Sunday, June 14, 2009

Irrelevant Sequence

I was angry.
He was busy.
I eased my tension with an sms.
His eyes were intense and calm.
I had butterflies in my stomach.
Wonder what happened there?
I heard laughter.
They had me talking.
I was thinking before I talk.
He had to deliver lines.
There were humorous initiators!
Banquet was laid.
I bade goodbye.
End of Act I

I called up.
He was busy.
He called up.
I spoke it all.
His voice was intense and calm.
End of Act II




The Typical "he"
The Special "he"
The Lovable "he"





signed
07.06.09

Monday, April 27, 2009

Hot-sweet April

April 2009.

April brings the primrose sweet, Scatters daisies at our feet

One never expects this month, the month of uncompromising heat to be cool! Pushing aside the battle with 38 plus degree Celsius heat on an average, there is another mortal combat that makes me sweat. I can handle the sweat, but the trepidation that comes along with it is inexplicably ruthless. I would very happily kill Ms. Endocrine who tries playing around with me.

April 17th, 10.22 AM it was, when we got the call. It was quite a shock. Nevertheless a acceptable shock. Shock that comes to you warned that you are prepared for it.

But 27th of April... OMG! The loooooooongest day of my life, I guess.

How long should I wait for the results?

How many more minutes should I count?

Every call that I get makes my pulse quicken and I can hear my hear beating SO darn loudly that I can mistaken it for hammering. Ah God.. is this your idea of games?

Friday, March 20, 2009

How may I help you today?

Amma doesn't go around the world cribbing about the incompetency of her electronic items. If she does, she cribs about it only to the Customer Service.

#1
Amma had a problem with the microwave, which was then sent to the Service center. The person in charge said- "They were of spare-parts and it'd take a week". A week's time turned into three and four, which got mom freaked up. Cos at home, we were almost dependent on Microwave and a month without it was SO though. Mom then called the Cust Service at Delhi and bashed him diplomatically.
In the next three days, we had our MW back home. Mom couldn't contain her surprise and asked em how come SO soon, to which the attendant replied-
"They were asked to replace our faulty MW's part with that of a NEW microwave, as they were still short of spare-parts" :D

#2
The Onida Washing Machine that stepped into my house, replacing the old fourteen year old Onida, was a headache. It posed numerous problems in a matter of 1 year. Mom wrote a LONG letter to the Onida Head Office, explaining how good the old machine was and how she expected the same.
In two weeks we had the Manager with the Sales director at home!! They offered to replace the machine and replaced the same the very week. That was unexpected.
So, that was another story with a Happy ending... hehehe!

I don't know if I have inherited these genes from my mom. But we both have a tendency to file a complaint with the corresponding Customer Service, once we realize the product is faulty.

#1
After having a sumptuous dinner at KFC, which was partially unfulfilling as we had to scream out for sauce. All I could think of the next morning was to find out a way to make a complaint. I finally found out the International online Customer Service forum http://www.kfc.com/contact/
I emailed them.
Hello,
We have had N number of dine-ins and take aways at KFC's. The dine-ins are partially ruined by the way we have to scram out for sauce. What is more irritating is that sauce sachets are handed out, so we end up screaming for scissors.

2 days later, I had a mail from the International Customer Service, directing the Citicentre's KFC outlet to look into this issue.
And thus this email -
Dear Ms.Kappu,
We have received your mail regarding the difficulty you faced to peel the sauce.We appreciate your suggestion for issuing sauce bottle to the customers.We have taken your suggestion to our higher official .
I Mr.KS.Manikandan the Manager of KFC Citicentre,would like to invite you and your family for a lunch or dinner, at our restaurant.Please feel free to call me. 9962122***.
Regards

KS.Manikandan

KFC Citicentre


:D what a laugh me and my mom had over this!
Alas, we didn't have the time to lunch. I made Mr. Manikandan a call and refused his offer :|
I still don't know if the sauce sachets have been replaced, that's a different story altogether! :D

#2
After Pretty not being able to send sms, I called up Hutch Care (aka Vodaphone). The IVR was irritating, we did not find any option to contact the Customer Service Executive.
Then I had this message calling for my feedback from 6790,
to which I replied-
"It's horrible. Not pleasing like the Hutch care that was once there.
Pls revert, else it might give Vodaphone a bad image. "

Needless to say, I promptly got a call from them. I explained them saying "All I needed was a PERSON to help me. I couldn't find that option in your menu and it is irritating."
To which Ms. Suganya (the lady who called me) said please try calling us once again and irrespective of the menu, select option #4 (Berserk right? I had an issue with sending and receiving SMS, though I had to selected this option which was meant for Roaming Related services)
Voila, I was attended to by a CS executive and Pretty's issue resolved.


#3
Durable Chrome Factory. Durable? What a name for shoes that don't even last a month. After repeated purchases and disappointments, I persuaded the manager to give me the contact no of the authority in charge for complaints. I am yet to call that man and start off.

Yes. AGAIN :D

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Joke of the day...

No, it isn't something from Comedy Central or the like websites.

Today, as I completed downloading Avast, I had a pop-up saying: "Thank you for choosing Avast.
We wish you good luck and few viruses"
What? Thanks for the warning! :D

Friday, March 13, 2009

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran has captured my attention not once but twice. The poems written by him were introduced to me by Amma, she spoke about him and his poems at lengths and finished it with
"How rotten it would be to follow his words and bring up a child" :D
On the other hand, I can feel him urging us to give the "space" a relationship needs.



On bringing-up a child..
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

On Marriage...

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Happy Women's day.

8th March, 2009.

I keep three women close to my heart.
The ones who inspire me,
whom I look upon at,
and whom I look upon to.

Amma
Ah, so I can hear you saying another stereotype. I'd love to stay clichéd here. I CAN NEVER be as patient as her, as giving, forgiving, unconditionally loving, diplomatic, fun-filled, lovable, intelligent, up-to-date and totally adorable.
Everytime she gives us (my family) an emotional OR technical suggestion, she makes me awe! I strongly feel that she donned the homemaker cap and the country lost another scientist/psychoanalyst.
If there's something that I wanna be, that would be the impossible - "Being my mom!"

Ammai (Maternal Grandma)
Absolutely adorable lady with strong roots in tradition, who marveled at the art of story-telling and cooking. With 7 children, she managed to resolve all the conflicts within them SO well and that dazzled me.
(On the other hand, my P-Granny managed to split up ALL her 7 children.. later the children realized the role of their mother and tried patching up).
Relationships are like a vase, once broken they can be patched up. But they are never as good as before.

Mrs. Vasumathy.
My Chemistry teacher and the lady who taught me to own my mistakes. In a class of 40 students, we had to read out the answers to the assignment that had 40 questions. Those who did not complete it lied that they did not bring the book (say abt 10 students) and she sent them out. I walked up and told her I haven't completed. She asked me to sit in the first bench. then, my classmate had to answer a question, unfortunately she hadn't written that ONE question. She reprimanded her for not telling it beforehand (like me!)
That day, I learnt to be straight forward!
Love ya ol'lady! :)
I owe it to her, all my education and frankness.

P/s I was writing this out as a post, and thought these women should be a part of my blog!

Friday, February 13, 2009

coincidence..

Moments ago, as I was skimming through my blog, I found that I had had written a post on the 17th of October. Coincidentally 17th of October was one of the best days in my life.

I don't know how many times I'll watch "Khaka Khaka" and how many times I would manage to watch the movie without smiling.

Nostalgia!
*smiles coyly*
Life can be awfully sweet at times!
So sweet that you let go every ounce of hatred!
And keep celebrating your happiness over and over again!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

On a Temple spree - Part #2

As a matter of fact, this post should be called:
"On a Temple spree - Part #2".
I never knew that a visit to my hometown can be clipped with SO many visits to the nearby temples. The day after Pongal, we were in our Hometown. I was drinking in the beauty and space of our house. Waking myself, filling me with ample memories -
Photos, photos and more photos.

The next morning, we (cat, ma, pa & appatha) left to Palani. To choose "Palani" of all places, that too during "Thai". Phew. But my never-say-die father finally took us there, got us squeezed amongst the thousands of devotees and brought us back safe.

The next two days were to be spent at "Pudur" my gramps birthplace and "Vegupatti" irrefutably appatha's birthplace.
So many relatives, so many feasts and more photos where-ever-I-go.

I chanced upon my forefather's photo, I promptly clicked it up.
Clicked it, not picked it! Thanks to the digicam, of late one doesn't have to steal photos :D

We skipped the trek to "Piranmalai" cos...
(A) it was late & (B) cat was unwell.
On the way back home, we stopped at "Samayapuram" (it was 9.00 p.m. and the temple closes at 9.15 p.m.) and in spite of the plight, we were invited to a good darshan.

At 3.15 a.m. our mpv screeched to a halt at my doorstep.
Later, I had a 12 hour sleep and here I am.
Again, It won't be blinks before I'm off!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

On a Temple spree - Part #1

I finally did visit Mangalore!
Mangalore jaunt was a temple tour per se. In my opinion, it was essentially a trip to keep my devils mind occupied. The itinerary was super packed, drafted by dad, as Appa had very less time to spare this month (He is making room for another such chota’sa outing already, and that is progress). Appa as usual was in hyper-spirits throughout the tour. It was us who were fatigued and crawled to our beds.

The 8th of Jan, we took a train to Mangalore. I love trains, oh those college-days, so needles to say I loved the travel. To add to it was moms’ delicacies, even more delicious when eaten on train!
Books, Music and more books.
I was so excited, I did not sleep a wink. But grrrr, the sleeperlogs (a young man & an old) in my compartment ruined it. I was forced to my berth. It was already cold, can someone turn off the A/C.... waaaaaahh! :(

The 9th (around 5AM) we took a bus from M’lore to Kollur. The bus travel was pleasing in spite of the fact cat and me were standing throughout the 3 hour journey and boy it was cold!

9th FN we checked in, freshened and left to Mookambika temple, darshan was well organized (of course occasionally you’ll hear someone sternly saying “vega vega”) quite understandable when one has hundreds of devotees.
Ahhh I should mention, this place has NO mob-tower and the best hotel room has NO Television :| So after a typical Keralite lunch (Kollur is in Karnataka) a back to back darshan was done.
KJ.Yesudas appeared with his wife, it was so hard to get a glimpse of him. He sung a keerthana at the Saraswathi sannathi, (co)incidentally Sangeetotsavam'09 was scheduled there.
9 p.m. were back in our rooms asleep, I can never imagine that happening back here at home.

10th a late-morning bus to M’lore, luckily we had seats. The bus travel again was fabulous. Estuaries, prawn-farm amongst the forest! Picturesque.

At M’lore we checked in a suite. TV, A/C, geyser… wow. Yes. WOW.
That evening we shopped like maniacs and the next morning we went to Mangala devi temple. I was down with a bad appetite, so skipped breakfast and lunch and creeped like a snail with a paavam face.
No use. That very evening I was made to visit Gokharnath temple. But this one was fantastically designed and simply breath taking!
The snaps speak for themselves, don’t they?

Back to HOME!! Sweet home indeed! ;)
It wouldn’t be a few blinks before I’m off again!