Thursday, December 31, 2009

My Gas Cylinder

Confused looking at the title?? Wondering what would be so special about a gas cylinder??? Then you have to read on to truly understand what makes this post special.
Post marraige, I knew that I should be taking up more responsibilities and own many things myself. I should get prepared for leading a new life, in my style. As part of this, I have taken a few vows. The primary one being -- never never contribute to the biggest demon of this country ... CORRUPTION. Now you must have understood the context of this post. :) It all happened this way:
I've been trying to get a new gas connection since a couple of months. While Bharat Gas and HP have turned down my request straight away citing lack of supply as the reason, Indane Gas ppl have responded positively saying that new connections are issued in the first week of every month.
The first visit: This day, after looking at the iocl website, I took all the documents mentioned there. However, the distributor wasn't impressed. He asked me for a ration card which was n't mandated at all. I politely rejected his statement and said that it isn't a requirement. Prolly he didn't expect the reply and started screaming. I boldly said "give me your computer, i'll show you what's mandatory and what's not". Obviously he denied. Then, I said, if you don't accept my application I'll call up your head office and take the matter forward. Surprisingly, he gave his cell phone to me arrogantly. I shivered a little initially not knowing what to do if this fails. But I was stern on not wanting to offer any bribe which that RASCAL wanted. However, I took his phone and started dialing the number. Prolly he didnt expect that and finally he said... ruk ruk, give your proofs and a person will come to your house for inspection.
The second visit: The inspection was done to confirm that I do not hold a connection already. Once that was certified, I immediately went to their office. I was turned down saying .. "arre.. your inspection was just done. why are you in a hurry. meet me after 2 days"
The third visit: "why did you come at 2pm? new connections are given only from 9-1" . I thought "one day your hand/leg will break in front of me and then i'll fix up some muhurat and then take you to a doctor"
The fourth visit(at 10am):"the printer is not working today. if you want you can come after 2 days" to which i replied "this is the fourth time I am visiting you for a connection." He said, "that's okay come once more." This time, I lost my temper. But if I quarrel with him, I was sure that I was not going to get anything fruitful. Afterall, I have to visit him for refilling my cylinder in the future. I said "hope it would be the last time." But the angry man in me tempted me to dial up the head office. And there I go .. i should have recorded the conversation then :) i've told them all that has happened with me. They've heard all of it and accepted their problem and asked me to visit once more and it would be done.
The fifth visit(today):Gud news .. i got it done. Of course with a warning "u will get it only if you purchase a stove from us and you have to wait till your turn for a new connection arrives." I said "we'll see"
So, this is how it all happened. Now, on this last day of 2009, I want to end the year by publishing this and expressing all the SATISFACTION that I've got after this achievement. Things in this country aren't that worse. They are just bad. And it's a responsibility on all of the citizens of this country to not make it worse.
Many thanks to my colleagues for sharing all the frustration I had each time. :)
Finally, I wish all the readers a happy and a prosperous new year 2010. :-)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Random things about me

I was tagged by a fan to post 25 random things about me.
The rules being:
Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. If I tagged you, its because I want to know more about you.
So, here it goes..
1. I am a patriot.
2. If I get even a slightest feeling of someone trying to corrupt this country, I get totally irritated. Should I have combined both 1 and 2?? :D
3. I am a foodie. Like to try new new varieties in food.
4. I love being an optimist. Nothing in this world should make my day down. So, I like to derive something positive about whatever happens.
5. Movies that I like to watch an infinite number of times.. Swades, Iddaru, Dasvidaniya, some other old Telugu classics
6. I wish I become a politician atleast for a short time in life.
7. I want to visit all the 28 states in India atleast once
8. I love to tease my wife :) tease .. on a lighter note please.
9. I like giving surprises. Sometimes, they are flopped becos, I reveal it to atleast one person.. bad at keeping secrets :(
10. Like to read biographies/auto-biographies of gr8 ppl in this world.
11. My childhood dream was -- not an engineer, doctor, astronaut etc. etc.. it was that I should one day build a movie theater(atleast my in-laws should have one) :D. Love to watch movies a lottt.. One day I watched all the 4 shows(4 different movies of course) .. that was a record in my childhood.
12. Feel very badd when I see my friends leave India.. of course they go for their own reasons.
13. Don't really like the company of ppl whose only aim in life is to earn money.
14. Like long-drives .. only if someone else is in the driving seat.
15. Wish there is a concert where Lata Mangeshkar and AR Rahman, both are on stage. I would certainly attend it. I think my list is becoming tooo random.
16. Similarly, wish Abdul Kalam, Jayaprakash Narayan, Kiran Bedi are together on stage discussing about something.. would certainly attend it. No .. i won't club both of these together :D
17. These days, I somehow started liking Sonia Gandhi's leadership a lottt.. love to be a similar personality.. ability to lead a BIGGGG party, being tough, being a good decision maker, powerful etc. (I am striking this out after seeing all that's happening with Congress Govt.)
18. Love to teach students. There aren't really good faculty in most Engg. colleges these days. Wish to fill the gap atleast part time.
19. Used to solve puzzles a lot ... but now, nooo time :-((
20. I wished I could have proposed to one girl(before my marraige please). I could have done that, only if she was't 3 years elder to me, did not have a boy friend with whom her marraige was scheduled to happen in a month at the time I decided to propose. :(
21. Like playing cricket, only when no one bowls me out.
22. Love to learn new things in technology
23. Wish I could have atleast one patent on my name. I love finding out new thigns.
24. Have a good business idea in mind. Would like to pursue it once I have enuf money. This is one of the goals that I have in my life.
25. Wish I could settle in my hometown Vizag in the near future. After a long day's work, it gives me gr8 happiness to drive all my family to the beach, play something in the sands and then have a sound sleeep.
Yeppp.... I've completed my list.
And I would like to pass the baton to Zana, Uday Shankar, Chakri, Ajoy, Naveen, Sheetal, Priyanka, Nandy, Uchint, Ravi Phanendra, Rammohan, Naiem, Pradeep, Sudha, Pavan, Chetana and Navdeep

Friday, May 1, 2009

A smiling story :-)

Today it so happened ...
I pressed the lift button .. and after waiting for a while the lift has come ..
It was almost full.. in the sense that .. if a person inside can move a litttttle, there's room for one more person.
Now, mee waiting outside the lift, with my eyes gave a signal to one of the person inside to move.
That guy, in his own world, did not catch my signal.
I was surprised to see that a girl(can definitely be rated 4/5) gave a similar signal to that guy to move.
But he didn't quite get it.
Then, the girl and me had our first looks towards each other ...... :)))
There was a litttttttttle smile on each of our faces signalling helplessness.
U should note that until now .. there were no words at all. I know this is obvious .. but made it explicit for someone whose IQ levels are low :DD
Ok .. next part of the story now.
As we both were giving the helplessness smile to each other, the lift door started closing.
It got closed 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and thudddddddd 100%. It's fully closed.
All this while, we were just staring at each other.
And now meeee took the stairs and went down.
And there she is coming out of the lift at the ground floor. This time we had a full fledged smile and we both left office :-)