Shame Shame Puppy Shame

Like last year this year also i found & collected a lot of Indian Tricolours from the roads, near sewers & schools & colleges too, after the I-Day Celebrations. Maybe this is the reason we even forget our real heroes, be it the Jawans, the Olympians or any other person who got our country laurels, sometime after their wins. If we can do it to our national pride, they don't stand a chance, they are mere mortals......

JAI HIND!!!!!!

My 'SIM' I Woes - Part I

Just last month there was a trust vote that the government won with a convincing margin. The main heroes of the win were the two charismatic & highly controversial leaders of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh & Amar Singh.

As discussion boards on TV went into frenzy after this win about the positions left for one another to accommodate each other’s interests & votes, came the news that the government doesn’t wish to file for the extention of the ban on the SIMI for anti-national activities. Before this could be confirmed or rejected by the government, the Apex court stepped in & extended the ban on this terror organization for another time. There was a lot of hue & cry on this by the SP. They said that muslims were not terrorists( I am sure all muslims are not terrorist, but some definitely are, and that is what should worry us ) & SIMI was not an anti-national organization. It gave this country of more than a billion another glimpse into the dirty caste & vote bank politics. Even the minorities themselves feel happy to be sympathized on being a part of this below the belt politics of the government of the day. Their leaders cry foul in public & media glare & behind their backs run to these governments for their share of the booty. What amazes me is the blind eye we, the common man or ‘garib aadmi’ turns towards such instances.

Now coming back to my case. We had purchased an Airtel postpaid SIM card in 2003 for another mobile we wished to keep, for my brother. Just this March he shifted base to another state & we wished to cancel the SIM in question. I went to the Airtel authorized outlet & submitted the application in proper format for cancellation of the connection. After clearing my dues, they accepted my application for the same & assured me that my number will be deactivated within 7-10 working days. The only hurdle was a verification call that would come. The call came, but more than a verification call, it sounded to me like a retention call, to retain the customer.

Here are the excerpts from the call:

Airtel Executive: “ Good morning sir, is that Mr. ???????”

A.B: “ Yes this is him.”

Airtel Executive: “Sir you have given the no. 98_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ for cancellation, can I know why you want to cancel the card?”

A.B: “Because we don’t require the card.”

Airtel Executive: “Sir I see here that you have been our old customer, so we would like to offer you with a few schemes.”

A.B: “I am not interested as we don’t need another number, please cancel this card immediately.”

Airtel Executive: “Sir as you are an old customer, we will like you to keep this number for one month so that your old friends can stay in touch with you.”

A.B: “That has already been catered to, they have the new number.”

Airtel Executive: “But sir you are an old customer………..

A.B: “ I am an old customer, that’s why I don’t want to block your number, and want you to earn soon on this number, by canceling it from my name & issuing it to someone else, who may make use of your excellent services.”

Airtel Executive: “But sir, we wish to make your feel privileged.”

A.B: “But I don’t want to keep this number, so please cancel it immediately.”

Airtel Executive: “But sir the procedure is that we have to wait for 1 month for canceling the phone number.”

A.B: “As you wish sir, but I don’t need & won’t use this number from now on & please don’t bother to call me again.”

Airtel Executive: “Thank you sir & have a nice day.”

A.B: “I surely shall, if you cancel the number.”



I received such calls on 2 other occasions. All they did were call me to retain me as a privileged customer (I think everyone of us should be a privileged customer, so why single customers who plan to deactivate services or maybe it’s like what some of us say while asking someone’s name…… “What is your good name?” …as if they have a bad name too…..)


Now it has been almost two good months, but my phone has not been cancelled. To add salt to the injury, they have been sending me bills also, one bill even contains a call i supposedly made to another number. Now they can’t cancel my number till I make the payment. I fail to understand why harass a ‘privileged’ customer. Just few weeks back I was one, now maybe I am a defaulter, a rouge or a cheat……….


My Conclusion: It is easier for a terrorist to obtain a SIM card to carry out ghastly acts of terror, using cell phones & other communication networks, than a citizen( who abides by the laws of the land, even if they are old, useless & irrelevant ) to get his SIM deactivated…..

JAI HIND!!!!!!

BIG BOSS - Season 3 :A sneek Peek

One of the most awaited serials on TV started yesterday. You guessed it right, move over Saas-Bahu kicch kicch…….here comes BIG BOSS-Season 2.
I am sure that this season is going to be more scandalous, bitchy & entertaining than the 1st season. With the likes of Sanjay Nirupan & Rahul Mahajan representing the politics & high society, Sambhavana & Payal representing the item brigade, Ketki, Zulfi & a few others from the once famous & now forgotten star bandwagon & Debojit, Eehsan, Ashutosh rising out of the ashes of Reality TV, this show is going to be one the list of the most viewed ones on the Indian Idiot Box. Now with Jane Goody’s exit, after being diagnosed of some Cancer, the TRP’s are surely gonna be high for the Tuesday’s telecast.

Last night while watching the first episode, my dad & I were discussing that it could be a make or break show for all, but mostly for Sanjay Nirupam. A politician is as good as his popularity. In this case too much of him on TV could spoil his purpose & even his career in the years to come. Politicians from rival camps may not be required to jog their memories to get something negative about this neta, they could simply ask the party high command for the tapes of Big Boss 2.

Endemol must thank me for the suggestion I am making in the next few sentences, because I would be giving them an idea, that too free of cost. How about Season 3 with all the politicians cutting across regions, religions & vote banks???? Imagine the amount of money that can be charged for advertisements for a 10 seconds. I am sure it will beat any cricket world cup or T20 match rates by a margin that is unimaginable.

I can name a lot of politicians I would like to see on the next season, but wouldn’t do that….( am afraid of dharnas by political groups I may miss listing out or letters of appreciation from groups I may like to include ) ….but just think of the fun we may have & maybe the politicos can do some work while having fun & when the locks are opened after those 84 days, we may have a few solutions to the problems of the common man…….

JAI HIND!!!!!!

FLAG CODE OF INDIA

Dear Indians,
Wishing all of you a VERY HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. Hope we can achieve more in times to come than we have achieved in the past 61 years.

On 15Th Aug we unfurl the INDIAN FLAG, with pomp, glory & pride. What do we see the very next day???????? The national flag torn or lying on the ground in a ganda nallah........Long Live India.............This thing must be stopped at all cost & the only way i see it is "EACH ONE TEACH ONE".....
Last year, i saw a man, his wife and a small son walking in front of me. The boy was hitting the mother with the flag. Just after that he turned the flag upside down & started dragging in on the mud. His parents took notice of it & didn't say anything. I had to interject & asked the small boy not to do that, as it was our national flag. Had the boy been me & the man my father i would have got the hardest slap of my life from my father, irrespective of my age.

I also take this opportunity to present you with the FLAG CODE of INDIA. It basically elaborates on how we should handle the flag.

http://mahapolice.gov.in/mahapolice/jsp/temp/html/flag_code_of_india.pdf

Please visit the site & know your flag & take pride in it.Lets make it a point this Independence day that whatever happens, we will not ignore any torn or fallen flag, if we call India our MADARE-WATAN or Motherland.

JAI HIND
A.B

OLYMPIC TREAT

BINDRA DOES IT DESPITE THE SYSTEM…………that’s what the headlines of a leading newspaper carried in print on Thursday morning. Nothing could have been truer than this particular statement.

He did India proud, but without any major support from the system. Trained at Germany for 3 months on his own, spent millions on training, equipment & other support services. This was possible for him because of being born into a rich business family, born with a silver spoon as they say…nothing wrong with that. Infact that is what got him close & within striking distance to his dream, a dream for which he had what it takes-talent, dedication & yearning……………..
How are such facilities or privileges accessible to budding talents who come from remote places across India, some of which we don’t know about, some we can’t name & some we can’t even spell correctly………what about their medal hopes…what about their hopes for making India proud…….

And inspite of our dismissal show at every Olympic, our ministers, officials, federations & sportspersons are hopeful of that one miracle, that one or two medals for a country of more than 1 billion strong people…………..are we living in fool’s paradise????

With many of our Olympics hopes dashing into the vallies of failures, we still hope to win a few medals in this Olympics…….if statistics are to be taken as a reference, here is how it stands…….a Gold medal after 28 years & an individual medal in the more than 100 years of the existence of modern day Olympics, and still we can rest on our laurels, a mere feet which we accomplished not more than a week ago…..and that too without any programs or solid concrete steps………….

There was an article in another major newspaper, sometime before the games about how our associations & federations are run………listing out the name of the presidents, their tenures & the number of medals we have got during their autocratic reigns……it didn’t surprise me than we have not won more than a few medals in some sports & none in almost more than half of the sports mentioned……..why do then people say that Indians are more pro-cricket……the answer is simple. Every human being likes to win or see his side win, there is nothing wrong in that………..am sure that the inclusion or Narain Karthikeyan in a major F1 team, had got many more non-viewers glued to their TV sets every alternate Sunday on Raceday……..but his dismissal performance may have got an equal number of people shy away from their TV sets………The same for these other sports. At least we win a few times in cricket……….so what is wrong if we love, eat & drink cricket ( as the Tendulkar Pepsi campaign goes…ailaaa )….

My suggestion is similar to what a lot of ex-sportsmen bring to light,though after retiring from their sports, that associations & federations must be run by experienced & professionals & not some bureaucrat or politician.

I would also like to suggest that sportsmen not be showered with prize money & other gifts from state governments & municipal corporations other than his own area or state…..this is for no other reason, but only because I am sure that these governments have a lot of other important projects which may require or better utilize that money…there are better ways to show appreciation & respect to these winners, like treating people from their states & cities as your own & not discriminating on language or region or by making the dreams of their talents a reality( in short, by funding their trainings )….trust me there is no better way than this to show that you love and care a winner. Who knows one day this outsider or insider may bring your state recognition that you & your local populace may be proud of, inspite of his/her origins.


JAI HIND!!!!!