31 may

yesterday i wrote about how irritated i was that i didnt find the stuff i needed... that ended well and thanks Swaps for the hug... it helped, trust me.... i sorted a tonne of paper rubbish and trashed most of it... i sorted out stuff in my wardrobe...and felt instantly better. in the evening i picked up the duplicate invoice for the computer, ran into my boss at the store, and drove to pick K up so we both could make it to the service centre. 

The Acer service centre in vengal rao nagar in hyderabad is a dump of a place with very unfriendly staff who instantly told me i was late and had to come back the next day. when i told her, i'd already called and asked if i could come because i was a few minutes past their official working hours, and the gentleman asked me to come "no problem" she siad ok and took my complaint. Telling me after a few minutes that the adaptor wasnt in stock and would take 4-5 working days to be replaced since the parts come from bangalore. when asked, she replied that they dont stock these parts... i mean come on.. its a battery adaptor.... possibly the first thing that gets screwed. i asked if i can be given a spare adaptor to use in the meantime... they said no, they dont have that "policy" anyways, with no other option but to login a complaint and wait for them to have mercy, i did just that. 

i just got off the phone with a moron at the acer call centre. i asked him 2 things, would it be possible for me to check with another service centre in hyderabad if they had the stock so i could shift my case to them for a speedier solution. and secondly, was there an email id or phone number where i could express my displeasure at the whole process they have set up. firstly, having worked in a call centre, i know how important it is for the executive at the other end to really comprehend what the caller is saying and then reply. this guy was answering me before i finished asking my question. when i asked him to stop talking and please listen, he said "sorry ma'am i cant do that" :) then he said that they dont have any number or email id where i can write in and express my displeasure with the process (not the same thing as saying i want my adaptor to be replaced in 24 hrs). so they have it on record and it may prompt them towards working to better turn around times.... he said... no they dont have any such thing. i then asked if he was saying, once you bought a product, there was no access to customer service? he asked to put me on hold, and checked and got back saying his senior will call back in 12 hrs. 12 hrs for a call back with an email id!! you Acer, must be joking!

so this is what he asked me to do, gave me the numbers of the other service centre, asked me to call and find out if they had the part ready and then call the call centre back so that he would redirect my complaint. (i called this SC, same response 4-5 days they dont stock parts)

and hopefully someone will call back and give me a freaking email id i can write to. 

how irritating is it to get standard responses from a call centre, the customer just bangs the phone down in frustration. I didnt tho, i politely thanked him for his (lack of) help and hung up.

the search that never ends

do you get into a frenzy searching for something and then realise that you've saved for some inexplicable reason every goddamn bill for groceries, beauty parlours, clothes and sundry other purchases, receipts from insurance payments, milk and newspaper bills etc and yet, can't seem to find the bill for the laptop you bought a few months ago?

i am seized with thoughts that are doing nothing for my self esteem right now.... i am hearing voices that are telling me that i am the world's worst organiser... yeah i keep a pretty home... but i cant seem to find one damn paper when i need it... i would have shoved it somewhere safe am sure... but where that is i dont know now... 

a few months later, when i need to find the bill for the vaccum cleaner... that's when i'll find my laptop bill.... in the meantime, the adaptor that needs to be replaced and will be done under the warranty will have to wait till i can get a duplicate bill from the store i bought it from!

in the mean time, bags and bags of cards and letters, from friends, family and people in the past....craft supplies i really ashamed to acknowledge i have had and done nothing with....and other stuff which i junked or organised as best i could... i then took the easy route out and asked the retailer for a duplicate invoice... today hopefully i wont forget that i need to continue to sort and organise stuff once my laptop is fixed....not a good way to start the week if you ask me....

i must say i had a great weekend. It began on friday night when j & b came over... we've not met up for various work related schedules and schemed... we pigged out totally... home made pizza, traditional south indian, indian chinese, parathas, biryani and italian inspired food... that was what we ate at the various meals... it was food and movies and a good time... the amount of alchohol stocked in our fridge was embarrassing. I had a chocolate class after a long time and enjoyed it so much. i need to keep this going. the summer's heat has ensured that i havent been able to have a class for ages...this time i shifted the timing to the afternoon and it worked well. So maybe this should work out for the next few weeks before it cools off. 

i feel much more calm now that i have managed to get the complaint for my laptop registered. Let's hope this ends well for me. take care and love to those of you who're still reading my rumblings here!

time spent

i think more than ever i need that anonymous blog now! the last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions, feelings and yes, temper too and i really really need that blog to vent... i am very troubled over my mood swings of yesterday.... i dont think i have it in me to be giving and accomodative and selfless especially with children...and that has agonised me... 

well now that i have confessed on a public forum, we've spent the last few days with family ... eating meals (overeating in my case), napping, talking and watching a lot of TV... movies, cartoons, myriad mytho babble and yes, cricket. 

we went to watch Housefull yesterday. i think its time to say, move over david dhawan, sajid khan is here to stay. he seems to excel at the mindless sitcom stuff which is funny in parts but has no head or tail.... lara dutta is a fine actress who hasnt gotten roles to do justice to her talent. deepika padukone is a treat for the eyes....as is arjun rampal... him and anyone else in the frame, and your eyes are rivetted on the hunk that is rampal.... akshay and ritiesh have excellent comic timing and that's been said before... its a mindless timepass film about lies and cover ups and theres nothing more to the story or the lack of one... we bought a new p&s camera for my sil and a giant teddy for the niece....pil's are in chennai for a couple of days so k and i are holding the fort....

i've been home bound for the last few days as its fullhouse here... but am happy that have spent some time with yoga after what seems like a year... it really does make you feel better and more energetic....

the heat has been relentless, almost touching 45 officially, so must be atleast a degree more in reality. mangoes have finally graced our table and tongue...so far himayati has been fabulous and banaganapally very disappointing.

so long then... till the next time....

nasty start

right now i am so mad i think i will burst a vessel. yesterday my not so trusty maid D didnt turn up. she'd taken a days leave and extended it by a day with no info. i always tell them to let me know so i can have a back up plan. she's just gotten back from leave of 13 days, i paid her full salary and i think i am being taken for a ride. She's been with me 3 yrs now and she's always been the recipient of my goodness. no salary cuts even when i have to pay extra for the replacement maid, a tv which she's paying 50% for cos her kids were after her life and she was after mine, loans which i dont know when she will pay off, money for treatment and medicines for when she falls sick & everyday treatment which is very nice, basically this is a good workplace. its reflected in the fact that i have 3 maids knocking my doors when this one doesnt turn up and asks for someone to help out didi.... i cant understand why she cant be trustworthy. i yelled at her this morning and i am feeling bad about it. I never yell at the maids...but i wonder if after 3 yrs i am being taken for granted. 

tomorrow K's family will be here. while i cherish my alone time and tend to get cranky when there is too much happening around me, i am looking forward to them being here..... a lot depends on this trip. i hope for the best...that relocation works out for all of us. 

i spent a good 4 hours at the parlour yesterday. it was after a long time that i did anything apart from just waxing my legs and getting my brows threaded. when i saw myself in the mirror this morning, i felt like a weight had lifted from my face...literally, since i got a face clean up done. I am wary of subjecting myself to these things. and the few times i actually got a facial done, i broke out in pimples/ rash.... but this one... just a clean up felt good....maybe i should do one each month, now that i am on the right side of thirty with all the stuff about aging skin etc, but considering i cant stick to even a regimen of cleansing properly at home, i wonder if this is wishful thinking....which brings me to another random thing.... i am greying at an alarming rate... i think i have about 5 tufts of grey, especially at the temples and just after my hairline.... while i never wanted to colour my hair chemically, simple because of the hairloss all my friends have reported and the logistics of maintaining it regularly, mehndi is out of the picture because of the smell that K hates.... so am wondering now if there is some way of stopping this.... each day i seem to have sprouted a few new ones.....am all for aging gracefully, just didnt think it would be this soon! my mother used to be called my grandmother when i was in school because of her greys... that kind of freaked me out back then itself....

anyway.... am done for now... gotto go take care of other stuff.... ciao and have a day that's better than mine

monday

spent the whole day alone at home. did some work, caught up on some correspondence, but that apart it was quite a boring day. fortunately the rains have cooled off the city and i sat without the fan almost the entire day... funnily enough, we had erratic power supply the whole time....apart from the mandatory 2 hrs during the day, the power was off from 3.30 p.m till 10.00. to say that i was not prepared for this is putting it mildly. while we do have power backup, the plug points dont work. so save for reading, there's no other form of entertainment....i decided to read a book i'd picked up a few months ago. i'd picked some light reading and a couple of chick lit book. this one is called right fit wrong shoe or something. it is about 180 pages of crap. so shallow and silly that i cant even get over it. it is a desi M&B with a complete hangover...the guy is a business magnate and has a palatial house in kanpur complete with 2 swimming pools, indoor and outdoor, badminton, tennis and golf course and a gazebo.... gosh... i couldnt believe what i was reading....love- hate, cat- mouse... a few love scenes which neither have justification nor are well written, just plain gauche...at under 100 rupees, it wasn't a waste of money, but definitely a waste of time. why did i finish reading it? well, for starters i am not a quitter. and i wanted to know how it ends, plus there was some hope that it would take an interesting turn. the heroine of the book has a bollywood hangover which is the only refreshing part of the book... if you havent read it, stay away. if you want desi m&b pick it up, if you live in hyd, i can give you my copy!

K's been busy with work and hence comes home quite late. am just waiting for the couple more days before his family comes from ahmd. atleast i wont be rattling in an empty home. 

plus side is we've eaten a lot of home cooked meals.... after the 2 days of withdrawal and denial that renuka wasnt going to be here for 10 days, i kind of am enjoying the stint in the kitchen!