Amoomaye Police Pidichu

A week ago, I was taken into police custody for the first time in my life.

If you want the full story of how the harmless old amooma ended up at the police station, first visit here and then here.

SHORT REPLAY: On 12th March 2009, I bought a Sony Ericsson W 595. 3 weeks later, the display went blank. The Sony Ericsson service centre took it in as ‘physical damage’ and thus, repair was to be done at my cost. Gave it in for repair and contacted both the phone and email support of Sony Ericsson. Received no reply. Received the repaired phone on 27th May, after 2 months. In protest, I did a solo sit in in front of the Sony Ericsson Experience Store in GCDA Complex, Marine Drive. The whole story is given in detail in my previous posts. Now, read on.

On 27th May, I received my repaired W 595. I called my friend whose father is in the police and asked him to keep a police eye on GCDA.

Then, I went down to the Sony Ericsson Experience Store, spread a newspaper and sat down on the floor outside. The Sony Ericsson Store people did offer me a stool, I have to be fair about their hospitality, but I couldn’t accept, could I? And I couldn’t stand around indefinitely. Plopped down, removed my sandals.

I sat down, re-arranged my dress and looked up. To find my surrounding had changed in an instant. It was like Aladdin’s palace. One moment, I was alone. Next moment, I was surrounded by a mob. 99% of whom were shopkeepers.

I began distributing my pamphlets, trying not to give any to Sony Ericsson personnel. I cant prevent them from reading, but I neednt voluntarily give them any.

The mob was very earnest in trying to get me to leave. The Sony Ericsson Experience Store manager, yes, u have met him, was very ‘supportive and told them to leave me alone and go look after their business. “Let her sit there.” What use? Malayalikal alle. Sensation undel avide ninnolum. (Malayalis will discard food and drink if there's any sensational event unfolding.)

The shopkeepers association banded up and prevented me from seeing much of any customers through the crowd. They used very original methods and comments to get me to vacate the place.

a) “Veettil chodikkanum parayaanum aarum ille?” (Isnt there anyone at home to keep you under control?)

b) “Vattano?” (Are you mad?)
This one was used several times by a guy, shouting in my face. Told him I didn’t know.

c) “Some company must have paid you to come and sit here.”
I erupted at that and told him this was an apt example of the attitude of Sony Ericsson. Pushing the blame onto the customer. No more comments from him.

d) “Did you buy your phone from here? Why aren’t you sitting outside The Mobile Store? Is it because of rain?”
Told them I had every intention of sitting outside The Mobile Store. Take it upon myself as a sort of hobby. But, for now, I was making my debut and staying right there.

e) “Will you be here at night?”
This was an obvious vulgar question. I replied, “Maybe. Why?” Got this nice thing to say about the Sony Ericsson people over there, however. They silenced the person who said this and told him that type of comment was unnecessary.

f) “Do you want us to get you a vehicle so you can leave?”

g) “Where is your house?”
I fail to get the significance of this question.

h) “Shall we come and sit in protest outside your house?”
I replied that they were welcome. Dunno what they would have protested against.

i) “Shariyaakki koduthatha mandatharam aayathu.”(The mistake we made, is we repaired the phone)
This one came from one of the Swiss Time House technicians who had repaired my phone. Either Mr. Anas or Mr. Vinish.

j) “Go on, disperse. Aishwarya Rai onnumallallo.” (She is not Aishwarya Rai)
Hmm, does that mean that Sony Ericsson cares about and offers good phones only to Ash.

The Sony Ericsson store even put an ‘I AM MAD’ poster behind me, mounted on a hoarding.

And there was constant photo clicking. I posed for each, of course. My regret is that I didn’t have the guts to give my repaired W 595 to one of them and get a photo taken. So I could upload it here.

Then, they tried taking the ‘I AM MAD’ poster and putting it in front of me, thus blocking me.

I said nothing, just got up, took my shoes and bag, moved the newspaper to the left, and plopped down again. Thus, now, I had blocked the Sony Ericsson Experience Store door. Maryadakku oru sideil irunna enne kuthi ezhunnelpikkenda valla karyavum undaayirunno? (I was sitting on the floor, to the side, minding my own business. Did they need to have made me get up?)

I’d been there about an hour when the police came. 3 policewomen : one SI and two constables.

I gulped. They told me to stand up, put on my shoes and come with them.
Sober, I went with them and entered the back of the police jeep, driven by a male police driver.

Sat down, smiled a valicha chiri (silly smile) and said, “Oh! Angane police jeepinte backil keri arrest cheyyapettu.”(Oh my God! So, I have been arrested by the police!)

The police said, “No. This is not an arrest.”

Ente shwasam nere veenu. (I got my breath back) Oho! The police are not hostile.

I was taken to the Central Police Station, Ernakulam to see the Circle Inspector. It seems somebody in the audience had called the police.

The SI took me to the CI who gave me a mild scolding. He said, “ You only thought about 10% of the positives, not about the 90% negative aspects.” He asked me why I had done it. Promptly, I gave him a pamphlet, and an oral summary. The CI told the lady SI to take me to The Mobile Store and do whatever was necessary to resolve my trouble.

I was shocked, I tell you. What! I was the offender here, and the police were on my side.

I’ve been terrible let down by Sony Ericsson, but I have got some exceptional concern, support and care form an unexpected source, Kerala Police. I am extremely impressed by the Kerala Police. I am now a die-hard fan of Kerala Police.

Some comments and advice from the police, mostly anonymous:

a) “Kutty cheythathu valare nalla kaaryama. Njaan appreciate cheythirikkunnu.” (You did a good thing there. I appreciate you.)
I was shocked to hear that. In a good way.

b) “The mistake you made was in not contacting the media. You should have called Malayala Manorama. At the very least, you would have gotten into Metro Manorama.”

Damn! Yes I know. I did intend to call the media. The mistake was, I had intended to do a series of protests. To expand with eye catching posters and later, media coverage. Didn’t expect the first one to be the last.

My ideas were dashed now. As soon as I heard it was not an arrest, I asked, “ So can I come back tomorrow?”. They said, “ No. Next time, it will probably be an arrest.”

OK. Since this was not an arrest, I would be stupid to go and court a sure arrest. Onnathe veettil arinjittilla. (My family didnt know). Then.

c) “We appreciate your courage. But why didn’t you bring a few of your girlfriends along? Didn’t they have courage?” I told them I had too few girlfriends in Kochi, and none I could ask along to jail.

d) “At this rate, you will probably go and do a satyagraha outside your house if your husband does anything wrong.”

e) “Good that you were alone, anyway. If there had been someone else, it might have been a problem.”

I think they meant that the shopkeepers did not manhandle me solely because I was a girl. Else, there would have been a fight.

e) “Why didn’t you call the police?”

I replied that I hadn’t thought they would do anything. Got scolded for thinking that and was assured that my complaint would have priority since I was female. I clarified that I had thought maybe I did not have a police-involveable case, only one that could go to the consumer court.

f) I was advised to make a complaint to the Commissioner of Police.
I did that just now (4th June).

g) I was advised to write a ‘personal’ letter to the Managing Director of Sony Ericsson.

h) I was advised to write letter to Malayala Manorama and the like.

i) They told me that even they had had similar troubles with defectives, although they were police.

Besides all the above, the SI took me with full escort to The Mobile Store, Pallimukku, Kochi.

And….the policeman and the SI yelled at them. All I had to do was cross my arms, suppress a grin and listen as they gave a superb scolding to them. They told them that it was only because I was a helpless girl that they were taking advantage of me. It was damn funny.

Also they reminded the phone guys about an earlier event where 2 boys who had gotten a bad phone had gone to the shop and broken all the phones on display. The shop gave a complaint, sure, but the boys also got their replacement.

I piped up then with, “ Really?” to get a “No. Don’t do any such thing.” from the police.

The Mobile Store, however, threw all blame on Sony Ericsson and Swiss Time House, the Sony Ericsson service centre.

Finally, the police collected the manager’s contact number and we went to Swiss Time House.

Next stop, GCDA. Let me tell you, that was the best part of the whole day. Can you imagine how I felt when I returned to the scene which I had left 2 hours earlier, being escorted out by the police. Now I was returning, fairly victorious, with the Kerala Police on my side.

This time, we entered Swiss Time House. Immediately, the manager went off to find Mr. Hafis P S, the manager of the Sony Ericsson Experience Store, outside which I had sat in protest. Yes, I know, he’s getting famous, isn’t he. Now it turns out his name is Suleiman. AND, he’s also in charge of Swiss Time House.

Aha! Did I not mention earlier that Sony Ericsson was hand-in-glove with the servicing centres? Here’s proof.

This time, the Swiss Time House people and the manager got scolded by the police. I assure you, it was an elevating experience.

Mr. Suleiman a.k.a. Mr. Hafis P S was asked for his contact details and was asked to forward my grievance to his bosses.

Now, do you understand why I raved about Kerala Police? Don’t you think they are people friendly, supportive and caring?

Then they escorted me outside, gave me a contact number, and told me they would wait while I crossed the road and got on a bus back home.

It’s my opinion that any police force which can make a lone girl feel safe is a good force.

The 2 good things to come out of my Sony Ericsson experience are :

(i) I have learnt half of Cochin city due to having trekked all over trying to find Sony Ericsson service centres and such.

(ii) I have lost the psychological fear of the police every human being has. Kochi Kerala Police rocks! Kerala Police ki jai!

On the bus back and all the next morning, I was a sight for sore eyes. The direct opposite of depression. Full of bubbly life. Imagine the ‘on top of the world’ feeling and feeling of having unloaded a huge weight.

I feel absolutely good. No regrets at all. In fact, I fell like my life acquired meaning. I feel proud of myself. A new feeling, I assure you.

Try standing up for something you believe in. Protest against injustice. DO not sit back and take it. There’s no point in physical damage or hartals ( we’re immune to them now). No point in killing for your beliefs.

But, do not let injustice pass. At the very least, you’ll have mental satisfaction.

As a final piece, I advise all of you not to buy any Sony Ericsson costing above Rs.3000. If its bad(around 50% chance), at least you wont lose too much money. Leave some money as reserve for repair or to buy a replacement phone.

In my case, I was beginning to think of buying another basic phone, to take calls from their Sony Ericsson service centre. If you buy Sony Ericsson, get an extra phone.
One for the service centre and one for your use.

I will update on developments but this is the last of the Sony Ericsson blogs. For now. Nothing personal against anyone. But Sony Ericsson should improve their ground staff training and their after sales service.

Solo sit in dharna at Sony Ericsson

Last week i was taken into police custody for the first time in my life.

If this is your first visit here, this is the reason.

SHORT REPLAY: On 12th March 2009, I bought a Sony Ericsson W 595. 3 weeks later, the display went blank. On 2nd April, the service centre took it in as 'physical damage' and thus, repair was to be done at my cost. Gave it in, and contatced both the phone and email support of Sony Ericsson. Received no reply. 2 months after giving it in for repair, they had not finished working on the phone. Now read on.

Nearly 2 weeks after I had given it in for repair, on the 26th of May, my call to the Swiss Time House, GCDA Complex, Kochi, the servic centre was answered at last with good news. I could collect my handset from them the next day. However, my request for a photo of the phone, before repair, was rejected. The technicians, Mr. Anas and Mr. Vinish were unfortunately 'unable to take pictures'. Perhaps they did not know how to take a photo.

Or perhaps all the camera phones in for repair were out being used by their friends.
Because, you see, when I got back my phone, I was surprised to find several unknown numbers in My Contacts. To be exact, there were 18 numbers which I had not input. Was my phone being used all this time, I have to wonder?

Anyway, I was quite fed up with SE by then. And I realized there was no point looking to them to behave justly.

So, I wrote up the previous blog post and posted it. Also, I summarised the post and printed out about 50 pamphlets.

A side issue: the whole trouble with SE had set me in. I have been overset with problems all my life. As soon as I clear one set, heave a sigh of relief and turn around, there's another problem waving its hands at me. But, this time, the list was just too much.

And to top off all the other problems, there was a kleptomaniac in my hostel. I am down by one lip gloss and one of the dual earphones supplied with the W 595. So, I was very depressed when I could not find ....the phone's battery. My hostelmate and the main suspect ( I'd discovered my gloss with her) owned a SE W200i. Yes, I know the batteries are incompatible. But, I have experience with kleptomaniacs and need, usefulness etc do not figure in the motives list for kleptos.

What I dd was, I accused the girl ( in private) and pleaded with her to return my things. No use.

So, I made a deal with God. Told Him flat out that this was just plain unacceptable. I could take the SE trouble.And I understood that the reason he gave me this trouble, although I'm a harmless, quiet, decent person who doesnt deserve to be troubled like this, was because He knew I have the courage and wits to deal with SE and teach them a good lesson. Enough so that they would be wary of giving the same treatment to the next customer. I know there are a lot of unhappy SE customers. People whom SE has cheated. However, the reason SE has been getting away with such frauds is because the common man does not have the time, patience, wits or guts to take them on. Since I have all the above, I realise God gave me a chance to find meaning in my aimlessly drifting life.

But what I couldnt tolerate was this additional robbery business. In fact, I got so angry with him that I told him, girl to God, that I would not be entering another church until He had resolved this whole phone business. I mean, hello, idi vettiyavalude thalayil thengayum veenu, paambum kadichu. Intolerable.

I had no choice but to buy a battery for the time being. Stopped off at a SE Advantage Store in GCDA. Honestly, the complex is chock full of mobile phone shops. The sales guys promised to get me a BST 33 battery from another shop in the Penta Menaka complex. It would cost Rs. 1000. There is a shortage of SE batteries, it seems.

Well, in the meantime, I went upstairs to Swiss Time House to collect the phone.

Didnt even have to tell STH personnel my name or phone model or job sheet no. They know me by sight, I have been there so many times.

While there, I spotted a man holding a W 595. Gave him the first pamphlet aishwaryamaayi. He and his friend read it.

I got my phone, returned the job sheet. Then I tried to get them to sign a photocopy of the job sheet. Wouldnt do it. They would only write out a new job delivery receipt. And I paid Rs.1048 for the 2 months long repair to the 3 week old phone.

Received my brand-new, once-repaired W 595. Also, the replaced screen, since the repair was out of warranty. And....the lost battery.

My eyes fairly popped out. Oh! I had forgotten I had given the battery in as well. No wonder I could not find it at the hostel.

I apologised the next day to my hostelmate. And to God, as well. Poor guy!

By then, the 2 men who had been reading, came over to me and introduced themselves as advocates. Aha! They gave me one of their mobile numbers. Advised me to buy a copy of the bare COnsumer Protection Act. He he! Excellent piece of new advice.

I was both red faced and relieved when I went to the SE Store to cancel my order.

After that I went to the SE Experience Store, GCDA Complex, Kochi. My plan was to do a solo sit- in in front of that store, and distribute my pamphlets to any customers.

Solo, bcoz my few friends in Ernakulam had major exams the next week. And I do not feel it right to disturb those hard at work cramming in the last minute. And, to be frank, I am not at all sure they would have come anyway. CA exams are not kuttikali.

Sit in bcoz hey, what else do u expect me to do solo. Avanavanaavunnathe cheyyavoo.

In front of the SE Experience Store because, the manager, Hafis P S, during an earlier visit, admitted that he was an employee of SE. SE has no registered office in Kochi, and this is the only SE exclusive store in Kochi, as far as I know. So, its the closest to an SE office. Besides, its in a prominent place and probably gets more footfalls than The Mobile Store, Pallimukku, the seller of my phone. And to top it all, the manager had also told me that he sold 3 or 4 W 595s daily. I nodded my head. He was too busy telling me how I had dropped the phone and was now coming to them with a non-genuine claim, to notice that I had filed that tall tale away for further reference.

The reason I did the sit in was an awareness drive. All I wanted was to educate a few customers about the terrible after sales service and defective phones Sone Ericsson has. Did I say 'terrible'? I meant 'nearly non existent'.

God did this mischief to me now because He wants me to fight for the downtrodden customers of SE who have been cheated. Otehrwise he could have made this phone defect-free and instead caused trouble to my next phone. In that case, I would not have gone to any exertion.
If this trouble had been fast forwarded 3 years, I would have sold the phomne immediately for scrap and got myself a new one. No phone or emails to SE. No service centre visits. No blog. No reaction. SE has terrible luck, tsk tsk.

The difference is, I will be a fully qualified Chartered Accountant in 3 years. Will have no time or patience. And money in plenty to waste, since I entered this profession solely for the money.
Unfortunately, I am only a CA Articled Assistant now, living on a meagre stipend, supported by my father. Time and patience in plenty. But, no money to donate to the 'Sony Ericsson We Dont Care About Customers Fund".

This post is too long so I'm breaking it up here. The rest of the events will be arriving shortly in my next post. Police enne pokkiya katha.

Got Money to Waste? Buy a Sony Ericsson

Thinking about buying a new Sony Ericsson phone? Want it to last longer than a month? Hope to be happy with your purchase? Then, think again. Because a Sony Ericsson is not what you want in that case.

If defective phones and terrible servicing and uncaring customer care and wasted money is what you are looking for, get a Sony Ericsson defective.

I speak from bitter experience. I bought a W595 for Rs.14000 from The Mobile Store, Pallimukku, Ernakulam on 12/03/2009.

2 and a half weeks later, on 29th March, the screen went blank and showed a crack. Ah well, I thought, no problem, its only been 3 weeks. They’ll replace it. After all, its obviously a manufacturing defect. I have been handling this phone like a newborn baby. Haven’t dropped or thrown it. I was wrong.

I went to the seller and then to 2 service centres, since the first would not accept the phone. The second, Swiss Time House, took it in. But ‘out of warranty’ since it was a ‘physical damage’. Which means I would have to pay an estimated Rs.2000 again. They kept accusing me of having dropped the phone.

All I can say at this point is that I have not had enough time in these 2 weeks to drop the phone. I also have not found the time to “go to an airport and go through airport security” in the short time since I bought the phone, which is a suggestion made by the Salora International receptionist.

The next day, 30th March 2009, Monday, I went to The Mobile Store, the seller and complained. They gave me the addresses of the 2 authorised servicing centres in Kochi: Salora International, Chittoor Road, Kochi and Swiss Time House, GCDA Complex, Marine Drive, Kochi.

The next day being 31st March, the financial year close, I being a CA Professional, was unable to follow up.

On April Fools’ however, I went in search of Salora International. I not being a native of Kochi, and having no private transport, I do not know if you can imagine the extent of trouble I had trying to find the little known Salora International. In fact, I didn’t even manage to locate the building that day, having been misdirected. Actually, I went off toward Convent Road, Cochin. Guess who got made an April Fool in advance! It was 6 pm and closing time by the time I reached near the godownish area.

So, the next day, I emerged early from my office and arrived at Salora International. And you know what! I got misdirected into walking in a circle yet again. Anyway. At Salora International, I was barely greeted by a lady named Biji who took one look at the mobile and said “Oh! The screen’s broken. Pay Rs.1244 and we will repair it. Your warranty does not cover physical damage.” Guess what, I didn’t know the warranty covered defective phones.

This lady was the most unhelpful of all the staff I have encountered in connection with this problem. As soon as I pointed out that I had not dropped the phone within those 2 weeks, she said, “Oh! Maybe it got broken when going through airport security.” Well, I assured her that I hadn’t been to an airport recently. Then, as she realized that I had no intention of paying for repair, she shed all responsibility and told me to mail Sony Ericsson. No further help, since I was not going to be a paying customer. She did not know why I could not get through to Sony Ericsson on the Toll Free helpline. Or where the nearest café was. Or how long it might take to get a response to the mail. Either dumb or wilfully unhelpful.

Saddened at being stonewalled and pushed from one place to another by Mobile Store and Salora International, I returned to The Mobile Store. Where they directed me to Swiss Time House.

I got the same response, need I tell. Except I was also subjected to a mild cross examination by the engineers, trying to get me to tell “Oh! Actually, I accidentally dropped the phone. In fact, I am sure I dropped it at least once a day.” I’m pretty speechless at all the ‘customer care’ I have been subjected to so far.

I mailed questions.in@support.sonyericsson.com, and received a mail from the engineer concerned defending the service centre procedure and harassment I received.
2 weeks later, I sent another mail. No reply. Another week later, I sent a mail to the Sony Ericsson Executive Escalation, seee@support.sonyericsson.com. No reply, although I sent reminders.


On the way out of the complex, I spotted a Sony Ericsson Experience Store, GCDA Complex, Marine Drive, Kochi. Went in, asked to talk to the manager. The manager, a Hafis P H, listened very patiently to what I had to say and then showed me certain mobile review websites and the ratings they had to offer on my W 595 phone. Since obviously the average rating was around 80%, I must be lying. I definitely am not one of the poor fools who got the other 20%, am I? Although Mr. Hafis did let drop that maybe I was too unlucky. And he did say, upon my questioning him about a possible reason for the delay in responding to the emails, that maybe I was ‘an unimportant case’ and maybe that was why nobody had bothered to respond.

You can see how concerned Sony Ericsson is once the sale is over.

No wonder Sony Ericsson is posting major financial losses.

No wonder Salora International, a franchisee, broke up with SE last month. They are keeping it secret for the time being, though.

Until then, I’d not called the Sony Ericsson phone help lines (1800111800 or 39011111) since I had no phone and a working girl in a hostel has certain constraints. Now, fed up, I called them. Thrice. The first 2 times, I got cut once I had finished relating the problem. I suspect it is a deliberate trick to discourage impatient customers from calling. I was provided with a case number. I now had 2 case numbers, one each for the phone and for the email.

I was asked to call after 48 hours. When I did so, they said 48 working hours. Next time, I was told that if the executive’s name was Harish, he would have the replacement delivered within 2 days to the service centre. Well, 3 weeks later, it hadn’t. Either his name is not really Harish, or its just Sony Ericsson company policy to assure help but not give it. He also said that since the job sheet said ‘physical damage’, repair would be at my cost.

Catch-22 situation, isn’t it? The service centre won’t accept the phone for repair other than as ‘physical damage’ and if the job sheet says ‘physical damage’, the repair is ‘out of warranty’. I strongly suspect this is a ploy between Sony Ericsson and the service centres to trick customers. On one hand, they wont replace. On the other, they wont repair.

This is a contrast from the Apple customer care stories I’ve heard. There are plenty of other Sony Ericsson horror stories on the net. Guess which phone I’ll be buying next time. And which brand my family and I are never going to consider.


Sony Ericsson definitely has mud for brains, wouldn’t you say? Instead of making me a die-hard, lifelong fan of theirs, they have turned me into a rabid hater of their company. All for Rs.1000 approx. Now, that’s the kind of thing that makes a loss making company and causes it to go bankrupt.

Claiming the trouble on the 2 week old phone is 'physical damage' and pushing back all responsibility to me is just unacceptable. It cannot be proved either way. How do I know a defective phone wasnt sold to me? Further, its just irresponsible on Sony Ericsson's part. I'm sure my friends, family, the clients of my CA firm and the readers of my blog will agree.

I'm sure any court will agree, never mind the fact that Indian laws do not provide for guarantees, only warranties. Especially when the consumer has been sold an obviously defective mobile. I do not think it necessary that I have to suffer for no fault of mine.

Now that this has happened, I have been having second thoughts about the purchase. Maybe I should have gone in for a basic phone. Or for the N81 which was my first choice. Perhaps this W595 purchase was an aberration. Since I owned a Nokia phone previously and my options until the last week before purchase took only Nokia phones into consideration.

What do I do now? One, I’m looking at publicity. Two, I’m going to the consumer court. I should have gone in for offense earlier, instead of playing by the rules and playing fair. I overestimated Sony Ericsson's sense of fair play.



If you have suggestions or help, mail amoomas@gmail.com.


Some stories online

1. W580i Broken inner screen

2. Mobile given for repair at authorised service centre & lost by them

3. W595 Complaints - Worst service provided by Sony Ericsson

4. B4 going to consumer forum
   
5. Sony ericsson not satisfactory
6. 
   

Unlucky Valentine

Oops! Sorry abt the triple posting!


Know what it feels like to be in love? To come out of the long, depressed sad sort of lovesick moping state that is probably an essential part, at least for one participant of any love business. And think, "OK. Maybe I stand a chance. All right, so its a slight one. But a chance it is. "


And with that slight chance, I'm on top of the world, or thereabouts. I'm grinning like a chimpanzee thats got a whopping whiff of laughing gas. OK, so the crashing down to earth part will follow. I'm not so high that I dont know how much distance I have to fall. But I'll just push that off to another day. For today, I'm going to stay upbeat. Maybe tomorrow I'll return to my normal beat up state and continue moping about.

You have to contrast my current rhapsody with my normal, cynical, depressed, moping self. No hopes, no dreams (except for the day kind), no wishes of any kind. Ah well! Lets not go down that lane towards the depressing void. Ah well! I'm fairly unperturbable about the outcome. It cant be any worse than all the worst case scenarios I have already projected. Go on, life! Throw whatever you have at me.

XS XXXXXXXX, 2008

Today was the best day....of this year. Maybe not the best one of my life. But it could definitely run in the race for the 10 best ordinary days in my life. A few more days like this one and I just might swallow my embarrassment and take a long term loan of my pride (one of the few characteristics I still zealously guard, and occasionally camouflage as arrogance).

I being I, I would go and declare my intentions ( wink! Wink!) openly. Unfortunately, that was near impossible, in practice. Apart from the embarrassment (which I'd swallow), I (or is it 'me' this time) being a girl and the 'girls shouldnt chase boys' crap. There's also the matter of my scruples. I simply dont have the heart to destroy another person's life as well. Entetho poyi. Its an open secret that anyone who aligns his lot with me is in for hell.

Since the guy involved is up there on Cloud 1 or 2, on a pedestal, whereas I'm down here on Cloud 9 ( Of course, normally I would be mucking about in the mud and pretending that my mud pies are tasty) and since my rose-tinted glasses are the cheap variety, I do not think I stand a chance.

Have I written a vague enough blog? Anybody get any idea what or whom or when I'm talking about? Heh heh!! I'm getting quite good at this – beating around the bush and writing bloated stuff containing nothing much. Ah well! Hope it isnt too senti.

Sorry, this blog should have gone to my personal diary (which I write in thrice a year on average), not my Blog Diary. But then, I wouldn't have been able to be vague in public, would I?

Hah! I think I've got enough for a blog now. Whew!


XT XXXXXXXX 2008

Well! Thats a surprise. I'm still floating happily. Ah well! I'm going to go with the flow and flash my pearly whites at all the unsuspecting folks out there, for as long as this lasts.

XZ XXXXXXXX 2008

Whoa! This must be a record. The longest (and still counting ) period I have come out of my depression. One week on and I still bear nothing but goodwill for everyone. I, the dour battle-axe, have been doling out the milk of human kindness, and raining the apples of heaven for the past week on everyone.

Perhaps this could lead to a return to the old me. The one before the Engineering Revolution. I sure hope so. Coz that one had dreams. And ambition. And wasnt half so cynical or sarcastic. The one who lived. Not existed. The one who had a bright future ahead of her. Not the one who doesnt much care what the future holds and couldnt care less if she dropped dead tomorrow.

By now, I'm pretty sure it's not just a crush. But, dunno for how much longer the Cloud 9 state is gonna last. I can already feel it breaking down and me losing confidence. Sigh!

XA XXXXXXXX 2008

Ooops. I'm back down where I belong – in the dumps.

Just remembered today that this is a leap year. And we guy-chasing females are allowed to chase guys in this year (Or is February 29 the only day we have permission? ) If we do have the year, then I'd better get a move on. Or wait another 4 years? But, the grapes will have gone by then.

You know, its time to stop laughing at me. Grrrr.......I could be any of u in the past or the future. So, beware!

NOPE. NO PUNCHLINE, SUCKERS! ;) BET YOU WERE EXPECTING ONE.Then, there is the problem of my being too academically young for these kind of ideas. 'Now is the time for me to study hard so I can enjoy my life later.' The only hole in that line of thinking is the high probability that I would be too romantically old by the time I finish my academics. Leave aside the chances that the grapes I want will have been plucked by a better fox than I. I'll have to console myself with the old 'must have been sour, would have given me a stomach ache' routine.

Tagged by Nithin

Tagged by Nithin a long time back.

1. What is your first name?
   Amooma
   


2. What is your favorite food right now?
   Any junk food.
   


3. What high school did you go to?
   A CBSE School in Kerala.
   


4. What is your favorite drink?
   Water.....Wait a sec, that question puts me in mind of the time I went to a Qwiky's Coffee with some friends. The prices for a coffee are horrible. 35 and 40 plus.Well, one of the items was 'Hot Chocolate'. Imagining a cup full of melted chocolate, that's what I ordered. Poor I, I had to drink up a cup of steaming hot Boost/ Bournvita/ Complan laced milk. Damn! To think I paid out Rs.35 for something I make a big fuss at home before I drink.
   


5. Who is your celebrity crush?
   Ummm.. a tough one coz I aint the type to have crushes on the unattainable. ;) I'll pick Aamir Khan.
   

6. What is your dream vacation?
   

Someplace with a history, that I can explore and stay at until I'm satisfied. But, that requires a like-minded companion or two. I'd really like to travel around the world. Maybe even go on a cruise. Whooo!

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Hard working, and happy.

8. What do you love most in life?
   
   
   My friends?


9. What is one word that describes you?
   Bookworm?
   
   


10. What is your user name:
    Which do u want? I've got too many. At least 6 or 7 active ones. One of them is 'amoomas'.
    
    


11. I TAG: no one. For once, I'm pardoning everyone.