83 : A one time watch for that epic English summer

They say, “You might win the war will never know how the battles were fought”.

That’s what 83 is all about - reliving and reviving that journey of being the underdogs 66-1 when no one gave them even the slightest chance worth even a penny. The performances and epic lines start from the first scene in itself although you will find comparisons and traces with `Chak de India` here and there. Thats bound to happen when there has been too few sports films. Pankaj Tripathi has some of the best lines which he delivers with such ease and conviction that it hits really hard. That one line he delivers after being denied entry pass to Lord`s at the start of the world cup - " आजादी तो सालों पहले मिल गयी, इज्ज़त मिलना अभी बाकी है " tops all the gut wrenching moments.

The movie brings you closer to the other players in the team and its not about just about Kapil alone- Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Madan Lal, Srikkant etc. and the rest. The running time of around 2.30 hours , a journey of all the matches from start to finish with the best shots being the creation of the famous incidents in the various matches versus West Indies with slow motion and then real footage being shown. The effort on that part shows. Like I said, you don’t know how the battles were fought- thats how they were done. In between all the matches which can feel like a documentary to those who have watched the replays on youtube, you really wish for more character banter between the players. The emotional parts whether they are created artificially to take creative liberties or not, can make you emotional- whether it be the crowd bereating players to win at least when 1 match to find that one flag being flown amongst the West Indies ones , it can choke you up.

Ranveer nails Kapil`s character to quite an extent but fails to exactly copy his bowling action, that’s not the trademark Kapil Dev action. The best match you might enjoy thoroughly is that India versus Zimbabwe never telecasted match as the mind has nothing to fall back on. Every match has its own warrior - someone, somewhere just put his hand up on the field. Be it Kirmani holding fort while Kapil went berserk or Sandhu hitting gold dust with the bat in the final. Deepika`s character could have been done away with - there`s literally nothing for her to do in the movie. On the contrary, Wamiqa Gabbi playing Madan Lal’s wife conveyed a lot more emotion through her eyes and expressions.

Music is nothing to write about- awesome music has become extinct from movies long back. Now all you have are just situational fillers and nothing else. Don’t watch the movie in 3D, there are simply not just enough shots to show for that. Instead go with the regular one, a you might be engrossed with the other audience in whistling, clapping, cheering.

I have grown up watching Kapil Dev where I used to wish other batters to get out quickly so that he could come to bat and wanted his every delivery get him a wicket. That level of obsession of childhood made me relive the journey again in this movie. Its a one-time watch with the chance for children of this era to understand what being an underdog really meant back then, before decades later, Ganguly and his men showed the same grit during that finest NatWest final chase.

Its a chance to relive how the war of the 83 world cup was won.

अगर बोल सकता तो मेरा हर एहसास एक किताब होता

 

अगर बोल सकता तो मेरा हर एहसास एक किताब होता

कोरे पन्नो की इक दास्ताँ

वक़्त के खिंचे हाशिये , लोगों की स्याही , जज्बातों , तजुर्बों के अल्फाज़

उंगलियों के बीच सूखी रेत की तरह फिसलते , हर बीते पल को पकड़ कर फिर जीने की एक अधूरी ख्वाहिश

वक़्त न रुका था तब, न रुक रहा है अब

रुकते हैं तो बस कदम, आगे बढ़ने से कभी कभी

पुराना वक़्त सोच के

चाँदनी रात पे दिल को सुकून देने वाली ठंडी हवा के झोंके की तरह

हाशिये के एक तरफ वक़्त तारीखों से पट गया, दूसरी तरफ किस्से यूँ ही लिख गए

कभी अचार की तरह खट्टे, कभी गुड़ की तरह मीठे , कभी पकौड़ी के साथ वाली हरी चटनी की तरह झटके वाली तेज़ी

हर दिन टिफ़िन के डब्बे नहीं , किस्सों को जब्ज़ करने वाले एहसास खुले

बंद हुए तो हर खांचे में बस ठहाके, और ज़्यादा कुछ नहीं....

किस्से लिखते लिखते किताब तो भर गयी मगर स्याही और तजुर्बे अभी बाकी हैं

गीत खत्म हो गया मगर धुन अभी बाकी है

सुनने वालों की तालियाँ बज रही हैं, मगर कलाकार की नज़्म अभी आधी बाकी है

अलविदा बस एक शब्द है मगर फिर से अकेले होने की चोट का दर्द अभी जाना बाकी है

अगर बोल सकता तो मेरा हर एहसास एक किताब होता............

                             

 

 

     

दिल की कलम से : 24 साल का इंतज़ार

कभी कभी जब एक तलाश पूरी होती है तो एक अलग ही सुकून मिलता है जो बयान नहीं किया जा सकता... और जब वो तलाश एक अजीब सी जिद्द का हिस्सा होती है तो अलग ही बात. तो आज की याद और खोने पाने का हिस्सा हैं मेरी “ सोनिया “ दी.

यह सब कुछ कोई 27 साल पहले का किस्सा है जब हम होंगे क्लास 3 में और दी थी 11वी में. हम दीदी के मकान में किरायेदार थे और वो मकान मालिक साहब की पोती. उनका पूरा परिवार जिसमें वो और उनका भाई गौरव भी था. तो हम ठहरे छोटे बच्चे, हमरा दाखिला भी उन्ही के स्कूल में हो गया. स्कूल में जितनी देर भी रहे ,पता था दीदी एक Guardian Angel कि तरह रहेंगी. हम थे भी कुछ ज्यादा ही Introvert, नयी जगह में वैसे ही घबराहट होती थी. मज़े की बात कि स्कूल में जो हाउस होते हैं वो भी हम दोनों का एक ही था.

तो स्कूल में तो धीरे धीरे समय कट ही जाता था, शाम को खूब मस्ती होती थी अपनी. उस ज़माने में उस मकान में एक जंगला बिछा था दोनों फ्लोर्स के बीच तो ऊपर से आवाज़ लगायी और बातचीत शुरू. दीदी के बारे में कहूँ तो उनकी मुस्कराहट अलग ही थी. प्यार तो बहुत करती थीं मगर जब कभी गणित पढ़ाती थी तो रूप बिलकुल ही बदल जाता था. एक तो बचपन से वैसे ही गणित से यूँ ही 36 का आंकड़ा रहा है और ऊपर से वो पढ़ाते पढ़ाते कब गुस्सा हो जाएँ, किसको पता था ? जब वो खुद पढ़ती थी तो उनकी कॉमर्स की किताबों की मोटाई देख कर लगता था न जाने कैसा ग्रन्थ है? हर साल फाइनल एग्जाम से पहले तगड़ी मेहनत करवाती थी पास होने के लिए. मैथ्स का पेपर दे कर घर लौटे नहीं कि “ पेपर दिखाओ, कितने नंबर लाओगे ? ”. मार काटो तो खून नहीं वाली हालत.

2 साल बाद पापा का ट्रान्सफर हुआ तो फिर वो शहर छूटा और वहाँ के लोग लेकिन दीदी का नाम एक रट्टू तोते की तरह ज़बान पे. यूँ ही सालों बीत गए मगर जब भी उस शहर के लोगों का ज़िक्र होता तो मेरा एक सवाल ज़रूर उठता , “ सोनिया दी कहाँ हैं , कैसी हैं? “. इस सब के कोई 2-3 साल बाद दीदी से आखिरी बार मुलाकात हुई थी लखनऊ में. फिर मिलना नहीं हुआ और अंकल का भी ट्रान्सफर हो गया और वो भी लखनऊ छोड़ दिए. फिर ज़िन्दगी ने रफ़्तार पकड़ी और सब गायब हो गए. तब मोबाइल वगैरह कुछ नहीं था, बस लैंडलाइन का ज़माना हुआ करता था.

देखते ही देखते 2018 आ गया. एक दिन अचानक से पापा ने एक मोबाइल नंबर दिया , न जाने कहाँ से, कैसे मिला... वो 10 अंकों का सोनिया दीदी का नंबर. एक बार को यूँ लगा कि न जाने कितने सालों की तपस्या सफल हुई... 2009 में जब मैंने फेसबुक अकाउंट शुरू किया था तो उनका मूलभूत उद्देश ही था पुराने सारे दोस्तों और जानने वालों को ढूंढना, उसमें दीदी का नाम भी शामिल था. इतने सालों में न जाने कितनी बार नाम ढूँढा मगर भाई साहब हमको तो 24 साल पहले का चेहरा याद था, अब पता करना भी मुश्किल था कि अब दिखती कैसी थी वो. चलो फेसबुक के ज़रिये न सही, मिल तो गयीं न ...

मज़ा तो तब आया जब हमने उनको Whatsapp पे मेसेज करके पूछना शुरू किया – आपका नाम यह है, आप इस से पहले इस शहर में थीं, यह स्कूल था ... वो सारी बातें जो इतने सालों से याद थी और जिनका जवाब वही दे सकती थी. जब सारे जवाब हाँ में मिले तब अपने नाम का राज़ खोला. उनका दिया लगभग हर खिलौना आज तक रखा है.. एक सबसे यादगार है यह Keychain.

1994 में दिया उनका यह आखिरी तोहफा था जब हम शहर छोड़ रहे थे. तब से यह यूँ ही संभाल कर रखा है, बिना इस्तेमाल किये...

क्यूँ नहीं किया पता नहीं, बस दीदी की याद से जुड़ा है. बस बेचारे की नाक चली गयी है और एक आँख, ज्यादा चश्मा पहनने से खराब हो गयी है.  3 साल हो गए नंबर मिले हुए मगर आज भी सोचता हूँ तो लगता है बहुत इंतज़ार किया मैंने ढूँढने में... इतनी तल्लीनता से तो और किसी का नंबर नहीं आया.

तो यह थी मेरी सोनिया दी की छोटी सी दास्ताँ .....

पलों को पहरों में और पहरों को अरसों में बदलते देखा है

पाने न पाने की आस को भी धूमिल होते देखा है

वक़्त की रेत के बवंडर पर जब लगा था खो चुका है वो

बवंडर थमने के बाद जब नज़र उठायी तो उस इंसान को सामने खड़ा देखा है...

Swati Mam : The teacher who always had my back....

Naah… this one is not for every special occasion, just like that. Few years back I had written about my school teacher Mr. Joseph and how much I then ( now my friends too) wanted to meet him. This post is about another of my teachers from my masters days in Jaipur.

The teacher in question Swati Chaturvedi mam. In the 1st year if I remember correctly, she taught us few subjects of basic management and later on IT in the second year. Little does anyone know that she was the 1st and only teacher who told me to go, buy and start wearing jeans. The hilarious story is that we were having our annual function and the dress code for the boys was white shirt and jeans and all these years I had never worn jeans ( last I remembered was when I was a kid). True to a b school setting , I was used to wearing pants. Faced with “ why this now” I ventured to mam`s staff room in the break and asked whether jeans was compulsory? Couldn’t I do it with pant hoping that I may get a reprieve but instead of a standard reply somewhere on the lines of “ Rules are rules “ , I saw her look up from the paper she was checking and astonished, “ You are the first boy I have met who is asking for an exception to jeans. I thought boys loved jeans”. My attempts to wriggle out of the situation were shot down as she somehow senses my apprehension and told me, “ No ifs and buts, go and buy jeans if you don’t have one . Will want to see you in that”. So on the weekend I went on shirt and jeans hunt in 100+ fever. I was probably buying clothes for myself after very very long.

Its said that when you are away from home , you somehow find a teacher / guardian who is there for you. I remember very well that just before my 2nd sem exams I was down with a very very strong bout of viral during the preparation leave. Although I had all the strategy in place on paper on how to tackle each subject but the eyes just did not co-operate in the hostel. Frustated, one evening I smsed mam ( yes, 2008 was a pre whatsapp period) that I was thinking of drop all exams , return to my hometown, get healthy and in the next sem clear all these papers as backpapers. I was so much tired with my health that I was planning to execute this. Inspite of me taking doctor medication, nothing was working. Within 5 mins I got a call from her and when I explained to her my condition, she gave me an advice , “ I don’t doubt your capability and this time it might seem to be the logical way to you but later on it would create problems. Next sem would be all about specialization papers and you wont have the time to prepare for these basic papers not to mention the huge toll it would take on you. Do what you have to do to clear these papers. Give the exam to the best of your ability and finish it in this attempt only. For once, do it for me.. In case of any issues, I am there, talk to me if you need to.” That evening as I went to have dinner with my hostelmates, I decided to have it a go as 8 papers later on would be too much of a burden for me. I ditched medicines totally and went for injections to take care of the fever. Every 2 days when I felt that fever was returning, I had to go for an injection. Not taking any credit away from my hostelmates who drove me down to a nursing home nearby to have my dose. Now I have forgotten how many syringes were pricked into me during that time but it was a pure harrowing time for me. Had it not been mam`s push, my hostelmates then, I might have had a real hard time finishing up my masters.

As I became a senior , I got immersed in picking myself piece by piece ( few years back during the metoo campaign, I had written a blogpost as to how ragging destroyed and shattered my confidence for many years in the future) as I had only a year to make the most of my masters programme. Mam took IT as a subject and as a “khurapenchi” computer interest person all these years, I thought to get interested in atleast one subject I could like. That subject was tough for any layman and I too had to understand the subject matter using references to my favourite pc games, windows functionality etc. I remember understanding a system concept in a chapter by linking it to the rocket launcher in my fav game “Unreal Tournament”.

When it came to the summer project presentation, it was my luck that she was the judge in my ppt and to understand how she did her grading, I attended every ppt presentation she was grading, understood her doubt asking pattern etc. Coupled that with my note taking time of my senior`s ppt time, I was trying to chink out every gap in my armour, some field or question which might not leave me wondering ( was very less chance for that). In my ppt preparation I left no stone unturned ( owe it to the fact that I have stage fright or used to have it years back until I started enjoying the limelight in my blogger events) to showcase all that I had learned in my training days.

The icing on the cake was that I got more marks than I had hoped for when the results were announced later on but also the fact that I had scored a distinction in the IT paper I had given. All the thesis I had written had finally paid off. Its not that I had enjoyed IT just for the heck for it. I had created a telephone diary at that time using SQL in MS access by another subject teacher. Years later , my computer craze would lead me to customize my blog look HTML wise.

These few incidents whether hilarious or serious wouldn`t have enabled me to make my way out of them had it not been for chaturvedi mam. Hoping that she reads this and knows how she helped me through some of my most trying times 13 years back. I could save some of my original personality because of her.

The post about Joseph Sir can be read here - Joseph sir

A gift 7 years in the making

What would you say if I told you that a gift takes 7 years to finally reach the intended recipient? So here is a short true story of how that gift finally reached but with the inclusion of a very unlikely person.

7 years back I had written a blog post about the various people I had met through blogging personally or had developed a very good understanding with them. It was a two part post, each of them almost a year apart. In the 1st part, Devashree Birari had taken the top spot and although we have never met in person (she’s in Nasik, whereas I can be found either in Delhi or Lucknow). She had become so emotional after reading those lines and told me that she would frame those lines someday and it has been "n" number of times that she has read, re-read those lines over all these years apart from making every member of her family read it over and over.

So this time just out of the blue I thought of fulfilling her that wish true. It was not as easy as it sounded. It took me a lot of time to understand that how should I fulfil that with the mediums available? Finally I figured out a website which was providing customisable "quotes on metal" printing (wont name them due to reasons you’ll read later). I designed the whole layout and all but the problem started when it was time to “add to cart”. Don`t know what kind of a system error was there but it was not allowing me to complete the order and the logo on the website was processing which seemed to never end. I used to stay on the computer screen for half an hour and even beyond but to no avail. When I contacted customer support over chat, they were clueless. Finally I had to write in a lengthy email describing all that was happening along with various screenshots and then a particular executive had some idea of what was happening. Despite the fact that he was in touch with the backend IT team but my issue never resolved as from his end it was all okay but as a customer, for me, the problem remained. I wrote them another email describing my whole order and what I want along with the full colour scheme, font, size, everything needed so that they can create the same order from their end and add into my cart so that I can go through.

It seemed that God was not willing to have this gift prepared just like that, so the mistake that the site did was in spite of the providing me exact colour codes of the text, somebody botched up and messed up the colour in the preview. All this had already wasted around 3 weeks of my time and I was surely not in the mood to go through the whole process again. Was wondering what to do next one evening, my eyes wandered to a calligraphy someone had made for me back in what would be the last event for a lot of us. Enter Tara Nair from Pune, Indiblogger calligraphy artist I had met back in 2017 in Dehradun which was the last event for a lot of bloggers. The hunt to search her began. I am active on Twitter, she’s almost extinct like the dinosaurs…. She is active on insta, I have no clue how to operate that. Somehow at some random posts I messaged her that I needed help and hoped that she might remember me. My good luck she did. When I told her the whole story and how this game is seven years in the making, I don’t think I’ve seen somebody so much excited to do that because if you see, places like Dehradun, Nasik, Pune, Lucknow all coming together out of the blue one fine day… that is unbelievable. She still says that God wanted this in to be completed by her and she considers herself lucky that she was chosen medium for that.

I sent her the exact blog text, along with the original grammatical mistakes included as we were recreating the original. Along with that in a secondary writeup which conveyed need and emotions of fulfilling this gift. It took another 3 weeks to complete and dispatch it with the whole process taking us a full month from the time of contacting her. She was nervous as hell to know my response and I could not respond in time due to being busy, or at times when she wanted a response I could only say “hmmm or “ its ok” . At all such times she had mini heart attacks thinking that what wrong had she done? Her sibling had to calm her down.. Well that was epic I must say.

As I write this post today, the gift has been received and Devashree Ji loved it…thats the main and important part for us. If you want to give a gift, you need a time, effort, creativity to pull it off. It was great that tara could understand my vision of how I wanted it to be, I had a fairly clear idea of how I wanted the final result to look like and she had the medium to do that. 3 indibloggers coming together to fulfill a promise after so many years.

You can get in touch with tara @taranairstudio (Instagram)

Tara in 2017

दिल की कलम से : बस यूँ ही....

घर के पास ही एक Dominos Pizza का आउटलेट है. आज गया था कुछ लेने के लिए कि एक अलग सा ख्याल आया.. मेनेजर को बुलवाया तो केशियर को लगा कुछ गड़बड़ हो गयी. बात सुन कर को वो भी हैरान थे. बस उनसे इतना कहा था कि आज दुकान पे कुल जितना भी उनका स्टाफ है सबको मेरी तरफ से एक-एक 500 ml कोल्ड ड्रिंक की बोतल दे दीजियेगा...बिलिंग मुझे कर दो, कोई चिंता नहीं. मेनेजर भी पूछने लगे कि क्या यह ज़रुरत है?

उनका चौंकना लाज़मी थी था . 35 का कुल स्टाफ था वहाँ . लगा होगा कोई मज़ाक तो नहीं है..केशियर को कह तो दिया था कि सर जो कह रहे हैं बिल कर दो,  मगर अपना आर्डर लेने के बाद जब मैंने केशियर को फिर से याद दिलाया तो उसे भी लगा बंदा सीरियस है.

घर पहुँचने के बाद एक बार डर लगा कि कहीं मुझे बिलिंग कर दें और न दें स्टाफ को तो मेरी तो चपत लग जाएगी. इसीलिए dominos के कस्टमर केयर को फ़ोन लगाया, मामला समझाया और रिमाइंडर के लिए बोला. अब फ़ोन पे executive चकराया मगर बात सुनने के बात उसने उसने फ़ोन होल्ड पे रखा, outlet पे बात की तो पता लगा हुकुम की तामील हो चुकी है. जितनी देर मैंने अपने आर्डर के लिए इंतज़ार किया तो देखा कि डिलीवरी वाले बन्दे बिना रुके आ रहे हैं, जा रहे हैं. सर्विस स्टाफ लगातार लगा हुआ है orders तैयार करने में ... ऐसे में अगर त्यौहार के दिन कुछ अलग कर दिया तो कुछ गलत तो नहीं हुआ न.. कुछ फैसले पहले से सोच के नहीं होते, बस यूँ ही अचानक वाली सोच या सनक , दोनो के मिलने से हो जाती है .

क्यूँ किया ? पता नहीं ... सोचा था रक्षाबंधन पे अगर फीमेल स्टाफ हुआ तो सबको राखी का एक छोटा सा तोहफा ही मिल जाएगा , लड़के हुए तो अपनी भाग दौड़ के बीच थोड़ा आराम करके कुछ ख़ुशी से घर तो जा सकेंगे . वो कहते हैं न...... बस यूँ ही . 

( ये घटना पुरानी हो चुकी है, रक्षाबंधन के दिन की है )

Remove limescale from the electric kettle... the tried way

The 1 ltr kettle 

There are many articles on the internet as to how remove limescaling from electric kettles but I feel that majority of times it doesn’t work and especially not when the kettle which you have is a small one which does not facilitate cleaning by hand by a sponge brush because the opening is too small.

So here is the tried way which I used for cleaning….and believe me that I had used everything which the articles said… vinegar, lemon, baking soda…everything…but the thing which worked after trial and error was pure simple. For my crazy method, you would need just few things –

· White vinegar

· Water

· Lots of electricity

· A well ventilated room

Here I go. By the time I researched and knew that the deposit at the bottom of my 1 lt singer electric kettle was limescale , it had been in use almost daily for just over an year. Changing of the bottom plate would have cost me 500/- + so I decided to try this method. The deposit was very very thick so it took me 2 days to get all the various experiments correct. The articles on the internet talk about using vinegar and lemon / lemon and baking soda 50-50 and leaving the kettle undisturbed for quite a long time but you wont have that much time. Here`s how to proceed-

· Fill the kettle to its mix water level mark with the mixture of white vinegar and water but here is a catch. Firstly, use a mixture which is more loaded in favour of vinegar rather than water. White vinegar acts like an acid to cut the limescale deposit. Don’t use it 50-50. If your kettle can hold 6 cups of water in total, use 4 cups of vinegar and 2 of water. Whatever you do, the vinegar should be more than water.

· Pour all the measured vinegar first and then only put the remaining water.

Now the problem with electric kettles is auto shut off but you don’t want that. You want the mixture to boil and the magic to happen.

· Keep the kettle lid open and switch on the kettle, the mixture would start to boil and with no lid to trap the steam it would never switch off.

· The vinegar would cut through limescale deposit really quick. When you feel that the mixture is boiling very much so as to threaten spilling out, switch off the kettle but don’t unplug it.

· Let the mixture cool down ( bubbles to settle down). You would see pieces of the limescale deposit floating on the top and bubbles coming from the bottom of the deposit where the air pockets have formed.

· When you see that the air bubbles have stopped, switch on the kettle and repeat the process.

· The open lid would mean that the mixture would gradually reduce as it boils and is steamed away in vapours.

· Its your judgement call that you would have to take if you feel that too much pieces of limescale have broken off and have turned your transparent mix into a milky white and the vinegar concentrate might have become too diluted to carry on the work.

· If you feel that, throw the whole mixture, rinse the kettle , and refill the kettle again with the same proportion of mix as at the start, but remember, vinegar first.

· Repeat this whole process until all the limescale deposit has gone from the bottom of the kettle.

· Wash the kettle finally with water and use it.

Its a difficult job of keeping an eye on the kettle and switching it on and off to let the mixture work. Trust me, it would work. Too much of vinegar vapours in the room would make you sneeze so thats the reason I asked to do it in a well ventilated room with probably the switchboard near the door.

The vinegar lemon and vinegar baking soda trick failed for me and it took me full 2 days to get the final result so would advise you that in case you have a very thick deposit in the kettle, do this trick on your free day- it would take a lot of time and electricity but material wise would be very cheaper. It took me just 5 bottles of vinegar costing 30/- each to do that. Now I know that in the future it would take me less than a bottle to do this.

Deaf and blind Ola cabs didn`t listen , Ola money helped

The ordeals when it comes to Ola cabs never seem to end come what may. Today I will tell you about an incident in which Ola cabs were almost harassing me and I had to turn to Ola money for help, they were the guys who helped me out.

If you are the one who believes the shit Ola writes on their twitter page about being just a DM away from help, DON’T BELIEVE THEIR SHIT. They would leave you in the lurch when it would matter the most and their customer care executives are an ill trained bunch of idiots who seem to know that they know it all but they are fully incompetent.

On 31 st July I took an outstation cab from Kanpur to Lucknow . Just a few kms after the start of the trip I came to know that due to an emergency I would have to cut short my trip and would have to deboard at the Airport enroute. All this was communicated to the driver and he was ok with it ( he would be able to make a U turn back to Kanpur from there, all good for him). Meanwhile , I tried editing the destination but to no avail, I was getting down some 30 kms before my final booked destination. I could not edit the destination, was no way I was able to talk to an executive as the ongoing ride did not have an option to call an executive. I tried reaching them through tweets and DMs but no response. My destination was fast approaching. The good thing which I had done was the payment mode- Ola money. When the ride bill was generated, I saw that I was billed for a total of 107 kms (original booking) while in reality I had travelled only 77 kms. By the time , the lazy social media time responded to my sos messages, it had already been 2 hours past since I had reached my home after attending to the emergency.

I immediately contacted liar no. 1 (customer care executive of ola) and told him the whole issue. He listened to my issue, confirmed the travel distance with the driver and told me that I would hear back within 48 hours. The idiot raised my issue under the ticket of “ driver took a longer route” and the email idiots closed it saying that we have investigated and nothing is wrong. Due to the fact that so many lies were spoken to me by executives, would refer to ola excectuives as “ liars” in this blog post. Nothing happened in the 48 hours, I then rang up ola again and then again another liar came on line, listened to me repeating the whole issue, assuring me of another lie of a 48 hour response and 4 hours call back. I knew that in few days Ola money would give me a statement to clear the dues so I needed to resolve this issue asap. On the 3rd Liar call, 2 days back I simply stated to another liar to put a “ floor level supervisor” at the start who had the power to resolve issues on the spot, on the line but to no avail. These ola liars think they know everything even when the customer is telling them that you don’t have the power and authority to solve such a tricky case. From the 31st july to 4 th aug. , I must have talked to some 20+ liars with no resolution in sight.

When requesting for supervisors either they were not free, not in office ( looke like all of them were fired in one go ) or I was put on hold for 30-30+ minutes where the call would disconnect automatically. The liars also did not provide me email ids of escalation desk where I could put up my issue. I was so fed up of multiple calls everyday that I used to beg to the liars to put me in charge of someone higher up and not talk to me thereby saving their time. As I running towards default on dues clearing, I thought of contacting old money as they were the ones who would be receiving my money, ola cabs can go to hell for the time being. 2 minutes after I tweeted to ola money that I needed help , I received a dm from their side, asking for the issue. After I explained to them that ola cabs were not responding and I was desperate for help, I got a call within 5 mins from Bangalore office of ola money. The executive on call was Mr. Prashant I think, I explained to him the whole matter and how ola cabs was making a mockery of the whole issue and not at all helping while I was at my wits end. I asked them to either do something which they can or provide with an extension to clear my dues. Prashant said that he had noted my issue and would send it to the escalation desk of ola money who would send it to their respective counterparts at ola cabs. I was so much furious at the moment that had someone from cabs called instead, I would have abused him fully first and then talked. Prashant also gave me the freedom to write the whole matter to ola money escalation desk, grievance officer , nodal officer and it would be suitably forwarded to cabs. I knew all these ids were on google in a pdf so I composed a lengthy mail from start to finish along with the screenshots of the various proofs etc. Atleast someone listened…someone.

The next morning I got a call from someone from ola cabs saying that they had received my complaint. First I gave him an earful about the whole issue and how they had made a joke of this issue courtesy their liars. The person then told me that in outstation rides its not possible to edit destinations and billings are on original destination kms. The idiot liars could have given me this info in the 1st instance but no, clueless idiots wasting so much time. The person who was talking to me also started to give me the training room excuses , “ We understand your inconvenience, we are sorry etc. etc. crap “ ( तुम्हारी 2 पैसे की औकात नहीं है मामला समझ के सुलझाने का… )“ .

I am thankful to ola money who helped me out so much although the original matter regarding ride billing and dispute was not theirs to get involved into but they still did what they did. In case you get stuck just like I did, contact ola money… maybe they would help you out. Whichever cab provider you take in India don’t trust them to resolve your issues cause 2 पैसे की औकात नहीं है इनकी..

India`s perception of fast consumption in Electronics is forced.

All that talk about India being a fast growing consumption society is wrong on so many fronts. We often hear how the rest of the world has made the country as the dumping ground for electronics and all. If you scratch below the surface you would notice that we ourselves are to be blamed and no one else. What we follow is a use and throw policy and companies take advantage of the same fact and push the exploitation button with our elders saying that the products of their generation lasted much longer. Here I would put into light my own 3 experiences which forced me to ponder over the issue and how much expensive and tough is to procure parts if you want to continue using the products. Hence, the cheaper way- buy a new product instead.

1. CD lens cleaner - Call me old fashioned but I still want my pc and laptops to have optical drives at any cost. Options maybe limited in laptops but pc needs to have it come what may. Back in the previous decade a cd lens cleaner used to come which had a small brush attached to the underside of the disc and you used to run it in the optical drive, while it cleaned the drive of the dust which accumulated and made the lens cleaner leading to an increase in a bit of life. I needed 1 badly for myself but the online sellers in India were charging 5k for a single disc, blatant looting. The brand was the same- Maxell. I had even roamed the offline computer market but no luck as it had vanished like dinosaurs from there years ago.

As a last resort I switched to Ebay USA and vola, I got the product listed there at 1100/- INR of a brand new pack with the buy 1, get 1 free offer. Technically, it would cost me just 550/- bucks a disc shipping included, to get it to India. The product arrived in 10 days flat and the owner took care of the shipping instructions I had mentioned. In India it has vanished but abroad its available.

2. Sony Tv remote - The remote of my old Sony Bravia tv conked out one day somehow and it used to develop many problems. When I went to the authorised Sony service centre for a new one I was told that the tv model had been discontinued years ago and company only provides parts and accessories for next 5 years only, after a product has been phased out. They were offering to get me a  compatible remote which would work with my tv costing 750/- and for which I would have to pay 200/- upfront as booking charges. I came back with the thought that I myself can buy a compatible one , whats the use of sony in that ? I again headed to Ebay USA and there at a steal I found the original remote model still being sold for 600/- . Buying a such a meagre accessory for such a price is a risky affair but I decided to take it as in India too I was in the danger of “compatible” remote not working. The gamble has paid off for now.

3. Mouse feet – Now this is something you might have never heard before. Mouse feet or mouse skates as they are also called. They are basically the small rubberised dots at the underside 4 corners of your computer mouse. Each company has a different layout and variation for it. I use the Logitech mouse which uses just 4 dots. Due to years of constant and heavy use, the rubber on 3 sides got worn off and the mouse started to tilt at an awkward angle with the mousepad, thereby damaging it ( an expensive branded rgb gaming mousepad). As a temporary arrangement, I had to put in mom`s bindis in the empty places to act as rubber support but as bindis are not smooth at all, after sometime they also started scratching the pad. Hence, I had to urgently start looking for the mouse feet for the model. Although I found them in plenty and very very cheaper rates at Aliexpress but banning of this site meant I could not buy them. 60 pieces of those dosts (15 sets) were costing me just 525/- INR with 30 day shipping time. Disappointed I had to again search for the known brands which manufactured those world wide and shipped them too. Found a set at Com.Tra-de , based in Netherland which costed me 18 Euro shipping included, 1700/- INR conversion. You might laugh at the purchase when you consider that a new Logitech mouse would cost only 400-500/- but I was adamant in my mind that why should I buy a new mouse just because its rubber were not there. The mouse worked perfectly still, not at all destined for an electronics landfill at any cost. This has to be the most awkward purchase ROI basis. Just to save a completely good mouse being discarded unnecessarily, I had to spend more the 3 times the cost on a small spare… but what to do? No brand in India makes mouse feet although the search told me that worldwide every mouse model comes with its mouse feet as spares. A thing which I might keep in mind in the future while buying a new mouse , either gaming or normal wherein I would check the availability of the spare mousefeet as an important factor in a new buy.

These might be just 3 instances but deep down inside they tell a lot about how the unavailability of spares has turned India into a false mirage of being the fastest adapting nation of new tech. If companies instead of chasing new sales volumes and figures instead focused on providing reliable spares for long, as they are still doing in other countries, we might still achieve the dream of new things lasting just as long as the old ones. This “ use and throw” technique due to cheap prices is really bad…. For us…for everyone.

I had the time and the "useless" energy as you might call , to do all this but its surely not possible to everyone to do that in India... as a result we have probably gone past the point of no return , both in terms of a false sense of growth and environment destruction.

Captivating: Love for the wife

 

This video tells you all about love when an old man describes his late wife to a sketch artist.

The secret to a long and happy marriage, - “Make her your friend and never lie to her”

Battlefield 1 : One day all this will be over ( Remember Us)

 

One day all this will be over.

The war to end all wars will be won—by one side or the other.

The guns will rust. Grass will grow and there'll be nothing left of any of this.

The land will heal itself as everything does in the end.

We'll be long gone by then—

but maybe not forgotten.

History only remembers one in a thousand of us then the future will be filled with stories of who we were and what we did. How we lived, how we fought and how we died.

 

When this is all over and the war is won—

they will remember us.

But until that day comes, we will stand, we will look death in the eye—

and we will fight!

What is this and why  ? - These lines are spoken in the ending of the popular PC game " Battlefield 1 " which is based on the happenings of World War 1. The game features 6 different stories across variety of missions. The stories which really affected me were featuring the Gallipoli campaign.

I 1st heard about the campaign from the search campaign by an Indian Youtuber " Varun Vagish when he was searching for the graves of the Indian Soldiers who fought in WW1 for the british (which he ultimately found- the names ). From that day onwards, Gallipoli became a name I would never forget and Battlefield 1 gave me the chance to momentarily relive that campaign although the character I was playing in game was Australian but it was a campaign I enjoyed the most. Many gamers have panned the game for its single player campaign but for me the reason to like this is really different. They fought then ......to give us today. They have long gone 

In the end, when the game finishes , these lines spoken reflect the mind of every soldier who fought in WW1 for his country...and it felt so true to me and close to the heart.

Watch the emotional moment when the names are finally found:

The battlefield 1 video which reminds us of the same:

दिल की कलम से : थोड़ी इंसानियत तो जिंदा है जनाब

किस्सा छोटा ही सही मगर आज भी हमें बताता है कि थोड़ी सी इंसानियत तो रहनी ही चाहिए, अच्छा लगता है...

होली से कुछ दिन पहले एक AC लेनें की कायावाद चल रही थी. घर वाले सब देख – दाख चुके थे, बाकी मुझे छुट्टियों में आ कर लेने चलना था. होली से एक दिन पहले उस सेल्समेन को फ़ोन किया जिसने AC घर वालों को दिखाया था कि कितने बजे के बाद वो दुकान पे मिलेगा ? वो होता है न जब सेल्समेन कहते हैं कि साहब जब आप लेने आएगा तब जितना कम हो सकेगा उस वक़्त करवा लिया जाएगा.

पता चला कि वो हॉस्पिटल में है , उसके बच्चे का एक्सीडेंट हो गया है, पट्टी वगैरह करवा रहा है . हमसे कहने लगा कि 2 बजे तक मैं पहुँच जाऊंगा और अगर आपको जल्दी हो तो दुकान पे चले जाइये , मैंने वहाँ बात कर रखी है. हमने भी यह कह कर बात तब तक के लिए टाल दी कि जब आप पहुँच जाओगे हम तब आ जायेंगे. खैर 2 बजे के बाद दुकान पर पहुंचे तो होली सेल के चक्कर में वैसे भी थोड़ी भीड़ थी. पापा ही जानते थे उसको . हम दोनों से नमस्कार किया उन्होंने. होंगे कोई 50 साल के, ऐनक लगाए . उन्होंने सोचा होगा की दाम पे बात होगी मगर किसी के कुछ भी कहने से पहले मेरा पहला ही सवाल था – “ अब आपका बच्चा कैसा है ?” दो पल के लिए उनके चेहरे पे आये हैरानी के भाव मुझे साफ़ दिख गए . उन्होंने झट से हमें अपना फ़ोन निकाल कर फोटो दिखाई... घुटने पे प्लास्टर. पता चला एक्टिवा गिट्टी पे फिसल गयी थी.

3-4 मिनट तो हम लोग चोट की ही बात करते रहे, सामान का तो ज़िक्र ही नहीं आने दिया. वो खुद ही कहने लगे कि अब AC देख लीजिये. खरीद फरोख्त तो होती ही रही उसके बाद. भले ही हमारी खरीद से उनकी year end closing में थोड़ा फायदा हुआ हो मगर बच्चे के हाल चाल पूछ कर मुझे लगा कि हमने शायद एक पिता की घबराहट और बेचैनी कुछ पल के लिए तो दूर कर ही दी होगी. इंसानियत आज भी कोई चीज़ है भाई साहब.

सेल्स के आंकड़ों को छूकर अपनी नौकरी बचाने की ज़रुरत देर से दुकान पे आने की वजह का कभी कभी सबूत मांग लेती है – और सबूत थी वो फ़ोन में खिची हुई फोटो.

For all your pc gaming needs forget Amazon, head to Kryptonite Microsystems

In India its tough getting a branded gaming peripheral and everyone runs to amazon at the 1st opportunity but what to do when even amazon has super jacked up prices and you cant find international brands you are looking for?

A search, kinda started and ended in Ahmedabad – out of all places and that too unexpectedly . I was looking to buy a mechanical keyboard and after a lot of research came to know that the international standard of switches came from Cherry MX . Alternate brands are also there . Spending a handsome sum on a simple keyboard seemed odd so I decided to go the RGB way. You can see a lot of Indian brands offering the following combo at much cheaper prices but when you throw in Cherry MX into the mix, there are is nothing there…except for few foreign ones- Hyper X and Cooler Master.

I shortlisted the latest in RGB- Cooler Master MK 850 but no one in India was having it. After talking to the company officials I had to drop the idea as they were having a model which I did not want. With a heavy heart I had to switch the brand to Hyper X. Amazon was out of stock so the sales manager of North India put me in touch with the one man who would have it all- all the way in Ahmedabad. It was like hitting a jackpot in a bullseye.

In came Mr. Pinank Patel, a multibrand distributor of pc gaming peripherirals. After giving him the reference, I casaually blurted out that I was looking for Cooler Master originally and Hyper X is my not so confident “majboori” choice. He simply stated that he has both the brands I was looking in right now and much more although the model with him was an older model with my choice never meant to be released in India by the company. With him being an avid gamer himself, I had to trust his instinct and say although he did whatsapped me pics of both models so that I could make a choice. The pricing you might ask? Dirt cheap I would say. A pricing matched only by the direct US costing. Everywhere it was either “out of stock” or “loot” prices even if they had them in stock.

The product ( Cooler Master MK 750) was shipped to me after I made the payment ( he even created a separate payment gateway link for me to make payment, on request). It was a bit unfortunate that the new unit was partial dead on arrival but even that got replaced with a brand new unit within 10 days directly from the company. He took the pain of getting the unit replaced by the company on my behalf .

That was my 1st purchase with him. Following up with the antics of the keyboard , my mind now wandered to a RGB mousepad now and this time I settled on Razer V 2. He suggested me the size as well as the surface of the mousepad. It has all paid off.

While shopping we all look at the cheaper options at Amazon normally but for all my pc gaming peripheral needs I turn to Mr. Pinank for the sole reason that he is a gamer and understands the products and suggests accordingly. By the time you might hear the standard “We are looking into the stock availability situation” line from any company support, he already has all the info regarding the product, from the company officials.

He is a jackpot for all those people who want to buy gaming gadgets in India , have money but cant find them with ease. So checkout his insta page for all that and more. Forget Amazon, he is the perfect guy to get all well known international brands at one place and at prices which are hard to match.

You can find him at –

Mr. Pinank Patel

Kryptonite Microsystems

Contact: 9687065870

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/kryptonitemicrosystems

Captivating: Dove, The beauty test.

The new ad by dove highlights the real issues girls face even today while being looked in for a marriage alliance... Right from weight, complexion, hairstyles, heights etc. Factors which break the deal even before a word is spoken between the boy and the girl... Probably all of the factors you can say are summed up in the arena of  " Arrange Marriage".

Many a times its tough to gauge things just on the basis of these factors alone. Girls in person turn out to be much awesome thought wise rather than what their complexion might suggest look wise in the photograph.

Apart from Dove, a standing ovation to all the girls who featured themselves and their stories from the country. They might be a few but they highlight almost majority of rejection features prevalent in India.

The ad-

 

Poets of the Fall : A music band with emotions

Music is the perfect soul charmer when chaos reigns supreme. We all have found solace in something or the other. I find my calmness in one particular music band- Poets of the fall.

Addicted to them ever since I heard they are very first hit “Late goodbye” via Max Payne 2. It was something different. It took me sometime to fully understand and appreciate their music as I underwent a personal tragedy in 2012. As I coped or tried to cope with the grief, loss entire days, POTF and discovering more of their songs rather than just Late Goodbye was my only distraction.

I was never able to exactly pinpoint what was it that made me like them- in some songs it was the melodious music ort in some it was the lyrics but all in all it was either of the two. “War” from Alan Wake became my next favourite as I discovered Lift, Carnival of Rust after that. The simplicity of the music and the emotions of the songs were such that whenever I tried to discover any new bands , I always used to wonder , “Will it live to the POTF standards” ? . A friend of mine who tried to introduce me to other bands used to be frustrated and she still says to this very day, “Get out of the POTF mode for once.” Well, I don’t blame her, I have grown up listening to Backstreet Boys, N sync etc in those days of my childhood. With the pop music culture not so active now comparatively, its rare to find a music band with good songs and music.

These guys have toured India for some music festivals in the past but I never got a chance to attend any of them due to the various reasons. Their songs are something, emotions which either I have not found in English band songs since a long time or the emotions they convey feel so much human. Feels like someone is peeking into your heart and pouring out all the emotions in the various songs. As I started listening to their various songs over the years, did I realise that each one speaks of an emotion…somewhere deep. Emotion wise I would say that their Indian counterpart would be the music band- Euphoria and moving across the border if – Strings from Pakistan.

During this COVID lockdown, they came out with the Alexander Theatre Sessions of 12 of their songs (only 12?? ) and I must say that they are even better than the originals although I would have liked more of their songs to make it to the album. Only I know the trouble and the effort I had to put in to get my hands on the music cd…

In the extinct music scene now, POTF would always remain the perfect calm wave in the ever raging sea of life.

Their first ever song which was the start of it all... " Late Goodbye"