The day I was SPAced out

                  It was perfect weekend with me got to do nothing as such and almost my first half of the day went on with watching back to back episodes of Friends. I just then remembered that it's been a week since I felt that I badly needed a haircut. I reached the place where I was getting it done, off late and a guy right away took me to a chair as if he was indeed waiting for me. In my usual routine manner I asked this guy to KISS (Keep It Short and Spiked) and he nodded in affirmation and dressed me up for it. Because of the dryness of the hair the comb was getting stuck to the hair and he "analysed" and suggested that the hair was in a bad state and need a SPA treatment badly. With absolutely no idea of what the hell this SPA thing was I did not bother to show interest on it. He just went on to trim my hair in the manner I had mentioned earlier and he was almost done doing it and started off again with the same SPA stuff and also the discounts that is offered there for that blah blah stuff. I just started to listen to it and for a moment I was carried away in the trance and I blurted those magic words "Sure, lets try it". 

          The sombre looking hair-cut guy till then, suddenly sprang to life with some new energy and started treating me like as if I own that place and like I'm welcome to do anything. I remembered my BPO work days where I used to pitch-in to the customers about various products without even bothered of whether they were interested or listening to me and ONLY help the customers out with their issues with all the extra care and concern  the moment they agree to buy a product. Today I felt like I've been a victim to taste my own medicine, on a different ball game though. I asked the guy to do shave job as well and he was ready with the stuff for that in a jiffy and was done with doing that in a few minutes.

        I was then asked to be ready for the hair wash and the SPA following it. I was all curious on what the hell that is gonna be as well as what good will it do to my "dry" hair. I was led into another inner private room and I was all covered up with just the head outside the cover and he brought an urn of some pale green gel, which just looked like Brylcreem. He then applied it all over my hair and also buried some of it between the hair, onto the scalp and left it dry for sometime. I was caught off-guard totally when suddenly he started punching my spine started from the neck. I could not comprehend his intention and then he said it's a part of the SPA massage. I felt the punches were nowhere close to massaging and I started having the feel of why the hell am I paying someone, to hit me by the way. I didn't know for what reason but he asked me to keep my eyes closed, probably he wanted me to actually "feel" the brutal massage I was subjected to, in a better way with my eyes closed. With some more of spine and shoulder punching, and a few times of a possible hand ripping attempts, he called it done and moved onto to my green-gelled hair.

       With another 10 mins of scalp scratching and his way of head massaging, I was left alone for a few minutes to recoup and get back to senses. He then dragged something over and covered my head. It looked like a head scanner, which was a typical machine that could be found at any hair salons. Right from my childhood days I had noticed it being kept unused in a corner of every salon I had been to, based on which I've had my share of sci-fi fantasies. The few mins of the head scanner part was, where the gel spread over my head started melting out. Finally to my relief, I had my head washed out and dried and the thought Never again...never again kept reverberating in my mind. I came back to my normal senses and zap came the bill which was nonetheless a loud slap.

         With no words exchanged, I handed over the money with a "This is bloody daylight mugging man" look and the cashier accepted it unperturbedly and returned the change with a glance that clearly had the sub titles "That's Natural(s)!!!"

The End of the Spinning Ball

      With the India Vs Srilanka test match having come to an end, it is the end of the road for Muthiah Muralitharan -The last of the trio of SPIN GODS of test cricket, after Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. There are no other spinning great potential identifiable yet, in the Cricketing world. This world record feat of Murali's test wickets  has lasted for a span starting from Craig Mcdermott (The first wicket) to Pragyan Ojha (800th wicket).

With this end of the era, it is also the end of...

• The greatest Off-spinner, the test matches has seen and will see, forever.
• The highest wicket taker in test cricket record will possibly never ever tumble again.
• The best of DOOSRAs, an off-spinner's answer to the googly.

Looking at the other presently performing SPIN talents, maybe the future of the quality spin bowling in test cricket is a BIG QUESTION, unless any of the "TRIO" take up the task of coaching the young talents.

My salutations to the legends of the SPIN game and I'm proud to have been a live witness during the period of these legends!!!

Me,my HTC and THE STORY

Thanks to,

Sunil

Ragesh - Vodafone

Periappa and collegues - MRF

Mama

Gokul

Ganesh
Sai

Chitappa

Sridhar

&

Mom

          It was July last year when I got the HTC Touch Viva phone for myself and it was a period where not many people recognized HTC as a brand of mobile and interpreted HTC as some korean handset. It was my habit to fiddle around with the Windows with some third-party softwares and apps and my HTC with Windows Mobile on it was no different as well. The happy period with this phone existed until the 20th of May, 2010 when I carelessly left the phone on the dining hall of my cousin's marriage reception. As it happens I did not realize that for more than half an hour and my search at every corner of the venue was in vain and I could not locate my mobile. I was so cross at myself for my carelessness. The phone was much invaluable for its rich contact info (for which I did not have a back-up) more than the cost of the mobile.

         I blocked the SIM and stayed disconnected without a mobile for a week, which my mom could not tolerate any further cos she was used to calling me at least thrice daily and she could not stay without doing that. Hence I finally got a duplicate SIM and was back online on the GSM world with a spare mobile of my friend. I explored loads of mobile handset reviews and maybe cos of my association with HTC or I did not know why exactly , I was so obsessed with the HTC models and was just pondering over which handset to choose and the HD2 was so very impressive for me and started checking out on who would offer that to me at the lowest price. With the history of my previous phone and the cost of the phone I was eying for now, the elders back home, in their usual predictable manner raised questions like  "Why go for another costly phone and maybe lose it again?"  "Why not go for a basic mobile handset?" etc etc..!!! With so many against in me buying the HD2, I was deferring the buying process.

       It was 3rd July, 2010 evening and my mom showed me her mobile asking me to have a look at a weird SMS she had got the previous day. The SMS sent a shock through my spine as it remainded me of those days when I had browsed the internet for my Windows Mobile apps and had installed a software that claimed to send an SMS of our choice to the mobile number of our choice if someone removes my SIM and puts another SIM. The SMS had the exact content which I had specified in that software when I had installed it. As I did not test if it was working, I was very unclear on how it is working after a month of me having lost it. I was in a state of "Will this happen for sure and will I get back my mobile?". With those thoughts running repeatedly our part of investigation started and within an hour we had the complete details of the SIM. We approached the police and they promised us that they will recover the phone in a day or two and get it to us and advised us not to contact that number.


       With the thoughts of the HTC reverberating in the mind, day in and day out I could not sleep well since the day I saw that SMS. I had a chance to go to my cousins' place (in who's marriage reception I had lost the mobile) and I told them of the developments about my HTC. My uncle who was less observant till then suddenly inquired again on the name and address of the SIM. When he heard it again he exclaimed that there was person at his workplace with the same name and similar area of residence. We checked out the reception video and the time he came to the reception and had dinner coincided with the time I had left my mobile. With the new development, my uncle promised me that he will check the details of that person and if it matches, its going to be a piece of cake to recover from him. With a sigh of some relief I went back home. The next day he called me and said none of the info which I had given matched with the company records of the person with the same name and hence he concluded that probably its a mere coincidence and asked to me push with the police to recover the mobile soon.


     The police (as one would come to know with experience) were postponing the errand stating they would do the next day, for some three days. After having been fed up of their response, I told another uncle of mine regarding the status and he said he would call the number directly and recover the mobile soon. I got the news after a few hours that the man promised to return the mobile asap. On asking for the details of how he was nabbed, my uncle narrated that he had called the person and threatened him stating that his entire call history since the time he put on this SIM has been traced and he had no chance to escape. The guy on the other side pleaded not guilty stating that he was working at a reputed firm for years and had a clean track record. To his misfortune the company he mentioned was indeed the same company where my cousin's father worked and he was indeed the same guy whom we already suspected from the reception video. My uncle called that guy again with my other uncle and that person's boss listening to the conversation, staying muted on the line and him without knowing who were on the line mentioned the same thing to my uncle and then both of them came of the mute and a deal was struck and he pleaded guilty finally and promised to return the phone and here I am back with my HTC yet again....!!!