Tuesday, April 27, 2004

The Great Indain Poll-ution, or, "Vote's up, Doc?"

Aah election day. For weeks, we have had irritating campaings and realms of news space dedicated to this big farce. Well heck, let me be a patriotic Indian and be a part of it.
So i got up early and went to vote. Had to spend about 45 mins running here n there to find out our booth number and all that jazz. I finally have everything in place, and get the ink on my finger, and tell the officer i would like to protest vote (for those who came in late, they register you and put "refused to vote" against your name. That way your voteatleast is safe, no one can misuse it). The officer looked as if i'd asked whether he'd like to be sodomised. So no protest voting. They'd never heard of it. Great. So i wasted my vote, randomly chose of of the lame ass independants who would never win.
What a gyp.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

"Is Your Dad Home?"

I wonder what kind of training telemarketers get. Definetely not enough to remove all those age-old prejudices and conventional ideas.

//Translated from Hindi
TM - "Hi can i speak to the person in who's name this phone is registered?"
ME - "Not at home"
TM - "What time will he get back from work?"
ME - (What the fuck?) "Ahh, late evening"
TM - "And you mom?"
ME - "At work too"
TM - "She's also working? ('doing service')"
ME - "Yeah"
TM - "Any holidays?"
ME - "Sundays"
TM - "Ok, i'll call up then"
ME - "Sure, fine"
<*click*>

It's kinda infuriating how they assume your "father" is simply the one who's earning and everyone else is just wasted at home. I mean, that lady just assumed that the phone would be registered in my dad's name, and didnt even bothering confirming whether it actually is so or not.

The last time i got a call like this, i was pretty morbid.
There was some telemarketing chick asking if she could speak to my dad.
Well no, i said, he's not around.
Could she call later?
No, i said, i dont think you could speak to him.
She was perplexed. Why, she asked.
Because he's dead, i said.

I could literally feel her shock over the phone. I guess it was kinda cruel of me to put her in a spot like this, but i didnt care. She was flusterred and after muttering some lame half-assed apologies, she hung up.

See, i wonder if i should really talk to them like this or not. I mean, this is still India. We may have a modernised exterior, but under the facade, the heart that beats is still black and stuck in prehistoric mode. She was just doing her job, just regurgitating the shit her superiors trained her to do. Not her fault.
But still, i guess since i cant ever reach their superiors, i just say whatever's on my mind.

Next time, i'm gonna ask them whether this is what they have been trained to ask or is it just their assumption.
Next time, i'll be civilized before i get medieval on their asses.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Reunion

We had a school reunion yesterday. It was neat meeting all the guys after such a long time. I've been in touch with most of my brother's friends, as they would keep coming over, but the others, must have been more than year.
When thing got down to official business, yours truly was, as usual, dumped with all the work. Heh, only time, i get the power, the control. I get to be the moderator for our school alumni group. When i get around to creating it, that is.