Pay your bills on time - win Gold coins

Vodafone has this "brilliant" offer .
Pay your bills 10 days before the due date and you might stand a chance to win a gold coin .
2 representatives have already called me up today and asked me to pay . For someone like me - ( who never pays bill until the last day ) this is not a very lucritive offer. But then again .. to check the probability factor ... I talked to them a little more

Me : How many customers have won the gold coin so far ?
Rep : 15 sir.
Me : What are my odds in favour ? 1 in 100 , 1000 , 10,000 ?? How many customers am I competing against ? Any idea ?
Rep : Hmm sir .. 5000 .
Me : Are you sure about it . .. or are you just making up that number ?
Rep : No sir. You can check it up at the vodafone website sir .. [ And he goes on to 'recite' the URL to me ]

I check it up .. on their site . NOPE . Its not mentioned .. Nothing at all .
Anyways .. I will give it a shot .. Let me wait and see :)
There is always a first time for anything :)

Freewrite # 551 - Anticipation

There was no asking ... This was indeed supposed to happen. He decided to go meet her .. Maybe the last time . Its sometimes surprising that when you meet after a long time ... it feels different . As if .. meeting for the first time ... This was not quite like the other meetings ...

He had been waiting for this hour for the last one week . She was coming back after her long and eventful vacation and he was waiting .. A lot had changed in between - knowingly and unknowingly. Yeah .. there was the cold breeze of anticipation flowing past his ears . Flights seldom arrive on time - in this part of the world - NEVER.
But then he was there - a full one hour before the arrival. He is never used to waiting for long hours. But somehow this seemed exciting .. every passing minute .. every ticking second was soaring his anticipation to newer heights. And the clock was closing in on mid-night.

He had mentally planned everything - maybe he would stand in front and stretch out his arms in front of her ... ( nah that would be like some diamong-jewellery-ad ) - they were not made to be like that .. Maybe a sweet genuine smile ... maybe a passionate look .. maybe just plain 'Hi' ... or maybe .. he should just let himself be .. and let herself be ... maybe the moment will take over the action and all the planning was unnecessary . Maybe .. maybe ... maybe ... His mind wandered .

He walked to the information counter and checked with the lady, who was wearing thick red repulsive lipstic, if the flight was on time .. She was a little to abrupt in saying it really was on time - the quick reply was not really convincing enough.
The next ten minutes quite seemed like an hour .. the flight was indeed on time ! People started pouring out .. families .. children ... elderly ... it was all the same .. the same feeling ... of meeting their loved ones after long ... they hug .. they cry ... they let loose their emotion ... they just let themselves be ... uncaring .. unabashed ... unknowing of whats around them. Thats a fantastic feeling .. He could spend hours watching people pour their emotions on each other ... its a great feeling to be a part of . And he realised that probably ... he is the only one in the crowd ... maybe only one in a long time ... who probably would not let himself be .. A sharp chill passed through his very human mind.

People say .. its nice to let your mind wander ... into the wilderness of unburdled ambitions and emotions ... letting onself loose and not holding it back at that moment. People say everything .. People ! People ! People ! What do they know what was going through his mind... When will people ever know .. When will anyone ever know ..

The long line of tired cab drivers holding placards of travellers , the new-borns in their mother's bosoms ... the little kids running around ... the never ending announcements from the loud speaker .. the cold wind .. the mad rush of the cabs behind ... the spine chilling cold of the railings ... everything was making his mind go awry .. everything was surreal .. a potpourri of emotions ... fantasy took over his mind ... the children looked like little devils ...drivers holding the placards looked like silent protesters .. the security men looked like warlords with heavy artillery .. and the people coming out ... looked like prisoners released after long and fruitless negotioations.. He seemed like an unarmed onlooker .. agonising over war. Slowly reality seeped back into his very unreal mind.

People flowing out of the exit .. weary with heavy baggages ... resembling tired travellers on their wretched journey called life .. and their baggages .... resembling what they had saved all through their lives ... some proud of it .. some tired of it. Everything seemed surreal ... and then .. all of a sudden ... it stopped ... the flow of people stopped.. He peeped deep into the distance ..

Did she walk past him ? Ironic it may seem, reality is sometimes hard to imagine. He sank his head slowly supporting it on one of those railing . He was tired. Its time indeed time to quit. Maybe the last meeting was never supposed to happen.
A couple of minutes ...it seemed like a hundred years of solitude ... a comfortable warmth ran through his hair ... it was really soothing .. slowly ..he opened his eyes, still looking down onto ground ... gathered himself and prepared to leave the place ... and then like an angel from nowhere .. She stood in front of him ....
She said "I knew you would come ... "

What irritates me at workplace

1) I keep fogetting where I keep things and then when I buy a new one, all the lost ones pop up in front of me ! My stylus got misplaced twice . I bought a new one .. lost it .. and then got all three of them at the same time !! Whoa ! Murphy rocks .

2) People who leave their cellphones on their desks and go away for coffee .. ( Now why would you do that ?? ) and then it starts ringing indefinitely ! ( Its even more pissing off when its on vibrator mode + some weird mono-tone music on ! .. The old powerful sturdy Nokia mobiles have an earth shaking vibrator ! ( as if it can record upto 3.2 on Richter scale if all the phones ring at the same time. )

<-> My ex-girl friend never upgraded her old and powerful nokia for obvious reasons. ( now you know why she is ex- !! ( now thats a self-deprecating-joke ! )
<-> My workstation vibrates when my neighbours cell goes off )

3) People who sit next to me and blow their nose ( hard ) .. Dont they realise that its not very musical for your ears ! I dont even do this to irritate my boss. ( sometimes blowing your nose disgustingly in front of your boss can get you undeserving promotions ! )

4) Slow networks and low end workstations -
Its a wonderful feeling when you work in suspended animation .. you are not supposed to open more than 3 active windows / 4 internet links or turn on the sound. After every click, you wait for 7-8 seconds ... and if you are a little faster than that ... you get a blue screen or if lucky - a core dump !
Reminds me of Matrix and bullet speed.

Our father in heaven .. Holy be thy land !

Recently ( 3 years ago!! ) yet another engraving of 'our' lord's prayer was added to the Olive mountains (139 languages and counting) This time - in Malayalam ! And who else would unveil the plaque - the then Minister of Fisheries?? and Sports!!! - Mr. Dominic Presentation . ( Maybe one good christian in the state cabinet ??? )

Check out the link .. The last line is particularly interesting -
Mr Presentation and some visual-media representatives attended the service .....
( Now you know what a good visual media "Presentation" means ! )

Source : http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/03/14/stories/2005031407020400.htm

P.S : I always liked Mallu Christian names - which are adjectives / generic words in the English language - Presentation , Innocent , Able .. and so on ! (more on that later ! )

FreeWrite #226 - Amusement

" Truly brother", he said, " ... it must be a work of art."

Mozart player behind. Defintely it must have been a true work of art. The blood splattered all across the big living room. Truley it was a work of art.

Never did it occur to me that these frail hands of mine could take a life. The healthy miserable body looked towards heavens for an acceptance.

Wise saying

Dont get consumed in
a) things that you dont need
b) money that you dont have
c) and dont try to impress people you dont like !

Think it over ! Amen.