MJ will live on

It was diwali night circa 89-90.The whole neighborhood was lit up. Crackers lit up the night sky and above them you could hear the whoops and squeals of joy from the kids.One glum kid sat on his doorstep waiting for his dad his eyes fixed on the road.His crackers hadnt arrived yet.It was getting late and all the kids would be gone in a while and as the minutes ticked by he got more nervous and craned his neck even further.Suddenly there was a tap on his head from the back "what are you doing sitting here? Shouldnt you be out there wit your friends?". Daddy shoved a huge bag of crackers in his face.He started rummaging to see if all was in order the rockets, the sutli bombs the red laaris when his hand felt something plastic and he pulled out a cassette.Daddy had remembered..hed told him that "Bad" was out and now he had a shiny new copy. Classic kids dilemma.Should he burst the crackers with his cronies or play Jackos latest.Well diwali note only comes once in a year.But he was hooked on the music.For years after that night..afternoons after school were spent dancing to "Wanna be starting something", "the way you make me feel"..then performing for his friends at school..then at neighborhood functions..not for the prizes but to be like mike..cos when he danced he felt free..accepted..appreciated. He graduated to hard rock,later to electronic to hip hop but somewhere the later failures of Mikes albums and the criticism for his antics riled him.Now it was not cool to be a jackson fan and yet a lot of artists who came after somewhere were inspired by him..the dance moves..the nuances of voice..style of music videos..twenty years later this morning i woke up and switched on the news and suddenly i was that kid again..."Smooth Criminal" was playing but the dance wont come..the time had passed..but the music will not die and i know in a macabre sort of way it will be cool again to say you were a MJ fan all along..cos he had to die for that to happen..king of POP..RIP

Antimyatra.com

Please find enclosed the actual feedback i sent to Travel portal Yatra.com after my "surreal" experiences.Perhaps it will unmask the truth behind advertisements about India's much vaunted "service" industry.Sorry to say but we are not good enough when it comes to being courteous to customers or even genuinely cared about them.I have tried to believe but our government services,welfare programs,politicians..no one cares.We are not genuine in our concerns..except for our own..here goes nothing..enjoy my misery..:))

I had made bookings at Hotel Royal Park Rameshwaram Ref no:JNHKFI and N75kf8 in the name of Mr V .P damodaran, my father.
The check in was to be on the 6th FebruaryON the night of 5th Feb i got a caal from Mr Gagan from Yatra saying that since the both rooms were booked in the same name, the hotel had mistook it for a duplicate booking and reserved only one room . He said they were trying to get confirmation for another room in the same hotel or elsewhere.After that another person called saying alternate rooms were arranged for my parents and my father was also called to confirm the same at 7.15 last night.
Today afternoon when my parents reached Royal park,they were told there was only one room and that there were no other room available. All this despite producing yatra e-vouchers for both rooms.
The hotel staff was completely uncooperative. Also my father spent the next hour trying to talk to yatra helpdesk which kept transferring from one agent to another without anyone providing any solution.The general manager even refused to see my parents or talk to them.
I tried to contact gagan aand failed to do so. After close to half an hour of waiting i got Mr neeraj Jaiswal who gave me an alternate accomodation since mine was a "special case". I told him i would talk to my parents and confirm. But by then they had left royal park and checked in elsewhere. When i asked neeraj to cancel he said he had held the room for me which was no favour since Yatra and the hotel have goofed up not me.
When i called up yet again Mr Tarun attended the call and gave me this email address which i am not at all hopeful is being monitored. When i asked if there is a team that attends to customer complaint ..all i got was another long hold.
Moral of the story:When yatra confirmed a day before check in that alternate accomodation were made..did they vanish in thin air?Why is the hotel staff not admit that they did not verify before cancelling one room?Why is there no one to resolve queries without transferring to ten people?Why is there no link on the website to register complaints?
Can somebody kindly tell me how i can claim a refund??
Safe to say i will never ever use or recommend this service to anyone...
RegardsSandeep nair

Thanks Gilly

What was i doing being teary eyed if a cricketer whom i have only watched on TV and admired for the last decade decides to hang up his boots? Valid question if you have my mom's view of things..but then she doesnt know what it means for us sports crazy mortals to see their gods fade away?
Strangley i felt this in my bones when Adam Gilchrist for the first time in my memory..dropped a catch..thats right dropped the most straightforward catch you will see..and then he turned around and looked at Mathew Hayden (or was it Ponting?)..almost as if he couldnt bare to look at the bowler or his mates and the moment was frozen ..and then on the day before the series ended the news was out..gilly had had enough..
My sportsnut friend couldnt quite comprehend why..when he is still aeons ahead of anyone else..and it just flashed in my head..the look on his face..and i knew it..i told him..its because he failed himself..not just us..his fans..or his mates..his country..but himself..thats the standard that the great ones set for themselves..but too many have not been able to accept it when it drops..too many have hung on..for pride..for the stakes..
But in Gillys eyes for him to be good enough means to be good all the time..once he sees it drop..he didnt wait for anyone to label him ..the media..the selectors..or even us..
Just as he would walk if he nicked one when even the umpire was in doubt(in the world cup semifinal..no less)..he walked when he thought he wasnt good enough..thats when he is to my mind the greatest allround and natural cricketer since Gary Sobers..
For all his incandescent brilliance his parting shot was the greatest..
I could write on and on just to justify why i had tears in my eyes last morning when he waved the baggy green one last time to all who watched..but the 3G banner on the boundary said it all..

Thanks Gilly