Sunday, August 9, 2009

Harry Potter and the misery with ISPs....

Yeah very true,that would be the title of the next HP book had JKR been in Chennai[or any part of india for that matter]. I feel I am back to the neolithic, chalcolithic ages thanks to the atrocious indian ISPs. One fine day in my facebook-gtalk filled heaven horror stuck, the net was not working,i call up my ISP[hathway] and this is how the conversation went

Harassed Me[HM]: Hathway? My number is 17xxxx
Customer care[CC]: Yes sir. How can I help you.
HM : No internet here
CC: Are you from chennai?
HM: Yes.
CC: We have stopped service in chennai from today
HM: Whaaat? I never got an intimation
CC: Oh right now i intimated you sir
HM: What the...this is information,not intimation.
CC: Not much of difference
HM: Just last week I paid for the renewal,why did get renewals.
CC: You can collect it from our office by giving back the modem [bangs the phone]

Immediately I dial the other ISP-Airtel,he sends his agent in less than an hour and all formalities are done and connection promised in 3days,happy that order in heaven is restored I go to blore for a fun time[later about this].After 15days, 10mails, 20 calls and 30 abusive sms-es Airtel doesnt seem to relent.They are pretty focussed on their goal you see "harass the customer",finally I decide to go for BSNL..aah the babu there took the application form kept it aside and said the connection may or may not come in 15days, inspired by the meteorology department I say.

So there goes my life without internet,blogging,facebook,gtalk..ahemm ahemm sites..things which I thought I will never live without.Wish I can do a avada kedavra and wipe off all these customer unfriendly organizations.

Phew..what a sense of relief,sorry for all those who were forced to read the above cribbing, afterall life is not a bed of roses all time. Especially if you are a customer in india.

Coming back to the blore trip,it was amazing..in the sense there are two cities which are say 5hours apart and everything changes. Especially the social circuit.In one finding a restaurant which provides good food with booze is a herculean task,while in the other we can find one in every street.While one has shady govt controlled wine shops prividing IMFL the other had spanky pubs with a great variety to offer.Err..I am on to another crib loop, anyway we had a blast of a time in HRC,it is a wonderful place with great ambience,lovely stuff and [most importanlty]service,would keep going back again and again. The visit was for a wedding of blog pals[both the guy n gal met thru blogs] and yeah we also met a kiddo blogger and it was time well spent.

Then comes the question which I face very often nowadays-changes post engagement. Well the courting period is pretty courteous[so far] and not too many changes in life,though I do spend some extra minutes over the phone..say 100 minutes,sorry am bad in converting minutes to hours :D. And for all those single folks out there who are taunting me with their freedome of movement [and other things] I have found some reasons to get married,listing some here

  • I have someone to share my EMIs
  • No more stag entries
  • All those old uncles/aunties will stop asking when I am getting married[maaan this was a real pain in you-know-where]
  • No friend/colleague will embarass me by introducing me to his/her awkward looking pal with the hope that we will get hitched
  • I can stop blaming everything on the government
  • I get an entire branch to my family tree [which also means few more tickets sold for the rebelz shows :P]
  • And yeah you don't need to have a blog to crib

I know there are a 1000 more reasons not to get married but then since I am on this side of the shore I get dyslexic when I try reading them :P

30 comments:

Meher :) said...

ME FIRST ME FIRST!!!!

Tarun Goel said...

hoho, that was fun. So finally u got ur net or jus lying to all of us :P to avoid embarrassment :)
You still watch ahhem ahhem sites?? :D
One day u wrote i your blog that you have [finally] grown up :)

Prasad said...

yea nice time @ B'lore!!!

nd ROFLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLlllllllllllllllllll @ "I can stop blaming everything on the government"!!!!!

Prasad said...

tarun i think ahem ahem sites are good stress 'busters' :P

Anonymous said...

Sindhu bet me! Damn!! :P
BTW nkey, my phone cover is gone. I tore it :D

Nautankey said...

Sinda
Welcome..and here is the medal :)

Tarun
Nop blogging from work :),which is a bit tough with my new location.

Ahemm ahemm = housekeeping, cokkery, parenting sites :P :P

Tarun Goel said...

Yeah no doubt they are, but with the ISP's we have and the net speed they provide, they end up being stress enhancers :P

Meher :) said...

Blogging from work are you? me too :D

And hey - dont listen to people ya... go right ahead & marry! I am sure its the right time for you and the best thing to do too! :)

And which ISP are you using now? :D

A said...

ha ha i liked your reasons, and i guess they are good reasons to get married! btw what is this thing about the chinese tatoo? :p

Anonymous said...

phewwww finally heard from you!!! was just wondering! and ..u came to blore and dint let us knw!! hw i wish i knew avda kedavre now!! nd dnt worry even we went thru the same prob with airtel and the meteriology inspired response from BSNL..
nd the reasons for gettng married ahemm!! cough cough!! ull understand more when she gets to read that and feels she doesnt need a blog to crib or a govt to complain ;) all the best~!

Nautankey said...

Tarun,
Very true,it does pump up our BPs :)

Sindhu,
Listening to other and me..phew thats pretty tough to happen.

Connection illama oruthan irukkein which ISP-a? Grrrrrr

Nautankey said...

Apeeta
Well we know ur reasons to marry :P. You first release the demure look n rayban snaps then we will speak abt other things :)

Nautankey said...

Verby
Now now who is speaking about people vanishing? I thought u had disappeared too and had sent some mail to u no response,so presumed u were busy with the expected arrival :-)..and she does read this space

Ordinary Guy said...

:P :P great dude.......

congrats for the upcoming marriage....... :P

hmmm, the wedding guys met thry blogs?? that is special I say....

please resume regular blogging.... you are being missed here :P

btw, convince my cousin to also get married.......... :P

Nautankey said...

OG,
Thanks a lot for the wishes and oh dont you worry we are trying hard to get ur kosin A hitched,only problem is somehow guys end up getting attracted towards him :P :P..

Revs said...

N'key,i had some nice comment in my mind when I clicked 'comment' but I forgot everything after I read ur response to Tarun's comment :D Ahem ahemm = cokkery? LOL! Ahem ahem indeed ;) Parenting sites?? Emmm errrr wokay. Oru engagement aanadhukkae parenting sites a!! Sigh! the world is full of perverts! :P Naan ungala sollala N'key!

Smita said...

These ISP's are a major pain I tell you.

I have been trying to get an extra port at my home and till date what I have achieved is "phone pe phone, phone pe phone, some abuses & some more abuses & zero result". It is akin to banging our head on a wall!!!

And those were some awesome reasons to give yourself false happiness :D am sure that those "1000" are pinching more than these few reasons can give you happiness :D

Ruth said...

Oh I would go mad, mad I tell you! I hear about the hangups in Chennai's power and internet and I know I would have to be Indian and adjust too. Yikes.

I've been thinking about you and the upcomings. Glad to hear more of it, and the positives. :)

Glad you enjoyed our farmy nuptials. It was pretty special, I confess. Wanna rent the farm?

Prasad said...

BUHAHAHAHahahahahahaha!!! Apeeta!! spot on i say!!!

Ashwathy said...

ouch!! u have my sympathies regarding the internet problems... altho i've never had it THAT bad.. ever * shudder *

After 15 days, 10mails, 20 calls and 30 abusive sms-es Airtel doesnt seem to relent.
sheesh! talk about being persistent ... in NOT giving u a connection!

as for the rules u made up :D ROFL!!
interesting to see someone getting dyslexic to read the rules on other end becoz u r on this end now :D nice twist i say!
I can stop blaming everything on the government. And yeah you don't need to have a blog to crib.
i liked these 2 the best :D


btw u r mentioned here: do chk it out :-)
http://thatslifemyfriend.blogspot.com/2009/08/friend-in-need.html

Nautankey said...

Revs
You and nice comments?? nambara madhiri edhavadhu sollu.Yes yes world is full of perverts jaakradhai irundhakanum..the perverts from you :P

Smita
i have decided to take a legal way, it is not abt the money but just want to show these guys that all customers are not fools.But the legal way is long drawn it seems,wud take atleast 1year for the case to come to hearing...hmm what can we say now :-)

Nautankey said...

Ruth
Power n internet are the thigns affecting just us,imagine the N number of issues affecting people in lower economic strata..a bigger YIKES.

A wedding in that farm would be my dream wedding..so lemme doze off now and dream of it :-)

Ashwathy
Yeah speak of being consistent and persistent..they are there right there :-)...

Yeah well lemme be like the indian politicos changing sides :D...

Read the post,thanks a ton..honored..really honored!!

Ruth said...

It's true what you say, of course. It's all relative.

Dhanya said...

LOL! Getting an Internet connection is proving very difficult eh? Tried opting for wireless USBs instead ? :)

Nautankey said...

Ruth
Yup yup..relative ans subjective.. And speaking abt relative I wish I was related to you so that I get some time on that farm :P

Dhanya
finally have got a tata photon,waiting for it to get activated..sigh

the blogger formerly known as sansmerci said...

haha loved the list u have made :) i wudve added a lot more stuff to it a few months bak.. wat can i say now .. dream on... join the club later :)

the blogger formerly known as sansmerci said...

oh yea ISP customer services are horrible.. esp for customer service monging snobs like me.. who lives by the belief that customer is the king of this consumerist world!

i jus feel terribly helpless wen i cant jump services wen m harrassed this way.. every damn service provider treats u the same way and u don have a choice in this country.. mayb they have a pact between themselves to be equally bad and not give us a choice :) if given a chance we really need to start trashing them on burrp! i say :)

Shruthi said...

Ah! the ISP mafia. They are everywhere; BSNL is no better. Anyway, glad you got your internet fixed :)
And you were in Bangalore! Excellent. Hope my city treated you well.
Except for the metro mess that you might have noticed, my city is still one of the bestest innit ;)
lol@ your list :D

Nautankey said...

Swarna
Well yup probably after a few months I'd release the other list :P
I do thrash them at mouthshut but then they are the least bothered abt that bcoz they know the other guy is worse than them so we dont have much of choices :)

Shruthi
Yup blore is still cool,just that the infrastructure part is a total flop otherwise we cant find too many complaints.
Great that u liked the lisht ;-)

Anonymous said...

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