It was a thursday night and I was scanning through channels and there was a show called "Cinema Theriyuma" in Raj T.V. They had done a shoddy photoshop work of Ajith and Trisha by merging their faces. Anyone who watches any of the tamil channels will not find it tough to spot it out. Surprisingly the hosts were screaming at the top of lungs asking people to call up 5664426 and tell the name of the actor and actress and win Rs.40,000.
I complete the first round of scanning the channels and was back to this show after five minutes and saw that still no one had been able to get the right answer and the show hosts were literally begging someone to call up and answer and win the price money. Now it got me curious because I was surprised that no one was able to answer the question.
There were two things that striked me
1) There were no one watching RAJ T.V and hence there was no one to call them up
2) It was my lucky day to win 40,000 over a phone call
The catch was that I will have to call from my mobile phone and I will be charged Rs.10 per minute. I decided to go ahead and test my luck. I thought it was my lucky day as I already had survived what could have been a major accident that day without even a scratch. I called up the number and I was put on hold with an automated voice talking crappy stuff. Within few seconds of making the call I sensed something was wrong as the hosts were literally begging people to call them and answer and here I was put on hold.
I waited for five minutes and surprisingly no one got a chance to speak to the host. That meant I had burnt Rs.50 by than. Now I got the entire scheme of scam. I am sure atleast few hundred people would have called this number and burned out the Rs.10 per minute from their mobiles and this seemingly little money of would have accumulated to a decenet sum.
I am not sure who is behind this show but I can only tell this... Eppadi ellam emathranga paaruya...
I have been suggested by all my friends and well wishers who should have been fed up by now about my constant ranting of Aircel http://bit.ly/cvgQwy to change my mobile service provider instead of fighting these corporate thieves. That did sound like an easy way out but wait….
This is number has been my mobile identity for more than five years that means it has left an impression in lot of places that I remember of and that I don’t remember of. This is the number to which I get bank alerts, credit card alerts, subscriptions alerts, online registrations alerts, messages and calls from all those places I have made an impression. Now how do I change in all those places?
Today when I call an inquiry service the operator greets me by my name, thanks to the impression my mobile number has already made in their database. Today when I call my call taxi provider he sends the taxi to my residence without asking for address because of the mobile impression that has been already made and tomorrow I don’t want a call taxi standing in front of my house when someone else calls up from my number.
In the last few years I have met with hundreds of people and I have lost touch with few but once in a while I do get that surprise calls asking me to identify who they are? Now how do I reach to all those wonderful people and tell them I have changed my number because a ruthless telecom company wanted to cheat me.
Running away has never been a permanent solution to a problem and how many times have we been forced to change the number just because we hated the service of a service provider and how many contacts have we lost in the process.
I don’t want to give away my mobile identity just because a mobile service provider decided to screw me up. I believe this number I own is important to me. I believe this identity that has been registered at various places is important for me.
I have tried all the channels for more than a year now. I have been regularly asking Aircel customer support to provide me with proper bills when more than a years effort failed, I approached the nodal officer and in the last three weeks they promised me uninterrupted service till my issue was resolved only to disrupt it thrice and finally I reached out to the appellate authority and what does he do he promises the same only to break it within hours…
For all those who were praying for number portability good news is the October 31st deadline will be further delayed because DOT does not have the spine to ensure mobile companies adhere to the deadlines that has been postponed many times. TRAI wants DOT to show some spine and act upon these erring telecom companies.
If you believe your number is an identity of yours, please join the “Allow us to keep our number” facebook group because TRAI wants DOT to act tough to ensure telecom companies implement number portability and our system only acts when they know they are being watched.
Please do tweet it and share it with your friends in Facebook if you believe the number that connects you to the rest of the world is important for you and you don’t want to run around places like me when a telecom company decides to screw your happiness.
Ten months ago a butterfly kissed me...
I set it free on the same day....
Today a butterfly with broken wings...
Kissed me again...
Eight key take aways from Patch Adams movie apart from how much humor and caring means...
Conditioned minds
We are real individual. Then somewhere along the way we are drawn to conform. It is as if we are conditioned by programmed responses. But sometimes you can alter the programmed response... just by changing some of the conditions, altering the parameters. The goal is to break thru programmed responses by changing normal parameters... and getting a new emotional response from the person.
Death
The last breath. Paying a debt to nature. The big sleep. God's way of saying "Slow down" To check out. To shuffle of this mortal coil. To head for the happy hunting ground. To blink for an exceptionally long period of time. To find oneself without breath.
A new approach to facing problems
They helped me realize that by helping them i could forget my own problems. And I did. I really helped some of them and for the first time in my life I forgot my own problems.
Love
I love you without knowing how...
or from when or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride.
I love you because I know no other way than this.
So close that your hand on my chest is my hand.
So close that when you close your eyes...
I fall asleep.
Conversation with god
So what now, huh,
What do you want from me?
Yeah i could do it.
We both know you wouldnt stop me
So answer me, please.
Tell me what you are doing.
Okay let's look at the logic.
You create man
Man suffers enormous amounts of pain
Man dies.
Maybe you should have had just a few more brainstorming sessions... prior to creating.
You rested on the seventh day.
Maybe you should have spent that day on "compassion"
You know what.
You're not worth it.
Everyone can be a Doctor
Everyone is in need of some form of physical or mental help. They are patients. But also every person who comes to the ranch is in charge of taking care of someone else... Whethere its cooking for them, cleaning them... or even as simple a taks as listening. That makes them doctors. I use that term broadly but us not a doctor someone who helps someone else? Doctors offer counsel and hope.
Indifference
What is wrong with death sir? What are we so mortally afraid of? Why cant we treat death with a certain amount of humanity and dignity and decency... and god forbid, maybe even humor? Death is not the enemy gentlemen. If we are gonna fight a disease, let's fight one of the most terrible disease of all... "INDIFFERENCE"
Cultivate friendship
Transference is inevitable, sir. Every human being has an impact on another. Dont let them numb you out to the miracle of life. Always lvie in awe of the glorious mechanism of the human body. Let that be the focus of you studies and not a quest for grades... Dont wait till you are on the ward to get your humanity back. Start your interviewing skills. Start talking to strangers. Talk to your friends. Talk to wrong numbers, everyone. And cultivate friendships...
