Busy busy busy

Hiya... it has been a busy weekend with loads to do:

• Call Samsung service centre for removal of AC and LCD. I had to call everday for 5-6 days. They would tell me someone will call back in 24 hours. When I called back to complain they would ask me to wait till 8 pm... after which their call centre closes and they cannot be reached until the next day. A very, very, very frustrating incident. Finally, I did what I do best... bullied them into giving the service.
• Call Airtel DTH for removal of antenna... this was by far the MOST frustrating job. I called and placed the request one week in advance... for 3-4 days I received calls from executives everyday wanting to come and remove the antenna. I wanted someone to come on Saturday or Sunday. Nobody called on Friday and I called them giving a specific time for someone to turn up. I was assured someone would be there. Nobody turned up. I called back... they said executive is scheduled to come in the evening who will call in 2 hours. Nobody called, of course. I took the contact of the service manager... who was on leave and he directed me to another female... who directed me to another guy... who directed me to a 3rd person... whose phone was unreachable. To end the long story the guy turned up in the evening... when he wanted to and refused to even wait for 5 mins extra.
• Movers and packers have taken ALL my stuff. Yes.. I am living without TV, bed, wardrobe, fridge, gas connection etc. The house looks so much bigger now... but feels as lonely as I am. I don't look forward to coming home. My only support is the broadband connection but even that will be gone this week
• Follow up with the landlord on the deposit is a pain. He was giving me stories about how his wife is in the hospital and he is busy. I asked KC only 1 question; "If we had to return someone's money and one of us was on our death bed... would we have done it on time?" The answer is "Yes". When you make a commitment you keep it. And it is MY money, I have every right to demand it on time. On our part, we have never delayed any of his payments... instead have supported him by paying him before time. But then, a landlord will always be a landlord.
• Gas has been disconnected... this was a smoother process since all my documents were in place.

Managing a house alone is not easy and none of the companies make it easier.

Comfort Zone

Hey... I had my farewell with my team. I had been preparing in my head over and over again what I am going to say but everything flew out of the window. I suck at being emotional except when it comes to being a clingy, emotional wreck of a girlfriend. I excel at THAT.

This entire week has been about packing, calling electrician, customer care of Samsung, Airtel DTH, Airtel broadband, MTNL, gas connection etc etc etc... not to mention- the actual packing, cleaning the fridge. So much to do. Tomorrow the house will become completely empty. I will only have mattresses and pillows. Just the way we started off.

I am scared of whats coming next. The known enemy is always safer than the unknown. Being a Gemini I love change and at the same time getting out of the comfort zone takes some effort.

When I was in Gurgaon I was so bored 3 years back. I wanted to move out and when the announcement of the movement came I was scared. Life had been comfy till then... work from 10 to 6... saturdays off... no pressure of sales... no accountability... and no supervision. This is the 2nd time I have to move out of my comfort zone and the challenges have already doubled.

Wish me luck, people.

Book Reviews

Being alone in Gurgaon gave me a lot of time to catch up on reading and below are the book reviews:

• Single in the City by Susmita Bose

The book is a collection of columns by Susmita. She used to write the columns on her single life in Delhi for HT. If you think her single life was all about fun, dating, sex... well, you will be disappointed. For some reason, Susmita steered cleared of these topics and mainly wrote abou

t

friends, Bengali food and family. I am surprised the columns were popular. I w

ould never read them with my morning Bournvita. The title is completely misleading.

• The Hindi Bindi club- Monica Pradhan

I have steered clear of this book for the longest time... it had been slated as "chick lit

" in my head... one of the cliches...

I was pleasantly surprised. The book is a cliche but well written. It is about 3 frien

ds in USA who have migrated from India. It describe

s the relationships with their family- daughters, husbands and among themselves. Good book except the end... which drags a lot. Worth a read.

• Diary of the wimpy kid: The ugly Truth

The last in the series... as of yet. Everyone should read all the books. I will watch the movie soon.

Back home

Hiya... I am back home and I managed to finish the most important task- washing 2 bagfuls of clothes.

Searching a house in Gurgaon is more difficult and expensive than in Mumbai. No kidding. 3 years back I was looking for a 1bhk and had to settle for a 2 bhk shared with a male colleague. Right now it is a 2bhk and brokers were pushing me for a 3 bhk since there are a very few complexes with 2 bhk. True or false? I don't know but we had to exceed our budget by a few thousand. I don't know if the flat is worth that much but we didn't have an option.

This is what I was looking for in a dream home:

• Close to office... not more than 30 mins of distance in peak traffic
• 2 bhk with 2 bathrooms and 2 balconies
• Good complex with good security
• Good view
• Walking distance from a market

Gurgaon has 2 main markets (not malls)- Galleria and Qutub Plaza. It is preferable to stay around either of these. I had planned to start searching Sunday onwards once KC was with me but it was Holi and brokers were not too keen on working that day. That would have left only 2 days to finalize everything (flight back was on Wed). I decided to start the search on Thursday itself:

• Day 1: Thursday- The broker I had contacted when in Mumbai showed me a dirty 3 bhk. I wanted to hit him over the head. I wanted a 2 bhk ONLY. Another broker called me to Sushant Lok and didn't turn up
• Day 2: Friday- My colleague and I went to see a flat in Silver Oaks (the complex I was staying in 3 years back). Flat was good but rent was over my budget. My colleague was not too pleased with the area and showed me other complexes which are farther away.
• Day 3: Saturday- I didn't go to work since brokers had promised to show me flats in the morning. In the evening I managed to see 2 flats- Silver Oaks and Regency Park. I liked both. 3 days, 15 brokers and only 4 flats? By now I requested the brokers to show me anything in my budget- no matter how far. I was afraid and decided to pick one of the 2.
• Day 4: Sunday- KC and me were trapped in the room for most of the day. It was Holi... there was no conveyance available and everything was closed. I showed him Regency Park but he was not too impressed... found the flat old and decaying.
• Day 5: Monday- We decided to go ahead with the Silver Oaks flat. I knew KC would like it. Closed the formalities. None of the brokers called back with options even on the 5th day.

Here are my views on Gurgaon/Delhi:

• Nothing much has changed in Gurgaon... it is still a concrete jungle
• Traffic has become much, much worse
• Thankfully, there are a few autos available for travel but they charge a bomb
• Delhi NCR is a shoppers paradise when it comes to brands... Mango has 2 outlets in Delhi (that I know of... maybe there are more) and 1 outlet in Gurgaon while Mumbai has only 1 outlet
• Delhi women are well dressed. I could count the number of women who had not put on make up. Mac, Colorbar, Inglot etc have their outlets. Inglot in Select Citywalk has 50-60 shades of nail paints... it is unbelievable.

I look forward to living in a flat on the 14th floor with enough space for our stuff.

KC and I have been arguing on where we will put our LCD and whether we want the 2nd TV in the bedroom or in the study. It is kinda fun.

The countdown begins... 10 days more.

Coming soon... reviews of 3-4 books.

Cricket Vs Me

Cricket and I have never been friends... not even acquaintances until now. Now, we share the same bedfellow and the threesome is not fun.

I have been in a boarding school all my life and cricket was far, far away. We played throwball and basketball. Our house was female dominated and dad was not too interested in cricket. On rare days when he managed to get a peek in, the females swooped in and snatched the remote. My bro is a cricket fan and we indulged him during holidays.

It is a different story now. KC was describing how he used to watch every match at home, watch the highlights also, read every article in the papers, discuss matches with friends and play the game at every opportunity.

I do not want to deny KC his passion and first love and trust me, I have tried to take interest in the game. But its not working... the more I watch it, the more I hate it. It does not help that there is no escape... if the TV is off... people post about it on fb and tweet about it. That is very weird... if I am a cricket fan I am watching the match, do I need to read about every over, run and wicket on fb/twitter? And if I am not a fan, I don't bloody care.

Last Saturday was damn boring. The match dragged on for hours and gave me a headache. No amount of reading or Gossip Girl could make me ignore it.

This Saturday, KC decided to let go off the end of match so we could go out for dinner.

I do not understand how people "watch" games. If you enjoy something, play it. What is the fun in watching it?

KC's recent wish is that I will watch the match with him and enjoy it. I don't see that happening. All I can do is let him watch it in peace. And I am pushing my tolerance to the utmost limits.

Lazy Sunday

It is a super duper lazy Sunday. The maid came at .. I don't remember. I only opened the door and then she let the cook in. I was in a deep, deep slumber. These days Sundays begin at 11 am for me. I cannot wake up before that. Its like I am catching up on all the sleep lost during the week.

I was extremely tired yesterday having woken up at 6 am for the training and then drove to Vashi to pick up KC. By the time we reached home I had no energy. KC was sweet enough to cook some Maggi to perk me up.

Dinner was at Aromas Thane... a fab place in Hiranandani Meadows.

We finished packing most of the stuff lying around. Now it is upto the movers and packers. This week is also hectic... I will be flying to Gurgaon for 6 days. Hope to find a perfect house without too much heartburn.

Ciao.

Off to

... a training in the remotest area of Mumbai. So... not looking forward to it. I will be cut off from internet and civilization. The only hope is... my laptop. I will carry it along so that I can atleast watch 1 episode of Gossip Girl every night. I am downloading and saving the episodes to last 2 days.

Bubuye.... next update on Sunday.