I didn’t do anything for a week, just moaning that my PS3 has become another junk which just took space at home. But finally decided to do something and did some research on the net. There were lots of people who had the same problem with their PS3, especially the 60 GB model which I also owned, but there wasn’t any good reference as to how to go about it except taking back the console to the dealer with the original bill and get a replacement.

I decided to just browse through the Sony website, initially found it hard to navigate through the site, and couldn’t find what I was looking for. Eventually, found the page I was looking for with the hotline number for PS3. I didn’t have much hope because I didn’t have the bill and wasn’t even sure if it was brought within a year or not, but anyways, gave them a call.

I explained to the guy what the problem was and he asked few details like where I bought it, make number, et al, and he asked me if I will be available at home the day after to collect the replacement. The call took about 5 minutes.

I was stunned!!

I have had my fair share of problems with gadgets and others, but have never experienced anything like this. It always takes ages to get through to someone in the customer service and takes a millennium to get the thing repaired or replaced. Also it is always I who have to take the equipment to the service centre which will be in another planet.

My initial thought was, is this some kind of a joke. It reminded me of Real Hustle and the slogan “if it is too good to be true? it probably is”. I checked, re-checked the number which I called but it was a genuine one.

I decided to play along and bang the day after, the courier guy came with the replacement console, opened the box in the front of me, gave me the console and took back my old console. The console is working fine (for the time being!)

For a change, this was a pleasant surprise and I only wish this is true for every other customer service department around.

If you are complaining that I haven’t mentioned the hotline number here, I am not as good as Sony service centre.

Why don't I demand bharat ratna for Super Stat Rajinikanth, why you might ask?, it is just to increase my hits from google.

Isn't simple?

Hi,

I regret the inconvenience caused, if any. Have a wonderful day.

Both of them chose television as the media through which they would study the standard of living in Tamil Nadu. They learnt Tamil for 3 years and both of them started watching Tamil TV in late 80’s for period of 20 years.

Upon completion of their study, both of them came up with the conclusion that standard of living in Tamil Nadu reaches two extremes. Out of 20 years, they have been studying, for 2 alternate five years, the standard of living was quite high and people are generally happy about everything but for the other alternate 5 years, the standard of living was really poor and people were complaining about everything.

However, when I looked at the conclusion in detail, to my amazement, I saw that both the findings were not compatible. One American had concluded that the standard of living for the first 5 years was quite high but it was low in the second 5 years and so on. The second American has concluded that the standard of living for the first 5 years was very low but it was high in the second 5 years and so on.

I was quite intrigued by these findings and wanted to know how both of them having come to the same conclusion could get it wrong on the years. Also how the two extremes could be happening at the same time period at the same place.

To get answers for all these questions, I went back to these 2 Americans and asked them which Tamil TV both of them watched for the past 20 years to arrive at these conclusions.

There came the answers to all my questions. One said Sun TV and another said Jaya TV. The same period, DMK and AIADMK were in power for alternate 5 years.

Isn’t this an irony? People are prepared to wait for a few minutes for the right side while they could have immediately stepped on it through the left side. Have these people mistakenly taken “Do it Right”, literally?

The catch is you can stand on the right but have to walk on the left.

For those souls who haven’t figured out what I am talking about, it is of course, the escalator/s in the tube stations.

The conversation went like this:

BG: Which company bill you for gas and electricity for the house?
Me: Southern Energy.
BG: Do you pay any standing charges for gas and electricity?
Me: I might but I am not sure.
BG: Can you show us the latest bill, we can see if you pay any charges?
Me: Bills are somewhere in the attic and it will take some time for me to trace it out
BG: We will wait no problems.
Me: Can I know what exactly do you want?
BG: Actually, we (BG) have withdrawn standing charges and it should not be charged and also reduced the tariff for gas and electricity.
Me: I am not with your company, so how does that matter?
BG: If you switch over to BG now, we will give you £40 credit, reduced tariff is frozen and no standing charges for 2 years. If you give us the bill, we can tell you how much saving you will make.
Me: I know that BG has slashed tariffs, so does other companies and I am sure SE would also follow suit, so I don’t intent to switch over now.
BG: How does it matter who bills you, the supplier for all houses is national grid. Switching is very easy and you stand to gain a lot.
Me: I need to think it over and I can’t make any decisions now. Leave me with your contact details, I will contact you once I made up my mind.

This went on for another 15 minutes and finally I got really fed up and told the guys that I am not interested and they can leave. They didn’t leave any contact details with me and I was wondering whether these guys are genuine marketing guys from BG.

After about an hour, some one again rang the door bell and when I opened it, the same guys stood in front of the door. I was about to scream at them, probably sensing my mood, one guy said they have finished off for the day and asked if they could have a glass of water?

Did I mention both the guys were South Asians?

I joined for group lessons consisting of 6 people. I think it is a compact group and you get enough attention from the trainer. It’s a 6 weeks course, after that I was assured that I can start playing in the course and start getting my handicaps, I still don’t fully understand this part though.

Posture is very important, I was told this by the trainer atleast 20 times in 1 hour. Everything depends on the position of the legs, shoulders and the body. The left leg in straight line, the right leg V shaped, left shoulder up, right shoulder down and the hands at an angle. The main problem for me was that there was too much use of wrist which I picked it up playing cricket. I need to change that quickly to be in shape for a good drive.

After all the position and grip training which went on for 45 minutes, we were given some golf balls to practise in the driving range. Man, it was difficult to hit the ball leave alone hitting them with accuracy. Most of the times, the ball just went along the surface and wasn’t climbing at all.

I was fully exhausted walking back home, but was fully enthusiastic and started practising with the new 7 Iron club which was given as free for joining the course. Not sure how long this is going to last, but knowing that there is no retirement for this game, I can go as long as I want.

I wonder where these words have originated from!- Perhaps they’ve originated, from some of the Indian languages! However, when you search for the origin of these names used in India, there is no evident proof of origin!

Our own ‘lady’s finger’ is called ‘Okra’ which has a “West African origin and is cognate with "ókùrù" in Igbo, a language spoken in what is now known as Nigeria” - courtesy Wikipedia; but ‘lady’s finger’ does not have any origin.

‘Brinjal’ is called ‘aubergine’ in UK and ‘eggplant’ in US. Again, the orgin of both ‘aubergine’ and ‘eggplant’ are traceable, but ‘Brinjal’ does not have one. "Eggplant developed from the fact that the fruits of some 18th-century European cultivars were yellow or white and resembled goose or hen's eggs. Aubergine is the British name given to this fruit, from the French aubergine, derived from Catalan albergínia"- courtesy Wikipedia

A few other examples of names with unknown origins are ’Curds’ (never used in England, but commonly used in India. While ‘yogurt’ is used in both places), ‘Capsicum’ (used in India to refer to a vegetable) and ‘peppers’ (Used in England to refer to the same vegetable which the Indians call ‘Capsicum’. Interestingly ‘Pepper’ is used to refer to a certain member of the spices family in India.) .

Indian food isn’t fattening. The real Indian cuisine doesn’t use a lot of oil. We also do so. Have you ever seen any fat Indians around?

Don’t you think it is little too much?

Met forecast more snow to arrive today, but as usual, they got it wrong and the roads were clear this morning and no trace of snow anywhere.