Pending Tag And A Good News?

Scorpria and Bluemist tagged me with something called love, betrayal, kick butt tag.

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?

I would be heart broken at first and then move on with my life.

2. if you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?

Go around the world visit all good places with my wife.

3. What is your idea of a perfect date?

Spending time with my lover (Now WIFE !, don’t get wrong ideas) alone.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?

Go to point 2. But I will have a huge chunk left. I would get a Hummer, a villa and the list goes on.

I would start a business.

That would be the greedy part of me.

We would have a lot to talk about when its free money. That’s the primary reason you wouldn’t get a billion dollars just like that.

You need to earn it to enjoy it.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?

I already have and have married her.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?

Being loved is the best feeling in this world.

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you really love?

If she is getting ready, I would wait. I wait outside her office to pick her up. In short she keeps me waiting. And I can wait for ever. Well I am the husband.
No, I didn’t wait long I got married at 23.

8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?

Move on.

9. If you like to act with someone, who will it be? Your gf/bf or an actress/actor?

Oh ! I cant act !

10. What’s your favorite love quote? Dont have a favorite, but love is understanding, love is endless, love is ever lasting, love is forgiveness, love is caring, love is sharing, love is everything…

11. How would you see yourself in ten years’ time?

Spending time with my family. A good father and living a less complex life.

12. Why are you doing this tag?

This is what Bloggers do.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

Scorpria is humorous. Bluemist looks at life the simple way.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?

Like I said I would love a less complex life.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

I get the newspaper and start reading.

16. Would you give all in a relationship?

YES !!.

17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?

That would be either lust or just an infatuation.

Its not love.

18. Would you forgive and forget, no matter how horrible a thing that special someone has done?

Yes. Thats what love is all about. Its all about fogiving, forgetting the bad things and focusing on the good things.

19. If you get to go back in time and fall in love all over again, would it still be with the same person?

Yes.

And the good news is that I am moving !. 

Landlady “xy, you were the best tenant we ever had”

me ” The security deposit? how much are you gonna DEDUCT???”

LL “You were a good tenant”

me “THe MONEY!!!!”

LL”I will give half as cheque and half as cash”

me “No give the entire amount as cheque”

LL ” No there would be income tax problems”

me “If you pay your income tax there wouldn’t be any problems”

LL” But the bank is having 2 days holiday”

me “What difference will it make if you giving a cheque?”

 

and the conversation continues.

The bottom line is on how people find it difficult to return money they have taken. When they were on the receiving end they were with open hands. Now they are showing their errr back to me.

Anyways like Nita said, I hope am not jumping from the frying pan to the fire. 

So I would be on the offline mode for a couple of days, to get the internet set up, unpack etc. I have not been blogging/commenting for a while now I am too busy with so many things these days and I know am missing so many good posts !!

“I am calling from xx Bank”

I applied for another credit card. This is because they were offering me 5k worth vouchers and I was like

‘wow, I could use it and then cut the credit card into four and send it back’

And then came the calls. 

“Sir calling from XX bank for verfication your name, your address, your phone number”

I answered all the questions.

“How long have you been staying at the rented house?”

“one year”

“Sir, please say 2 years”

“what?”

“Sir they wouldn’t agree if you haven’t stayed at the house for at least 2 years”

“But I have been in Bangalore for only one year”

“That doesnt matter sir, just say 2 years”

“oh? Aint you from the same bank?”

“Yes sir, but please say 2. So how long have you been staying at the rented house”

“Err ……. “

“Please say TWO sir. Thanks for verifying your details sir. You would be receiving another verification call soon. Please say 2”

click

Then I got a call yesterday when I was at work.

Lady “Which company are you working sir” “Whats your designation?” “Whats your employee id” “Whats your office number and extn”

I answered each and gave her my direct number.

Five minutes later I got a call to my work phone.

Same lady “Is this YY company”

Me “Yes”

Lady “Does xy work there?”

Me “Yes”

Lady “ What is his designation, how long has he been working there?”

I answered.

Lady “Who are you?”

Me “Who are you?”

Lady “Thank you for your time”

click

So the lady got the details from me, called me for verification and then reverified it again by calling me !!!!

Although the details I have provided is accurate, I wonder if the verification done by banks is of such kind no wonder the fraudsters have an easy time with them.

So much for verification these days.

Dad To The Rescue

When you go through a bad phase in life, you feel miserable. You see everything going wrong. You see that nothing is moving.

Thanks for all the concern and comments.

That’s when I took my Dad’s help on to get some confidence in life. He left me with some thoughtful quotes. This would be one conversation I would never forget.

Quote 1 : I am hurt but I am not slain. I’ll lay me down and bleed a while and then I rise and fight again.

Quote 2 : Happiness shared is happiness doubled. Sadness shared is sadness halved.

Quote 3 :”At least there is hope for a tree. If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.” Job 14:7

So there you go, with some quotes to think about. I am still going through the phase. But then its time to say “what the heck” and keep the humor running after all humans are programmed to move on !!

I am back guys !!!

PS : I would reply to comments soon and I got some tags to complete as well.

That Pair Of Footprints…..

I was out of the blogosphere for a week now. There was a lot of things going on in my life. Surprises, unexpected things, disappointments, sad news etc all in one week. It was too much to take. It was a difficult time altogether.

I might as well stay away for some more time. Who knows, if something to blog about happen I will be back. May be in a week or a month.

Let me leave you guys with a story.

A young lad was very god fearing. His life was going on great, he was happy. Once while he was walking on the beach, he found two pairs of footprints on the sand.

That’s weird he thought. Then the voice from heaven spoke. “One set is yours, the other is mine. I am with you all the time”

He felt good and was happy that God was with him all the way.

That was when tragedy struck and he was sad. He walked through the same beach in search of the heavenly father who promised that he would be always with him. He turned around and was heart broken to see just one set of footprint.

He started blaming God. “He promised… he was with me when I was happy. Where is he now.???”

“I will be you all the time” He mocked.

The voice from heaven spoke “What are you talking about?”

“You said you would be with me and I can find only one set of footprint”

“During your happiness times, I walked beside you……………….. now that you are going through a sad phase………………I was carrying you all the way………….That set of foot print is mine”

The Looter !

First they take a huge deposit in multiples of 10. If you pay 10k rent you shell out 100k of your hard earned money as security deposit. Which as the name suggest is in

 DE(e)POS(h)IT ~ DEeP ShIT

Let’s leave that there. Although you don’t get any interest, it’s reasonable from the owner’s side to keep some amount in case the tenant is trouble some like this one.

(Just when you guys thought the Landlord saga is over)

But for families like mine, where it’s just the two of us, we have taken care of the house just like ours. But that doesn’t seem to pay off as I am doing the paying.

To make things clear, I am moving out of my house to an apartment. The current landlord has told me that she will deduct 9k for painting + cleaning charges which will come around 500Rs.

Now that sounds very very unreasonable as the painting wouldn’t take more than 6k. Also the place doesn’t require any painting as well. 

So her crooked mind has this plan. 

1. Make some easy money. Deduct as much as possible from the existing tenant when they move out.
2. Don’t paint the house.
3. Rent it out to an unsuspecting family.
4. Go to point 1.

Asking around, I learned that this is the trend in Bangalore. Almost all my colleagues who have moved out once earlier have lost out at least 5-10k to the landlord. They list out damages which have not happened during their tenure.

How greedy can people get? Doesn’t the landlord know that this is hard earned money that we are talking about? As far as my income goes, it is not growing on a tree.

But for her it’s the tree (us tenants) that the money grows on.

Let take this example. You rent a car and you drive for 100kms. The car company will charge you rent for the day and check if you have made any damages. If not they would not charge you any extra money on it.

Now the car would have undergone wear and tear, like the life of the tyre would be now less (total life in Kilometers minus 100kms).

 

(The wear and tear) + %car’s price + profit = Rent.

 

Imagine if they say “Well, you drove for 100kms so you have to repaint it” or “Replace the tyres.”

 

That sounds unreasonable right?

 

Let’s leave everything, even if the LL wants to repaint it, why doesn’t she ask for a reasonable amount? The actual painting cost?

 

My landlady,

Is greedy.

She is an old lady,

 But still greedy.

Just when I thought that the robbers and terrorists are criminals, I have one staying on the 1^st floor.

 

The Plastic Fever

This is not about any kind of fever caused by plastic or about some breed of people crazy about plastic.

In fact this post might not make any sense to many at all. Yes, if you are one of ‘those’ people.

My friend bought a brand new cell phone. She was all crazy about spending her first salary in buying something this ‘expensive’. We saw her removing it out of the case and fitting the mobile in a fancy casket. The casket looked like a funeral casket to me.

“To protect it from dust and scratches” she said.

“At least you can remove the plastic cover which it came in???” we asked.

“Let it be there for few days, I will remove it later” she replied.

Few days later the phone looked pathetically dead in the casket, suffocated by the plastic cover and dust accumulating.

Few days.

A friend bought a car. He did not fit any seat covers and the let the factory plastic on.

“Let it be there for a few days” he said.

After 6 months, it was still there. Half torn. Half dirty.

Few days.

A relative bought a new microwave. The plastic was still on, one month later. Half baked. Some sticking to the back of the oven permanently.

He did not say anything, but I assumed it was left only for ‘a few days’.

Few days.

Many of us has this weird addiction to our new possessions, be it a car, a new cell phone, any gadget, a new pair of jeans, anything. And the funny thing is this addiction wears off with time, with new possessions.

What’s your weird addiction?

Do you keep your mobile in a pouch to safely guard it against the cruelties of nature? Do you still keep the plastic on the seats of your one year old car?

To be honest I am one of them. J I removed the plastics though.

Apartment #1

So we went to see this apartment which was not at the best area where one would like to move from the better area where he/she is staying currently. Nevertheless I just want to escape from the … well you know.

I rang the bell, while I was waiting for the door to open, I could see smoke coming out of the keyhole.
“I think its burning” I said.

A young guy opened the door (by young I mean, a bachelor not necessarily younger than me). He was holding a cigarette on his one hand while he leaned on the door keeping it half opened. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that said few letters which read “WTF”. No, I don’t think he meant me. May be me, 1400 hours on a Saturday evening? Definitely ME. (But he suggested the time)

“Vikram? Remember we talked on the phone. Seems like you are moving?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah” He replied. I assumed he was Vikram*.

10 seconds. He took another puff.

“So shall I come in and see the place?” I asked to kill the silence and shove away the smoke.

My wife was already covering her face with her dupatta.
“I will check out the place first” I told her and stepped in.

There were 3, no 4 guys on the floor. There were wires all over, empty bottles (liquor), cigarette buds, cartons, plastic bags. It was a mess.

To make things worse the entire walls were covered with foot and hand marks. I think either people got all crazy after watching Spiderman or were completely drunk and didn’t know where they were going.

The smoke was so thick that the kitchen was not visible. The government bathrooms at bus stations were lot better than the ones I found there.

Wifey stayed out.

I got a call after half hour.
Owner: “Did you see the house”
Me : “I am afraid sir, I think your house is a mess”
Owner : “Oh, a couple of bachelors were staying there, they will vacate in 2 weeks, we can get it cleaned up”
Me : “Cleaned up? I think the entire house needs re-painting and lots of work needs to be done.”
Owner : “Oh, that apartment is my hard earned money, those guys destroyed it? Oh oh. God’
Me : “Sir, no Sir its not like they destroyed it or anything.. A little messy I would say”

I did not want to hear an old man crying. Messy bathroom and an old man crying was definitely not my idea of a Saturday evening.

We met this weekend, the owner came over from his hometown 300kms from Bangalore to take a look at his hard-earned apartment and send the boys out. The owner looked pretty sad.

“I want to be honest with you; I don’t want to move into an apartment this messy. I guess you should start looking for other tenants” I said.
“I completely understand” he said.
When the door closed behind me, I think I could hear him cursing himself for giving the brand new apartment for rent to a bunch of guys. (Who as he says promised to keep the place neat?)

<<<<<<<FLASHBACK>>>>>>>>>>

Few years back,

Five friends and I shared a 3 bedroom house when we started working. It was fun.

There were bottles, cigarette buds, polythene covers, wires, books, clothes, paper all over. It was a mess…………………….

*Name changed to protect privacy.

PS: Just out of college and a cleanliness freak? Nah, I don’t think anyone will look cool then.