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Thursday, October 13, 2005

Divine Comedy

There are days when I think that somethings happen just to annoy me. And I hate it when these happen early in the morning. I woke up to the sound of my cellphone ringing its head off (I had forgotten to put it on vibrate). It didn't even seem to have dawned yet. I groped around in the darkness and I couldn't find my phone to save my life. The ringing stopped and I sighed as I went back to bed. I'll deal with it when I wake up, I thought. I was wrong. The insistent ringtone that I'd liked, "Tere Liye" from Veer Zaara, started its melancholy melody again. I groaned, switched on the light ready to blast this person calling me at 4.30 AM in the morning. After frantically rummaging in and around my bed, I found my phone in the crack between the wall and the bed. I had to do some gymnastics to get to it. The ringing had stopped but I found a voice mail that sounded like someone was crying.
Phone rings again.
Me: "Huh..hullo.."
Guy (Obviously drunk): "I neejz ta talk to ya.."
Me: "Who is this?"
Guy: "Cut the ****. Ya know me..I know thaz.."
Me: "You got the wrong number. Sorry." [Slam the phone down]

[Phone ringing again. By this time, I am ready to throw my phone out the window.]
Guy: "You canna slam the phone down on me...pleaaze..talk to me." [makes suspicious sobbing sounds]
Me (sighing): "I think you got the wrong number, man. Go to sleep." [Groaning and wondering what I'd done to deserve this!]

Well, there I was wide awake at 4.30 AM in the morning wondering what to do. I tossed around and couldn't go back to sleep. So I stumble bleary-eyed to the kitchen to get some coffee only to find no coffee. Great, I curse myself. I turn on my computer and some playlist starts playing. First song from 'Padakotti' (MGR Starrer):
"Tharai mel pirakka vaithan,
engaLai thaNNeeril pizhaikka vaithaan."

Idhula situation song oNNu dhaan kuraichal..:(

Finally, I get myself a cup of hot water and go to the living room to watch CNN. I trip across my ethernet cable and spill hot water all over myself. My wireless router had gone bust and I had resorted to a physical connection with the cable running across the room. So there I was, jumping around like a cat in hot water (I mean, literally!). Finally, I settle down to watch CNN's coverage of the earthquake and fall asleep for half an hour with some stupid dreams of visiting Saddam Hussein's Iraqi Presidential Palace. And the weird thing is that his palace has no roof (!). And Saddam gives me some explanation about how good it is for one's health to have no roof. Yeah right.

I woke up thoroughly cranky and started writing this blog...Sigh. If this is God's sense of humour, I don't think its funny. I think this is going to be a long day.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm actually surprised that you got a wrong number on the cell phone. Here is what rings in my mind. Rarely do people "dial" numbers when trying to get in touch with someone they know. Think of it. Your best friend. How often do you punch numbers into a phone to reach your friend ! More likely you have the number stored and just click one button to reach the person. Then talking of cross connections, I've rarely heard of such incidences in the US (and the last thing which I can think of happening on cells). Hmm, ... Just wondering !

Anyway, sometimes, good days are the ones which start off with a warning, just to get you alert. Perhaps, this is one of them !

Anonymous said...

I saw your posting time of 2:57 am and just wondered about the 4:30 am. It then struck me that Google is on the west coast. Duh. So much for speaking of time without classifying time zones !

The Doodler said...

Anonymous,
I recently switched providers and since then, this has become normal for me. I try calling someone and it gets routed to someone else. And people try to reach me and they reach someone else..:( I am thinking this is another of those weird cross-routing problems..
BTW, who are you?

Gnana Kirukan said...

Man - I thought I was crazy after ur tamil writings - but I see there are some more ppl around - and these ppl culd make u go crazy :))


he he he - I am really sorry for u - but I culdnt control my laughter after reading abt ur dream! Did u get a chance to see Saddam's gold studded toilet? ROTFL

Gnana Kirukan said...

Btw - I do get these stupid calls from Africa!! It makes me go wild too!

Anonymous said...

Wow, your provider must really suck if you get wrong calls on such a periodic basis. So if you dial a particular number, does it consistently and reproducably get routed to another person or does it get routed to a different number each time ? I guess the only way for you to know is to recognize the voice at the other end. If its consistent, then you can probably (at least till your provider fixes their problem) reverse engineer the whole thing and find a way to get in touch with the folks you care about. I wonder what happens when you dial toll free numbers !

I'm not someone who knows you or whom you know. Just came across your blog linked from another and found some thoughts echoed to be amusing reads.

The Doodler said...

Arjuna,
Neenga enna solreenga ne purlai..

>>I thought I was crazy after ur tamil writings - but I see there are some more ppl around - and these ppl culd make u go crazy :))

You went crazy after you read my Tamil?! idhu parattala, thuppala?! :(

Calls from Africa? that's weird.

The Doodler said...

Anonymous,
My provider is supposed to one of the best- Cingular. I have this happen to me intermittently..and my friends have reported weird stuff too. I spoke with customer service and it is something to do with a single tower near the Univ and lotsa customers and lines getting crossed..I dunno. Too technical for me.
At least, I haven't had my call go somewhere else the past few days. So hopefully this is gonna get fixed too.
BTW, thanks for stopping by..:)

Gnana Kirukan said...

Subha - :)) - iyyo I meant - I became a fan of ur tamil writings pa :)..Unga tamil-uka - ellarkitayum unga blog-ai recommend pannitu iruken :) - best tamil blogger around!

Btw - unga mari tamil blogs vasichu - I also wrote some tamil posts :P - check my latest post and also this:

http://naan-yaar.blogspot.com/2005/10/kavignar-arjuna-vin-lollukaatu.html

romba kevalama iruku :(( - check it out if possible :( - I am writing a tamil story too - wuld write and let u know :)

Ganesh said...

ha ha
Sorry this is indeed funny.

Kupps said...

Did u get a chance to see Saddam's gold studded toilet?

perhaps, that too didn't have roof ;)

that apart, you guys ROFTL on such things...u dont know how bad it wud be? *angry smiley*

anyways, since a lot of ROTFLers are here lemme join them too ;)

RS said...

Sorry Subha, but your post made me laugh - thanks for the comic relief on an otherwise dreary work day :)

Am surprised you couldnt get back to sleep easily? All I have to do is fall into my bed and am in la la dream land before I know it! Apadi un vaazhkaila enna tension? :)

Anonymous said...

oh! thats me :)

Anonymous said...

CLARIFICATION:
---------------
that "oh thats me" is to say Kupps is me :)

RS post came b4 my post.

Anonymous said...

Also to add to Anonymous' theories of not being able to get wrong numbers on ur cell phones, one of my friends who had subscribed to a plan by this service provider apparently had the same number as another subscriber. Call up ABC and you would get XYZ instead or vice-versa (but that i wouldn't know!!). There was a number of times you had to dial to actually get to the original person, made for a good problem in Stat Analysis. Cell phone goof ups all the way people!

The Doodler said...

Arjuna,
danks for the recommendations..:) Will sure read your posts.

The Doodler said...

Ganesh,
funny at my expense...:(

Sridhar,
Kanavule Arjuna solra alavukku ellam details varadhu..

RS,
Well, at least my misery was comical and useful to someone..:)

The Doodler said...

Me,
I am thinking that's exactly what happened here..or some trouble with porting numbers or whatever..I dunno..

Aatma said...

Subha, sorry to hear that u had to go through such a morning - but sometimes u need a diversion from an otherwise regular day - u will remember this incident for sometime now - have a few chuckles with your friends

Looks like you have big fan in Arjuna for your tamil writings - unfortunately can't read tamil - so cannot enjoy your writings.

Hey Arjuna you have a good sense of humor - continue on

Anonymous said...

Hahaha.. padikka funny-ya irundhalum cha, paavam neenga..

Aranganathar arul purivaraaga, to make ur long day short and put u to bed by 9 or 10 tonight..!! :)

Nadandhadhu edhu adhu nandraagave nadandhadhu.. Ellathukkum oru karanam irukkum..

Gnana Kirukan said...

"Hey Arjuna you have a good sense of humor - continue on"

Atma - I said I am a fan of Subha's writings and u say I have a good sense of humour !! Subha ungala uthaika poranga! LOL

Anonymous said...

Hey subha,

Moto Razr ku asa pattu cingular marina la anubavi :)

Hope u r day went well..

k

Anonymous said...

"And Saddam gives me some explanation about how good it is for one's health to have no roof. "

haaaaaaaaah
I would be laughing even in my dream if someone does that...

Narayanan Venkitu said...

funny.!! Saddam Hussein's palace without a roof..!! and Saddam talking to you...!! Too much of news..TV..I think.

Wrong calls at wrong times.!! I've been bitten by it as well. And even worse here in CA...people talk in Spanish.!!

I am sure you'd have felt really tired after that..!!

Zeppelin said...

there is an "audible" in y! messenger which goes like this -

Oh Man ! that's hilarious! sucks for you though, sorry 'bout that...

neeyavadhu parava illa.. you could not sleep only after the phone went off... ennoda case worstu... i keep waking up every now and then and stare into the green digits of my alarm clock... ! feels like "You are in the Matrix"..!! :)

:)

Anonymous said...

nee srirangathil irukira janaakarshana chakratha thallitu vanthita ninaikiren..chumma empty blog podu evlo comment varuthunu paapom!

Anonymous said...

Readin your post about "Stupid Dream" was like reading the "Infinite Monkey theorem" I came across recently. Hilarious and totally unlikely.

-Vasu

Anonymous said...

Kanavule Arjuna solra alavukku ellam details varadhu

podhuvaa indha maadhiri kanavE varaadhu. aanaa indha maadhiri kanavu vandhirukkunnaa arjuna sollura maadhiri andha special gold studded restroom kooda roof illaama thaan vandhirukkum :)

Balaji said...

so how did the day eventually go? :)

expertdabbler said...

un kadhai ipdi

en kadhai vera madhiri, i used to get calls and i wud;ve missed it. guess what i do, i call the same number and

Me:
"Hello, karthik here, got a call from this number while i was driving..."

Other End:
"Oh, Sir we are calling from XXXXX Bank sir, you are interested in Credit Cards?"

Grrr....:(

----------
u put yr cell in vibrator mode during sleep?
i make the beep as loud as possible audible but still miss the calls :)

kalaile partha daan theriyum..

got something funny to read in blogosphere after all this IIPM fiasco thanks to that wierd call

Anonymous said...

Hey Subha,
How about telling the people here about the surprise u had at work....Pleasent Surprise huh...Wish I get a call like this soon :)

Congrats

K

Arun said...

Linked to here from freeyavedu.

“There are days when I think that somethings happen just to annoy me.”
>> I’m sure these words were in everyone’s mouth at some time or the other!!

“My wireless router…”
>>Sitting out here in India, I sometimes feel jealous at the yet-for-us-high-tech life you guys in the US live!

Pretty humorous post that I could relate too.

Arun

Maayaa said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Maayaa said...

subha.
naan dhaan weird dreams queennnu neachen.. neeyum anga dhaan vara pola iruke:)

ennavo po. ennakku rommieyaa irundha podhu koncham better irundha.. ippo worst..

The Doodler said...

Aatma,
I guess these minor annoyances are the spice of life..:) Stories to tell my grandkids some 50 years down the line!

Raju,
indha maadhiri nonsense things-ku ellam artham thedinaal, naan paithiyam aaiduven..:)

Hoi K,
remba correct..:(

The Doodler said...

@Kishan, LOL.
Venkitu sir,
I guess it is a question of which one is worse: getting a crank call in a known language or getting a crank call in an unknown language?
Uma,
thanks for stopping by. aamaango..kali kaalam..:)
AK,
y this kodumai? padutha aanandama thoongaNum..

The Doodler said...

@Anon, your comment made me smile.
@Vasu, adhu enna "Infinite monkey theorem"??? I haven't googled for it yet.
Sridhar,
innum andha level of details-ku ellam en kanavu pogalai...:)I wasn't even aware of such a thing..so perhaps, if I had been conscious of it, it'd have happened in my dreams...LOL
Balaji,
After I managed to zombie-walk my day through, it wasn't so bad after all!

The Doodler said...

Prabhu Karthik,
I think those CC companies haven't found my number yet..when I had a landline, I used to get those calls a LOT!
NeengaLum indha calls varadha polambal aarambichiteengala..:)
Hmm..i am also rather saturated with the IIPM stuff.
Arun,
thanks for stopping by. There are a lot of things in India that I miss that are more important than a wireless router..For example, a steaming hot cup of coffee; hot dosas with spicy chutney...hmm..my mouth is watering now.

The Doodler said...

Priya,
needhan innum Queen. Andha post-ku naan aspire pannave mudiyaadhu..Rajini, Vijayakanth ellam summa sarva saadharaNama un kanavile varuvaanga..nee vera director-a maari, ennanamo kadhai ellam kattuva..chance-e illai!LOL

Gnana Kirukan said...

Subha - I have written the short story in tamil (yeah inspired by ur writings :) ) - please do read it and let me know ur suggestions :)

Arun said...

"There are a lot of things in India that I miss that are more important than a wireless router..."

Yeah.. But, I think you must mean Chennai, not India. I mean, I'm in hyd and I miss all that just as much as you do!

And hey.. this is quite some work replying personally to every comment. Thank you.

Arun

mathangi k said...

Subha,
unakku kaathala vela ketta velaila vandhuthu... enakku ella velayum varudhu...
Raathiri 3 manikky Anonymous nu pottu varum.. naan thaavi kudhichu amma phone aathulendhunnu thavvi eduppen, evano oruthan other end lendhu koovuvan "I am calling from so and so"nnu.. Ippo ellam mobile la switch off panni vekkara alavukku mosama poiduthu..

kuttichuvaru said...

hey Subha,
worst things happen in tandem... patta kaalile padum nnu summaava sonnanga....I had a personal experience... coupla months bak, had to fly to NY... my friend was gonna drop me... we had a flat tyre... by the time I reached airport, missed the flight.... rescheduled to nite flight.... nite airport pogumpothu bayangara mazhai... drencheda airport kulla ponaa... flight delayed by 2 hrs..... pothaathukku flyin time increased by 45 mins coz of air traffic.... midnite laguardia la eranginaa, spirit airlines baggage carousel broke down..... kashta pattu vera carousel lernthu baggage porukkikittu cab kku vanthaa periya queue.... oru vazhiyaa cab pudichaa.... NY la nite 140 kku avvlavu traffic..... poi sernthu padukka 3 o clock aagiduchu.... one of the worst days in my life..... appo thaan oraikkum.... ellaame easya nadanthutta life la kick illa.....