The last few days and my life !

Call it the influence of Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows but that's how I felt like naming the post. Yes, finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, finally and it made a good read. After a lingering stretch of nonstop hunt and action and threat and a few very quick and unexplained deaths and some violence here and there, it was all well in the end and that was quite relieving. The author after a dreary 5th and an ok-to-read 6th series has patched up in the final book with a number of surprises and twists .The last chapter, after the strenuous read, was the funniest!!

Sunk in for an evening movie on DVD, after a long time, yesterday and it left me and my sis-in-law utterly bewildered on how can the director think of such a logic-less story. We had a good laugh, though, over the obviously stupid way the entire story progressed. I am talking about the recently much-expected-but-bombed (oh no, not Sivaji) movie Satham Podadhey.

There’s this new pastry shop out here in Trivandrum, called Square One Home made talents and this is slowly becoming my weekend hide out. You wouldn’t find too many variety eateries in this city so I don’t blame the sweet-tootheres to find it a welcome place despite the very heavy rate they price the pastries at. It manages to graciously burn my wallet with a profound hole. I don’t know, they have got this limited but scrumptious collection of some home made pastries and treats and I like it somehow. The waffle with maple syrup (I had to repeat it to myself studiously quite a few times so I could ask for it confidently the second time) is really amazing. For those who wonder at the word like I did for the first time, waffle is a wafer-like bar (harder and sweeter than wafer), baked and consumed hot and maple is a leaf that grows in abundance in the US, especially during fall.


And yea, they banned You-Tube too at office, after Orkut. Not too many days, I think, before they come up saying, sorry but we have found too many obscene usage of yahoo and gmail and google.

But anyways, that’s about it.

Whoever said the internet has made the world smaller…

Wait a minute, the statement could be proved wrong, thanks to the customer care given by the Indian Airlines and Indian Railways.

Just assume you are left with no choice but to treat yourself with some annoyingly careless customer care, wouldn’t you expect the least of regard for your time and money?

Had to factually chase both the help desks, undoubtedly and unsystematically managed by the government, to get after all one ticket cancelled from my itinerary.

Indian railways online helpdesk : Thanks for contacting IRTC customer care, please press…blah blah…or 9 to speak to the customer care executive…
It’s ringing. I am ready with all my transaction Ids and other details I expected them to ask for , it’s still ringing, I assume the executive is busy on another call, it has been ringing for 25 seconds, I frown, The ringing tone gets transformed to a DDLJ title song, I say ‘nice, they can keep the callers entertained’, the music plays for about 10 seconds and whorls back to the normal tring-tring; I get bored; Wow, I can hear a voice, but wait, it says ‘ we appreciate your time, our executive will be with you soon’, I wait patiently; tring-tring; ‘Sorry your wait has exceeded the limit’ ; they throw me out of the call; I flip my mouth open, aghast; dial again and the same thing follows through my Call2; I don’t give up; Trial 3; no luck; Trial 4; still no luck; Trial 5 Luck worsens; call gets disconnected before connecting to the customer executive; I go determinedly vengeful; dial up the help desk to complain; I am in queue again, undoubtedly people are so natural to have complaints with the way things have been progressing; I wait; call disconnected – Total number of calls 6 ; Total time wasted – 38 minutes ; I silently curse the government and decide to try out Indian airlines cause I had to cancel an air ticket as well.

This is relieving. I immediately get connected !

Me: Hello, This is Sandhya, Could you please cancel one of the e-tickets …

Beep beep beep

Me: Hello, This is Sandhya, Could you please cancel one of the e-tickets that I had booked for the 6th of Dec …

He: Sure, ma’am, please give me your PNR number
Me: (Glad at him responding), it’s R***

Beep beep beep

Me: Hello, This is Sandhya, Could you please cancel one of the e-tickets that I had booked for the 6th of Dec
She: Pls give me the PNR no: ma’am
Me: it’s..

Beep beep beep

Me: Hello, This is Sandhya, Could you please cancel one of the e-tickets that I had booked for the 6th of Dec.
I was trying to speak to the customer care executive for about 3-4 times now and the call was getting disconnected.
She: I am sorry ma’am, Pls give me the PNR no:
Me: Its R*****

She: Thank you. Your ticket cannot be cancelled online.

Me: (Fury slowly igniting through my veins): I can book the tickets online but can’t cancel?

She: No ma’am , you can’t.

Me: What do I do now ?

She: You have to raise a request and mail the helpdesk. They will send you an application form. You have to fill….

Me: (now gravely desperate for a positive answer). Sorry, That might take time. Could I go to the city office and do the cancellation myself?

She: The city office will do only the postponement of the tickets ma’am.

Me: Is there no other option of getting my tickets canceled ?

She: No ma’am

Me: (confidently irritated): Alright, can I have the mail id?

She: Sure ma’am, it’s….
Beep beep beep


..........When will this change?

Tagged again !

Thanks to Santosh for saving the puzzlement on what to post today !

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Quite a few, dad, my sister in law, Aravind’s granny.

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Taking a shower.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Working !!! .

4. What happened to you in 2006?
So many things…got married, moved in to a new city, broke my arm…

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
ohh..anything…I say IS loud…I think I said ‘Bye ‘.

6. How many beverages did you have today?
One.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Pink

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Marker pen.

9. Where were you last night?
Airport .

10. What color is your front door?
Coffee Brown.

11. Where do you keep your change?
In my bag, in a box in my showcase, in the car, which ever I access frequently.

12. What’s the weather like today?
Outside, it’s kinda ok, inside , I am feeling blue

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
I prefer a combo of butterscotch n chocolate.

14. What excites you?
Almost everything.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Nope.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot?
Yes, but only to people I am really close with.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
huh ?

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Nope.

20. Do you make up your own words?
Yes, sometimes..

21. Are you a jealous person?
Nope.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Anju.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kumaresen.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Aravind’s dad.

25. What does the last text message you received say?
That my bank account is running low.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
oohh, I hate that.

27. Do you have curly hair?
Yes.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
back home from work.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
None !

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Chicken Noodles.

31. Will you get married in the future?
huh ? of course, not.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
haven’t seen any in the last month.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
anyone ?? I like about hundreds of people.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
may be a month back when my maid was away.

35. Are you currently depressed?
not exactly depressed, but a little , hmmm..., should I say lonely ?

36. Did you cry today?
Nope.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Reason1 : I wanted to update my blog
Reason2: I usually oblige to invitations.
Reason3 : I badly needed a break from the 4-hour long analysis I had been through.

38. Tag few people who would do this survey.
I think Scribbler hasn’t taken it. So am choosing her. !

She thinks I am crazy ! Damn !!!!!

Doesn’t it usually claim the heights of sanity you are bestowed with when you deal with people who think you are actually nuts? Have I made it sound complicated? It IS, I know. And it’s maddening to concede that my sanity has been consumed by a person who cooks for me and takes care of my house. I have, with all due respect to my own conscience and her job, tried to make this lady understand that she works for me, not the other way round. But today, I helplessly crossed the threshold when she refused to listen to what I was trying to say for the 100th time. I mean every time there is something I need to tell her to do, she has this horrific body pain (which I later genuinely translated to ‘laziness’), claiming she had just done the work the previous day and starts making faces that throw questions on me like why am I talking utter nonsense so repeatedly with love. She tempts me so much to politely show her the way out, so many a time, but considering the fact that it’s annoyingly difficult to find a new maid , I know I will dig my own grave if I ask her to just leave. But today, after she started nagging non-stop for me using up some of the usually-not-used dishes, I was almost in tears, saying, “but why not..; but of course..the dishes are mine, the kitchen is mine, the house is mine…but her strong sadistic high-pitched voice killed mine. Those who complain I talk loud would be surprised, but it’s true and I contentedly decided to tell her “ma’am, your service has been terminated”. She will go by the end of the month (sticking to the monetary agreements), but I am sure she will fight her best unto death to eat up the remaining crumbs of my sanity till then.
Aaargh…for maids !!!

Let there be light to guide us to joy.

I am on the splurge of blowing out my money on welcoming the brightest festival of the year. I am kind of getting lost in bewilderment at the inability to choose cause of the sea-like clothes in any textile shop or while crazily noting down the dessert-recipes to experiment, the season for sure lights up the festive spirit in all its might and light.

Diwali is celebrated, in honor of the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura, although in the north, the reason is essentially the return of king Rama to Ayodhya after his endeavor with the punishing woods. Whatever the reason, the true quintessence of the festival in all means is the reinstatement of the fact that the Good wins over the Evil, no matter how feeble the good might seem. (Does Rama seem strong enough to win over a ten-headed Ravana?; but he did and books know how.)

May this Diwali bring in peace and light and hope and love to the world!
Happy Diwali !!!!!

around the corner..

‘So, what’s the program for Diwali ? ‘; the question of the season. With all the hype and shopping ads built around this occasion, my heart has become only stronger and matured to accept the fact that I am going to be working for Diwali. My leave balance has hit such a level that I cannot dare ask for it. Sigh. If you planned to flick another off on Friday, clubbing with Diwali, you got it all wrong babe, the management knew exactly what you were up to and they said, for the goodness of a long weekend, let’s work on Diwali and save the celebration for Friday. There was this huge clean-up mission I have started to work on cause they say, goddess Lakshmi visits your house on Diwali. Well, I didn’t want her to take back her blessings seeing the state my study room was in, so I rather got into the mood to please her, cleaning up the muck myself. It would be fun to back home and celebrate with the whole family. New clothes and sweets and crackers; ohh, the ones with more lights and colors and less sound and smoke I mean. Why smoke up the city with loud bombs when the terrorists are already celebrating Diwali most time of the year. And yea, I am reading Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows(yes, finally) , saving the last few chapters to be read on the eve of Diwali, so the celebration this year would be for the victory of Harry over Voldemort, at least for me. Only joking to keep me forgetful of the fact that I am going to be hitting my key board hard when the whole world would be having fun. Mercy Lord!!