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Some Happenings

Trivialities seldom merit dedicated posts, a fact I've often divorced. However, the cumulative effect of such events ought not be overlooked. Thus this entry.

My PDA arrived last Friday. I had shopped for it via MyValueShop. However, my enthusiasm soon ebbed when I realized that the nifty little gadget had an insatiable appetite for power. The brand new Duracells were significantly drained in only a few hours of operation. At this rate, I would be spending a fortune just on replacing batteries. A very disconcerting thought. I've decided to return the product tomorrow.

My passport arrived and didi informed me about it. I was surprised as my name was not on the list when I had visited Jadavpur Police Station in July, even though I had applied 2 months back. I soon had to translocate to Bangalore and eventually gave up all hopes of ever getting the coveted thing. However, out of the blue came a mail saying that I was supposed to show up at the said station for verification purpose with all the necessary original documents, failing which the issue would be considered closed. Obviously I couldn't afford to comply and forgot the matter. I decided to apply afresh for the passport in Bangalore. That's when it arrived! A comedy of errors? Wait, there's more! My name was misspelt, with an 'A' being replaced by 'E'. Back to Square One. I don't know how much more will I be harassed. How could the officials make such silly mistakes and make us run from pillar to post for their own erring? I've dashed three emails to three different GOI offices regarding the anomaly but have yet to receive a reply, not even an acknowledgement. I look around and I find Indians having a very unhealthy attitude towards work. I hope my views don't inch towards racism.

Monday morning began most ominously. I had placed my swipe card somewhere and now couldn't find it. I frantically searched but failed. On quizzing, Mantu revealed that it was in the PDA package! He must have taken the liberty of putting it there. Got it. No sooner had I come out of my house than Sittu called me up to ask about my plans to attend the upcoming convocation. I was busy attending his call when a passing Maruti Omni splashed
drain water on my trousers! Gosh! I ran home, searched for a suitable replacement and finally managed to find a blue pair of jeans. Most inappropriate for non-Fridays, but I had no alternative as the other trousers were either unwashed or unironed. I've now in the process of conceiving a protocol to wash & iron my clothes on time! Anyway, after the switch I sped to my bus stop and reached there 5 mins ahead of schedule. And when did the bus finally arrive? More than half-an-hour late! That's life.

On the technology front, I've been fiddling with two software products. Audacity is a streaming audio recorder and I hope to use it to capture Yahoo! Radio and BBC Radio streams, which I'll be burning to my CD. Illegal? Sure, but who said I live on the right side of law? I'm still trying to make sense of the intricate interface. Feedreader is a lightweight newsreader that I'm now putting to heavy use to read select blogs, newsfeeds and Usenet forums. It's great for news buffs like me. Both the products are released under the GNU GPL with no strings attached. I'll go nuts the day Microsoft subscribes to it!

Oh, in keeping with tradition, I slept with the new book last night!

Comments

Anonymous said…
u've been busy!

how's the book so far?
Anonymous said…
Forget it man..It's better to prepare an affidavit in Bangalore stating that the 'E' and the 'A' which donot match in your name are all for the same guy..that's u. Don't even dream of going into the vicious circles of passport office. Bangalore is still tolerable.. West Bengal :-) u never know when a red flag might appear out of no where.
Still surprised to find you travelling by bus though.. U haven't changed a weebit since school days. Budau could never drive a two wheeler..forget the four wheeled ones.
Deepanjan said…
Jahnvee, the book has been pretty interesting in the 10 pages that I've read so far. It amalgamates literature with classical music. What more could I ask for?
Deepanjan said…
Anonymous, I guess you are one of my school buddies. Travelling by bus is indeed an insult to my virtuoso self. Can't help it though. It's a company provided shuttle.
Vivek said…
http://beta.previewseek.com/

They're calling it "more intelligent than Google" .... & it's still in Beta.
Deepanjan said…
A good one, Rob. But really, I'm tired of the pretenders to the throne. I've seen enough of these since '98.
Deepanjan said…
Sittu, I loved the Archie link. Thanks!
Anonymous said…
Are you guys going to the convo?
Deepanjan said…
Sure...at least that's the intention!
Anonymous said…
Tu Whit Tu Woo!!!

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