Never a dull moment

I can feel the customer care - very strongly. I have decided to take a new Wifi internet connection. After discussion with two neighbours in our block of seven dwellings who vouched for performance and well as prompt customer service, I confirmed my desire in writing with id proof etc to the area franchise this morning. I got a OTP by SMS by 9 am and passed it on to the franchise. I asked the technicians to come after 10.30 am. Time is now 2 pm. I have got several calls confirming my order and also from several "technicians" asking for my house number. All of them said they would be here in an hour. If they had kept their word, my home would have become a medium sized Wifi organisation by now ! Half an hour back, for the first time a lady called asking about my "order" execution. I told her several guys were on the way. I do not think she paid attention to what I said.She said she would send a technician. This relentless custome

Can't I speak in Malayalam? I bumped into our post graduation batchmate Monojit Mukherjee in Kolkata airport in March 2015. We found ourselves in same security hold area. We were going to different destinations with my flight departing much later. We sought the help of a much younger passenger to click our photo. Monojit left and I introduced myself to the young passenger -  Amit Dubey , chemical engineer working for Haldia Petrochemical. I sat next to him. I got a phone  call from home and I got up moved to closer to glass wall facing the tarmac. After the call, I heard somebody saying something Malayalam addressed to me. I turned around and looked around. No familiar faces. Amit was sitting with straight face. I asked Amit whether he said something in Malayalam to me. His response? Can't I speak in Malayalam. I told him he was welcome to converse in Malayalam. He had spent his schooling life in Kottayam in Hindustan Newsprint Colony- his dad was working in Hindus

I was taught cycling by my friend Padassery Raghu during summer vacation in 1971 at Venkitangu. We hired a cycle regularly from the village market. I mastered couple of technical "cycle" skills before I mastered pedaling steadily. The first skill was cajoling the chain back into the sockets and the second one was "aligning" the handle bar for riding on a straight line. I learnt cycling on kucha paths. I fought with sand mounds and trees by banging the cycle ag ainst them. By the time my sister and her friends learnt cycling a couple of years later, the venue shifted to the precint of village temple. On return to Madras, I taught couple of friends cycling in the vast compound of Fatima Mata Church next to Corley School. We hired cycles from shops on Velachery Road, East Tambaram opposite Madras Christian College main gate. As years progressed, we used pedal to Camp Road, Chitlappakkam, Gowrivakkam and Irumbaliyur. Tambaram was the terminus of suburb