Give a Missed Call

I had never heard the phrase “Give a Missed Call” until arriving in India. Now, I hear it several times a week. Giving a missed call is prevalent throughout India. For my personal situation….. I have “given a lot of missed calls”, simply to be sure I have entered the correct number of a new contact into my phone. With all of the dialing nuances, I want to make sure I've got their correct number before I walk away, so after I enter their unfamiliar number, I dial it while I am standing there to make sure it rings. This is especially critical for drivers. They are my lifeline back home, and I want to be able to contact them when I am ready to go. If I lose their number, and don’t have a wifi connection, it will be, well….basically leaving a destination without a confirmed ride. Of course the Indian population is so friendly this would not be a bad problem (in Bangalore at least) and most people would loan you their phone and help you get back...but STILL, you want to have your own “plan” if possible when you are trying to go home, and not waste a lot of time.

I have a designated driver now, Manjunath, and we are set…but prior to finding him (THE most amazing, consistent, dependable, polite and friendly driver in Bangalore), I have racked up a lot of NAMES in my phone. As I was examining my contacts the other day, I know it is over 100 people, and yet I have had meaningful conversations with probably 5 of those people! The rest are one-timers who I “gave a missed call” to be sure we could remain connected for a pre-determined time period.

The above scenario describes only me, an expat, and my personal reasons related to “Giving a missed call”. However, I have discovered that this phrase is a popular phenomenon throughout India, and is used for so many other reasons. More than are listed in this blog for sure, as I only have a few months experience here in India. Not having a monthly phone plan, I can’t compare the expense of someone actually picking up a call and saying “Hello”, and having a 2 minute conversation, versus an SMS/text, versus calling and hanging up (aka "The Missed Call"). However, apparently, dialing and hanging up here is described to date as 1) cost-effective and 2) convenient, for many. It is kind of genius when you think about it, for "people on the go", even if cost is not a factor. People with a lack of patience who know that voice mails take time to listen to, and so by dialing and just hanging up, it means "call me back". (It is so much easier than listening to a voice mail, truly!)

There are even customized signals and agreements that friends and families have in place, such as 1) 1 ring means "I am waiting downstairs", or 2) 2 rings means "I have reached home safely" or 3) 3 rings means “Call me when you wake up” or 4) 4 or more rings means “Pick up, I need to talk now!”

I would overhear people at work, or out and about, using the term “Give me a missed call”……and then one Sunday I saw an infomercial, selling products, which stated at the bottom of the TV screen “Give a missed call”. I have heard, regarding these infomercials, that there is a level that ranges from “above board” (contacting you to buy the product after your call) to "complete scam" (just trying to get your number for sales or future selling of the number).

Another big phenomenon is to “Give a missed call” to get an update on the sports (CRICKET) score or, another example, your bank balance! Apparently, whether now or in the recent past, the “Missed call” is somewhat similar to a US SMS/text, and yet possibly just a cheaper way of communicating here in India for certain phone plans. Pictured below is a typical Infomercial on TVs across Bangalore.