Try holding dry sand in your palm
Chances are that some of it will pass through your fingers. A day in my life seems like that sand. It comes and goes. I can't even say what I did the whole day. I felt busy... but I don't know what I did.
Today started with me saying aloud-I need to write another piece for this blog. Then, wifey and me chatted. It may not have been the most pleasant of conversations but I felt fortunate to have such conversations with her. It's a blessing we can talk like that. That day, she had stayed back a little longer as she had already gotten late for work. As she stepped out for work, she reminded me that I ought to write. But I had other pressing things like checking accounts. Accounts for the production of a shoot always put me on a high alert. It doesn't matter if it is a thousand bucks or lakhs. Bad tracking of accounts can burn a hole into your pocket. Then, it also impacts planning for future projects. Getting it right is critical. Striving to get it right is such an effort for me that it makes me unapproachable.
Time: 1:15 am
"167+13541 is..."
"Can we have yesterday's lunch now?"
"#@$%$& , 1u3y3, uiu3, f'k, f'k 167+13541 is... 13708. Alright".
My language skills acquire a new dimension.
I finished looking at my accounts for the nth time by 12 noon. It was Monday.
Two days ago, on a Saturday, I had finished checking my accounts for the
nth minus 1 time. It was in good shape-good to go to my project partner. I wanted him to receive it on the same day or at least the next day. I thought it might make an infinitesimally better impression. But neither of the couriers I contacted that day-Blue Dart or DTDC, offered such a service. I was apprehensive of keeping the parcel in the courier company's premises until Monday. Going by Murphy's law, anything could happen. I'd rather have it next to me.
On Monday, I called Blue Dart again. They have a brand image that portrays reliability and their normal service commits to a next day delivery. I found out that they also have a service, which ensured that a consignment could be delivered by 10.30 am the next day. But this service had been temporarily withdrawn for Delhi due to the Commonwealth Games 2010 event. The Blue Dart lady, I spoke to, informed me that in Delhi, courier persons were being stopped or traffic was being held up or diverted. Hence she couldn't give me any assurances of the delivery date. Good reliable information. But it didn't tell me much about when my partner would receive the parcel. I asked her for an assurance for the second day and the lady chose not to commit to anything. She dashed any hopes of me having a choice in the matter by informing me that the courier would be picked up fours hours later.
In search of better options, I called up the DTDC office in Tambe Nagar, Mulund. At first, I had a hard time getting someone to answer my call because I kept getting automated messages informing me that there was a problem with the line and then the person would cut and not call back. Shit! This felt like getting rejected by ugly girls. It was embarrassing. Then, I managed to get through to a man at the other end. Unlike the Blue Dart woman, whose voice seemed like she had her nose up in the air, the DTDC voice was pleasant. I was assured of delivery the next day for which I had to pay Rs. 170. That seemed alright considering Blue Dart's normal service would cost me 250 bucks and their assured time and next day delivery would cost me Rs. 400. I had also got a good reference for DTDC. But I was soon disappointed. The voice informed me that their pick up would take place an hour after Blue Dart's pick up time. Grudgingly and optionlessly I agreed but still requested the person to send for an earlier pick up.
It was about five hours away. I had to go to Andheri to my bunk pad. But since I had to wait till 5:00 pm, I thought I could start blogging. Then I checked my mails, G-chatted with my wife and friend online, logged into Facebook, checked out some profiles and with 45 minutes to go for pick up time, I ACTUALLY started writing this article. Everything is about actually doing it. Isn't it?
Then...
I called up the DTDC number at 4.45 pm to find out where their pick up person was. Mr. Pleasant voice told me that he would reach my home in half an hour. Then, the semi-nightmare began.
Nobody turned up till 6.00 pm. So I called again. I was told that the person who was supposed to do the pick up had an accident and therefore a Vijay would now pick up my parcel. Things got more and more absurd as time progressed. On my next call at 7.00 pm, I was told that Vijay was 15 minutes away. 45 minutes later, I was told that Vijay had come to my house and had been yelled at by an old woman! True my mom is 68 years young and can yell down a person's confidence but I wasn't so lucky to see DTDC Vijay get yelled at, because he never got here. He hadn't even rung the bell at MY home. I just couldn't help telling the guy, WTF. How could anybody say such a thing? I was entrusting a lakh worth of bills to someone, who could tell me that he had come to house without turning up. If he lost his way or something was amiss, all he had to do was to call me up and let me know.
The 'pleasant' DTDC voice no longer seemed pleasant any more. He called up the pick up boy while he on a call with me and then insisted that Vijay had indeed come to my house. I got mad at him but still requested him to ensure the pick up. Then the 'now, not-so-pleasant voice told me that he'd do something for me and that he would be at my home in half an hour like he was doing me a big favour. The DTDC voice, whose name was Sachin, did come home. But he started insisting on leaving as soon he arrived at my door. I tried to smile and get the job done. Then, he spun a new googly at me. He quoted a new rate that included a VAT of 10.1 % and 25% fuel surchage taking the total cost from Rs. 170 to 198. Bewildered and bruised, but hoping to ensure the delivery of my consignment the next day, I handed over the parcel and the money to him. Finally, I wondered whether I had erred in not doing the job through Blue Dart.
My calls may have lasted for one hour. But it took up four hours of my working mind and time. So if on that day someone were to ask me, what did you do today-all I could say was I checked my accounts and sent a courier. That's one side. Another side is that if I used up the entire time that I had waited for the courier for blogging instead of checking emails, G-chatting, etc, then I might have written for 4 hours albeit, a different blog.
In any case, time passed that day like sand through my fingers.
Chances are that some of it will pass through your fingers. A day in my life seems like that sand. It comes and goes. I can't even say what I did the whole day. I felt busy... but I don't know what I did.
Today started with me saying aloud-I need to write another piece for this blog. Then, wifey and me chatted. It may not have been the most pleasant of conversations but I felt fortunate to have such conversations with her. It's a blessing we can talk like that. That day, she had stayed back a little longer as she had already gotten late for work. As she stepped out for work, she reminded me that I ought to write. But I had other pressing things like checking accounts. Accounts for the production of a shoot always put me on a high alert. It doesn't matter if it is a thousand bucks or lakhs. Bad tracking of accounts can burn a hole into your pocket. Then, it also impacts planning for future projects. Getting it right is critical. Striving to get it right is such an effort for me that it makes me unapproachable.
Time: 1:15 am
"167+13541 is..."
"Can we have yesterday's lunch now?"
"#@$%$& , 1u3y3, uiu3, f'k, f'k 167+13541 is... 13708. Alright".
My language skills acquire a new dimension.
From the last para to this one, it has been two days. I'll finish what I remember of that day without any guesses and continue about today. Yesterday is a blur but I'll give it a shot as well.
I finished looking at my accounts for the nth time by 12 noon. It was Monday.
Two days ago, on a Saturday, I had finished checking my accounts for the
nth minus 1 time. It was in good shape-good to go to my project partner. I wanted him to receive it on the same day or at least the next day. I thought it might make an infinitesimally better impression. But neither of the couriers I contacted that day-Blue Dart or DTDC, offered such a service. I was apprehensive of keeping the parcel in the courier company's premises until Monday. Going by Murphy's law, anything could happen. I'd rather have it next to me.
On Monday, I called Blue Dart again. They have a brand image that portrays reliability and their normal service commits to a next day delivery. I found out that they also have a service, which ensured that a consignment could be delivered by 10.30 am the next day. But this service had been temporarily withdrawn for Delhi due to the Commonwealth Games 2010 event. The Blue Dart lady, I spoke to, informed me that in Delhi, courier persons were being stopped or traffic was being held up or diverted. Hence she couldn't give me any assurances of the delivery date. Good reliable information. But it didn't tell me much about when my partner would receive the parcel. I asked her for an assurance for the second day and the lady chose not to commit to anything. She dashed any hopes of me having a choice in the matter by informing me that the courier would be picked up fours hours later.
In search of better options, I called up the DTDC office in Tambe Nagar, Mulund. At first, I had a hard time getting someone to answer my call because I kept getting automated messages informing me that there was a problem with the line and then the person would cut and not call back. Shit! This felt like getting rejected by ugly girls. It was embarrassing. Then, I managed to get through to a man at the other end. Unlike the Blue Dart woman, whose voice seemed like she had her nose up in the air, the DTDC voice was pleasant. I was assured of delivery the next day for which I had to pay Rs. 170. That seemed alright considering Blue Dart's normal service would cost me 250 bucks and their assured time and next day delivery would cost me Rs. 400. I had also got a good reference for DTDC. But I was soon disappointed. The voice informed me that their pick up would take place an hour after Blue Dart's pick up time. Grudgingly and optionlessly I agreed but still requested the person to send for an earlier pick up.
It was about five hours away. I had to go to Andheri to my bunk pad. But since I had to wait till 5:00 pm, I thought I could start blogging. Then I checked my mails, G-chatted with my wife and friend online, logged into Facebook, checked out some profiles and with 45 minutes to go for pick up time, I ACTUALLY started writing this article. Everything is about actually doing it. Isn't it?
Then...
I called up the DTDC number at 4.45 pm to find out where their pick up person was. Mr. Pleasant voice told me that he would reach my home in half an hour. Then, the semi-nightmare began.
Nobody turned up till 6.00 pm. So I called again. I was told that the person who was supposed to do the pick up had an accident and therefore a Vijay would now pick up my parcel. Things got more and more absurd as time progressed. On my next call at 7.00 pm, I was told that Vijay was 15 minutes away. 45 minutes later, I was told that Vijay had come to my house and had been yelled at by an old woman! True my mom is 68 years young and can yell down a person's confidence but I wasn't so lucky to see DTDC Vijay get yelled at, because he never got here. He hadn't even rung the bell at MY home. I just couldn't help telling the guy, WTF. How could anybody say such a thing? I was entrusting a lakh worth of bills to someone, who could tell me that he had come to house without turning up. If he lost his way or something was amiss, all he had to do was to call me up and let me know.
The 'pleasant' DTDC voice no longer seemed pleasant any more. He called up the pick up boy while he on a call with me and then insisted that Vijay had indeed come to my house. I got mad at him but still requested him to ensure the pick up. Then the 'now, not-so-pleasant voice told me that he'd do something for me and that he would be at my home in half an hour like he was doing me a big favour. The DTDC voice, whose name was Sachin, did come home. But he started insisting on leaving as soon he arrived at my door. I tried to smile and get the job done. Then, he spun a new googly at me. He quoted a new rate that included a VAT of 10.1 % and 25% fuel surchage taking the total cost from Rs. 170 to 198. Bewildered and bruised, but hoping to ensure the delivery of my consignment the next day, I handed over the parcel and the money to him. Finally, I wondered whether I had erred in not doing the job through Blue Dart.
My calls may have lasted for one hour. But it took up four hours of my working mind and time. So if on that day someone were to ask me, what did you do today-all I could say was I checked my accounts and sent a courier. That's one side. Another side is that if I used up the entire time that I had waited for the courier for blogging instead of checking emails, G-chatting, etc, then I might have written for 4 hours albeit, a different blog.
In any case, time passed that day like sand through my fingers.
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