No… this isn’t about DMOP and had no relation with operations management or applied economics…. its quite literally… a news vendor problem!!!

Let me draw a time line to explain the situation:
Oct 10th: I move into the new house in Hill Ridge Springs… and get engulfed in the usual hassles of setting up the house. Arrange for the maid, car cleaner.. get everything fixed.

Oct 11th: I am surprised to see the newspaper on my door step in the morning and wonder how the newspaper vendor got to know that I have moved in… (consider that the flat was vacant for about 2 months when the last tenant left in August)

The newspaper continues to come everyday… and I have nothing to worry about.

Oct 15th (or there about): The news vendor gives me a bill for the past 2 months of newspaper subscription!! Ahh…. that explains it. I tell him that I have occupied this house for only about 5 days and since i’ll be going on a month long vacation, I ask him to start the newspaper for us from Nov 15th. Big Mistake!!

Nov 15th: I’m back from vacation, but the news paper isn’t. I realize i forgot to take the newspaper vendor’s number. arghhh….

Nov 25th: after trying to get the newspaper vendors number for a few days, i finally manage to get it from my neighbor. I call him and he tells me that he has left the job. I search again and get the new vendor’s number and call him to start the newspaper in our house. All done… so I thought!

Nov 26th: No newspaper
Nov 27th: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Nov 28th: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Nov 29th: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Nov 30th: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Dec 1st: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Dec 2nd: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Dec 3rd: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Dec 4th: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!
Dec 5th: No newspaper. I call the guy to remind him again. He ‘guarantees’ it will come tomorrow!

I have been calling the guy every single day!!! How difficult it is to get a newspaper to read in the morning and cover your shelves with!!!

Lets see if we get it tomorrow!

Ever since I have been out of Delhi… I have flown an average of two times a month. Almost always domestic low cost airlines.

While I absolutely love indigo…. and do everything possible to book it for my travel… sometimes due to low prices or better timings… I end up flying spicejet or goair… and when its absolutely no other option, Jetlite!

I dont know if its a regular feature with Jet…. ya mera bad luck hi kharab hai!! Invariably, every single time…. Jet is delayed. Of the 7-8 times I have flown Jet recently…. all the flights have been delayed. Some by 10 minutes… but delayed none the less.

Last weekend, we were flying to delhi and VT had booked Jet. Arghhh….

When we reached Hyd airport…. they told us that our flight was delayed by 10 mins. My first reaction… That’s really good for your track record!! But I spoke too soon… while there was no formal announcement of delay… they flight took off about 30 mins late. The crew (that was all guys) were shabbily dressed, with shirts pulled out from the trousers and ties loosened up. All three flight attendants had different style shirts and name tags. They didn’t ensure that ‘the seat backs are upright and the tray tables are closed’ before takeoff. Plain simple sloppy!

Coming back was another level altogether. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30. During the day, we get a message that read… “Your flight number S2 XXX to Hyd is scheduled to leave at 2100 hours. Guests are required to check in 45 mins before departure”. That’s it. No mention of the fact that the timings have changed…. no apologies…. nothing. Its business as usual for Jet.

We reach the airport… only to know that the flight is now delayed further to 9:40 pm. We stand at the check in counters in queue…. the lady on the counter is attending to some foreigners ahead of us for about 10 minutes while patiently wait in queue… awaiting our number next. When the foreigners leave… she happily stands up and leaves the counter. :O. She saw us waiting there for 10 mins… if she intended to leave…. she could have asked us to join the other queue. When I expressed my disappointment… she didn’t utter an apology even once and left anyway! Then another guy who was listening to my conversation with the lady came to the counter and started fiddling with the system. I thought he had come to check me in and so I waited. Then after a few minutes… I asked “Will you check me in?”… He said no… please join the other queue. By now… my fuse was blown.

Anyway…. I joined the other queue… and the girl ahead of me told me that that counter was closing too. This happened yet again in the fourth queue I joined. It was unbelievable!!! The counters had big screens behind them, couldn’t they just display a Counter closed sign… either on the screen or on the table.

I had had enough… I went to the only counter that seemed to be open…. broke the queue, told them that i have been here for about 20 minutes and stood in 4 queues so you better check me in now. The guy didn’t utter any word of apology but quietly checked me in.

The ordeal wasn’t over…. the flight was delayed further… and finally took of at 10:40… a good 3 hours behind schedule and we reached home at 1:30 am. WTF!!

I have had bad experiences with Jet before… like delays and running out of dinner on the flights (which happened this time too btw… but was like a fly on a pile of dead rats!), but this was the worst experience ever!

After building a very detailed model with complex equations, I have come to the conclusion that its not worth flying Jet, if its anything less that 25% cheaper that the next cheapest alternative. Which it never will be…. so for now… I Smriti Bhatia… in the presence of my readers…. solemnly swear… never to book Jet Airways again!!!

Just when I was thinking… I’m getting old… something happened that reminded me of school times.

Today morning, while I was at my gym, in between killer ab crunches and pumping some serious iron, I took a water break. (ok… I like to exaggerate but let’s focus on the incident )

So, while I was sipping the water a guy came and said… “I’ll take your number”. :O

I’d noticed that guy noticing me a few times in the gym…. and I ignored him with my typical you-are-invisible-to-me look. I would have imagined him walking up to me saying – “Hi, have we met? My name is loser, what is your name?” But NO… The first thing he utters is.. “I WILL take your number”. I don’t know if it was poor grammar or overconfidence that he used ‘I will’ instead of ‘can I’… but it made me go…. “whaaattt???”

Poor him, after my dramatic.. “whaaaatt??” he decided to change the topic and said.. “your mobile is really nice. I’ll also take it” and started filling his cup with water.

I smiled and turned away, trying really hard to control my laughter.

It was like a sixth standard school boy walking upto the first crush of his life and uttering something that made no sense and then saying.. “can I borrow your eraser?”
LOL!

Dud, tis tym 2 chnge ma ol ritng styl and rite lyk tis. tis so mch culer… sntit awsum? da wrds hv chngd ma ntire lyf n i lyk evri fckin ting i rite… tis bcmng ma nu luv. ma bro n ma sista luv it 2. coz tis so cul to rite tis n dat lyk tis.

That’s enough…. isnt it the worst thing one could do to the english language? how much more effort does it take to type full words like ‘time’ instead of ‘tym’. And whats with Ma instead of My??? i mean its the same no of letters???

I get surprised when people use such language on facebook, twiter and beleive it or not, i’ve seen such samples even on Linked in.

Is it like the new wannabe style of writing after WrItINg lIkE tHiS? is it the I-can’t-get-attention-if-I-write-normally style? Or is it the i-havent-got-content-so-confuse-with-words writing style?

Whatever it is, i find it ewww!!!

PS: Is this what our parents thought when we started using words like Dude and Buddy?
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OMG i’m getting old!! :O

I’m sure most of you have gone through this…. but still let me try and describe the setting of this particular phone call….

I’m at work… a couple of deadlines to meet… lots of papers on me desk… mobile ringing… mom calling… i didnt attend the phone… thinking i’ll speak to her later…. then my land line rings… someone has a query that reminds me of another task on my to do list…. i hang up and get back to work…

Then my office land line rings again….

Tring tring….

Caller: Hello, Am I talking to Smriti Bhatia?
(I knew instatntly that its a sales call)
Me : Yes tell me.
Caller: A very good afternoon ma’am.
…… pause….. like he wouldn’t speak to me if i didnt wish him in return
Me : Good afternoon, tell me….
Caller: I am calling from HSBC ma’am….
….. pause ….
Me: Ok, tell me.
Caller: Ma’am, you hold an HSBC credit card, is that correct?
….. pause…. Obviously if your record shows that i do, then what are the chances of me not having it?
Me: Yes, I do. Tell me.
Caller: Ma’am, I wanted to talk about that credit card.
….. pause….
yes, yes, yet again…. Like he’s unfolding a big secret.. little by little…. unwrapping a huge surprise… layer by layer…. as if expecting me to get super excited that someone wants to speak to me about my credit card.. the best thing that has ever happened to me!!! OMG… no one ever wants to speak to me about that!

Me: Arghhh…. ok tell me, please get to the point.

Caller: Ma’am we are offering supplementary cards with it….

… yes yes… pause again….

Me: I’m not interested. Thank you.

Now imagine a conversation like this –

Caller: Hello, am I talking to Ms Smriti Bhatia
Me: Yes, tell me.
Caller: Good afternoon ma’am. I’m calling on behalf of HSBC bank and we are offering supplementary cards with your existing HSBC card. Are you interested?
Me: No, thanks.

Isn’t it so much simpler? Short and To the Point.

Please tell me who designs the SOPs for such call centers… i beleive they have a script and get training on these little things on when to talk and what to say! If you ever come across a call center trainer… please put me in touch.. i would like to have a few words… and I promise to be to the point!

About a month ago, after a tiring day’s work at office, I was returning home and as usual was hoping to take the Bangalore Elevated Toll road from E city to Silkboard.

It was about 8 pm and a km before the toll road starts, there was a huge traffic jam. An unusual number of trucks and lorries were on the road, intimidating my tiny car. A little tired and a little frustrated i drove along… moving inches at a time… saving myself from trucks changing lanes around me.

Then just before the toll road entry, I landed up driving behind a big lorry. Hardly had options, i had to stick to the left lane, to be able to take the left for the toll road and the lorry which was parked on the service lane, go onto my lane, just ahead of me. I stopped patiently, so the lorry could get into the lane. Then continued driving at snail’s pace maintaining atleast a 10 feet distance between the lorry and my car.

One would think what could possibly go wrong when everyone is driving at the an average speed of 5kmph?

Here is what…

The lorry in front of me got stuck, the vehicle infront wouldnt move and 2 minutes passed. So what does the lorry driver do? he wants to change lanes and get to the right one which is moving a tad bit faster. Understandable. But to get into the next lane, there is not enough space between the lorry and the vehicle in front. So what does the lorry driver do?????

He decides to reverse, assuming that there is no car behind him on a 2 lane road that is jam packed with traffic… and does not even bother to check!! I kept honking… at my best, not knowing what to do… since there were cars behind me as well. He kept reversing, unable to hear even my honking. The cars that crossed mine on the right lane even honked and were trying to tell him to stop, but he stopped only when his lorry met with an obstacle.. that is my tiny car!

WTF!!!

It was like in that candy ad… a car reversing and the driver asking the child, laga kya? the child then kept on saying no, till he actually hit the car against the pole and the child said – Ab lagaya!

It was seriously freaky. My car, which i had kept on neutral, thankfully, moved back with the impact and I pressed the brakes only after the impact to prevent hitting the car behind mine. At first i thought, the bonnet, the headlight all would have gone.

Then the lorry moved ahaed, i crossed it and honked but the driver didnt even turn to look at me!! #$^%$^#

I got ahead and where i could stopped to check for damage. Except for a big deep scratch on the front grill of the car… not much damage! Think it was miraculous. phew!

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas A. Edison

lol

IIT Kanpur, one of India’s premeier institutes, was plagued by unfortunate events recently. After a series of suicides, the management decided to do some ‘problem solving’!!!

Their approach to problem solving
1) Look for your ‘faithfuls’ who would recommend as you say- checked
2) Form a committe, with the ‘Faithfuls’ to look into the matter – checked
3) Committe to sit on the matter – checked
4) Committee to write a 100 pager report – checked
5) Committee to make silly recommendations – checked
6) Form another committee to handle the ridicule over the previous comittee’s recomendations – TBD
7) Do nothing after a while – TBD henceforth!

I couldnt believe when I first read that the best recommendation that these guys can come up, to reduce the suicide rate among students, is to replace the ceiling fans in hostels with pedestal fans!! :O

This is what I call, a classic WTF!!!

Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.
Author: Thomas Moore

A picture of a burqa clad woman holding her son dressed as Lord Krishna for a school function. Just brought a smile on my face.

Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.
– Robert Heinlein

A couple of days back, after office, I decided to go for a swim. The swim was nice and the water was too cold. But what followed was a scene right from a bollywood horror movie.

I was stepping out of the pool and the ladder was all creaky. (ok, it’s got nothing to do with my weight. It was loose to begin with!) I step out, to realize that suddenly the number of people around has reduced considerably. Ok, maybe it’s late and people slowly trickled out. I grab my towel and go to the locker room. In the middle of the shower, the electricity went out and it was pitch dark. And did I mention, I was alone in the locker room. Usually, the generators are up immediately, but not this time. As soon as I step outside the locker room, a thunder storm has hit and dust and paper and polythene bags are flying up in whirlpools. I climb the dark stairs to my apartment, and I don’t even have cell phone light to guide my way.

Then suddenly….

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I reached home safely. What were you expecting… hands from behind that grab my neck or something???? He he.

Nah… nothing happened but don’t you agree the setting was perfect?

Well… this happened in March, but I didn’t put it up here because I wasn’t sure about the repercussions it might have for me. Read on…

So, again it happened on one of my trips to Delhi. I reached Delhi on Friday evening and was scheduled to fly back on Sunday. Already cribbing about the oh so little time I would get in Delhi, I booked the last flight out to Bangalore on Sunday.

My mom was furious when she got to know that I would be reaching Bangalore past midnight and would be taking a cab back on the one and a half hour journey from the airport to my house. Despite repeated assurances that I would take only a GPS tracked Meru cabs and that those are very safe to travel by, she insisted that she would be on phone all the time and warned me against taking such a late flight again.

All the while I thought, MOMs… the worry so much in futility. I am so used to travelling at night. What can possible go wrong in Bangalore. After all, so many people have told me about how safe Bangalore is for Girls as compared to Delhi.

So when I got to the Airport at 12:30. I had almost forgotten about how worried mom was. As I was walking towards the cabs, one driver approached me and offered to take me home. Its not unusual for cab drivers to approach you at the airport, and I was just about to go with him, when I pictured my Mom and how worried she was. I said no to him. I told him, I would take only the airport authorized taxis. He then showed me the airport ID card and assured me that his was an airport authorized Taxi.

I stepped forward and then somehow stepped backwards. I said, no, I will take the Taxi from the Taxi stand, and not like this. He kept on telling me, that it is not different and that his is also a GPS tracked cab. I said no. The very fact that he was pushy, was discomforting. I declined his offer.

I went to the Taxi stand and insisted that I wanted a Meru cab. The coordinator paid not attention and the cab that came for my turn was a KSTDC cab. (Karnataka State tourism cab). I knew they were airport authorized and GPS tracked, so I said what the hell.

I hopped in. Just 5 minutes into the journey, I realized that the vehicle’s display system was covered by a hand towel. When I asked the driver to remove the towel so I could see his details, he informed me that the GPS of the cab wasn’t working. Now on high alert, I figured, there is no alternative. I could ask him to take me back to the airport and then take another cab, but if the driver had any evil intention, I had no alternative. So I decided to carry on after the usual one minute lecture on the importance of the GPS for travelers like me and how he should ensure that it was repaired.

But I was on High Alert all the time, the suspicious soul that I am. Now add to my mom’s calls after every 5 minutes.

About 15 minutes passed and on a lonely stretch of road, the driver took a sharp U turn. I freaked out and asked him at once why did he take the U turn. He explained that he was running low on fuel and wanted a refill at the petrol pump a little ahead. Again, I was suspicious, but again the same situation. He might just be genuine and what options do I have now.

So I kept my phone unlocked, just ready to dial 100 if need be. When we reached the petrol pump, the usual scene, the driver ordered petrol and the attendant was punching in the machine.

It seemed business as usual, when I noticed a dude looking at the car and towards me through the window. He was a really handsome, well dressed guy. Then he moved and came over to the driver’s window as if he wanted to talk to him. He bent and suddenly took away the car keys. Just like that!

He took away the car keys and started walking away. Both me and my driver were taken aback. He started talking to my driver in Kanada, apparently angry over something.

At first I thought that the driver must have driven badly and over taken his car and he is angry for that. But then, when my driver stepped out to get back the car keys, he started punching him in the face. Then the petrol attendants came to the rescue. There was a fist fight and somehow my driver managed to get the car keys back.

As he was driving away, the dude came and tried smashing the window next to me with a hard punch. And all I could do was to sit with locked doors.

When I asked my driver, he told me he was drunk and wanted some petrol which he was denied by the petrol pump guys. So he was angry. WTF!!

And all the while, I was suspicious of the all the ‘innocent’ people.

Well, to thank god for something, those were the only 10 minutes my mom was not on call with me. Otherwise I would have been asked to pack my bags and someone would have come to take me to Delhi – lock, stock and barrel.

And the reason I did not post it till no, is that I didn’t want my brother to find out either. Why increase their tension.

PS: Bhai, if you are reading this, please don’t tell Ma. Love you!

This one is in the middle of GK N block market! Its a salon for women which is named Unisex. I wonder who thought of the name. Funny!

Sorry folks…. I didn’t get a chance to write anything for a while now…. Have been really busy at office. And you would be happy to know… not many things are going wrong with me…. well after the car incident…

Given the fact that i like to boast about it a lot, on facebook, in person or practically everywhere, it would be safe to assume that most of you know that I have been gymming very regularly for the past… hmmm…. 6 months or so….

my whole and sole motivation for joining a gym was to lose weight. Now don’t get me wrong…. i think i look fabulous just the way I am… and a lot of people have told me that too…. but just thought… what the hell.. let me try a new look!

ok ok… i really wanted to lose weight. And its been like forever…. As a kid i was.. well chubby… and i wanted to lose weight. I college… now i think i was perfect size but even back then… i wanted to lose weight! But since the time i started working…. maintaining my weight has been a constant struggle. I have been on and off the gym… some thing or the other was more important.. like writing the gmat or writing my application essays. So the result… i gradually gained like 10 kilos over a period of 6 years. Never really realized… coz it was like just over 1 kg every year.

And as most of you know… i am a foodie. i freak out on every opportunity to eat out and have a sweet tooth…. jaw! That means i have to work doubly hard to lose weight! For all those who are about to suggest i stop eating out or eating sweets…. suggestions not welcome!

So when i left ISB… with no more unfinished agendas in my life… i decided that was it… i have to lose weight.

And i was inspired by stories of people who lost like 13 kilos in 6 months. I knew i could do this.

I came to Bangalore and spent 15 K  for an annual membership of Fitness One. The best gym around. i managed going atleast 4 days a week to the gym, 1.5 hours every day. Strictly under the trainer… doing all that he suggested…

1st month went by… no change in weight… infact i gained a few hundred grams… . I thought maybe it will take some time to mobilize the long stored fat. i patiently waited… waited and waited… no change in weight.

My trainer at the gym…. super sweet guy… had anxiously marked a day for me to check my weight. When the scheduled date arrived… i checked my weight… no difference… it broke his heart more than mine. he got all sad and said…” i dont understand why it is not working… we have to do something drastic”. I tried to cheer him up… by saying “sometimes its the body type… i don’t lose weight easily”. Role reversals in that way!

Well its been more than 7 months now… barring 1.5 months of irregularity due to my back ache… i have been fairly regular. 4-5 times a week, 1.5-2 hours everytime…. and still i didnt lose heart. When i was depressed… i used toturn to vedic reading and the Bhagwat Geeta says – “Karmanya vadhikaraste, ma faleshu kadachana”.. bole toh Karam kiye ja, fal ki ichcha na kar. So i started follwoing that. I go to the gym religiously and have stopped eating fruits

And then one day…. suddenly…. it happened!!!! I noticed the weighing scale… it said i had lost… a full… complete… 0.5 kilos.

Even the gym trainer told me that i looked slimmer.  What a day it was.

Since then i feel my clothes are lose to me now… and my collar bone which was under layers of fat is suddenly started showing. i have been asking everyone around… some people also admit that i have lost weight and trust me it has nothing to do with the threatening way in which I usually ask.

So i guess… I will keep my patience and believe that… wait matters!!

Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

Remember, half the people you know are below average.

I feel like I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

I just got lost in thought. It wasn’t familiar territory.

On the other hand, you have different fingers.

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese inthe trap.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.

Always try to be modest, and be proud of it!

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlookedsomething.

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear brightuntil you hear them speak.

The things that come to those that wait are the things left by those whogot in first.

Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.

Just remember – if the world didn’t suck, we would all fall off.

Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don’t have film.

When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
  – Robertson Davies

I am so pissed today…. i can’t even begin to explain how pissed I am. My earlier WTFs didn’t make me so angry. This one does.

So the story goes…. after 6 painful months of coping with Bangalore auto walas and hitch hiking to office and back, i decide its enough. I can’t take it anymore. I needed a car in Bangalore. After days of contemplation, i came to a conclusion that its best for my folks to buy a new car in Delhi and the old Delhi car to be shipped to Bangalore. What would i do with a cham-chamati new car in Bangalore. I need a ruff n tuff oldie to mess with the bangalore traffic.

The process took too long. Firstly, it was the start of the year and the car my folks wanted to buy had a month long waiting. Considering the cold in Delhi, i had to wait for my folks to first get their car before they can ship me mine. Waiting… waiting.. waiting…..

In the meantime, I started screening transporters for shipment. There are a lot of competitive quotes i get. Almost all of them promise to ship the car within a week. However, there is one fellow, from Dev Movers and Packers (http://www.devmoverspackers.com/) who ‘guarantees’  delivery within 5 days from the date of booking. I check out their website and all. They look okay. I thought lets book through them.

Then finally around 29th, my bro gets the old car shipped to me. They take my car on Friday and promise to deliver by coming Thursday. I get all excited. Arrange for the parking lot in our building. Ask the guy who was parking in my parking slot to vacate by wednesday. Arrange for a car cleaner. I even gave him a reminder on wednesday to start cleaning my car by thursday. Looks like its finally the end of hitch hiking to office and haggling with autos.

So on wednesday, I call them to enquire the status of my car and i am told… it is delayed. I said…. what happened to the guarantee??? “wo madam… fog hai na bahut”. Me- “Fog? Fog was there even when you promised that it will be delivered in 5 days!!!”. I get a little pissed. Tell them to ship by the weekend positively. They assure me it will come on saturday. On Friday again, i call to check if i will get the car on Saturday and I am assured i will.

Saturday morning, after giving another reminder to the car cleaner, i call up the Bangalore office of the transporter…. he still has no clue when the car will come. I call the Delhi office and I am told that the tariler transporting the car broke down and therefore the car is delayed and will now come only on Monday. Now the funny bit is that the trailer broke down in Delhi itself and the car left Delhi on Monday and the guy explained that it takes 7 days atleast from Delhi to Bangalore. Wow! then why did you “guarantee” 5 days in the first place and if you knew by Wednesday that the trailer had brken down and the car has left late, then why was i promised saturday??? Crazy business. Even if by some twist of fate I am getting into selling, please don’t let me. do whatever but don’t ever let me get into sales.

Then I did some meditation to calm myself…. resigned to fate and decided to wait patiently for my car on Monday.

Monday morning, my horoscope read – “The Sun’s harsh connection with controlling Pluto can push you to say something that you may not really mean. You could be frustrated by other people’s inability to follow through on what they promise, provoking an angry outburst. Luckily, saying what’s on your mind can suddenly release tension, leading to a clearing of the air. Nevertheless, don’t hesitate to apologize for an inconsiderate choice of words”.

I don’t believe in these things too much, but i knew something was not right. I called the Bangalore guy and don’t get through to him. So i called the Delhi guy who assures me that the Car will reach me by tonight. Now the problem is, I am flying out to Delhi early tomorrow morning for 6 days, so if i don’t get the car tonight, I can’t take the delivery for 6 days and I don’t feel like leaving the car with everything in it at the disposal of such unreliable people.

So after Lunch, i call up the Bangalore office again, he still hasn’t got the car. He tells me that he will check the status and let me know in half an hour. Its been more than an hour and he doesn’t call back. Now when i call him, he does not answer my call. He rejects all my calls. WTF!!!

Thank god, i did not give the car cleaner another reminder to clean my non -existent car. He must think i am retarded

Update:

In the afternoon, i got a call from a chap who said that he was the driver of the trailer carrying my car. He said that he has reached this place called Neel Bangala and i should come and collect my car. I told him that i was said i will get a door to door delivery. It seemed he didn’t know much and was having difficulty contacting people. So i called up the Bangalore office and informed them that the trailer has reached. Then 2 hours passed coordinating between the trailer driver, the Delhi office and the Bangalore office. It was funny how the Bangalore office was calling me up and ‘complaining’ that they can’t get through to the trailer driver who they had engaged. Anyway… two hours later i was told that the car will reach me positively by 7 pm.

I come home early just to ensure nothing goes wrong now. At 7:30, all concerned parties stop picking up my calls!! i am furious. i haven’t been this angry in quite a while now. two hours of fighting and howling later, after many escalations to their head office…. I get a call from their Delhi office that someone is out there to collect my car and will deliver it tonight. Its 10:30 and the number that assured me that the car will come tonight is switched off. The Goa head office still maintains that the car will come. I have lost hope.  I will wait for another hour and go off to bed

Update 2:

Well that day, i did get the car… after a lot of struggle and escalations and scolding and abusings.

but when it arrived… it has a few kilos of dust on it… the rear seat cover had remains of the great oil spill… the parking lamps of the headlight was off….

A week later i realized that the stepny was punctured, the stepny lock was missing… the jack handle… the one with a hook to turn the jack was missing… the gear was giving trouble and a lot of other things needed repair. Some also because it was not in the best of hands in Delhi.

Anyway… i spent some money and got everything fixed.

If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.
  – Ted Turner

It totally applies to me