Hurray!

For the past one week, me and my Appa were laboring to submit a Passport renewal application for him using the new website called Passport Seva Portal. He could not successfully get past the login screen at his end in India, so he officially appointed me his travel agent in US. After getting through the creation of application and uploading the documents, we were shocked to note that the Normal appointment at the passport office is too far away for our needs. We needed to get an express appointment to proceed with our plans. Looks like these appointments open up a 8AM IST and they get filled up in no time and you had to wait the next day or another.

Since then my job was to book a Tatkal (meaning instantaneous) appointment - which was not an easy task. Every time I check for the availability of the Tatkal, all I got was "All Tatkal appointments have been booked, please try again later or another day". I kept trying at different times with despair.

Yesterday night, I tried at exact 8AM IST and I could not believe my eyes. I FINALLY saw the tatkal slots listed. My hands were literally shaking because I KNEW these will get filled up in no time. As I picked a slot and clicked "Book Appointment" keeping my fingers crossed, I saw the words "The slot you selected has been taken by another person. Please try again later". My heart sank! All the efforts went futile, I thought.

I knew LATER I may not even get this far. I could see that all the open slots that I had seen a minute earlier for the location I selected within Bangalore were GONE. I just tried another location in Bangalore and voila, I saw just ONE slot. I pounced on it and prayed to all Gods. My dad was doing the same thing from the one end - except that he can't even get as far as I can within the website. And I got the appointment!

I was never THIS happy in the recent past. Phew..! I called Appa to narrate this success story and now we can go ahead with the plans. Interesting experience - frustrating for the whole time but since I finally succeeded - now I have a smile! Little joys of life! Sense of satisfaction and accomplishment - isn't that all we want to take away from any experience!

My internet addictions

During the last year, I did not even realize how I got addicted to these.

1. Orkut - when I logged in there for the first time, I was cursing whoever sent me the invite - who has the time for all these, don't people have anything else to do, how many such websites are being created and for what - as cynical as I can get. Before long, I was there hunting for my old friends from school and college. I would type names of lost friends and click on the results - alas, so many hits, but none with the picture resembling my friends. I was angry at those profiles without any real picture.However I did get a lot of old friends. Not that I am touch with them every day, but having them in friends list, at least gives me a feeling that I can reach them at any time.
Seeing the updated albums of friends is the easiest way I can get a glimpse of their families.

I recommend orkut. Use it with caution - applies to anything in the world.

2. Blogs - I should say, I got into this also via orkut. Landed someone's blogs and found it interesting and searched for more. It is interesting to see what other people think and how they express their ideas. I am inclined to read more of those I can identify myself with.

3.Youtube - catching quick glimpses of Mallu or Vivek comedy scenes or watching the songs of the movies I watched recently is something I enjoy.Thanks, Youtube!