Honk'O'Mania

Too much of noise pollution these days.Fearing that I would go hard of hearing soon, I have stopped listening to FM . That is a brain polluting activity as well. Sometimes I'm happy to realize that there are people who blabber worse than I do. I really am flummoxed as to how the RJ's can come up with such completely idiotic things - Kittu mama..Susie ..mami... tell me how your love life sucks... how to catch a rat??!!.. express you love (for God sake do it to the person you love)..Absolute nonsense and you endure all this only to hear the song that is again played for the nth time from morning...

So I decided that I will have a peaceful journey of 2 and half hours back home without any disturbance and try to sleep off my tiredness of eating, sleeping, blogging and doing nothing at office. As change is inevitable we had a new driver for our bus. The first day was a Friday and the traffic was at its peak and he kept honking all the way. One good thing is, his performance was better and he cut down the effort(travel time) by half an hour. I was pretty contented. But then the story continued and the honking levels used to irritate me to the core - And that used to transmitted diligently to my parents after reaching home!

One fine day rather a bad day - I wanted to understand the logic behind his honking (after all every action should have a reason) and sat right behind him.
There were vehicles that were moving pretty slowly.. he honked at them ... ok fine...
Then there were traffic jams and he honked... I was wondering what his intention was - should the vehicle in the front climb on the bumper of the one before it?
At traffic signals when there was a glaring red light, what would the poor souls in front do if our man honks?
I literally went nuts when he honked whilst he was the first at a signal (red again). Whom was he honking at? the traffic lights??
Then he tried overtaking the big 6 wheeler on the pavement where I would not even dream of pulling over a Maruti 800 and honked at a poor old man on a bicycle and scared the sh*t out of him. I still remember the mixed reaction on his face - perplexed, scared and angry. At one point of time the old man jumped down the cycle and almost merged into the walls to let this guy pass by.
It was when he honked at nothingness - yeah there was no one on the roads, a clear road till where I could see - AND HE HONKED!! - I gave up trying to find a reason.
Now I shifted my focus from the roads to our guy - It was then that I realized that there was a core technical flaw. Usually you have your hands on the steering and move it over to the horn when you want to. This guy had it permanently on the horn and moved to away intermittently to the steering. Wondering where his other hand was? Adjusting his Rajini hair style every now and then. He was perennially restless and with his hands and legs moving all the time, other than honking and yelling or muttering at people on the roads. Ok now I decided upon a reason - he was a Honk'o'Maniac.. Poor me could not think of anything else!
Looks like I was staring at him quite sometime simply because he was peculiar and our guy caught me and gave me a big smile ..oops I had no such intentions, I'm committed!
Just to make things clear while getting down I told him -

"Anna ippadi horn adichu tensiona ottineengana BP varum" ("Brother, If you keep honking like this Blood pressure would raise")
- He said -
"Ennakku BP lam varadhumma" ("I will not get hypertension")
- I said -
"Engalukku sonnen".. ("We definitely will...")

Whats the use .. the story continues, but I make it a point to sit way back in the bus!

Theory of Relativity

Now, now! - Don't worry, I'm not going to write anything that can even get close to Einstein's thoughts.
I was majorly pissed off yesterday, as I had missed my late evening shuttle from office out of sheer stupidity. I presumed a timing of my own and the shuttle was gone by then.
I can hear you guys telling that once in a while public transport can be used.. so much of fretting.
Hold on - I have valid reason - I travel from Ambattur to Shollinganallur.. that is like from Andra to TN.. for people who don't know its 53 km apart. Traveling 106 km a day is definitely not my idea of life.

On top of this I missed the shuttle after an useless meeting . After almost begging every auto driver on road for ride to Velachery , I found one who took pity on me.. in exchange for 100Rs of course. I found a bus that would take me to my place in another 2 hours.
Tired, irritated, sweaty(location chennai), hungry me .. I went to heights of jealousy when I saw a guy in a cozy Honda City besides my window on the roads on a fly over. With air conditioned , the guy was shaking his head to some probably nasty music and gobbling an apple. I thought oh my GOD , why me and turned the other side as I could not take in the atrocity and prejudice of the lord.... On the other side was a roof top with a thatched aluminium shelter, with around 7-8 people living in a place hardly sufficient for 2; no light, no fans and probably no food. Now, the lord was still atrocious and prejudiced, but I could not bring myself to ask why me?
Everything in life is relative!

My peculiar problem

I have done it again. Torn my slippers for... "I don't remember".... number of times

If someone asks one characteristic trait of mine to my friends - most of them would end up answering my never ending tryst with my footwear. (Second to my chubby cheeks, I guess)

This started right from school. In the first place - my father would find it hard to get shoes that fit my feet - Bigger than average! Secondly it would be gone in just a month. As my dad usually comments "Your shoes should be made in iron" - Understand his plight, it did burn a hole in his pocket every month. Thank God he did not think about hooves (now let me not give people ideas!)

This continues till date where I don't involve in any major athletic activity apart from running for the office shuttle in the morning. Shopping for my footwear is not a joke. Though I longingly look at dainty and pretty ones from the window , when I go inside all I say to the shop keeper is "Get me whatever model you have in your biggest size". He looks at my feet and moves away without a question.

I have done enough research and tried to fit in a pattern to this problem. But it does not even fit the fourier transform (Please do not ask me if I know to fit that in , that is the most complex one I could think of). But I have arrived at a few observations after a brain storming session with my team mates.

1. The casualty happens irrespective of the brands (used till date) . The test scenario includes a wide range from woodlands, Nike, Bata, Durable (Is it??), platform makes. So we have narrowed down that is the issue is with the end user and not the product. Though the sustainability of the product is proved i.e Nike survives for 30 days whereas platform makes for 3 days; the end result remains the same.

2. The initial damage starts around the toes. This happens immediately in a week. The leather worns out and the base below is visible.So it happens that anyday you see me, I' m with worn out slippers. Not that I'm miser, its just you at least require a weekend to shop! Believe me it looks sick, especially on my brand new Nike shoes , looks like a mice bite with two nasty holes on both. The beauty amidst all troubles is, that the damage is diametrically opposite and placed in proper angles on the both in a pair, that sometimes people might mistake it for a design issue.

3. Then usually the waar comes out. I dare not get any fancy slippers. I go in for mundane sick ones with thick waars because of this defect. Still the test case fails and the undesired but expected outcome is the result.

4. The sole is the final part that comes of if I manage footwear through the issues 2 & 3 .
Number 2- shrugging shoulders for nasty looks and comments
Number 3 - Frequent visits to the roadside cobbler whom I had befriended now.
Thats the end of the life cycle for that particular sample of the product.

5. I have amazed shoemakers with this peculiar talent of mine. A maintenance engineer at Khadims once remarked "In my 15 years of support I have never seen such a bug" - How did you do it mam! So it is a one of case scenarios that can easily be closed by the maintenance team. Poor me, that is always the case here.

6. Despite the generic test cases failing pathetically I have had the courage to try specific test specific test scenarios like high heeled, flats, Kola puri etc. One such scenario with heels failed miserably with a sprain and the heel block breaking off.

So we have classified this as a known defect and have planned another session for contingency plans to determine how effectively I can manage the situation.
Should I drag/ limp or more effectively walk bare foot when the casualty happens?
Should I carry a duplicate pair with me all the time?
Should I convince an insurance company to start a tailor made plan for covering my footwear expenses?
How much I should invest in equity/ fixed to cover my footwear costs for the rest of my life - say average 60 (If I live after that, I better not walk) ?

Suggestions on contingency measures welcome!

A teasure lost - Hopeless me.

Some strokes on a paper and I call it a sketch.
Pat my own back to say - I'm an artist;
As long as there are people around me to say - wow Ramya that's a good one!
The few scribblings I had - were my treasure.
In my own ways - I could see a gradual transition.
From pathetic to alright.
I could call myself an artist too, till those were with me.
But now they are not - I don't have a proof.

The long hours I put into them,
The appreciations I got - after my own efforts of flaunting though,
The sense of an accomplishment after completing one - I used to end up with a back pain though,
The significance associated with each piece,
All those memories lost!
And the reason - Careless me!

Some things are too precious.
I had to loose to realize.
I can't get out of my guilt and pain even after enough self reproach.
Please will someone thrash me??!!