Contrary to my current email tag line( I once thought I made a mistake, but I was wrong), I did make a mistake. In my top five mail ,two weekends back, travel got the top spot for being my favourite thing about the US. Mea Culpa….There is something that I love about the US more than the travel. Much more. For people who know me it doesn’t take much of an effort to guess what that is….for I spend half my life with my phone!
Incidentally that was one of the first things that attracted me about the US of A. Somewhere during my final year of engineering when I was making those “difficult†choices of what to do with my life….an uncle suggested Masters. I didn’t take it seriously but then he tempted me with the statement, “ Did you know that local phone calls in US are free?â€.
Paradise….that was my first thought.
I am not saying that THAT was the major motivation in coming to US. Just the thrill of being independent was definitely somewhere on that list ..so was the oppurtunity to travel..they were all there perhaps somewhere above the idea that I should study….
I applied for MS in universities. And I reached the US. Of A. It was perhaps very charactersitic that on my maiden shopping venture in Walmart I blew up a whopping $50.00 on a phone. And those were the days when I was still mentally converting dollars into rupees. And I haven’t ever regretted that purchase…A few people here were amazed at the time I spend on the phone….I blamed it on the “numerous relatives†I have here….notwithstanding the fact that apart from my sisters in DC and San Jose …I hardly talk to any of the other members of my clan infesting the US.
A year later ,I felt that time had come to move on….I bought a cell phone. And spent even more time talking on the phone. On most days I leave the lab around 9 pm. Which is perfect timing cos that’s when my night time cell phone minutes start. By the time I have reached the bus stop I am already chatting with either Aparna or Seejo or Pulkit or Subha. With cell phone came the added advantage of 3-way calling….Now Vidya,Aparna and I could all chat together. Which is fun…
Last weekend we tested technology to its maximum capacity.Aparna and I were having our ususal weekend call ( which is different from our usual weekday call) when I suggested adding Pulkit in as a three way call.. Pulkit was duly added and after a few more minutes we grew ambitious…so we decided to rope in Ketan (Aparna called him) ….So there were the 4 of us discussing the past adventures we had in DJ and planning future trips to meet up and then we wanted to expand our horizons further…and so Ketan called Kunal and there were all the five of us yakking away for some glorious confused moments……Never really aprreciated the power of techonolgy before that…
People often ask me how can I manage to talk so much on the phone. When relatives used to get a busy signal at my home phone , they sighed and tried after an hour…Sometimes I wonder myself..I never ever had the problem of lack of a topic. Last month I was checking my remaining minutes. With 2800 weekend minutes you wouldn’t think I could use if all up, could you? To tell you the truth , I did get a shock when I realised that I have used up 2100 minutes…well if you convert that to hours it is well ummm …..35 hours….I couldn’t have possibly spent 35 hours on phone that month….Nah!!!…..My cell has another feature that provides me with lifetime use of the phone….Checked that I have used 300 hours , which converted into DAYS gives me 12.5 days….I have spend 12.5 WHOLE days simply talking on the phone….And that does not include the time I spend “chattingâ€. Also discouting the time I talk with my home phone…and the office phone…..and the India calls
I passed a few agonizing moments trying to justify that shocking number. Then I pacified myself…they probably charge double time for 3 way calls…Yes that must be the reason ….or probably they gave me a used phone….
And that’s that…Its no use thinking over things that can’t change …things I don’t want to change…..
Books:
Works of Roald Dahl
Harry Potter Series ( 6th time )
Movies:
When a man loves a woman (senti senti senti stuff)
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (2nd time)
Websites:
http://www.palace.net/~llama/poetry/
George sent me some Adrienne Rich’s poems and I was hooked. A search revealed some more poems at this site.
Excitement of the Week
Seejo’s new car. The silver AUDI A-4
check out the snaps of his car…Spent the entire weekend putting the car through its paces…
After a lot of pleading i even got a few moments at the wheel…
