Customer Care

Tring Tring
It was 2:00 pm, I was sleeping at home. Dint go to office that day because I was down with fever. I half opened my eyez to see who is callin. It was a Noida number. Damn I said, these office guyz,can't they spare a poor unwell gal like me 4 even a day. Dint they see my leave mail. I was so sleepy, I ignored it and thought of callin back after waking up. After few minutes again it rang, tring tring...having lost my sleep and gaining my level of irritation, I made myself in a position to attend it.

Hello Deepika this side.
The voice from other side said in a typical customer care executive's tone: Hello Miss Deepika. I am Amit calling from Sony Products - Noida. May I have few minutes of yours.

I looked at the screen of my phone as if its the person's face and gave a devilish look. But poor me, I dint even hav the energy of growling at him for disturbing my sleep so
I said ok go on. N he started. Miss Deepika I am very pleased to inform you that you have been selected as one of the lucky winners of our “Festive bonanza offer”.
I tuk it as any other regular call and said sarcastically “ok, so wat hav I won?? a holiday package in Mauritius or a brand new Sony Xperia??”
He remained calm and said in a very polite voice, No mam, actually this offer had a rule.
I added more spice to my sarcastic voice and said, “Ohh, so theres a condition too...wow and wats dat”. He said, “ You hav won the same item that you bought from us last month from Shipra Mall-Noida”

Wait a minute!
Shipra mall Noida?? I revisited my mind's history and came up with a result which was ' A digital Photo Frame' By Sony. Ohh immediately my interest in the person's rubbish talk took a fresh dive. My voice immediately turned sweet and concerned.

I said , Ok yeah I shopped from your store last month. So tell me about this offer.
He cleared his throat and said. “ Yes mam, as per our records you bought a Digital Photo Frame on 20th June from Sony India store Shipra Mall-Noida”. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I got so excited about this offer that I said, Yes yes I remember it correctly now. I bought it for one of my friends as a gift.
He again cleared his throat and said in polite manner, “ Yes mam so as per the conditions of our Festive Bonanza Offer you will get the same item as a prize from us, that is a Digital Photo Frame”. Congratulations mam.

At that very instant my fever got converted into a chilled wave of excitement, my unconsciousness into alertness, and my sweet tone turned sweeter.

With a heavy over excited heart, I said ,'Ohh Thank you'. So what am I required to do now?
I could not stop imagining that gift on my side table in my room with beautiful pictures moving in it one after the another. I even finalized the pix in my mind which I wil put in the photo frame once I have it for real with me. I got so lost in it that it required 3-4 continuous 'Hellos' from the other side to bring me back in this world and finally in the phone conversation.

I promptly answered to him, “Yes sorry got a li'l busy, can you pls come again”
He then repeated his sentence which had the things that I need to do to get my gift. N believe me after hearing that my heart broke, dreams shattered and, hope vainshed.
Because I was required to take the bill to the shop to get the gift. N since it was my gift to a friend. There was no chance that I would be having its bill with me.
I asked him if there is some thing else that I can show as a proof that I bought the gift. He denied. I quickly jumped from my bed and rushed towards my drawer which usually is filled with my bank mini statements, shopping bills, and recharge or topup coupons.

At that very moment my love and longing for that digital photo frame rose higher. I asked the guy to hold on and started looking for it. N Bingo, there it was. I found it. I loved and hugged myself for keeping it with me and yeah for the first time I loved my habit of keeping my drawer full with such waste papers.

I tried my best to sound sober and not over excited and said to him that I have the bill.
He said in a happy voice that ok pls get this bill to us by tomorrow to our store and take your gift. Ohh I realised that I hav fever and might not be able to make it to office even tomorrow. I asked him if I can collect it day after tomorrow. To this he said that they hav 2 lucky winners for it. I will hav to collect it tomorrow else it will be given to the other person. Keeping in mind my love for the photo frame that was induced ever since I decided to buy it for my frnd, I said ok, I will collect it tomorrow itself. I noted his name and contact no and hung up.

I was so thrilled and proud that yes I am the chosen one. Out of so many people it was me who got lucky. I was not able to grasp the excitement and I needed some1 to share this great news with. The first name that striked my mind was Samba's. Samba went with me to buy the gift so I thought of making him jealous with this effortless achievement.

I cald him up, he picked up. I narrated to him the whole story as quickly as possible. After I took my breath, he said, you know what Dpka you shud give that gift to me. You see it was me who went with me to buy the gift, so I am the lucky charm for you.
I ignored his sentence and said, we will see. First of all reserve your one hour for me. You are going with me to take that gift tomorrow. He agreed and shared this news with another common friend of us. The other friend took the phone and said 'so finally Dpka got the bill'. By the way Dpka, dont u remember the number from which you got the call. I was puzzled. After few seconds I heard both of them laughing like hell. I still did not understand what was so funny in it.

Samba took the phone and said, “ Dpka mam, I am callin from Sony India – Shipra mall-Noida, and I am very happy to announce that you are the new bakra (scapegoat) for today”.

I could feel smoke comin out of my ears, anger flooding in my eyes, and my hands turning into a tight fist. I shouted on him for about 10 mins, and finally could not control and burst into laughter. I was literally gasping for breath. The point that he played a prank with me and he was the first person whom I told about it . This all made me very angry on myself and at the same time I was feeling pity for myself.

I now play very safe with all such calls and yeah keep a check on the no. I make sure that the no is not atleast Noida GIC bldg's number. That was the day and today is the day, whenever I get confused about any gift, he is ready with an option, Dpka Mam why dont you give a Digital Photo Frame by Sony India – Shipra Mall Noida. I will come with you to buy it, really and I end up grinnig my teeths from outside and laughing from within.

Memorable Birthday

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Laddoo, Happy Birthday to you.- this was the birthday song sung by 4 best friends together trying to sound melodious and stentorian at the same time. But screwed all the sur and taal in it, seriously.

Wondering who this laddoo is and yeah you all must hav guessed that such a starting will surely going to lead to a story of 5 gud..no actually 5 best frnds ..

Let me straighten the things for you…

Laddoo is a nick name of a gal who got this name just like dat…out of the blues…with no single resemblance with that sweet…It was more of an accident or I should say a prank to tease me…yeah yeah I know you all are clever enough to guess that its me…

And to correct you, it is not about 5 best frnds but 4, 2 he devils n 2 she devils…still got confused with my starting line ‘song sung by 4 best frnd together’.. hmm…actually I was forced to sing it with them on my own birthday and call myself a laddoo…ewww…such are these best friends…they make you do such ultra irritating things to yourself on any day let go of being it your budday…

That day in the college I was forced to carry 2 biggg bouquets of flowers in my hands with a birthday cap on my head. Which I somehow managed to hide in some1’s bag. Thank God. I feel that frnds have the right to act childish all the time and you can expect them to do all stupid weird things very easily and they seems to enjoy it…Being the budday gal, I was the sufferer that day but yeah I never compromised on such fun when some1 else’s cake n pocket was cutting…I was an introvert kindda gal in college days…so I used to hide myself in my li’l grp of friends…but that day they sang that not so melodious birthday rhyme in every period, every class, even evry corridor, which resulted in so many wishes from every1 around me. I was being treated as a special person which I wanted to avoid. I wanted to make it as simple as any other day but with such devils around me it got tougher. Day was passing but I knew their zest of adding more spice to my bigg day will keep on rising. I was prepared to encounter more such shocks oops surprises because the cake dint show up till then. And the moment came. They blindfolded me, took me to one of the classes in top floor and left me. There was pin drop silence. Realising that it could be their next prank, I immediately untied the cloth on my eyez. Even before I could feel the light in my eyez, my eardrums instantly vibrated. Those 3 devils were singing a song for me again with a candle lit cake in middle, a small cute gift wrapped box placed aside and funny cartoon budday caps on their heads. To my astonishment it was not that same non-melodious budday song but ‘ye kaali kaali aankhen tu ru ru, tu ru ru, ye gore gore gaal’. By the end of that song we were laughing uncontrolablly. When I went to cut the cake, offcrse as expected, it was written Happy budday dear laddoo… while I was cutting it they were getting prepared with their arms and shield to attack on it and grab the biggest piece of it only after making a mess of my face offrcse...now you can guess why I call them devils, and yeah that gift box…wondering what was there in it….lots of small laddoos…in all colors…so before eating I enquired just to confrm ‘are they edible’…to this they all shouted “yes laddoo they are edible”…and within a wink the cake and laddoos were inside their tummies and forcefully in mine.

Then one He devil shouted , lets run now laddoo…we have not ate since y’day..we were preparing ourselves for your birthday treat you see. I knew this thing that i had all big foodies in my group. We went to Pizza hut and placed our order. After some time I heard some1 say “ this is for the birthday gal, laddoo” I quickly turned around and found that two of the attendants were dancing and in no time my table had no1 but just me…my friends also joined them in the dance…I was surprised as well as terrified because I knew now I am going to be their scapegoat…they pulled me and started clapping…finally I capitulated and joined them in it...it was less of dance n more of fun that we did…we thanked those two attendants and came to fill in our tummies…this was how my birthday went… Though I was reacting as if I wanted to avoid such ‘youre special today’ treatment, but inside I knew that this bunch of people means life to me…they kind of define the term ‘friendship’ in my life…being a friend is simple but being equally irritating and lovable at a time is the miracle only best friends can do…I had a wonderful birthday which I can never forget. Thanks to my He and She devils…Love you guyz…you break all records in irritating me and still manage to make me smile…