Landfall Over Mumbai

Took these photographs while returning home this week. At the final leg of the flight, where the Arabian Sea ceases, to usher in the Mumbai skyline. Was exhausted & slept through the entire leg, having departed 3 days ago from site, changed 3 flights & still had around 3 hours of journey by road to reach home. Inter-spread were 12 hours of layover. Luckily, announcements to make seat upright & fasten the seat belts, as the pilot was to commence descent woke me up & I was greeted by this sight.

Christmas Goodness

This weekend coincided with the periodic servicing of the motorcycle. Rode to the Service Centre at around 9:30 AM on Sunday, Dec. 24. Upon reaching, they informed that they would be unable to take-in any more bikes, owing to the previous day's backlogs [long weekend]. Not one to take no for an answer, I escalated the matter with the 'Floor Manager', Mr. Martin. Following his instruction, they took in my vehicle, but informed that it could take up to 2 days for it to be returned, owing to the backlogs. Decided to get the bike serviced, notwithstanding the delay.

I nevertheless requested Mr. Martin to expedite the work, so that I could get it get it back by the next day, Dec. 25, at least. That way, I wouldn't have to endure a torturous car ride to work through the chock-a-block traffic. He would try, but couldn't guarantee the delivery next day, he said. I returned home & went about the day's business. Imagine my surprise, when I received a call at around 4 PM that day, asking me to visit the service centre, to witness the Engine Oil filling, as I had instructed. They had finished servicing the bike & would hand it back to me after the filling, they confirmed.

Servicing done, I got back the bike the same day, thus spared of the hassle of taking the car to work on Tuesday. Counted my luck, as I headed out from there.

Reminisced over the event. I had wished Mr. Martin a 'Merry Christmas' in the morning, after he mentioned he was taking 2 days leave. Greeted him & shook hands for the upcoming festival, as common courtesy, having known him & being a patron of the Service Centre for long. There were other customers alongside, but nobody followed suite while I was there. Gave it no further thought in the morning, but the favourable turn of event in the evening, leads me to believe that my gesture may have turned the tide in my favour.

Godspeed

Blues In the City

The past year has been a professional pivot. Moved back to the city. Now part of "Corporate". In the current role, I manage the executioners of projects in locations across the oceans. In essence, I manage me in my previous avatar. It entails downing copious amount of black, unsweetened coffee, while sitting through the endless number of daily meetings. Spreadsheets have become default, PowerPoint presentations, dejeuner. Folks harangue over font size/type & cell colour. It is a given that any data received has undergone Arithmetic jugglery to fit the sender's own definition. Parsing through the 3^rd degreed data becomes a cerebral resource intensive endeavour. In brief, recurring moments of questioning, the process presents itself as a giant exercise in purposelessness.

Commutes are another ordeal. 15 odd kilometres each side takes up to 2 hours on the way back if the Gods are adequately displeased, which I feel [s]he is often nowadays. Moving at a 5 kmph, the perpetual clutch-brake interplay has become part of muscle memory. Sitting inside the quasi-static transport, I have finished off 4 hours long TSTU podcast episodes [at 2X speed] before reaching home.

Some folks have termed the current state of affairs as part of growth, that I would have to ride out. Taking their word for it, for now.

The photo on top, I took a 8 PM on a road, near home, that is normally choc a bloc with traffic & unwieldly parked vehicles belonging to individuals who would be at home in an Insta Reel. It happened to be on the day of immersion of the deity. Office got closed early, on account of abysmal attendance.

Godspeed

Also Read: Ship MV Wisdom on Juhu Beach in Mumbai [& some PDA]

Banks, IVF & Jewellers In Aundh

 Walking through the streets of Aundh, a locality in Pune, one can note a pattern in the new business establishments commencing operations here - Banks, In-Vitro Fertilisation [IVF] treatment centres & Jewellery stores.

Musicolet Music Player - The No BS Way To Play Songs On The Phone

Musicolet has been the go-to App for playing music & podcasts on my phone. Does the job, period. I have been using it for the past 2 years, since shortly before Google Play Music shut shop.

YouTube As A Music Identification Tool

Doom-scrolling lead to above YouTube Shorts.

Towards identifying the song, I uploaded this to my YouTube channel. Instant copyright strike, along with the details of the song & artist.

Mission accomplished, chicken fibre unstuck from brain, deleted the video.

Godspeed

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, Or How I laid My Hands On It

TL;DR: Flexing how I scored a Flagship phone at bargain basement price.

Cops, Traffic Violation And Social Media

I was riding my bike last week, after dropping a colleague at the hotel he was staying in. Unbeknownst to me, the road I turned to had been demarcated as a one-way street subsequent to the last time I drove through it. I saw a few other vehicles ahead of me turning that way & just followed suit. By the time I realised what happened, I spotted 2 traffic policemen standing a few hundred metres down that road. They stopped me & 1 of them took away my driving license to check for any prior violations. Clean slate, he discovered.

Telecom Operator Vi Hides Behind USSD Codes To Get Customers To Cough Up More Money

Had an encounter with my cellular service provider. Validity of the voice & data plan in my Vi SIM Card had recently expired. So, I logged in to their App to create a new talktime bundle. Selected a suitable pack & proceeded to checkout. I had a pre-existing balance of more than ₹1,000/= in the account. Normally, I should be able to pay for the new plan using that balance amount.

Check

Checking

Thoughts After A Month Of Riding The Bicycle

I am having quite a good time riding the bicycle.

Beware, Kotak Mahindra Bank Leaks Customer Data

Last month, my attention drew to an Account Statement emailed from the Kotak Mahindra Bank. Was taken aback, since I held no account with them.

Multimedia Cess - For Platform-Independant Content Consumption

The screenshot is of from iPad I occasionally borrow. Faced with a conundrum.

Vi Signed You Up For Bcafe Portal VAS & Deducted Money? You Can Get It Back

The other day, I received an SMS stating Rs. 15 had just been deducted from my talk-time balance & I have been signed up to Bcafe Portal. Was taken aback by this, since I did no such thing.

Avoid Instacuppa Products - Lacking In Ethics & Integrity

Firefox Rapide 21S Hybrid Bicycle - 1-Day Impression