Someone who can decipher this will easily know why my life sucks :)

A few days later…
Seasons Apt, Koregaon Park Pune,  and network signal disappears everywhere in the building except the balcony. Same is the case in office, Magarpatta… A few more days later…
New flat on the top floor, Kondhwa Pune, and there is just 50% signal anywhere in the house. Zero network coverage in the toilets (“The human brain works best in the toilet”… but never-the-mind).

I was fed up. I decided to move over from Airtel to long trusted Vodafone. If you do not remember, this was exactly the reason why I had given up Airtel after using it for 6 months in 2005. I had moved on to Hutch and then Vodafone and was extremely happy with their services ( I had also got a friend-for-life-free number dialling facility to any one number).

After some delays in verification of my address proof, I was active on Vodafone. The very next day (sometime in August) I went to Airtel office and asked them to cancel the number. If you happen to be an Airtel Executive, please note my Airtel number 97325-24449.

I realised, for the first time, that getting rid of something was more difficult than procuring it! A few days later I get a call from Airtel customer care asking me detailed reasons for my application to close the connection. I told them that I was terribly unhappy by the pathetic network coverage in Pune. I also told them that I am very happy with Vodafone and that they should discontinue my Airtel service right away. They offered me two months of free rental and asked me to continue using the service. I denied. The phone call ended.

Next month, I flew to US. I was in the US for about 3 months. During this time, my mom got infinite phone calls from Airtel customer care asking her to pay my outstanding bills! So why did she get calls? Cos in the Airtel application form I had mentioned her number as my alternate contact number. Do you remember Airtel had given me two months of free rental?? Yet I had about Rs 700 due to them. God knows how!

I am back in December end and the first thing I do is go to Airtel office once again! By now, I have a due of Rs 1200. I go and tell them that my application for cancellation was not respected and in spite of that I was sent bills each month. Once again, I got a call from Airtel customer care. This time again they offered me two months of free rental and I again denied their offer. I even told them straight away that I wont be paying the Rs 1200 due cause I had asked for cancellation long back. Ever since I have got Vodafone, I have never even touched the Airtel SIM card and not made a single phone call. I even wrote a mail to Airtel asking them to disconnect my service. I also gave them a warning to stop calling my mom on the alternate number.

By February, neither me nor my mom would get any phone calls. Out of curiosity I just checked the front desk at office for any mails or bills and was surprised to see the Airtel bill for February! What was ever more surprising, was the fact that they had nullified all my previous dues and restarted billing. Now I owe Airte Rs 250 as the rent for February!

Would someone explain me what is happening here? My complaint number is: 17987965 and Airtel just does not want to disconnect my service! Why do they need so many reasons to stop their service? If they are quick to give connections, why are they not respecting my decision to stop my post paid service? As a consumer don’t I have the right to choose the service provider of my choice? If I want to discontinue with Airtel why do I need to give them any reason?

Airtel sucks! So I decided to tag this blog post with SKK. To know what it stands for, please contact me personally!

29021.13352

Since the first semester, almost every semester we had a subject of the department where we had to attend a 3 hour lab per week. At the end of the lab course they would invariably take a viva and a lab test. Sometimes even at the beginning of the experiments they would take sort of mini vivas. In many of those, books flew, sheets were thrown out, F grades given, or students asked to go back to their rooms and prepare themselves for the viva before performing the DANGEROUS experiments. Our seniors used to tell us that the profs would throw the sheets out of the lab and would ask the student to “follow the trajectory”. Fortunately nothing like that happened with me.

This time it was the Grand Viva… supposedly the last Viva I’d be facing as an undergraduate student.

They tried to ask me a few questions and I tried to answer fewer. Fortunately or unfortunately, it wasnt anything like I had heard it to be. It was not by any means a grueling experience. It was calm, composed and in an air conditioned room! The professors were cool and while we were thinking about the questions they were busy discussing about pens, food, countries (note: USA, Japan and Korea). They also offered us sweet, aloo pakoda (common name: chop)… All in all it was a very different sort of viva for me, where I was guilty that I cudn’t answer much, but I dint feel that uncomfortable.

The fact that it is over now, is what keeps me happy. :)

The next few days, I shall be a bit busy… and I really don’t know when next I would blog after this. A lot of things to look forward to.

I’ve been updating my site lately to major extent and testing a new blog on another host. Keeping my fingers crossed till then.

Life sucks,
People suck,
Studies suck,
Mess food sucks,
Gravity sucks.

Lol.. poor joke. I only intended to magnify so many things that actually Suck! It has been a short semester.. so far.. I wish it was longer… I’ve slept so much. Ive slept more than I had ever slept in my life. I sleep and I eat. That is all I do these days. I wish I did something more fruitful.

What am I blogging about btw?

In 2007, I travelled a total of 37000 km. Now so many of you travelled to the US and back! That by itself would make so much :( So let me exclude the flying miles to and back from Korea. That leaves me with 26000 km. Now isn’t that a big number? Over twenty five thousand kilometers of domestic travel. I like it :) But the very unfortunate part of it was that I hardly visited any new city in these 26000 km. Nevermind, I predict 2008 to be a big year, and 2009 to be the year of Aditto!

And the one thing that I am still searching for in India, is a place where I can get to eat Bibimbap! Do you know what that is?

So go ahead and check it out!