A typical customer service call

I tried calling the Airtel DTH customer service centre to get my DTH shifted to my new residence. They kept me waiting till my patience broke and I decided to drop the call after 20 long minutes. This is the usual experience that we get when we try calling a customer service. Below lines are very true with respect to a customer service call. Read them have a laugh and next time you have to call a customer service make sure you have your retirement plans ready with you.

A typical customer service call comprises of a five minute, cuss-laden punching of numbers to get to the queue, followed by eight minutes of hearing a lyrical voice repetitively assuring you, 'Your wait time will be of five minutes'. Then comes the twenty-five minutes of hearing the horrendous and short music piece over and over till your butt could probably fart out the tune. Finally, the grand finale - a two-minute of actual talk time with a highly accented and sometimes intelligible voice aping to be something they are not.

1983 to 2011

Someone posted this video link on Facebook, I looked at it, loved it and felt this is the complete compilation and a great video. Sharing it with you guys. Hope you like it as well.

LINK TO VIDEO

And the award goes to...

No writing, story or comment that includes cricket can be complete without the reference of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, a man who had seen it all and achieved it all at the greatest level of all. The only thing that was missing from this man's wardrobe was the World Cup medal. He had to wait for 6 World Cups to finally achieve this feat and when it came, he called it the best moment of his life.


To quote the little master when asked for his reactions and a possible retirement: "This is a moment to celebrate, not one to think about my future, This is the reason I started playing cricket; to do something for the country. The process has been a long one, and I am still enjoying my game, so I don't see the reason to change anything.". He further added "As a young boy I dreamt of winning this trophy; that's where it all started. This is by far the best moment and it's the one I've been waiting for 24 years. There have been heart-breaking losses; in past campaigns we lost in the semi-finals and finals. I never gave up because this was my dream and now the team has managed to win this cup for the nation."


The modesty of the man was seen at its best when he decided to give all the credit to his team members and not keep any for himself. He has been a great servant of the game and I consider him to be the best batsman ever. There may be criticism about him not delivering in tight matches but I believe that matches in which Sachin has delivered never turned out to be tight matches as more often than not India won the match comfortably.

Mind you we are not talking about just any other cricketer, we are talking about the master of the game, the man who has played more matches than any one else on this planet, the man who has the most number of runs in both forms of the game, the only man in the history of ODI to score a double century, a man with almost 100 International centuries. You should take a bow, sigh, relax, analyze what you are about to say and only then dare to say anything about this GOD of cricket. He is the best and all the records that he had set would not be broken in decades. This is a salutation to the best cricketer that the world has ever seen. Well done SIR.

World Cup : unsung heroes

There have been some outstanding performances but there have been men in the background that also need a mention in the world cup winning squad. To start with one cannot forget the role of Gary Kirsten, the current coach of the Indian cricket team. He has been excellent through out his tenure and the team has achieved great heights under his able guidance.

We should also give due respect to the physio of the team who has done a great job by keeping all the players fit for the match. In this regard we should also not forget the role of BCCI who let the captain and coach rest the key players in rotation for the last five or six months.

The Indian think tank, which includes many veterans who have played the game which includes people like Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly etc. I would also like to name Robin Singh here who was a brilliant fielder and has transferred his share of knowledge to the team members. There are several other heroes of this victory who have not got the recognition that they deserve so I thought I would thank them all in my own way.

The World Cup Saga

The cricket world cup has been around for some time and is going to stay a bit longer thanks to Dhoni and his team who made India the champions in this edition of the world cup. Most of the people were expecting India to do well. I remember a day as early as 22nd Feb 2011 when I was talking to Jitender Singh on our way to a friend's marriage and both of us opined that this time it should be India. Though we thought the finals would feature India and South Africa rather than Sri Lanka. So people were anticipating an Indian win.

Home conditions, players in form, a good unit under a cool calm leader, blend of youth and experience etc were the main reasons for people to believe that India has a chance. But I was surprised at the way the team played the last leg of the tournament i.e. the Quarter Final with Australia, Semi with Pakistan and Finals with Sri Lanka. India as we all know were a batting side with only Zaheer and Harbhajan to share the bowling attack, but it was surprising to see people like Yuvraj come up and shoulder the responsibility even when he was out of form.

There were some superb turnarounds in the matches, Sachin was on top of his game, Sehwag was doing his bit by giving us quick starts and then there was a solid middle order to take us to the end. The team was very balanced and even the fielding was good by Indian standards. The best thing was the commitment and the body language was very positive. It was just a case where everything fell in place properly and India made it through. It was a very satisfying victory to say the least.

I am overly impressed by Dhoni and his innings under pressure in the Finals. I love the way he talks, he is so mature and I always find him saying the words I want him to say. He is one person who can do no wrong, he led India to the T20 World Cup and now the ODI world cup. He is very situation aware and does not get carried away. You must watch Harsha Bhogle talking through the World Cup Final .It was a team effort and it underlines the fact that no Individual can win you a World Cup or any other tournament. Sachin can finally add the World Cup medal to his list of awards.

India World Champions 2011

I am still recovering and the victory still needs to sink in. I was anticipating an India victory since the start of the world cup, but when the moment came I found myself in tears. It is a dream that every Indian has been living and suddenly it has been realized. It is an extraordinary feeling and I am totally lost on words. I will try and sum up my emotions in subsequent posts.

The most satisfying thing was to see India beat the best in business, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It would have been a different story if we had achieved that feat by beating weaker teams. I am so very exited and happy. The master deserved it and he got it. It was a awesome feeling to see the entire team members carrying the great man on their shoulders. I was overly moved by the comment of Virat when he said that "Sachin has carried the hope of Indians for 21 years" so they carried him along.