Indifferent

Time will roll on
Fast and slow all at once
Blink for a moment and you've missed out on much
Stare all you like and you'll have seen nothing worthwhile as such
You'll think you have so much of it in your hands
But when you close your fist to hold it, it slips through your fingers like loose sand
A whole day stretches before you and you think you're gonna spend it wise
But by the time the sun sets you're caught wondering how so fast it flies
There's a day when you wish there were a few more hours
To make up for what was wasted stuck cursing behind the slow crawling snake of cars
Doesn't take much to make you feel better when someone tells you that it's not the hours in your moments but the moments in your hours that matter
And you reminisce in joy gathering them up from your memories where they now scatter
But that's little comfort when you think of what this life is now all about, living in constraints that were pre-defined
Wishing you could live instead by your rules, chasing your dreams and master of your time
But time is no ones slave, no ones mistress, no ones enemy, no ones friend
It was rolling on before you and will roll on after too, unmindful, uncaring, unaffected, indifferent.

I'm old enough now, to want to be young again
To reminisce a past filled with walks in the rain
To want to turn back time and undo some of my past
To look on old roads and wonder how they did change as fast
To have known some people who are now dead
But whose memories will live on in my head

And yet I'm young enough to wish I was more mature than I am
To hope, that someday I'll be wiser, perhaps even a better man
To yet hold on to naive old dreams
To spend mindless hours with my feet dipping in a stream
To look forward to welcoming new lives in mine
And believe that with their presence, at the end, we'll be just fine!

So I have managed one poem in the past one year.

Bikram Wisodm : The Federer Remorse

Yes, I am a Federer fan. Yes, I adore the way he has carried himself all these years.
Now that we've established these facts, we can move ahead knowing this will be an absolutely unbiased and a very objective post.

Did you watch the 2014 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Final? If you did, you witnessed an absolute masterclass in Tennis from two great champions of the game. The end though, as a friend put it later, was sudden. Up until that point in the fifth, I'd absolutely have put my money of Federer making it an unprecedented eighth. Though in all honesty, it would be a precedented eighth Wimbledon crown.

The way Roger carried himself on court though, got me thinking back to the year he had lost to Nadal and cried on court right through the presentation. This wasn't the same man though. This was a calm, composed Roger who seemed at peace with losing to a man who had lost 4 of the last 5 finals he had been in and was filled with self doubt. And like Novak put it, Roger seemed to have let him win it.

I know, conspiracy theory.

But that gets us to the theory of 'The Federer remorse'. It's when you look back on your former self and cannot believe the kind of imbecile you'd been. Just like Roger. He was so much in control of himself (and the course of the match too?) that he was completely at peace with losing to Novak. Right through the match, Fed seemed more concerned about not making the ball-boys and ball-girls run for the ball than he was about trying to run down the Djokovic serve. He looked a complete Champion to me. Something Novak might be a couple of years down the line. Maybe then, Novak might look back on himself and be filled with the 'Oh what an imbecile I was!' emotion. Or in other words, The Federer Remorse! 

I have my pen in hand but it doesn't feel familiar anymore
Leave alone feel like I've put words together to serenade you with, so long before
Thoughts running nineteen to the dozen, those were my glory days
Unfettered by materialistic thoughts, unmoved by worldly ways
I pick the pen again today, to reminisce those times gone by
Or perhaps to let myself know that I still reside with me, that maybe he could still be found if I really try
But words are difficult to find today, they aren't flowing effortlessly
I'm fumbling through the cobwebs in my mind, waddling listlessly
Perhaps I ought to put the pen down now, let the memories of those days go
Or maybe just get back to writing loads again, I'm not really sure, I don't really know....

Should you buy a Micromax?

Perhaps I am unfortunate and have ended up with a bad handset but nothing can excuse the terrible service Micromax offers its customers. If you are thinking of buying this phone (or any of the other Micromax phones on offer) I would advise you to reconsider and explore phones (or TVs or whatever else you are considering) from some of the other established manufacturers out in the market.

To give you more background (and this is just a sob story, so expect a lot of whining and a lot of complaining), I spent a lot of time researching the web for reviews and tech specs of all the budget phones available in the market. I have to admit, given my budget constraints, the Canvas HD was not my first preference and the reason I purchased it was because Lenovo phones weren’t quite as popular and because I had my reservations on the quality of service they might afford, if and when needed later. The underlying assumption was that the significant client base that Micromax had garnered would imply a reliable and wide base of customer service. Boy was I wrong on all counts.

After buying the phone in April 2013, my wife used it for a grand total of 2 months after which the touchscreen stopped responding. Happily, we found a service center not very far from my wife's workplace but that was where our happiness ended. The trip to the service center involved a 4 hour wait (I kid you not!), just to get the phone inspected by the engineers. The sheer number of people waiting to submit their Canvas HDs was rather disconcerting. Nonetheless, the hopeless optimist in me hoped that the phone would not spend more than 15 days in the service center, as assured by them. Foolish and naive me.

Repeated visits to the service center to enquire about the status of repairs were always greeted by "We'll call you with an update." Like a fool in love, I kept waiting for their call, not knowing that this relationship was doomed and I was being stood up. My wife though, is smarter than me and after three months of fighting and abusing and cursing and following up with customer care over twitter and email, she finally had the phone in hand.

Note: Time since phone has been purchased: approx. 5 months, time we have had it, approx. 2 months.

So, cheerfully, we took charge of our beloved phone, almost ready to forgive and forget. This story though, has no happy ending or a happy between or a happy before-the-end or anything to do with any joy what so ever, so you might as well be prepared for more sobbing.

The phone had several signs of physical damage, on the metal band along its edge and disturbingly, the menu options at the bottom, which were near transparent. Another argument later, they begrudgingly took it back and we were returned a better looking phone, IMEI updated on the original bill, et al.

We kept the phone in the box, intent on using it after we had the screen guard and case in place. Given our white-collared slavery though, we weren’t able to put the necessary protection in place for a few weeks and when we did finally have everything in place, we realized that the earpiece wasn’t functioning. Moreover, put the phone to charge and it would shut down. (Check the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vc2TPj932A&feature=youtube_gdata_player)

Once again, we faced the daunting task of spending a few hours at the service center. This time though, I decided to be smart and choose a different service center, to hopefully have a better experience. (Keeping with the theme of this story though), "SOB!"

The service center informed us that the IMEI on the bill and that of the phone was different and they couldn’t accept the phone! We made our way back to the original service center, who said that it was an honest mistake, promptly changed the IMEI, stamped the bill and took it in for repairs, in the first week of November. After waiting patiently (If you are looking for some positive, you can take one here: I am a more patient man thanks to this experience!), we finally called up customer care, fought to speak with some seniors and asked them for a speedy resolution. The day was 30 Dec 2013. We were assured of a resolution within a max of 10 working days.

Today is the 13th of Feb, 2014. Needless to say, no response and I have absolutely no idea of what they have done with my kidnapped phone. Sigh.

I have recently approached the consumer forum and shall definitely be pursuing legal action. Should you still buy a Micromax? I hope you can answer that question yourself.



Oh! And just to sum up,

Number of months since purchase: 10,

Number of months of use: 2,

Number of months of repossession by Micromax: 7.

I haven’t begun counting the interest they owe me on INR15,250 that I paid Micromax to hold my phone hostage (Weird kidnapping this, the ransom was paid beforehand!)

In case you are a die-hard Micromax fan though, I have all the electronic records of our email conversations with Micromax and the recorded voice calls of all the customer care assurances. I'll gladly let you verify them for yourself.

Leading the race, well done mate!
Doing much better than you'd expected!
But when did the small things become immaterial?
When did your joys become so material?
When did long hours at work gain precedence over an evening with your friends?
When did deadlines start making you so tense?
When did their numbers become more important than your stories?
When did long walks on the beach with her get confined to your memories?
Quick to anger, slow to forgive...
When Biks, did you forget what it means to live?