People

Its interesting how people fight over differences in color, religion, geographical boundaries and God-knows-what-not. Yet people are just that. People. They're the same across all differences. children of all ages, religions, regions and nationalities are equally dependent on their mothers, though their degrees of confession & expression may differ. Mothers are always willnig to give up their own happiness and comfort for their children; and those who are not are not so because of the color of their skin or teachings of their religion. Grandparents are equally lovable and needed by all children while growing up. And children who miss out on bedtime stories from their parents/grandparents miss out equally on the love that is their due. Priests are always smiling, accepting & forgiving, no matter what religion they preach. And those who are not, exist in all religions. The beautician will always be a smiling good natured chatter box who would have a knack of making other women share their burdens with her and feel better. Though I dont remember ever seeing anyone else ask the beautician if she had any problems. Students invariably sleep in lectures and hate homework, tests and exams no matter what age, stream or university they belong to. finding "true love" is the never ending "Holy Grail" of mankind. And aren't we all equally stressed out by visiting in-laws???

its interesting to see how despite the obvious similarities, people keep focussing on man made differences of religion and geographical boundaries and fighting to control more and more resources. and its even more interesting to see how more and more people happily or blindly play puppets in the hands of such petty greed. its amusing to see that so much of advanced education, technology and globalisation (and name-what-you-will) fails to instill this one basic fact in our hearts and minds. that we're all the same. People. Just that.

Faith

"What is God?" ... the eternal question, a subject that has been fervently asked, debated & contested since time immemorial. A subject on which countless books & theories exist, each with its own set of followers, from scholars to commoners, scientists to religious fanatics. A subject which has plagued each and every one of us at least once in our lives, for reasons good or bad. A subject that has ironically taken as many lives as the number of ways in which it has preached non violence & universal love.Yet it is surprising how different the definition of each group is from the other, how distinct all the theories are; and how steadfastly each group holds its own theories with completely unbending minds; how it consequently fails to convince any of the other ideology..for everyone is equally rigid & closed to anything that isn't already in line with their own thoughts. So how are these so called scholars really different from religious fundamentalists credited with most of the global terrorism? But that's another question for another day.

Right now, the thought foremost in my mind is , "what is God?". While today isn't the first time this question has risen in my mind, it certainly is the first day I spent meeting people of so many varying, or rather conflicting, beliefs in 1 day. These people are not scholars or fundamentalists. These are just ordinary people like you and me who get up every morning to juggle everyday activities & responsibilities of work, family and friends. Housewives & office goers, students and teachers alike. Each has his own battles to fight, his own pain to bear. And each does this in his own way.

On my way to home, I see some housewives engrossed in prayers in a temple. I wait for them to finish, for I want to be an audience to the talk that I know will follow. Their talk to my science-trained modern ears sounds like a lot of superstition. A lot of nonsensical beliefs. God doesn't demand protocol. Religion does. God doesn't mind how you pray and when you pray, as long as when you pray, you do so whole-heartedly. It doesn't matter what the idols look like, or even if they are there, you can just look at the sky or close your eyes and look inwards and pray. But these are my beliefs. For them, these apparent superstitions are a way of life. A means of strength. Just as the self-belief of one of my friends. He refuses to believe in the existence of God. For if there were a God, so many bad things such as the World Wars would not have happened. For him, we all are responsible for our own actions and their consequences. We make our own destiny and as long as we believe in ourselves, we shall never fail.

These are not different religious ideologies. These are two entirely different trains of thought, two extremes of the spectrum. Most people, including me, lie somewhere in between. We believe in God, pray when we can as we can, ask for strength and move on to fight our battles. believing that God helps those who help themselves.

So no matter what we think God is, no matter what religion or ideology we believe in and no matter what rituals we practice, if any, no one knows what God is. No one has ever seen Him and no one knows if God is a paranormal concept or an intuitive instinct within our hearts....but we all need an additional source of strength. A feeling that makes us feel that we are not alone and that some one is watching over. at times to blame for our own mistakes and shortcomings and at others to thank. at times to help compromise with situations and at others to fight. God is just another name for Faith. What you believe in is all that matters. Our beliefs, our faith is what keeps us going. May be that's why people say "Have Faith".

Happy Independence Day

Abhinav Bindra clinches India's first ever Gold

Jai Hind!! :)

much as a proud and elated Indian I am at the news, I hope I dont start seeing abhinav bindra in every possible ad on TV selling anything & everything from hair oil to cars. and i hope abhinav bindra doesn't lost his focus and love for the sport amidst all the advertisements & publicity ( & ofcourse quick buck)

and i hope that all the 24*7 news channels in the country dont keep playing 24*7 abhinav bindra's life history & his hair stylist's life history and his tailor...err i mean personal fashion designer's life history...and the life histories of all his teachers, parents, neighbours, dogs, cats....

and i also hope no frustrated attention-seeking person from the interiors of the country sues abhinav bindra for disrespecting the religious sentiments by praying with his shoes on (nevermind God, its the religion that demands protocol!) and that of the nation by wearing the wrong attire..oh no that happens only to women in this country...oh well you get the idea

and at the end of it, i hope Abhinav Bindra doesn't get so sick of this senseless sensationalism and decides not to play for this country again. I hope India doesn't suffer a few idiotic Indians idiocy.

so what do you think..am I being too hopeful ?..i think i am! :)

Consumerism???????

This is the age of the consumer. Businesses center their sales processes & promotional offers around the needs around the consumers. New innovations happen keeping in mind what the consumer wants. Products are released with a lot of thought put into what the market currently really lacks and the consumer really needs. Right? Wrong!

Nearly a month ago I put in a request to cancel an internet broadband connection I had. I am leaving the country for a few years, and paying the rent unnecessarily for so long just didnt make sense.

So I called the Airtel helpline service to ask the procedure...

Airtel: "How may I help you?"
Me: "I have a broadband connection..I would like to cancel it, can you please tell me the process?"
Airtel:"Ma'm, Why do you want to cancel it?"
Me: (okay...obvious question), "I am going abroad.Could you please tell me the process?"
Airtel:"Can you please tell me where are you going?"
Me:(what??!!) "What does that have anything to do with the cancellation process?Can you just tell me the process?"
Airtel:"Sure Ma'm..."
And he told me. Was a bit annoying, but I left it.

Same day, airtel office
Airtel: "Hi.How may I help you?"
Me: "I have a broadband connection, landline no. ------- ..I would like to cancel it, here are the phone and modem instruments and the application."
Airtel:"Sure Ma'm, Can I ask why do you want to cancel it?"
Me: (well he would need a reason to write on the form), "I am going abroad."
Airtel:"Can you please tell me where are you going?"
Me: (okay may be there's some logic to this) "Does that affect the cancellation process somehow?"
Airtel:"No Ma'm, just asking.."
Me: (he has time for idle chat with 10 people standing on his head?!) "I would appreciate if you could just complete the formalities quickly"
Airtel:"Ma'm your permanent residence is in Delhi, why don't you get it shifted?"
Me: (allright, std. customer retention), "No thanks! I don't want to.I'd just like to cancel this account"
Airtel:"Sure...can you please deposit the outstanding bill?"
Me:"Sure, today is 7th, how much does the bill come to?"
Airtel:"Ma'm you will have to pay till the 10th, since the request will take 3 days to process"
Me: (they will charge me for their processing time?! well whatever...)

So I paid for 3 days extra, completed the formalities and left.
Me: (Whew! that's done!)

few days later

Airtel:"Ma'm you have put in a request to cancel the landline number -------?";
Me: (haven't they cancelled it yet?) "Yes..."
Airtel:"Can you please tell me reason?"
Me: (??????) "Isn't it there on my request form?"
Airtel:"Yes ma'm it says you are going abroad"
Me:"that's correct. why are you asking me again?"
Airtel:"Ma'm can you tell me when you are leaving?";
Me: (What crap!! ) "Why? how is that any of airtel's concern?"
Airtel:"Ma'm no you could continue till the date of your leaving"
Me:"I don't want to.Can you just cancel it immediately? And I don't want any further inquiries from Airtel"
Airtel:"Sure ma'm"

I hung up irritated.

few more days later

Airtel:"Ma'm you have put in a request to cancel the landline number -------?";
Me: (what the f***!!!) "Yes I did. I hope its done!"
Airtel:"Ma'm your form says you are going abroad"
Me:(Oh My God!!) "Yes. So?"
Airtel:"Ma'm can you tell me for how long are you going?"
Me: (these bloddy 7&$&^%$#W) "How on earth does that concern?!!! I am going where, when for how long...how the hell is that any of your or airtel's concern? Are you people planning to sponsor my tickets? my stay? what the hell does any of this have to do with cancelling a net connection????????"
Airtel: "No Ma'm if you are going for 3 months i could put this on hold..."
Me:"No I don't want you to put this on hold! I want you to cancel it! Do you understand??"
Airtel:"Sure ma'm"

Me:(*^%$#@^& better do it this time!!!!!!)

but this wasn't to be!! after a few more days, I got yet another call, this time from the Airtel manager..

Airtel:"Ma'm you have put in a request to cancel the landline number -------?";
Me:" Yes I did!! And this request is NOT open to any discussion or offers from Airtel! I want you to cancel it immediately and I would appreciate if you do not call me again!!!!!"

I could not believe how disgusting this could get. But I thought my retort would have put all tries at rest, until today,

Airtel:"Ma'm you have put in a request to cancel the landline number -------?";
Me: "Oh My God!! I cannot believe you people! I put in that request almost a month ago. I even paid extra for your 3 days of processing! I have responded to atleast 5 different calls till now. For one last time this request is NOT open to any discussion! If I get one more call from Airtel I am going to file a PIL against you people. Do you understand!!! Cancel this connection immediately!!!!!!!"
Airtel:"Sure ma'm"....

The connection isn't cancelled yet. Despite my (this time) shouting and screaming, I am not sure when it will be. I am feeling so annoyed that I feel like surrendering all Airtel numbers!!

Everyone, including me, has been plagued with endless telemearketing calls from banks, insurance agencies, mobile companies, and who not. But I had never felt so disgusted with these aggressive sales and retention strategies than this time.

This is not consumerism..this is not even business.. this is intrusion of privacy and plain & simple harassment!!While the USA, where everyone sues everyone else is one extreme, our country is the other. And its about time we started suing these companies for their lousy business practices and consumer harassing sales & retention strategies.

If I get one more call, I know I am not going to swear in my mind only.... Any consumer lawyers out there??????