GTalk is driving me nuts

I am very fond of IM systems and love the way they can help me keep connected with my friends and family. I use quite a few IM systems regularly such as

• Windows Live messenger
• Yahoo Messenger for Vista
• Google Talk (or GTalk as we all like to call it)

A few days ago, I installed FireFox to test a piece of JavaScript I had written. While installing it, I made sure I do not select FF as my default browser (it is still IE 7).

To my surprise, GTalk no longer respects my default browser setting, opening any link from GTalk fires up FireFox. This is really really annoying to me. The worst part is that I cannot change it anywhere :(

Folks at 'G' (and Mozilla)- is this some sort of a tactic to outsell IE? I refuse to call it a tactic. It is called annoying the user.

An imperceptive attempt of a reckless loser

I am a Mumbaikar and I am proud to say so. But in the recent past, the so called sons of the soil have tainted Mumbai's image in front of the rest of the world. For the first time ever in my life, I feel like hiding myself in a closet so that nobody can ask me an obvious question - "You said Mumbai is a nice place. What's happening out there?" Even the most concerned questions sound sarcastic to me.

The recent comments passed by Raj Thackeray on North Indians (specially on people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) are simply ridiculous. I am a north Indian by origin but I am a Mumbaikar at heart. I love the city and I do not think my love for the city is any less than that of a (so called) Maharashtrian. Hell. I AM a Maharashtrian. I have spent almost my entire life here. My family has been here since last three generations. Who the hell is Raj Thackeray to call me an outsider. I care for the city as much as he does. Or probably even more than him. I can not see blood on the streets nor can I think of fostering an environment that supports violence on the city streets.

He is playing the same dirty politics that his uncle - Balasaheb Thackeray used to play. He is using the emotions of the people and using them against each other to create a space for himself in the political landscape. Thackeray family has been doing this time and again. There was a time when I used to admire the Thackeray family for having a frank and fearless attitude on even the most sensitive issues. But now, I see a desperate attempt to come back to the political scene. And they have gone to an extent of using all dirty measures to ensure they return into the power.

I would like to warn all my fellow Mumbaikars - this is no social issue. This is a purely political game that Thackeray family is playing with our emotions. As I said earlier, this is a desperate attempt by the Thackrey family to come back into the power.

I don't know what more to say. I am aghast with the proceedings so far. I can only hope things get better and Mumbai gets back on track.

Tough times

Many times in life, it so happens that when you just begin to feel that everything is falling in place, something goes wrong. Terribly wrong. It has happened to me couple of times in the past. Last Thursday, it started again.

I was very happy with low bug count on my name and because the year end was approaching. I planned to go to my hometown and welcome 2008 with my family. Everything was so nice until I got that phone call.

It was around 7 PM. I was in the office gym. I had just finished with my workout and was about to go to the shower to cool myself down. That's when I heard my phone ringing. It was Rahul (my room-mate). In a very low voice, he said "Can you please come home as soon as possible". He sounded like he was in great pain. I asked him if he was alright. He said he had hurt his leg and he was bleeding. Given Rahul's history, an accident is a fairly regular thing for him. But I somehow felt this time it was bad.

I packed my stuff quickly and started from office. I wasn't getting any vehicle to reach home so I called my landlord and asked him for help. He being a nice person, acted promptly and took Rahul to Apollo Hospital (it's very close to where we stay in Hyderabad). I managed to get a cab and I too reached there by 7:45. He was in the emergency ward. His wound was dressed. We got an X-ray done to see if there was any fracture. Thankfully there wasn't any. We left for home.

Next day, we again came to the hospital to consult the doctor. The doctor said the wound needs to be stitched. They took him to the operation theater. They said the procedure would take half an hour and then he would need to stay in the recovery room for another half an hour to get out of the anesthesia influence. They started the process and it went on for well beyond half an hour. While Rahul was in the operation theater, I kept asking the officials what was happening. They informed me that it was going to be an operation instead of a simple stitching procedure. They also told me that they had to give him a heavy dose of local anesthesia. The operation lasted for around 50 minutes and he had to be in the recovery room for more than 2 hours.

It was very tiring being in a hospital for more than 6 hours where you hardly see any happy faces. All through that time, it was my local friends, Esha, and the rest of my family members who kept calling me and that was a huge support for me.

Next day afternoon, I got to know that my mom wasn't keeping well and she may have to get hospitalized. By evening, she was admitted in the hospital. By then I was completely shaken. Within just 48 hours, everything around me has turned so bad. Though the doctor had said my mom was alright, I couldn't sleep the whole night worrying about her. Next day morning my father told me that she was absolutely fine and there was nothing to worry about.

With god's grace, everything is fine now. Rahul is at home recovering from his injury. My mom is still in the hospital but she is alright now. And I am back to my desk - composing the blogpost and getting ready to kill some bugs :-)

Listen to the PLAN

 

Recap:

I hope you still remember how I had got annoyed with idiotic phone calls from ABN AMRO call-centers. Well, after I wrote a post dedicated to one such call, I sent a link to ABN AMRO and after a few more calls, things got cleaned up. I don't get any calls from ABN AMRO now and the extent of satisfaction I feel is only known to me :-)

You will soon know the reason for the eternal satisfaction that I feel. Read on...

What do you mean by tarika warika ?

Today, Times Of India reported something that clearly illustrates how miserable the situation is. A judge in a sessions court in U.P. got a call from one such call center. Check out the excerpts of the conversation:

Caller: "I have several plans for you..I have called up to explain the plans.."
Judge: I am a judge... presently busy with the court work.. this is no manner to compel any one to listen to your plans especially if the person is not ready to listen to them. yeh koi tareeka nai hota ...
Caller: What do you mean by tarika warika ? This plan is for your benefit...
Judge: Who is calling?
Caller: That does not matter.. just listen to the plan.
Judge: Will you please shut up?
Caller: You shut up... (and the caller put the phone down).

In case you do not believe me, read the full story here.

It's no secret now

Now you know why I feel so satisfied. Actually, satisfied is probably is not a word that can express what I feel like. Add a lot many words in the superlative category -amazed, overwhelmed, feel out of the world, etc. The reason is simple. I am one of those lucky humans in India who do not get unsolicited calls despite owning a cell-phone :-)

Sir I am calling from ABN Amro Bank

I get 2 calls per day from ABN Amro Bank (without fail). It’s been a while that I have been getting these calls. I was sick and tired of getting calls. So… I went to the ABN Amro website, and entered my name in their DO NOT CALL registry and I was told that they will take care of it.

It’s been a month that I did it. But I still get calls from ABN Amro. From the same number, different people calling. Today, I ran out of patience and had an argument with the CSR. Here is the conversation:-

(Smart) Caller: Sir.. this is (someone) calling from ABN Amro Bank.

(Poor) Me: How many times do I have to tell you that I am not interested in your credit card? I get 2 calls every day and I say the same thing every time. Does that not make sense to you?

(Smart) Caller: Sir. I am sorry sir. Bye sir…

(Poor) Me: No… wait… I need to get this cleared out today… I have even registered on your Do Not Call registry. What else do I have to do in order to avoid calls from your bank?

(Smart) Caller: Sir… you cannot do anything sir… you will get calls… just say that you are not interested.

(Poor… and surprised) Me: What? That’s ridiculous. What do you mean? Are you punishing me for having a cell-phone? This does not make any sense to me… From where do you get these numbers?

(Smart) Caller: My manager Sir.

(Poor) Me: I want to talk to your manager. Transfer the call to him.

(Smart) Caller: No Sir… he is not available here right now.

(Now aggressive) Me: Okay. Let me talk to his manager then.

(Smart) Caller: No Sir… even he is not available.

(Puzzled) Me: What the heck is this... Is there anyone who is superior to you that I can talk to?

(Smart) Caller: No Sir… right now no one is available sir.

(Now going insane) Me: Okay, give me your manager’s number. I’ll call him on his mobile.

(Smart) Caller: No Sir.. I don’t have his number Sir.

(Again puzzled) Me: What do you mean you don’t have his number? You have the entire world’s number by not your manager’s. Don’t lie to me.

(Smart) Caller: No Sir. I don’t have his number. How will I have his number Sir.

(Totally aghast) Me: Look…. I don’t know what your process is. This is completely insane. I don’t want to get anymore calls from your bank. Please mark me in your database and tag it with “this guy does not want a credit card”.

(Smart) Caller: Ok Sir

[Hang Up]

30 minutes later… I get another call (only this time from a different number)…

(Another Smart) Caller: Sir.. this is (someone) calling from ABN Amro Bank.

#$%&@*%^

You think I need to file a lawsuit or something?

BTW, you may have noticed that I have put different qualifiers to my expressions. But I have not changed anything for the caller. Do you know why… because… it was just me who had any change in expression (tone I mean). The telesales caller was the same… in every sentence.

Its s(h)ame again

Yet another one-day match. Yet another triumph. And the result is the same - yet another defeat.

A few days back, I was actually thinking of going to the stadium to watch the match. Thankfully I decided otherwise. Yesterday my manager said he would be on vacation as he is going to watch the match. Jokingly I had said "I can't watch India loose on TV. Watching them loose in front of my eyes would hurt me even more. I am not going." But you know what... I didn't mean it. I really had hope from the team. Alas... nothing came out of it :(

Just like any other cricket fan in India, I am wondering

• What has happened to the top order?
• Why is Gautam Gambhir in the team? Why can't we replace him with Saurav or Dinesh Karthik?
• so many other questions that I am unable to blurt out right now...

I know writing a blog post when you are upset is not a very good idea. But I can't stop it coming out of me.

Yeah... one good thing that I liked today was the way our bowlers performed during the mid-overs. Also it was pretty nice to see some of the middle-order batsmen doing a good job chasing the hefty target.