New Indian Express (Bangalore India) Peter Moore, Town Crier of London city, is doing the rounds in Bangalore to tell you about Sify I-Way By Sanjeev Tamooley Bangalore. STROLLERS on Brigade Road on Wednesday afternoon were in for a surprise, as quixotic as it was surreal. Their attention was arrested by a stout, bluff-mannered man in postbox red colored robes, which smoldered in the warm sun. And when this person in a get-up consisting of knee-length black boots, white breeches, gold linings and a triangular hat topped by a magnificent plumage of white ostrich feathers rung a hand bell am asked a minute of their time, techies, students, window shoppers, the elderly and even preschoolers couldn't help but stop and listen. "Oyez! (Listen), Oyez! My name is Peter Moore. I am the Town Crier of the city of London. And I'm here in Bangalore to tell you about the SifY I-Way,"' he drawled in a thick but genial voice with carefully spaced pauses. Then he proceeded to hand out flyers promoting an internet-cafe chain to a curious, bemused and slightly shocked audience. As Moore explained, his profession goes back to 1066, when after the Battle of Hastings town criers were sent out by William the Conqueror of Normandy to announce his ascension to the English throne. Till the late 19th century, when the vast majority of the English people were illiterate, town criers were the only means for the Government to inform the public about proclamations, edicts, laws, and news of victory or defeat in, war. "We wanted to use the oldest form of communication to promote the newest form of communication,"' said David Appasamy, General Manager of Sat yam Infoway Ltd., the company which has flown Moore to India to market their 800-centre strong chain of broadband-connected internet cafes. So when the heartbeat of 21st century Bangalore's digitaldom had a brush with someone accoutered in the fashion of 17th century, London, it was back to the ABCD of people-to-people contact. " Moore, who has worked' in, radio, TV and theatre, told a cine ma-goer that he doesn't like 007, but strongly recommended Chicago. He playfully poked a balloon seller’s wares and asked him, "How's business?" A street urchin who pestered him got rewarded with an Rs-100 note, leaving the boy wide-eyed. Later, wiping the gleaming sweat off his brow, he quoted Noel Coward to anybody who would listen: "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun." Moore, . Who has been appointed London’s, Town Crier by its Lord Mayor, is very much' a part of British culture, participating in important. Civic and royal functions. An "ardent royalist,"' he ends every speech, with, "God save the Queen!"