``Internet pe rehna hoga to Vande Mataram nahin kehna hoga!,'' said a harried Netizen of Colaba, obviously referring to Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's spirited speech in Vidhan Sabha the other day.

``I've been trying to hook on to the Net for the last eight hours...I urgently need to send an e-mail to my daughter in America, but I don't know why I can't log on,'' said another user from Bandra.

Also hit were the 500 or so regular Internet `chatters' who log into the Indian chatrooms at Yahoo! and other chatsites. For once, they could not exchange notes on Salman Khan and sambar with the Indiancommunity abroad.

Though the VSNL chief of operations, Amitabh Kumar was not available for comment, another official said: ``Many panic-striken users have called us with this problem but we are going to soon mail them a simple remedy (see box). It is all due to MTNL's tinkering with the regular dial tone.''

However, since the Vande Mataram tone is currently being used only in a few select MTNL exchanges, many users in Powai, Borivli, Goregaon and other areas have still not faced the problem. But hassle-free surfing for them may only be short-lived. According to MTNL's main spokesperson, Anil S Lele, most of the exchanges will go Vande Mataram by August 15, as per the directions of the Union Ministry of Communications. ``We are still in the process of introducing the Vande Mataram dial tone in all the exchanges. So far only a few exchanges have been given the cassette.'' When told about Net users' complaint, Lele said: ``But, this is a temporary feature...people should understand.'' Incidentally, it isnot only the Net surfers who are having problems. As this man from calling from Nariman Point revealed: ``I picked up the phone and this lady immediately started singing Vande Mataram, so I lent her my ear out of courtesy. But then abruptly the song stopped and there was engage tone! Now tell me, if I ignore the song and shamelessly dial my number, won't I be showing disrespect for Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay?''