At that time, Docomo was good mainly because of its plans. The network was not too great, but it was as good as one could expect from a company just launched. It was not there in basements, lifts, remote areas and in some buildings, for example Manipal Hospital was one place where it wasn’t there in almost half the places inside the building.

But things were manageable and with the speed Docomo was putting their towers, I had expected that maximum within a year they’d have network as good as Airtel or Vodafone.

Guess I was wrong.

When my office shifted to Outer Ring Road, a few kms from Marathahalli Bridge, I was surprised to know that the network wasn’t there in almost half of the building. And then, in the lab, there were absolutely zero network for Docomo. But what is more surprising here is that the case is the same even today, almost a year and a half later. Just to clear any doubt, I’d like to mention here that Airtel, Vodafone, and even Reliance have network access throughout my office. Haven’t checked about others though.

But then, this is not exactly the reason I am writing this post. Almost everyone in my office and home knows that when in lab, I am not reachable, and I am quite okay with that.

The real frustration comes out when problems get bigger than this. For example, in the past few months, I have seen network access completely going at the center of Marathahalli Bridge repeatedly, and for more than ten, fifteen minutes. Ironically, some of the biggest Ranbir Kapoor posters claiming no getting away from network can be found within range of two kms.

Also, it frustrates me when every time at the HAL airport road, my network goes if I am talking. On the best days, only my voice breaks, while on an average day, call gets disconnected.

But then again, things still have to go over the top.

Earlier, Docomo gave a service where they used to give you detail of calls you missed. Now, Docomo has decided to charge for the service. Now that is again something fine enough, as long as you miss these calls because you switch off the phone. But what generally happens, is that DoCoMo’s unomnipresent network goes, sometimes when you highly need it (else, I wouldn’t even know it has gone, mostly) and there are tries to make calls, up and down, and then after some time DoCoMo network comes back and tells you that you have missed some call and if you pay 25 paise, you can get to know who called you.

So if you simplify the whole situation, you see that now a company can ask you for money because their network is bad, and call it a value add service.

Besides, I have had some good experiences with DoCoMo customer care in the past, when my money was immediately returned when I was once charged for something I had not asked for. The good part here also was that I have been charged extra only once in all this time, while such things are quite common with other operators. But then, recently there was a strange experience when a customer care person refused to tell me whether a particular package was available anymore and asked me to call the IVRS.

When I tried to contact DoCoMo on Twitter with some of these problems, the only answer I was given was to contact a nodal officer. On specifically asking whether not telling about packages through customer care was by design, there was no response from Twitter DoCoMo.

In short, while I enjoyed the services of DoCoMo for the first year and even after that, now the services, instead of getting better, are getting worse, and DoCoMo too seems to be turning into a money monster, even though not to the extents I have faced in case of other operators, not yet. But then, when compared to others, there are enough of problems with DoCoMo which may lead to me shifting to some other operator one day or the other. Don’t know if DoCoMo would mind letting their day one customers go, though I am sure I would not very much like it.

At the end of the play, though, I couldn’t meet him as the majority of my friends wanted to meet Ratna Pathak Shah, and then it was not possible to meet all of them in the given time. Still, I hope there will be times in future when I’d be able to paste a photograph, and if possible a small interview with the man with so many arms. That reminds me of his dialog in the play where he says to Sergius that he works in artillery and has his choice of weapons. If that’s how he composes and acts, he indeed has his choice of weapons.

The thought probably came when I was listening to 7 Khoon Maaf, more precisely when I was listening to O mama, and then Aawara. I don’t exactly know what the thought was, but I will try to put it into words anyway. The thought was of Gulzar, his age, his words, and more thoughts that I do not remember or may not want to talk about.

Well, first thing was, who ever thought Gulzar will be writing Rock songs? Listening to O mama, while I was mesmerized by Vishal’s music and KK’s singing, Gulzar’s words fit in there as if water in a jug. I was thinking that the person who wrote ‘Mora Gora Ang Lai Le’ almost fifty years ago, and then ‘mera kuch saamaan’ two decades after that, is writing O mama today, and with his words alone, is as much a part of today’s generation as a someone born after his fifth filmfare award.

I remember his words from the filmfare awards this year about Vishal Bhardwaj as he said, ‘Ek naujawan ka shukriya ada karna bahot zaroori hai.. isne mere lafzon ko jawan rakha hai’ (It’s necessary to thank a youngster.. he has kept my words young), and I do agree with him. But what is most wonderful is how Gulzar has been able to write those young words while maintaining the same quality that he was known for, say, three-four decades ago. Yes, he still writes lines like ‘Dushman jiye mera, wo bhi gair to nahi,’ in that rock song itself.

And then, there is that thing I yearn for, the way he can use the language. He was the one who came up with things like humne dekhi hai in aankhon ki mehekti khushboo and surili ankhiyon wale, and even though today’s lyricist try to come up with such things sometimes and to some extent, are successful too, Gulzar has that command on language that is still missing with them all. I have loved the lyrics of Prasoon Joshi and Amitabh Bhattacharya innumerous times, but I do not know someone who can write ‘saara din sadkon pe khali rikshe sa, peechhe peechhe chalta hai’ and ‘chhod aaye hum wo galiyaan’ with equal ease, or someone who can even imagine the lines ‘aankhen tez tatayya dono jeebh saanp ka phunkara’ or ‘chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai’ or even a simple sounding ‘dil to bachcha hai ji.’

No, I don’t know anyone who can write ‘ek hi lat suljhane mein saari raat guzari hai.’

That is what I fear. For a life when I will not be able to listen to Gulzar’s songs, because it’s almost sure that during my lifetime a day will come when that pen will no more be writing.

And so, I wish he lives past hundred in all health. And that pen keeps going, on and on, forever.

And here I’ll finish for now the unending topic, with something that I wrote with him in my mind:

bharte hain Roz hawaon mein Udaan,
phir bhi kabze mein unke rehte hain,
unke alfaz kya, parinde hain..

Must, Must watch thing, and mind you, every single letter put on the post seems to be written with a thought. I wonder how long the author, Sujoy, has worked on it. His best post I have seen till date.

So no more chabad-chabad-patar-patar. Here is the link to the post.

I wrote my first post on Blogger on 11th September 2007. I wouldn’t certainly have remembered that if it wasn’t for Google where I still am active with the same account I held three years ago too. And I wouldn’t probably remember it either had the date been anything other than 9/11.

Anyway, now that I know, like always, I’ll see some numbers, and even you will if you’re not too bored and not decide to leave the post.

My first blog was My Big Big World on Blogger, where I wrote exactly 100 posts, both big and small. My first post written on September 11th was about a college ‘reality’ show called Besuregama which was arranged by some of my friends at a very small level, so small that only the 9-10 of us present there enjoyed it. Sadly, I have lost most of the footage of the show, though it was completely captured.

Anyway, after blogging there till July ’08, I shifted to a new blog called ‘Zehreelay‘ and I tell you, the name was more inspired by my reputation in college for my PJs rather than the Rock On song. Again I had some one plus year’s posts (some 75+ posts) there until I started my blog Happysing.

But before that, there was more in between. With Zehreelay, I blogged on musicalised and musicalized about music only with more than 160 posts on the latter. The latter also boasts of some 14k visits till date.

Today, I’m blogging on HappySing, that is this blog, which has some 320 published posts, and BollyMeaning, which I have started some two months ago, which has some 150 posts and gets some 2k+ visits everyday at present.

I just wish I keep writing. Wish me all the best.

Tere Naina (Jhoomo re/ Kailasa): One song I love like anything. I can listen to this one at any time, anywhere. And I just love it always. Deep, soulful, moving Kailasa.

Kothay Uttay (Saari Raat/ Devika): A song based on Hindustani Classical music as per the album cover of Saari Raat. A piece with some soft beats and lovable music. Barkha Bahar of the same album is a close too.

Meri Tarah (Fitoor/ Mohit Chauhan): It’s difficult choosing one song in this nostalic-ish album of Mohit. My guess is I picked this one for its awesome lyrics, which are again penned by the singing genius himself. A soft, lovable one in that super voice.

Har Jagah mein (Tu hi mere Rab ki tarah hai/ Mithoon): Mithoon’s album never made it big, but there were some good song in the debut album of this little master of music and this one is probably one of them. I’d say a typical Mithoon song with him at his best.

Mann Chandre (Connections/ A R Rahman): A R Rahman. Sukhwinder Singh. And a bit-sad, bit-philosphical, punjabi song. Do I need to say more? I guess not. Still I’d say, listen to the awesome chorus in the song. Rahman is not one who uses a chorus too much, but when he does, the effect is something like you can see here.

Mehfooz (Mehfooz/ Euphoria): Euphoria at its best is not always euphoric. Sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it cries out loud. Mehfooz might not be the top selling album of the band but the title song of the album is as deep and touching as any of their best hits. At par with mayeri and ab na ja, mehfooz is something to cherish forever.

Rain bhai kaari kaari (Humsafar/ KK): I don’t know what I should call this song, but it’s like a mix of somewhat classical stuff with some rock mood. KK, in his album Humsafar, sings this wonderful song called rain bhai kaari kaari din ujiyara. All I’d say is, listen to it, at least once.

Kaise jiye hain hum (Maheroo/ Jojo): I remembered Jojo for that mad song called Woh Kaun thi since my childhood, and then there was Maheroo, his other album after a long time. Hoping for a great album, I did listen to the whole album. Well, album wasn’t all that great but there was a song that I completely fell in love with. Kaise Jiye hain hum. A nostalgic song from someone destroyed in love (line copied from Fanaa), it has a nostalgia mix too, with the sound of a train. Interestingly, the mix is worth a try too.

Saiyyan (Jhoomo re/ Kailasa): Another song of the best of Kailash Kher. Came after Teri Deewani. Though popular, the song couldn’t do so well as Teri Deewani, but I think I love this one more. Only two words for the song – Kailash Kher.

Door Kahin (Nine): I hope you reach the end of this post, because Door kahin of Pankaj Awasthi is not only a favorite of mine, it’s different too. It’s a romantic song, with lyrics deep dpwn in romanticism, but it’s nothing like a typical romantic song. A wonderful thing to listen to.

Just do tell me if you like the songs. And also if u don’t.

Tip: I’m bookmarking this page myself.

I know that if we keep clicking the cross signs, all the suggestions keep coming back like they do in Facebook, but the trick is to click ‘View all’ under the suggestions and when you reach the page full of suggestions, just put your mouse at ‘hide’ and keep clicking as all of them hide one by one. Some twenty clicks and your Twitter is back to its normal, old self.

Now that I have done this, suggestions are not there at present but sooner or later they will come back. Now how successful is the method depends on how long does Twitter wait before I get suggestions.

Update: The thing works for say, one day, after which Twitter comes with a few more suggestions. However, if you are a Chrome user, you can remove the thing for always, with this app.

In fact it’s quite possible that after seeing Bhoomi’s potential only the Radio people have decided to come up with such an offer.

Do you think there’s anyone else good enough to be a Radio Jockey?

Well, that’s the condition in the center of the city. Come to the areas a bit on the outer side of the city. Now whitefield is officially a part of Bangalore and comes under BBMP. But the autowallahs probably don’t. Auto prices in Whitefield are outrageous and are now crossing all limits. For example, my home is almost 1100 meters from the main road. Generally autowallahs charged Rs 20 for the distance or simply fit in four people in a ‘shared’ auto for Rs 5 each. Rs 5 for a km was okay for people while Rs 20 for a km or so is pretty good by the meter standards, say almost triple the rate, or at least double if the road beyond my home is also calculated (almost 1.5 km).

But now, with the petrol prices up, autowallahs have made a stand (that is actually a queue) on the whitefield bus stop and have decided to charge Rs 10 for a shared auto. That is, for a kilometer, or say 1.5 at max, they will be getting Rs 40. Calculation says at least Rs 27 a km. Compare this to Rs 7/km that was the official rate, or 9-10/km, the would-be rate. We pay almost thrice of what is the actual price. (more than twice even if you take into account the minimum applicable distance of 2kms)

OK. Whitefield is very much out of the city, totally a corner, come towards the city. What’s the status at Marathahalli Bridge? The bridge is one of the most trafficked areas of Bangalore, with hundreds of thousands of people commuting over and under the bridge/ fly over. Go there and ask the autowallah if he’d go to my office, the EMC Corporation building. The building is actually 3 kms away and the meter used to give you a bill of Rs 21-23 in the pre-hike era. But when asked the price, the autowallah asked for Rs 50 straight. And that’s the fixed rate. All of them would stand with their autos there but none would take you to your office even for Rs 30.

The condition in the central areas of the city also doesn’t look too well. I remember when I came to Bangalore for the first time, some 12 years ago, things were much better. Especially in places like railway station an autowallah wouldn’t even ask where you had to go until he turned the meter and started moving. But now, seems like the law no more exists for autowallahs. And I wonder if there is any hope.

I still remember, when I switched the TV on, a lady had won Rs 40,000, Yes, ‘ F o r t y T h o u s a n d ‘, and she could win 80,000 if she answered this question right. And lose it all, and get just 10,000 if she answered it right. She had some idea but then, how could one risk so much money on just an idea? So she decided to quit. And then Amitabh Bachchan asked him, _____ ji, yadi aapko is sawal ka jawab dena ‘hota’ to aap kya jawab detin?

Lady: Option C. Mohinder Amarnath.

Amitabh Bachchan: Computer ji, ______ ji keh rahi hain ki wo Option C ko lock kartin, batayiye sahi jawab kya hai….. OOoooh, ye sahi jawab hota.

Long sighs everywhere. The lady has a face with a natural expression that is confused whether to be happy or sad. And me? I’m still under the spell. Probably even today as I live the moment again. That was the magic of KBC. Of that legend known as Big B.

And now, KBC is coming back, in its fourth season, with Amitabh once again. As Amitabh whistled the KBC music in the darkness of the same old set during an ad, I was near getting goosebumps. No, I don’t think that the magic will be here again, but surely, it will be a treat to watch Big B once again with all those questions, answers, phone a friend, janta ka poll, fifty-fifty and uh oh, samay samaapt.

If I go back to the time of KBC (now KBC 1), I recall so many things. Of all things I remmeber a fat notebook where I used to write answers for some of the questions. Mostly those beyond the 3,20,000 stage. Not because I thought I could go there (KBC was for 18 plus and I was merely 14) but because I loved knowing it all. KBC first told me about Edwin Lutyens and KBC only told that the southernmost point of India wasn’t Kanyakumari but Indira Point.

well, now it all comes back. At that time I won thousand, sometimes lacs of rupees in many shows. Pretend money of course, because I was not 18. But now, I am 18 and I realize that I don’t know half the things I knew back then. So when the show starts after Indian Idol gets over (that’s my guess since the day I knew it would come on Sony) I think I’ll have to sit back and enjoy with the pretend money again. In any case, I crave for that magic.