What is friendship about?
Got this from a friend and Guess what? Its all true.
– Suramya
PS: Normally I translate all Hindi expressions to English on the blog, but these don’t really translate that well so I have left it out for now.
October 10, 2009
What is friendship about?
October 9, 2009
October 4, 2009
Quote from Surabhi
Me, Vinit and Surabhi were talking about Samsung phones. During this conversation Vinit said that “They have a kernel developer for the phone available” and Surabhi responded “We should ask the ‘Kernel’ to talk to Sam”.
By this time me and Vinit had already started cracking up. For those of you who are not computer science majors (which Surabhi is BTW) the kernel is the core base of the system on top of which everything else is built upon. So when programmers/comp sci people talk about the kernel they are talking about the core software not a ‘Colonel’ in the army.
– Suramya
October 3, 2009
September 22, 2009
Joys of Flying Air India. Or rather trying to fly them
Today (actually yesterday if you want to be technical about it) Vinit, me and Surabhi drove over to the Airport so that they could change their Air India flight from Friday(25th) to Today(22nd). The plan was that they would change their tickets and then we would grab dinner.
The reason they had to go to the counter was because this was a non-refundable ticket and they were told that they should come to the reservation counter at the Airport and get the tickets rescheduled for today. We thought that it would take them a few mins to do this and then we would be free.
It took them almost 1 1/2 hours. Actually it might be a bit more also… They were first told that they have to go to the reservation office in Safderjung to get it changed and Vinit very politely pointed out that the counter they were standing at had reservation written on it in Big blue letters. So then they told them that the flight cost was Rs. 5000 and not Rs 3,000 something that they had checked and which was what their original tickets had costed. So they used my Phone to go online and show them the price for a ticket on their own website.
Still they wouldn’t believe them and continued to argue with them. While this was going on I was sitting in the car waiting because we hadn’t put the car in parking thinking that it wouldn’t take long. Finally the cops asked me to move the car because I had been standing there for half an hour. When I told them I was waiting for someone, they asked me to move to a different corner of the airport and I waited there for another 1/2 hour. Finally the cops asked me to move along. So I got a phone from Vinit and drove off to wait.
Because Vinit and Surabhi had my phone I didn’t have anything to read or do. Luckily, a little while later I found a Dr Who book that Surabhi had left in the car so I had something to read. By the time the call from them came to pick them up I was almost half way through the book.
Funny thing is that they still couldn’t convince them to move the tickets to the new date because apparently the Internet sales department is completely isolated from the rest of the departments and they couldn’t see the lower price on their systems. Finally they (Vinit and Surabhi) ended up buying the tickets online using my Phone. (Yay me) On a side note: Opera Mini is the best browser for the mobile phones. I use it on my N95 and they had absolutely no problems buying tickets even with all the redirects/javascripts etc on the site.
They are going to go yell at the reservation department again today with their tickets and ask for a refund. Good luck to them.
Me.. I am waiting for them to get up so that I can drop them off to the airport and will then go to sleep.
Well, this is all for now. Will post more later.
– Suramya
September 14, 2009
Visiting friends is fun
Went over to visit Gaurang and Kangan over the weekend and it was a lot of fun. I left here at 3pm in the afternoon and as it was raining I thought I should take a different way to their place because the ring road and the outer ring road are usually jammed with traffic when it rains. Plus Gaurang had called to tell me to expect lots of traffic.
So I took a different route via India Gate. It was relatively free of traffic but when I got to Dhaula Kuan I got stuck there for about 1 1/2 hours. 🙁 Then once I got out of there the road was relatively empty till I got off the express way then I got stuck in traffic for another 1/2 hour. In total the trip took me 3 1/2 hours instead of 1 – 1 1/2 hours like usual.
When I got there we (Me and Gaurang) went to pick up Kangan from her office and went to dinner at Pind Baluchi. Dinner was nice. I like this restaurant as the food is cheap and good. After dinner we just talked for a while then Gaurang and me worked on fixing his computer and getting Linux installed on it.
The next day we went to watch Final Destination and the movie was bad. I didn’t like it at all and am sorry that I spent money to go watch it… I hope they never make another movie in the series. It was that bad. Although it could have been that I thought it was bad because the movie looked like it was censored a lot.
In the evening we visited Tarini where we had home cooked food that her and her mom had made. The food was food and the company was great. We were up pretty late talking so it was fun.
The next day I helped Gaurang water proof their house. Some of their doors were not fixed correctly so there was a lot of space at the bottom where dust and water would come in even when the doors were closed. So we put a rubber strip under each door to keep the water and dust out.
The trip was a lot of fun and a welcome break from the daily routine. I think I should do this kind of thing more often. 🙂
Well this is all for now. Will write more later.
– Suramya
September 8, 2009
Hate colds
Yeah, Yeah… I know I have said it before. But I do hate colds.
Its not the sneezing that bothers me that much. Its the watery eyes and the blurry vision that irritates me. Having a cold means that I can’t do any of the stuff I like: Reading, working on the computer, writing etc. Only thing I can do is listen to music and sleep.
Slept a lot these past few days. Now just when I thought I was over the cold I woke up a lot of coughing. Gargling seems to have helped. Plus soup also helps. I have had more soup in the past week than in the past 5 years (or maybe more)
So whats new? Nothing much is new on my side thanks to the cough. Planning on going to watch the Final Destination soon. How come all my friends are such scardy-cats? No one wants to go for this movie…
Well this is all for now. Will post more later.
– Suramya
September 6, 2009
Airtel Delhi’s underhand billing tactics
I have an Airtel broadband connection at home with the 1 Mbps unlimited plan for which I pay Rs 2222 (plus taxes) per month and I was pretty happy with it. Today while taking to a friend I discovered that Airtel had reduced the price for the 1 Mbps plan to 1699 4 months ago but have still continued to charge me at the same cost.
So I called up the Airtel support center, got their billing department and the conversation went something like this:
Me: Looking at your plans online I see that the cost for a 1 Mbps connection is Rs 1699, is that true?
Rep: Yes
Me: Ok, then how come I am being charged Rs 2222 for the same plan?
Rep: Hold on. (About 30 secs later) you are being charged for the Freedom 2999 plan which gives you 2 Mbps speed
Me: I know I don’t get 2 Mbps speed.
Rep: Let em check your plan again. Yes you are on the Unlimited 2222 plan which gives you 1Mbps connection
Me: Ok, so why have you been charging me 2222 when the plan is 1699?
Rep: Your plan was set a while ago thats why…
Me: I know my plan was set a while ago, about 2 years ago. Whats your point?
Rep: You didn’t give us any notification that you wanted to switch to a new plan.
Me: How am I supposed to know that the costs have changed?
Rep: The new plans were listed on the Airtel website.
Me: So your customers are supposed to check your site every few days to make sure that they are not being over charged?
Rep: The plans were also advertised via phone and email.
Me: I haven’t received any calls/emails from you regarding the change.
Rep: You must be on the Do not Call list, hence you didn’t get the call
Me: Ok, so why do I keep getting calls from you on my landline to buy ringtones but didn’t get a call about this?
Rep: Some random explanation…
Me: Ok, switch me to the new plan.
Rep: Can’t do that you will have to go for the 2 Mbps plan at Rs. 2999.
Me: What nonsense? I don’t want a 2 Mbps connection. I want a 1 Mbps connection. Why can’t you switch me to the new plan?
Rep: Let me check if thats possible. Can I put you on hold?
Rep: Ok, I will put in a request for your plan to be migrated to the new plan. Will be done in 3-4 days.
Me: Ok, now when was this new plan launched?
Rep: About 4 months ago.
Me: Fine, I need a refund for the extra amount that you have been charging me for the past 4 months.
Rep: Sorry that won’t be possible as you didn’t change your plan.
Me: Ok, explain to me the difference between the plan I have and the new plan you launched?
Rep: There is no difference.
Me: So why would I pay Rs 700 more for the same plan?
Rep: This plan gives you 100 Rs free calls also…
Me: Ok, so you still need to refund me 600 Rs..
Rep: Can’t commit that the amount will be refund.
Me: Why?
Rep: Because you didn’t change your plan.
Me: Who approves the refund?
Rep: The Billing department
Me: And you are in the Billing department correct?
Rep: Yes.
Me: So whats the problem approving the refund?
Rep: Because you didn’t change your plan.
Me: Please put in a request to change my plan and another request to refund my money.
Rep: Ok, here’s your request no: xxxxxxx
Me: What about the refund?
Rep: Thats also in the same request, but I can’t commit that the refund will be given.
Me: Ok, how will I know that the plan is changed?
Rep: You will get a confirmation call when its changed
Me: What about the refund?
Rep: If the request is approved then you will see the refund in your next bill otherwise you won’t.
Me: Fine. By when can I expect a response?
Rep: 3-4 business days
Me: Ok. Thanks.
———-
The stuff that irritated be about the call above was:
1. He lied to me about my plan to keep me on the same plan
2. He tried to tell me that I couldn’t switch to a lower cost plan with the same data transfer rate
3. They are refusing to refund the amount that they over charged.
So now I am going to wait for 4 days, if I don’t get a refund from them I will be lodging a complaint with the consumer court.
I think I will also email this to the customer care department. Lets see what they have to say.
– Suramya
September 5, 2009
Went to Hardrock Cafe
Went to Hardrock Cafe with Friends last Thursday. This was the first time I had been to Hardrock in India so it was fun. We weren’t really sure of the way to the cafe but we managed to get there thanks to directions given by Anand.
There was a live band playing that night and it was a decent band. I would tell you what the band was called but I have forgotten the name, though I do remember that it was from Bangalore and had a very non-sensicle name. I did take pics but they are on Ruth’s camera so I can’t post them till she sends them to me. (Which she was supposed to do 2 days ago…)
The other ‘gift’ I got from the night out is a bad cold… Thanks Ruth. :p
By the time we got out it was 11:30 and raining heavily so I was worried that the roads might get flooded but thankfully we got home without having to swim.
Well this is all for now. Will post more later.
– Suramya
August 29, 2009
My Trip to Shimla
Last week me, Gaurang and Kunal went for a trip to Shimla with Kunal’s Mausa (Mom’s sister’s husband). We had planned on leaving by 6 – 6:30 am on Thursday so I left from Noida at 5:20 am and drove to Gurgoan in my trusty on Maruti 800. (For those of you who don’t know, this car is about 25 years old with no AC). Got there in about an hour and we left from there at 6:35 am.
The road out of Delhi was thankfully not very crowded and even though we all were not really sure where to go but rather had a general idea of the route we made good time and made it past Karnal in about 3 hours. We stopped at a dhabba (Roadside Restaurant) a few miles past that and had breakfast. This set the trend for the rest of the trip which was more of a ‘Foods of India’ than a road trip. By this I mean that we ate and ate ate throughout the trip.
The trip to Shimla took us 10 hours because of the Traffic after Chandigarh and the curvy roads near Shimla so we finally reached there at 4:30 pm. After we got there we rested for a while at Mausa’s place (They stay in Shimla) and then drove back to main Shimla (They stay in New Shimla) and spent a couple of hours walking around on Mall Road. Most of the shops there closed up at 9pm so we were back home by 10 and were off to bed by 11pm.
The next day we got up by 7 and lazed around for a while, then came down for a huge breakfast. After which we relaxed till Mahak (Mausa’s Daughter) came back from School and then went back to Mall Road. Spent pretty much the entire day there and enjoyed the view, food and crowds.
On Sat we decided to drive to Kufri with Mausi and Mahak. On the way there we changed our minds to go to the Hot water springs instead. However when we came to the junction where we had to turn for the springs we saw that the springs were 58 Kms from that point so we went to Kufri instead which was only 7 kms. There wasn’t a lot to see there except the view and horses. Oh, and we also saw a Himalayan Yak there near the parking area. Since there wasn’t a lot to see there we decided that we would make the trip to the hot water springs to check them out.
If you think hilly roads are painful, try traveling on them with three people who get motion sick; one of whom is a 5 year old girl. We were pretty much stopping about every 15 mins because someone or other felt like they were about to throw up. We made it half-way to the springs before we gave up and stopped at Naldhera instead. Spent about an hour over there drinking tea and relaxing in the sun before we drove back.
Once we got back to Shimla we went back to Mall Road again and spent the rest of the day relaxing/walking about over there (plus all the streets/area’s above and below the mall road)
Got back home and crashed, then left home on Sunday morning at 10:30 am after a huge breakfast and got back to Delhi in 8 1/2 hours. Had dinner and Gaurang’s place and crashed. Drove back to Noida on Monday at 6 am so as to avoid the traffic.
In all it was a great trip, very relaxing and very filling. Both Mausi and Mausa fed us like anything but I enjoyed a lot. Hope to do something like this again soon.
Edit (30th Aug 2009): The photos from the trip have been uploaded to Photogallery under Trips -> Shimla Trip (Aug 2009)
– Suramya