. Sound inefficient? I think so. But, that is par for the course.

There is something else that perplexes me in old Silicon Valley. It seems like every invoice/bill I receive after a purchase comes from a dot-matrix printer (if actually printed and not a carbon copy form). Yes, I'm referring to the printers that have all the paper attached together with the perforated edges that you have to tear off. I thought those things were put out of commission circa 1990? State-of-the-art computers seem to be used in most places, but for some reason they have yet to make the conversion to a laser or ink-jet printer.

One other thing that I've come across that I have never seen before in my lifetime was a typing service business. The one I saw was set up in an outdoor pavilion type area, located right outside the courthouse. I was told this was because all of the forms used in their legal system are standardized and you are required to complete them on these forms, thus you have to go to this typing service to complete them. The whole setup was just odd to me.

The theory I have with respect to the above items is primarily due to the conditions/economy in this 'developing' country wherein there is stock of all these items somewhere that has yet to be fully used, and there is no way they would ever dispose of it (waste it). Thus, they will continue to use it until it is fully depleted.

In summary, it just seems really strange to me that I live in a city self-proclaimed as the "Silicon Valley" of India, yet the perception is that they still seem to be in the 20th Century.