by the mango tree

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

What I learnt from what I gained

Being home-bound is not easy if one has been independent. More so if you are the kind who loves work, who thinks anything else that comes in the way of work a disturbance.

But for over the last 13 months, I have been just that - out of work. For a start it was about the need to set up home. Then came the trouble with family obligations. I just about began the job-hunt and revived my blog, when the long pending health problems that were already a bother, began eating into me.

On the negative side, there is a lot I have lost out on. Am penniless, live off my husband. Am out of work and yet my poor health won't let me work instantly. On the positive side, I have gained a great deal. Instead of focussing on the things i lost, let me list out what I did in the last one year that I did not, in several years.

I have watched a whole lot of movies I had missed out on, although at home. While at work I had not quite enjoyed movies for I thought they were an intrusion into worklife.

Being home has helped me become movie-aware like never before. The list just goes on - Mona Lisa Smile, Mansfield Park, The Mystic Masseur, The Householder, The Recruit, Hulk, Jodha Akbar, Emma, Pride and Prejudice (had watched it many times before), When a man loves a woman, 50 first dates, The Guardian, new releases like Race, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Dostana, Rab ne Bana di Jodi...whew! That's quite a number...and just a sample!

Another positive. I made trips to town alone, explored Colaba Causeway, shopped at Crawford Market, and played host to friends who came down to Mumbai.

I have done other things I did not do before too! Watched one of the IPL matches! For me who had never been to a cricket match before, it was a treat. Maybe the real matches are different.

I surprised my dad on his birthday, thanks to my husband who decided to fly me down for just that.

I also hopped along for his office picnic that turned out to be a team-building exercise. I have been to malls for not just chilling out, but shopping, window-shopping, movies, books...chatting up with friends...these are things I never did before.

I watched a shoot at Film City - shoot for a horror serial. And was very excited about it for long after the shoot. Making friends among the crew of Hindi serials has opened my eyes further about film-making. Am learning to look at films from the point of view of the cameraman, the director, and the story-teller, rather than being an audience.

I managed to be home-bound and loved doing up my home on a budget too. With and without money. Would not have imagined it before. Getting friends among neighbours was the hardest among all the difficulties in this big mad city.

You can know a person for ages and walk past him or her without as much as a smile. Quite a culture shock that. But once I got them, it has been fun. I would not have imagined settling down to teach a bit of craft to kids. Here I did just that.

My health is usually not in great shape. What does it mean to stay home alone and fall sick, minus the care of your family? I got that experience first hand out here in Mumbai. Time flies. But not when you are ill. You cry alone, you suffer alone, you struggle to take those few steps to the kitchen, and yet when your people call, you don't have the heart to say things are bad. You see your husband do everything he can, and yet feel helpless. Tolerance of pain has something to do with it. Self-motivation has a lot to do with it.

When in a new city, you have no friends to shop with too! Have passed through that phase. But shopping with your spouse can be a pain too. Don't buy this. Don't buy that. You have a bit of that in your stock, so why waste money? This bit about having your spouse around for shopping I need to write in detail at a later date. But then I learned something really big after living with it...patience.

I have read books, devoured them, and yearned for more! Work had not spared much time to read books. Being out of it did.

Am yet to get back to work. But would rather relish these before I move on. If I do remember many more things I learnt, will type them down again. For, learning in life is never-ending.

Saturday, 10 January 2009

Business by the sea

At the lovely RK Beach in Vizag, business is very organised and happens hardly a few feet from where the waves crash. Vendors like these perch themselves at an even distance between each other over the shoreline of about two-three kilometres. And sell the tasty, spicy eatables. It's all perfect for a good stroll. The question...how many beach walkers would care to keep the paper they get these delicacies in? I am afraid few or none among the hundreds who throng the beach every hour. If the beach allows you a good stroll, a lovely sea-view and some fresh air, you have got to respect the place and not throw trash around. Stalls like these only encourage more trash. The logic holds good for any business on the beach...big or small...meaning shacks, restaurants, resorts. Would it not be sensible to make such trash audits?

Friday, 9 January 2009

Quality...whose?

Quality is a matter of choice! On the 7th or 8th of every month, I lose my cool. I scream, I argue, I throw a fit. Because I get pushed beyond limits. And all the trouble for something as simple as paying my internet bill.

How? It begins with the ritual of my calling up to enquire when I must pay the bill. My cable operator has a door-collection system in place. Just that the torture begins with a phone call. `Theek hai ma'm abhi bhej deti hoon!' That's the first reply I would get from the woman who mans the phone. Ask her when exactly, and you can be sure she will assure you, ``in about half an hour''.

An hour on, the guy does not turn up. The cable operator office is about a kilometre and half away and a three minute drive. So I call up again. This time she asks for my user id and I suppress my irritation while spelling the user identity out to her. She promises to send him in the next half an hour. By now my connection has been cut off promptly however, for non-payment of dues. The powerful lot that they are, they will renew it only once their boy gets my cash on hand. Rs 800. Not a penny less.

I wait an hour. The guy has not turned up. So I call back. Am obviously vexed enough by now. This time, another girl picks up and repeats the queries for the user name, my home address and other details. I remind her that it is my third call. My first call was at 10 am. By now, it is 1.10 pm. Sigh! ``Theek hai ma'm bhej deti hoon'' she rattles off again, like a parrot.

I wait. And wait. And wait, trying to keep myself occupied with other household work, putting off work that needs me to venture out. And wait. It's 3 pm. I have lost my cool. I grab the phone and demand to know why the delay. The same reply. I remind her that this is my fourth call. And that I cannot wait any longer. `Half an hour ma'm. The boy is attending another complaint in a neighbouring building. He will come by after that,'' she reassures. I remind her that I had made my call as early as 10 am and cannot be held up this way. I even threaten to walk down to her office and create a scene if he does not turn up on time.

My words have hardly had an effect on the voice I know nothing of, for the guy, the technician, has not turned up still. By 3.30 pm, I feel like hitting them. I scream at the woman. I threaten. I argue. I demand to know if she really understands what delays could do to lives. She raises her voice and says she will definitely send the guy.

I am angered all the more. I ask her for her cable operator boss' number. Obviously she refuses. I tell her obviously her boss prefers to hide instead of assuring us customers of quality. She is irritated by now. And only replies what she has been trained to do, that she will send the guy over.

These trained replies are more annoying than the torture in the name of service that these people provide. I yell at her not to talk in a trained voice. And tell her such delays could at times cost lives too. I ask her why in spite of my insisting so much, the option of online renewal has not been given to us. It has no effect.

She says she will send the guy as soon as possible. Today, I got so angry that I called up my husband to please enquire about Wi-Fi options in our area. The last time I enquired, the big firms said they had no feasibility in this part of the city.

My husband heard me out, called the cable operator office and said something I would dare not to. He said he would cut the cable wires running through the poles in our area and get them out of business soon if they dared repeat this inaction. The collection guy turns up at my doorstep, in 10 minutes. Wow! So politeness does not work!!!

I want to yell more at the guy. But he is a familiar face who has obviously come expecting a thrashing down. I warn him if this repeats he will have to answer for it. He sheepishly nods his head, assures me my connection will be renewed in five minutes. And leaves.

I wait. Five minutes. Ten minutes. And am back at my PC. No trace of connectivity. I call them up again. By now the girl on the other end is scared. She gets it renewed and asks me to restart the system. I have not heard it. I call back again. She asks me to check and revert.

And yeah. My connection is renewed. And the anger has had its effect on my body by now. It is 5 pm. I guess that's about the time people wind up work at their workplaces! If they choose to, the internet connectivity providers can be more action oriented, prompt and punctual. To think of, after all this grind through the day, it is not like the connection will not conk rest of the month.

There are days on which internet connectivity does not work for about five hours at a stretch!

When this whole hype of broadband connectivity through cable for cost-effective service began, I don't think quality issues or regulatory measures were discussed for these service providers.

As for millions of internet users like me, it is just prayers that the connection does not ditch us when we need it the most!