Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Repairman series

Situation: AC outlet pipe chewed thoughtfully by squirrels
(actually i have no idea whether they were being thoughtful or its just part of their diet...but u read all these books which say....he/she chewed thoughtfully on a scrap of bacon/chicken.etc. and i always wanted to use this somewhere. verbal.diarrhea.must.control)

Result:  Flooding in the balcony. Water in downstairs neighbor's balcony. Resultant unpleasantness.

Solution: Call AC repair guy.

Chronology: This will take some time so lets go for bullet points shall we?
1. Complaint registered. Somebody will come in 48 hrs.

2. Nobody comes in said 48 hrs

3. Call call centre again many many times. They shyly agree to give repair centre wala's direct number....tomorrow. Not today. Coz you know...its protected under the official secrets act today.

4. Call the repair centre number many many times. No one picks up.

5. Remember having gone through similar ordeal last time and dig out the last time wala guy's number. Call him obsessively like in denial about a relationship gone bad.

6. Finally speak to human being instead of only listening to latest tamil hits.

7. Another round of gentle and not-so-gentle persuasion to pleaseeeeeeeeeee come and fix the damn thing. Solemn assurance from other party.

8. He arrives. Much happiness and jubilation. Says  new pipe needed. Well...what a surprise...who would have thought??

9. Some more persuasion for him to please go get the new pipe for suitable reimbursement of the trouble. This takes very long owing to my approx 8.56% knowledge of tamil and his 0% knowledge of any other language.

10. Informed of extortionist service charges. Revived from swooning fit by the child who...for some reason always goes into hyper mode when any AC repair guy comes.

11. New pipe installed. Also AC gets thoroughly cleaned. Self suitably impressed (ye kitne acche se saaf kar raha hai...last time ki service mei toh sirf upar upar se hi clean kiya tha. ) Not always a good thing...too much cleaning. Mark my words.

13. After departure, realize that the remote no longer works.  Call him again. He comes and repairs.

14. Day 3 after this, wake up to a big puddle of water in the room. Nothing floating as yet...but close enough. Realise AC leaking. Also realize this is Saturday...on which no repairman worth his salt will agree to be anything other than 'completely booked'.

 15. So until monday, do endless rounds of pocha and use up all the old bedsheets to soak up the mess. For anyone asking about options of not using the AC ....do you live in chennai? have u experienced summer here? do you have any more foolish observations on my AC usage?? Good. Glad thats settled.

16. Today Monday....again call repair wala obsessively. Finally darshan at 1.30 pm.

17. Long periods of fiddling with with every nut bolt, pipe and part. Leak becomes worse...and is now almost pouring.

18. He tries to make an escape 3 times....station child at the door to inform self any time uncle tries to get away.

19. Finally repair guy comes up with brilliant solution of raising one end of the AC above the wall bracket....to 'reverse the slope' he says.

20. Self loses it completely at this nonsense. Hysterical shouting in a truly awful combination of tamil + malyalam + english plus some telugu thrown in for good measure. Then lots of hand gestures.

21. AC comes back to original position. We glare at each other in identical expressions of misery and frustration.

22. Meanwhile it is now 3.30 pm. Child has to go for dance class. Which he doesn't want to go to. Repair wala has to repair AC which he no longer has any clue how to. I have work which doesn't look like is going to get completed anytime soon. Happiness all around.

23. He fiddles some more. Voila...its fixed! He has no clue how it worked and i'm not really asking. His feet cant carry him out fast enough. Child bribed with banana cake and sent to class. And yours truly...recalling the entire episode late at night for you...my dear non-existent readers!! :)




Monday, May 27, 2013

Happiness is.....

a big plate of hot rajma chawal with ghee :)

bliss.

Friday, May 10, 2013

20 questions tag revisited...4 saal baad.....



Remember a long time back when everyone was doing the 20 questions tag? Yeah...i know most of you were not yet born then.

nevertheless.

I remembered today that I have a much neglected blog and went off to read some of my old posts....and was awed by the me of yore (circa 2008).
yeah i know...humility is my greatest virtue....

so i thought it would be fun to do this again and see how the older wiser me responds to the same q's again. So here goes!

koi rasta bhool ke yahan aa jaye toh..please feel free to pick this up!  itni generous and humble bhi!
The 20 questions tag :

1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets?

2008 : Chashma, health and hope.

2013: Chashma (always no.1 in my list), health and the kindle.

2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?

2008 :What are you getting me for our anniversary?? *flutter flutter the eyelashes*

2013: You're going to put V to sleep right? I have a call at 9.30...
or lemme re-phrase...this shd be something that i DONT get to say very often..right?
so 2013: You're going to take care of V for the wkend right? while i go on my fantasy girls reunion wkend...

3. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you?

2008 :to have blog buddies i guess one needs a functioning non-extinct blog. So this question is largely null and void for self.
but....if they would allow me to just hang around and breathe in the same air as them...it wud be MM, Parul and Kiran


2013: Some things just don't change do they? I still dont blog frequently to have any buddy shuddies in the blog world...but there is one person i will add to the existing list...Reva

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?

2008: Israel. and visit a live volcano. go figure.

2013: live volcano wish continues. New Zealand. US..to hug my precious sister and nieces. and now lets get realistic. any secret hideout at a beach with my kindle, sunscreen and many hours of uninterrupted peace and quiet.

5. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?

2008 :That I have an extremely well paying job picking sea shells on a beach in the West Indies.

2013: seashells picking job all the way. but lets up the compensation from 2008 levels ok?

6. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?

2008 :Being part of those mandatory annual day plays in school, wearing the most hideous costumes and makeup. blech.

2013: washing the bright pink color kurta was NOT a good idea.especially for the white chudidar.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?

2008 :My chashma (pliss refer to Q.1)

2013: Chashma!!

8. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?

2008 :Pick up with handkerchief(no fingerprints u see) and run to the police. actually...better to just give it to the poor.

2013: i see wayyyy too many ppl in dire need of the cash...so yeah...distribute it all around.

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?

2008 :Already met and married the said someone. thankyouverymuch. my confessions none of anyones bizness. againthankyouverymuch.

2013: Met a tiny lil someone around 4 yrs back. and i confess to him every single day :)

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you

2008 sadly...not explicitly tagged by Parul..but phir bhi...
1. Great sense of humour
2. adorable baby...
3. the hourglass figure, shining intellect and stunning career of course :)


2013: Well i tagged me this time around, so lets talk abt me shall we? (its all about meeeeeeee)
1.  Lots and pots of patience.
2.  Wit, charm, grace......
3. Typing speed (no seriously...u shd see me trying to meet a deadline)



11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?

2008 : A new book every fortnight and a steady supply of dark chocolates. and yellow roses occasionally.
i am easily pleased.

2013 : Amazon is good for the books. so the current list is:
Steady supply of dark chocs (65% to 75% cocoa ideally), bhaji shopping for the week every sunday and yeah...yellow roses wont hurt.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?

2008 : Well righttt now...the idiot who stepped (with her whole considerable weight)
on my foot, this morning on the train.
2013: The water delivery guy. We are seriously NOT getting along.

13. What is your ambition?

2008 : To open my own flower shop. which will be right next to my own restaurant. and in both of which, i will probably end up losing spectacular amounts of money.

2013: 8 hours of sleep every single day. enough said.

14. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?

2008 : if they don't give up seats in trains/buses to women with small kids.

2013: Ppl who act suspiciously around kids...and lech at small kids. I will personally gouge your eyes out.

15. What is the one thing you would change about yourself?

2008 : Metabolic rate.

2013: Yep. Still metabolic rate. And the NEED to do tooo many things.

16. Are you a shopaholic or no?

2008 :No. i wish i was.

2013: no no no. although i have a secret lil addiction to window shopping on flipkart. and then there's that lil habit of too many books from amazon....but lets not get into details...

17. What is your stress buster?

2008 : Calvin & hobbes. Although my Mom says its my weekend clothes washing routine.

2013: Baking. Reading (chick lit being the current flavour). car racing with the child.
music.


18. What should be done to people who make such long tags?

2008 : ...phoolo phalo...

2013: doodho nahao....(yuck...i mean can u imagine? this is obviously from an age where ppl had their own cows/buffaloes in the backyard)

19. Do you think God actually exists?

2008 :i'm not sure.

2013: Not really convinced that he/she does. My views on religion would take forever to put down. someday...

20.
What did you eat for lunch today?
2008 :I replace it with: If not your current profession, what line of work would have rather been in?
Physiotherapist

2013 : I'm replacing it with the original question: what did you eat for lunch today?
Homemade pizza (kya bana tha...yummmm) and a BIG bowl of watermelon. happiness is this.

I tag...anyone who comes here and cares to read this!:-)