New Year resolution

Dear God,

From Vidharbha to Telangana to Gorkhaland, separate statehood is a fashion statement.

Why should I be left out, "Jai Kharkhana"!

Australia, down and under…

Boxing Day was a revelation for Cricket fans the world over - England, for their surprising resilience and Australia for their surprising submission. I am no English fan, however I jeered Australia during this fixture because and solely because of one man, one BAD loser, a cry-baby they call Ricky Ponting.

As of today, if there is any promise of Sachin's record being bettered, it has to be by one of two – Ponting or Kallis. If one were to go by stats, he is just about 3000-4000 runs away from Sachin in both versions. With age and fitness still on his side, Ponting has the edge. However, Ponting’s own form in recent times has been anything but the best.

Anyway, what really worries me as a fan of the game is this decline in the might of Australia. So much has been said and written about how this once mighty monolith never recovered from the absence of the great triumvirate – Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath. It was bound to happen someday. A friend argues that they are in the ‘restructuring’ phase and a bad run is but inevitable for a while. Fair, what after that? Talent like the aforesaid trio is too far and few in between. Sydney Herald reads an article on how AFL is taking a toll of the game. Ticket sales for the Ashes, I believe, were on an all-time low this time. Administration had to work hard on promotions through SMM networks like Twitter and Facebook. Are we in for a reprise of the blow dealt to the colossal WI side? No God, that’s not good for Cricket Australia and definitely not good for Cricket.

Michael Clarke fills in for Ponting in the last test. Clarke has also been an under-performer in recent times. That he was being mentored to don the baggy is not a secret. But the mentoring has been on for quite some time now. And yet, he doesn’t look ready yet to lead the most powerful side in the world. Exactly why it took so long for CA to harness and groom talent is beyond me. Restructuring, to me, should never stop; it needs to be an ongoing process. After all, cleaning up while in shape is much better than dialysis.

I sincerely hope CA is able to resurrect the side. Of course I understand that it is too much to expect to fit into big shoes. But the process has to start. Grooming may be happening but that is not good enough. The proof of pudding is best realized when put to test. The approach of debuts in late 20s and early 30s is too Victorian and definitely not healthy for the game. To ward off threats from AFL and other sporting fraternities, it is in the best interest of CA to infuse more and more awareness.

MSD: You are not exempt from this situation either. The Great Indian Trinity is also in its mid-30s and to expect them to last forever is stupidity. Today, VVS relishes on Innings II and rescues India from sticky situations. But soon, he’s got his own, personal Innings II to play too. Sachin is invincible and near-perfect but after all, a mortal. Dravid, who hitherto has been the China Wall, has begun to show signs of scuff. We can pride on our successes only so long as we have bench strength.

CA, please get back in shape for Australia, for Cricket and for its fans.

Getting to know her II….

Dear God,

It actually takes some ‘getting used to’ to get comfy with the K3 mostly, because it is keypad-driven. To bring up numbers, you press ‘Sym’. The latency is palpable. Also, it takes a while to bring up the numbers on the screen. And so you cannot hurry through the numbers especially if you are keying in sensitive information such as passwords.

On a lighter note, my sister was taken aback when she noticed stars as she typed the password….:-)

So that’s that…reading is still a pleasure especially when on the bog. The Experiments tab on the Menu is perfect for research while in there! I looked up YouTube. It didn’t work, required a flash player. So I clicked ‘ok’ to download it. The download didn’t work either; it was incompatible with my palmtop. Ok, so let’s check my favourite site, Wikipedia. Beautiful!!!!! Imagine reading up Wikipedia anywhere now including on the bog, Outstanding! Some things in life are truly priceless!

The view of a book is singular. Magnification is extreme – the fonts are too small or too big. When expanded, the corners of a page are sliced. One USB port and no Bluetooth. Free e-books and Project Guttenburg have good, free titles to choose from.

A friend suggested opening an account in Dropbox so she could lend books that she’d downloaded. I am yet to do that, will soon. Also, I need to pick up the K3 folder but the Frugal ‘me’ forbids for now.

In all, the K3 is an EXCLUSIVE book reader. The missing touch features give you the impression of holding the book. If you want music to play while reading up, turn your music system on. If you want to browse with ease, use your laptop. Imagine the scope of real-estate management if all books in the world were converted to the K3.

A great buy…I love you, K3!

Getting to know her...

Dear God,

Its been close to a fortnight since K3 walked into my life. Many a long-winding & worrying nights, endless calls to the call center and frustrating follow-ups later, she was vanquished. Like for a true conquest, I battled hard. In retrospect, it was a mutiny worth the fight.

She got introduced to folks that matter the most in my life – Mom and Dad. It took me a while to start operations – maybe it was overwhelming work pressure or maybe I just wanted to let her be for some time. Nevertheless, a fortnight into the household, I decided to explore the beauty.

I’d picked the Black variant. The palmtop comes matt-finished with blunt curves on the sides. The Amazon logo atop her is almost inconspicuous until under light. The inaugural page is an illusion of sorts; you can never tell that that’s the screen. It carried an image of a boy sitting under a tree, seeming to read. At first glance, it appeared to be a sticker that needed to be peeled off to reveal the screen. I immediately realized that the screen protection was already on and there was no need for a sticker.

So I picked up the manual to take the first steps. The power-on switch slides to boot the K3 and Lo! & Behold! the screen lights up displaying the beautiful inaugural screen content. Black & White has its own charm, doesn’t it? A peer noted, “arrey, black and white hai?” As a strong comeback, I retorted, “Monochrome”! Not that it made a difference but I hated his tone.

I didn’t want to go any further than appreciating her. The dimly lit screen, monochrome, content etc all had the makings of an actual book. “Abbey, touch screen nahi hai kya?” the dude concluded after exploring the K3 on the screen. Thank God for the screen protection or I would have reduced him to pulp for having touched my K3. “Nahin re, why even touch her?” said I. What the heck is it with this Touch-Generation? I’d prefer giving my K3 her space. No touch!

The manual on the K3 is exhaustive enough, may not exploring the book that came along with her. Besides, for starters, I think reading the instructions on the K3 helps you maneuver and know her quickly. How I wish you'd made women with that provision! :-))

I browsed some of the pages to get hands-on. I was in for a rude shock when I tried using the Wi-Fi option. It just wouldn’t recognize the router at home. Every attempt returned a "Unable to connect to wi-fi network. Your Kindle is unable to connect to the Wi-Fi network "NETGEAR" (my wireless router). Would you like to try again or manually set up this network?" This was painful. The option of ‘Set up a network’ also wouldn’t yield any results. I logged a complaint at the Call center (they don’t have a local number, alas!). Within hours, I had a response from them. On a Sunday, that was exemplary customer service, I thought. Not that their response was anything besides what I knew already. It didn’t help. In the meantime, I wrote to a couple of friends to see if they could shed some light.

I packed her back into the sloppy package she came with. When tried at a friend’s place later that evening, she worked. BRILLIANT! I was able to connect to the web. I ensured that by looking a few books up on Amazon. She did bring some bit of latency, understandable. I dashed out of there to take my next step in the review – reading.

It is easy to download a book from the virtually zillion free titles (of renowned authors, mind you) available on the Internet. So I chose a collection of short stories for the laptop and therefore onto the K3 using the USB she came with. No hiccups there either. PDF is the best version to view books in.

I started out by operating the keys on the book. It is difficult to move from one page to another, with several in between. Let me demonstrate why so. To be able to go from Page 1 to Page 30, you need to:

1. Press Menu

2. Select Go To

3. Press Sym to bring up the Number pad.

4. Select 3 and then move 6 places to 0.

5. Press Sym to close the Number pad.

6. Select Page and then you are in Page 30

Now this is definitely harrowing especially after having worked on and gotten used to several user-friendly applications/software. The feeling is akin to telling time off a Binary watch!! Tedious, to say the least.

I moved on to exploring the pages. To change settings, for example, the view:

1. Press Aa to bring up the view settings.

2. The existing setting is unreadable by naked eye and has to be set to ‘Fit to screen’.

3. Move the cursor using the arrow keys until you reach the desired option.

4. Select the option.

5. There is hardly any difference between the Lightest and the darkest options. They yielded the same results.

6. While visibility improves with increase in font size, sentences spill over. The Right arrow key needs to be engaged to move to Page 2. If you let this process get the better of you, wait till you lose track of the start and end of the sentences.

7. Maybe ‘Portrait’ works, I thought. So I tried the Axes of rotation. The only difference that brought about was it accommodated longer sentences but bits still spilled over.

So far, I have gotten a feeling that the K3 was built on process maps, you know, the kinds with Steps 1 through 100 to perform one mental action! I must admit, though, that reading minus the aforesaid is a true pleasure, nevertheless. The texture of the fonts, the ‘dim-clarity’ and of course, the Monochrome gives you the feeling of holding an actual book. While the page flip and the fragrance of a new book are missing, what the heck?! I am contributing to ‘Go-Green’, aren’t I?

In the interim, I gathered that the net connectivity issue may be attributed to an ‘IP-conflict’. You see, the router was external and settings were changed when installed. For now, I am going to leave it at that and enjoy reading the 350 pages to make more review notes.

Like the domestic spars that add the spice to life, I know these little challenges are okay with me. This love affair will bash on regardless…..

More later…

उम्मीद से दुगना

Dear God,

The K3 is here!!! And I am loving it!!!

I had serious doubts I would have the K3 despite Gentlemen’s words, promises from Times, AWB tracking etc. As I prepared to go home to “No K3”, a confirmation call from home hailed the arrival of the K3. Yes! the K3 had arrived, my K3 had arrived!!!

She had been waiting for me when I returned. I hadn’t expected fireworks or fancy packaging especially after a fellow blogger’s note. After a bit of struggle with the excessive but secure taping, I opened the box and there she was, in all her glory. The Amazon logo appeared to be smiling, a sense of victory overcame. For now until the end of this week, I am going to feel, admire and savour it. I will, in the meantime, run through the manual. Certainly, an affair to remember…

Salary hadn’t been credited until late evening. Word was that it might be delayed this time around. But it did as I looked up the K3.

“उम्मीद से दुगना”....:-)

My misery continues....

Dear God,

Recall I’d vowed to be nice, calm and composed a while ago or at least make an attempt. I thought I was doing fairly well until today. I came short of calling someone’s mother and father names. Guess what brought that about – our own unreliable, FRAUDULENT Indian Times Shopping.

A couple of days ago, I was assured I’d see the K3 on Sat this week. Given Times Shopping’s reputation, I decided it might be worth the call and time to give a reality check. So, I called their world-class call center earlier today. Here goes:

I: Hi, I am calling to check the status of my order.

Rep (with a typical North Indian, snobbish, I-don’t-care-a-damn tone): Sir, before that can I have your order number?

I: I don’t have that handy; can you look it up using my phone number?

Rep: What’s your phone number?

I: XXXXXXX851.

Rep: The order was placed in the name of S. Vyankatesh (!?!?!?) for the ‘All new Amazon Kindle 3 WiFi’. The order was placed on the 15^th of November.

For some reason, every rep I’ve talked to so far has always responded in the exact, aforementioned way to my phone number. Is it my phone number? Is the number weird? Does the phone number drive them mad? Clearly, my name is alien to them Northies. They cannot, for the love my life, cannot pronounce South Indian names correctly (read my previous blog on Newscasters, July)

I: That’s right. Has the product been dispatched yet?

Rep: Sir, I would like to tell you that the order is out of stock and so could not be dispatched on time.

I: What?? Why didn’t you tell me about it? Please get me someone senior in your function.

Rep: Sir, even they will say the same thing.

I: I don’t care Ma’am. I need the product delivered tomorrow as promised to me on the 22^nd.

Rep: Sir that is not possibal Sir (exactly the way she responded)

I: I am willing to hold the line, get me your supervisor.

Rep: Sir, Hum aise call nahi de sakte hain.

I: Ma’am, I need to know the status now.

Rep: Sir, aap please line pe bane rahiye, Main iska kuch pata lagati hoon.

Dear God, I was at my wit’s end. I could have seriously whacked that woman to pulp. Vow! Vow! Vow! I regained my calm. I endured the terrible cacophonic Hold tone for a good 15-20 minutes. Silence! The call was disconnected!!!!! That is it. Another call and this time I was going to be rough…

Some wisdom retained in me suggested that I call the Vendor instead. I gave out the product’s details and left my phone number at theirs. I was assured that I would be called back in 10 minutes and that it was a Gentleman’s word.

So I got off phone and called Times again, this time with vengeance.

I: My order number is 201011140829532. My name is Venkatesh and my phone number is XXXXXXX851. I am checking on the status of my order. Has the product been dispatched?

Rep: Thank you Sir and this is your order of the ‘All new Amazon Kyndle (Now that’s a new variant, I hope my Kindle 3 is in safe hands) 3 WiFi, correct Sir?’ (Also, I thought I had saved time by announcing every bit before she asked. I was wrong. The broad still had to remind me of what I purchased).

Now, exactly how does one read that – statement, proclamation, question…? I chose to be neutral.

I: Right

Rep: How can I help you with the order number Sir? (!!!!!!!!)

If I had a sledgehammer in my hand and the rep in person, I would have made a paste out of her. Why for sanity’s sake would she ask me that question?

I (cold): Ma’am, I want the product to be delivered tomorrow, Saturday.

Rep: Sir, but that is not possibal sir (again!?!?!). We don’t deliver on Saturdays. (Can you beat that?)

I: Look Richa, if you were a customer that’s placed an order online, made payments and yet were jostled around, how would you feel? I need an answer and I need it now.

Rep: Sir, I understand. Let me speak to my supervisor. Please wait.

Cacophony ensues….the pathetic hold tone will ring in my ears for the rest of my life as a sound reminder of the travesty made of me.

Male voice:

I: Sorry, I didn’t get your name.

Male voice: Sir, I am Sudheer. I understand you placed an order for the ‘All new Amazon Kindle 3, WiFi’ on the 15^th of November and you haven’t received it, right Sir? (quick learner, that Idiot!)

I: Right.

Sudheer: Sir, I would like to inform you that the Vendor has not dispatched the product yet. We have the vendor’s details but no intimation from them that the product has been dispatched. In this regard, you will have to speak to the vendor directly.

Before I could say something, the Vendor called. I decided to take that call instead.

Rohit: Hi Sir, this is Rohit.

I: Hi, what news do you have for me?

Rohit: Sir the news is that you will have the K3 on Tuesday next week.

I: Rohit, I have been given the run around for the last two weeks. Every time I called, a new version has been conveyed to me. Exactly, why do you think I should trust you this time? Can you expedite it?

Rohit: Sir we don’t have the product yet and hence the delay. But I assure you, you will have the product on Tuesday.

I: Rohit, I am positive I will have to call you again on Tuesday. So give me a direct line to you and your last name please.

Rohit: Sir, my name is Rohit Shah and I am on 022-XXXXXX32

I: Rohit, I will take it as a Gentleman’s word that I will have the K3 on Tuesday.

Rohit: Sure Sir, I am sorry for any inconvenience caused to you.

I: Take care, bye.

Dear God, how in your name do I trust these filthy, low-lying, crawling, gutless, spineless jelly fishes? I swear to you, kick me in my posterior if I give them a second chance.

Screams of faulty products, delayed delivery, returned & no refund etc. on Consumer complaints online only underpin my experience thus far. I do not want to belong there, so help me God.

nomoreshopping.indiatimes.com

Dear God,

Don’t look up that site, will not lead you anywhere. It is just a take on my frustration. A week has passed since I placed the phone order at Times Shopping.

On 15^th November, I was assured that the K3 would be at my doorstep within 7 working days. 17^th Nov, I receive an address/payment verification call. Even before I could ask the TAT to delivery, the woman hung up on me! I called every single day after that to check on the status. Trust me you don’t want to talk to the agents at their Contact center. No adjective can measure up the pathetic service they provide.

The IVR announces option 2 for English. But believe me, the folks at the contact center do not understand Language, forget English. It took me very little time to switch to Hindi hoping for a better response. However, as bad luck would have it, the better response was only a better-sounding response. All of them said the same thing. It appears they have a script that runs on a ticker that they have to parrot all the time. One of the women I spoke to gave me a crash course on how to calculate 7 working days from the 15^th. She insisted that today would be the 7^th day and I could expect it today. As on Saturday last, the K3 had not been dispatched.

Anyway, during the course of these harrowing encounters with the Contact center, I learnt that delivery of the product will happen 7 working days after the verification call. Hello! How about educating a customer? Forget it, they needed education themselves, I said to myself.

Also, Times Shopping seems to have a crude and cheap sense of humour. After every despicable interaction, a prompt SMS, “You have spoken to ___, please reply with a Yes if you are satisfied with the service provided or No if you are not” follows. I had a strong mind to reply with a No with detailed reasons. I didn’t. And now in retrospect, I think that was sensible or I would have had to do that for each of the 7 calls I made at theirs.

By the way, I also had this brainwave in the interim, to find out the vendor and his contact so I could check directly with them for the status. Luck couldn’t be any unkind. The vendor’s phone keeps ringing off the hook. So nothing worked here as well.

My worst fears were ignited when I noted a complaint by a fellow soul, equally frustrated and vexed with Times. His complaint read Fraud in all glory. In probing, I found out that he hadn’t received an order placed over a quarter ago. Great!

Today is Day 7. A week has passed. It would be asking for too much to get the K3 today, tomorrow or the day after. They had a reputation to live up to.

I have been shortchanged enough already. The K3 continues to elude me….All I can do is rely on the old Hindi adage, “उम्मीद पे दुनिया कायम है|”!!

An affair to remember....

A rage was about to kindle…

Of books and rolls to handle…

Newspapers and journals alike…

Mp3, browser and the like…

With Wifi and 3G…

On a palmtop that was mine to be…

Amazon and eBay, I was on…

To buy this toy, cute and coy…

A midget of a gadget…

Dear God,

What began as eye candy turned into manic obsession. I just couldn't get over the widget. The Kindle had certainly taken a toll. Routine had been redefined with research and more research of the ethereal beauty. Monochrome albeit, she was worth a thousand millihelens. Of course, the tryst was not devoid of the skeptics who pried for comic relief out of my pursuit.

For a brief while, I had to weigh options too. A week-long scout brought the scuffle down to the Kindle, the iPad, the Nook and Mother India’s Wink.

Round 1

The iPad is an all-rounder with the ease of Touch. At 32,000/-, 16 GB memory, fingerprint-proof, 3G & WI-Fi, ability to download thousands of apps and more, it appeared to be the clear favorite. What did it in was that it is not exclusive. Technology will die its death sooner than later with gadgets providing all-round performance. If the death has to be slower, exclusivity has to be maintained. Okay, now that is my philosophy. So, the K3 moved onto the next round.

Round 2

The aesthetic Nook, a cousin, came with similar features but also had the flexibility of user-replaceable battery. Wonder why the K3 should be deprived of this feature. Moreover, the Nook catered to the “colour-crazy”. The K3 bashed on, regardless. The Text-to-speech, a feature of the K3 is reminiscent of Chitti narrating a bed-time story to put us to sleep. I am a big fan of ‘Black and white’, a quality that is lacking even in the way we lead our lives.

Round 3

A certain broad reminded me of the Wink from namma Bengaluru. Apart from its ability to support a multitude of formats, 15 languages, expandable memory (up to 16 GB), it’s biggest selling point is it is Indian. A snapshot of this slick looker on the net promotes content in Hindi too. I had almost made up my mind. The price was slightly higher and the K3 felled the Wink down. Again!

And so, the K3 won the title. From eye candy, it was soon to become my arm candy. But wait, the romance had just begun. I now had to work on the logistics – costs (esp. Shipping, Customs, VAT etc). Ordering it online from Amazon.com presented with difficulties. I didn’t have a credit card and that required me to create some Netcafe account that converted my Debit card into a temp credit card. That sounded complicated.

Chuck it! I said and sought a friend’s help with eBay. He explained a fairly simple but multi-layered procedure to ship the product home. It involved a third party website that was able to pick the product from within the US and shipping it home. He seemed to have a way with the Customs’ fees too. Looked cool! So we started working on the MRP, conversion, freight etc and prospective sellers on eBay with the best rate. After a productive effort combing the enterprise, we firmed up a couple of sellers and left them messages seeking clarifications.

It was the end of the day and I still hadn’t placed the order. I knew a harrowing and frustrating weekend was on the cards. Patience hadn’t done any good to anyone, me neither. I slept little, got onto eBay and found another prospect with a better price. Since I was a first timer, didn’t make sense to leap. So I messaged this good friend for an opinion. Obviously, to expect that the world was up at a time I was, was unwise by a mile. He didn’t respond. It was killing!

And then your divine intervention got me an SMS from another good friend reporting an advertisement in TOI on the K3. Yes! K3 could be procured here too. Yes! Yes! Yes! I love my India. So I called them to place the order. Customer Service of TOI hardly exists. I required a few clarifications and I was put through the misery of speaking to 3 different supervisors with hardly any knowledge of terms like Whispernet. In fact, one of them: “What Whispernat?” One other had the cheek to tell me that newspapers can’t be downloaded, that ‘Whispernat’ was Amazon’s ‘Internat’ etc. I gave up, hung up and called them again, this time to place the order without the questions.

Day 3 and I get a call from Customer Support for address verification. The K3, my own Kindle 3 is not far away, I guess!

Dear God, I will keep updating you on the review as it happens….

Woh jab yaad aaye, bahut yaad aaye....

Dear God,

The year 1992 got us our first ever cassette player. Appa played a certain Md. Rafi to herald the 'music-mad' family we were to become over time. Of course, Doordarshan and All India Radio rendered works by Rafi Sahab on their archetypal shows/stations. Somehow though, Chitrahaar, Chhayageet or Hawa Mahal couldn't do justice, or so it seemed, to the quantum of this talent.

So what is Rafi Sahab all about? I will retain the present tense and maintain that He lives, through his works. A phenomenon that launched long and successful careers, an event spanning almost 40 years and a statement that will never go out of fashion for eons.

Chaudvin ka chand ho ya aftaab ho,

Jo bhi ho tum Khuda ki kasam,

Lajawaab ho....

Certainly, Rafi's services had to be called upon for Guru Dutt to impress Waheeda Begum. Rafiesque to put the Moon and the Sun to shame, and Rafiesque to make you believe that it was Guru Dutt's rendition on screen. This song amongst scores of others made me feel that Rafi Sahab's contribution was akin to Ghost writing. He did the work and someone else got the credit!

...tumne mujhko hansna sikhaya,

rone kahoge ro bhi denge....

Who would've thought "Junglee Shammi" could cry? Rafi Sahab made it possible. Even as I typed those lines, moist blinded visibility. Shammi Kapoor's roles, as we've known them, were of the typical Jamboree. Jumping off cliffs, rolling down snow capped mountains, chasing novice leading ladies on-screen....all of these and many other happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care traits had come to epitomize Shammi Kapoor. To see him cry or mellow may not have been the exact picture in one's mind. It took a Rafi Sahab to turn that around. Shammi Kapoor could emote too...

....kar chalein hum fida,

jaan-o-tan saathiyon,

ab tumhare hawale watan saathiyon...

If this bit did not levitate the patriot in me, nothing else could. A post Sino-Indian war Ballad to stir men to devotion, worship; to fondly remember the undying commitment of martyrs.

...barbadiyon ka sokh manana fizool tha

barbadiyon ka jashn manata chala gaya,

har fiqr ko dhunye main udata chala gaya...

This lilting sonnet reiterates the philosophy of take it easy, come what may. Coupled with Rafi's Sahab's talent, it couldn't have been more relevant than it is today. With all the difficult times around, the song is as close to profundity as it gets.

...More Tum Been Bigare Sagare Kaaj

Binatee Karat Hoo, Rakhiyo Laaj

Man Tarapat Haree Darshan Ko Aaj....

Rafi Sahab's rendition of this dhrupad brings alive the legendary Baiju Bawra. Rafi learnt classical music from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwanlal Matto and Firoze Nizami (source Wikipedia). This song picturized on Bharat Bhushan is delivered with an enviable panache and realizes the pain described by the said to earn a glimpse of Your Divinity.

...nain lad jainhe to manavaa mein kasak hoibe kari

delivered prem kaa chhuti hai pataakhaa to dumak hoibe kari nain lad jaihe..

Yet another testimony to Rafi Sahab's versatility. An incredibly racy song with totally convincing Bhojpuri accent. 

Just some of the songs that come to mind to describe this phenomenon. Like the proverbial drop in the ocean, there are innumerable songs that a blog cannot contain.

There have been folks who draw comparisons with Talat Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Manna and the like. Futile, sheer waste of words. These pseudo-intellectuals appear to force-fit their imaginations to prove a point. To me, Rafi Sahab was, is and will remain a bundle of talent, a versatile package. His ability to deliver classical, romantic and inspirational songs is unparalleled. I gather that his talent extended to regional languages too. Therefore, any comparison is felony. Every other artist has been a specialist. Rafi is also a specialist, a specialist in diverse genres. He is nothing short of a divine intervention.

"Nothingnesses" like Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Jeetendra would all be thankful to Rafi Sahab for their launch and flourish. Thanks to his songs on them, they became what they did. Even today, we identify them through Sahab's voice alone. In sharp contrast, his songs for the only true actor Dilip Kumar, the great Sanjeev Kumar and the like, only added to their screen presence and talent.

Thank you Appa for introducing us to this Legend. And Thank You Rafi Sahab, for those immortal songs.

31 years post his demise, a fellow blogger quotes:

"Na fankar tujhsa tere baad aaya, Mohd Rafi tu bahut yaad aaya…"

Moral of the story is....

An elderly gentleman is found unconscious on the pavement lining a grocery store. A crowd quickly huddles around the man discussing possibilities of who it could be, what may have happened etc. The man is bleeding profusely from the hit on his head. Fortunately, amongst the crowd is a well-wisher. He rushes to the man's place to inform his folks.......

Dear God,

That Gentleman is my father, my Appa. As you are aware, he suffered that fall that fateful day owing to low blood sugar levels. I rush to the site. It is pitiable to see Appa lying by the closed shutter of a shop on the pavement. The blood on his head makes me even more nervous. Actually, I turn numb. Voices around me are advising that we shouldn't have let him go alone, some suggesting that I call 108, some pressing me to take him home. But in a moment, I gather myself and wake him up. He cannot speak! He looks around and at me utterly confused. I coax him to talk, he mutters something! He refuses to recognize me. In fact, he shrugs me off. I quickly hail an auto and rush to the Hospital.

I still recall a cousin's death due to Asphyxia sometime ago. Although we were told it was sudden, truth is, she had a history before that tragic night, one that we were not aware of. Her husband couldn't do anything to help her because finances were modest. He also chose not to call us because he had sought our help on multiple occasions previously and didn't want to bother us anymore. Now that is seriously pathetic - not to be able to save someone owing to lack of money, isn't it? It feels terrible.

Anyway, there were quite a few significant learnings out of Appa's episode. Top on the list is the keyword INSURANCE. Honestly, I never thought of insurance as an investment (not monetarily, mind you), as a life-saving investment. God, that may not always save lives but it does take away the pressing tension of bills that result out of hospitalization, medicines, tests.... It is a weird dichotomy to fight illness with no money in hand. Getting back to Appa, he is discharged from the Hospital and thankfully, his small savings come handy to pay for the 48-hour IP bills.

Three days into recovery, he complains of pain around the rib cage. The consulting doctor recommends several tests - Cholesterol, TMT, Echo etc. A cardiologist notices a halt in the graph and to rule out eventualities, prescribes some more tests. Hospitals today operate for Business and therapy (definitely and only in that order). So if the Hospital knows you are covered, that means an eternal stay in the Hospital. In Appa's case, we had to press the Doctors to relieve him sooner because he had no coverage. Another trick up their sleeves at Hospitals, "No discharge on Sundays" ensures an extra day's squeeze out of the patients. The consulting Doctor puts in a word and relieves Appa.

So, Learning # 2: Read a lot. Be aware of ailments, diseases, infections etc. The reading is not to show off, not to contest the knowledge of Doctors but to be prepared. Yet again, thanks to you and your blessings, it turns out to be an injury from that terrible fall. The pain has subsided but does present itself at times when he exerts.

The Grocery store owner tells me that Appa was smoking before he lost his presence of mind. That is a sticky situation to deal with, especially if someone sneaks out to smoke. Not as if we hadn't pushed him enough not to, he didn't seem to get it. I had stopped urging him, figured it had to come from within. Anyway, last but the most significant lesson, know and take care of yourself. It is important to understand what your body can take and what it cannot. Past your prime, the only asset you have is your life. As it is, there are various challenges to deal with. Health issues only aggravate it.

The episode was more than eye-opener. Dear God, you have always helped me silently. You are the best Teacher.

Thank you.