Loving and Hating

Dot always kids me about how much less complicated it would've been for me to decide to marry some good ol' Mac boy who lived in "Santacruz" (refer to dot for the story behind this word) and was Roman Catholic and all those other things. He reckons it would be much much easier to take an autorickshaw across to "the west" to see him whenever I missed him and wouldn't involve having to pay 30K, going through the aggravation of getting a visa every time, doing a tiny two-week break and trying to pack in enough of each other to last for the next "dry spell". Yes, I won't deny, there've been the ultra-low spells but when I look at all of it with the benefit of hindsight, I would have it no other way. We've learned (the extremely hard way) to make good every little bit of time we have together...and if you've read my earlier blog you'll see that it's not much at all! Sigh...this love thing!

Anyways, the above paragraph is a preamble to my next sentence (and I couldn't bring myself to give you a blog entry without gyaan). I'm going to see dot (again!!) in little over a week and I can't wait! Also, this trip will be doubly special because I also get to meet nodot whom I didn't think I would meet till the wedding! And, of course, we get to celebrate Dr. Dot too! Yay for everything!

On the wedding front, not much has happened other than my mommie going ahead and booking the rich plum cake I hate, to be served at the reception. But honestly, a lot of people rave about it - I just don't know why, but I hate it. HATE is the word :)

I called up the printer and the cards are still getting done. I told him I needed them to take with me to Suisse and he promised to have them ready. It's unsettling when all you have to rely on is someone's word and like I've seen many times, it doesn't count for very much nowadays, particularly when it comes to after-sales service. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

An excerpt from a conversation between me and my assembled computer vendor (v) who supplied my machine and whom I have a one year annual maintenance contract (AMC) with.

Day 1

f: Hi, may I speak with Meena?
v: Nahin madam, Meena madam abhi aayi nahin - late aati hain.
f: Office mein kissi se bhi baat karayiye - I want to talk to an engineer, any engineer.
v: Madam, all the engineers have left on service calls.
f: Okay, can you please ask someone to call me back.
v: Definitely madam.

Day 4 (after receiving no call)

f: Hi, may I speak with Meena please?
v: Meena madam abhi yahan kaam nahin karti. Sorry.
f: I called three days ago and asked about my combo drive and speakers which you took more than a month ago? When will I get them back?
v: Tomorrow madam, I will bring them tomorrow. Main engineer bhej deta hoon aapke ghar pe.
f: Very good, thank you.

Day 10 (still no call and no engineer)
(and this time it's Meena on the phone :))
f: Hi Meena, can you please tell me about the status of my combo drive and speakers. It's funny to not have them for so long and not have a replacement. I need to write some CDs and also need to use my speakers and it is very inconvenient.
m: Madam! They haven't sent you your speakers yet?!! I will tell them and send it tomorrow madam; in fact, I will try my level best to send them to you today itself; if not, then early tomorrow morning.
f: Thank you Meena. I appreciate it.

Day 15 (still nothing)
f: Hi I'm calling regarding my combo drive and speakers?
v: Who's speaking?
f: Faye, from Kalina.
(silence and then a little bit of phone tag)
v: Madam, main peon hoon. Office mein koi nahin hai. Aap baad mein phone keejiye.
(slams down receiver before I can react)

Anyways, this whole thing continued on and on and on till I got only my combo drive back just yesterday, after two whole months - all the while, all they needed to say was that it was at the company's service centre and they didn't know how long it would take - reasonable answer I would think, especially after one and a half month of telling me "definitely tomorrow" :)

So here's to waiting anxiously for the cards to be ready before I leave for Suisse; will they, won't they?