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ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 6:39 pm
by 2010R2I2012
ragups;2656162010R2I2012,
Were you able to find someone to implement dbs' suggestion? If you haven't yet and you live in Chennai, I can give you the reference of someone whose work we liked that might be able to help you with this. Btw, I like the Buddha quote in your signature.
Thanks to dbs for the helpful suggestion.
Best,
Ragu
Thanks Ragu for the offer. I am not in Chennai yet. I hope to be there later this year. I will contact you for the information then.
PS: Sorry for replying late, was grounded and sent to vanavaasam for a few days :)
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 10:53 am
by ragups
We went to Planet Yumm (which we discovered thanks to the last r2i meetup) yesterday evening. As we drove in, we stopped to pay our parking fees. One of the guys in-charge asked for Rs. 10. I thought that the parking fees used to be Rs.5. I forked out the 10 Rs. nonetheless, and received 2 parking tickets for Rs. 5 each.
I asked the guy what the deal with the 2 tickets was. His answer: One for driving in and one for driving out. I don't think I could believe what I'd just heard. It seemed like the concept of parking was lost on him. I recovered sufficiently to tell him that I didn't think that was acceptable - I may have said the words "ennanga kadhaiyaa irukku".
Undaunted, the guy continued with another "reason": Idhu season time. I said nothing doing, and asked to speak with the manager (my instinctive response when a billing dispute reaches a level of unreasonableness from which the prospect of an amicable solution seems remote). Sensing that they weren't going to be able to wring an extra Rs. 5 from me, another guy who was also distributing tickets, stepped in and told us to move on.
We did, but I was left still shaking my head 10 minutes later at the utter brazenness of it all.
Best,
Ragu
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 9:46 pm
by ragups
ragups;292571We went to Planet Yumm
Our son
loves this place, btw. No, not all the eateries (that'd be me), but the Bouncing Castle and the rest of the kids' amusements. We are especially thankful for his favourite ride, the "red color horsey". His thayir saadham (curd rice) eating habit is entirely attributable to that. These days, he asks for curd rice himself, a complete about-turn from a few months back when he'd have none of it.
Best,
Ragu
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:48 pm
by ragups
ragups;260119
As an aside, when signing up for annual maintenance, I asked the marketing guy if we needed to do anything for the subsequent visits or whether they'd show up like clockwork. His answer: You know how it is here, so if I were you, I'd call.
It turns out that the marketing guy was too cynical. Unprompted, I got a call yesterday to set up an appointment for the second treatment today afternoon. They showed up like they said they would and the second treatment took all of 20 minutes. I am thrilled, both with the quality of the product and the promptness of customer service. Very highly recommended.
Best,
Ragu
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2010 10:55 pm
by ragups
2010R2I2012;270079I am not in Chennai yet. I hope to be there later this year. I will contact you for the information then. [/quote]
2010R2I2012,
Happy to help when you are here. Good luck with your move back!
2010R2I2012;270079PS: Sorry for replying late, was grounded and sent to vanavaasam for a few days :)
Heh. I should be the last person you (or anyone else for that matter) should say sorry to for replying late :-). Your vanavaasam dialogue reminds me on an email forward we received recently about Ramayana on Facebook. Very creative and hilarious.
Best,
Ragu
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:02 pm
by ragups
Our maid, who is fairly recent (she's been with us for about 4 months now), has a daughter with a medical condition.
When she first told us about it, my wife took her and her daughter to our general physician. After some consultation, he advised that she continue to see the specialist at the GH she'd planned to see. After spending close to a month at a GH in June without any success, she was told her daughter needed a scan.
We figured that this would represent an unreasonable burden on her finances (she'd already lost her job at two of the homes she'd worked at during the time she was away in June). So, we asked her how much the scan would cost. Her immediate response: I don't know how much it will cost but I'd like to pay it all back through deductions in my salary. We were floored.
Ultimately, we agreed that she could pay back half the cost of the scan through salary deductions. And that only after she'd doubled the amount of the salary deduction that we'd proposed. All this from someone who has two small kids and is separated from her husband. Such dignity in the face of a very tough situation. We hope her kids study well (we are happy to pay for it) and that their education will serve as as a foundation for a more prosperous economic future for all of them.
Best,
Ragu
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:37 pm
by LoveIndia
Ragups - May God bless you and your family for a noble cause.
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:46 pm
by PeterGriffin
Ragups - I've read your diary a few times and every time i read it, it is so refreshing. Your simplistic approach towards life is something i wish i possessed too.
Btw, thanks for sharing #76 with us.
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:58 pm
by indigoyogi
ragups;311045Our maid, who is fairly recent (she's been with us for about 4 months now), has a daughter with a medical condition.
When she first told us about it, my wife took her and her daughter to our general physician. After some consultation, he advised that she continue to see the specialist at the GH she'd planned to see. After spending close to a month at a GH in June without any success, she was told her daughter needed a scan.
We figured that this would represent an unreasonable burden on her finances (she'd already lost her job at two of the homes she'd worked at during the time she was away in June). So, we asked her how much the scan would cost. Her immediate response: I don't know how much it will cost but I'd like to pay it all back through deductions in my salary. We were floored.
Ultimately, we agreed that she could pay back half the cost of the scan through salary deductions. And that only after she'd doubled the amount of the salary deduction that we'd proposed. All this from someone who has two small kids and is separated from her husband. Such dignity in the face of a very tough situation. We hope her kids study well (we are happy to pay for it) and that their education will serve as as a foundation for a more prosperous economic future for all of them.
Best,
Ragu
Perhaps, that's why it still rains.
நெல்லுக்கு இறைத்த நீர் வாய்க்கால் வழியோடி
புல்லுக்கும் ஆங்கே பொசியுமாம் - தொல்லுலகில்
நல்லார் ஒருவர் உளரேல் அவர் பொருட்டு
எல்லார்க்கும் பெய்யும் மழை - ஔவையார்
Water streams irrigating paddy
Weeds therein lush - since days of yore
Nobler among us be for and
Shower downpours for all
- Auvaiyar-Sangam era Poetess
ragups' r2i diary: Bay Area to Chennai
Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:20 am
by poofygoogle
ragups - A noble cause indeed. As you might have read in my diary, we have 4 house hold maids in our home and we help their kids on education expenses as well. I am proud to say that my old maid (cook) from Adyar called us up last month to say that her daughter (whom we had helped for college exps) has found a job. She actually cried. It was a proud moment for me. My drivers son is also in college now. I had called up so many micro organizations who will help sponsor these kids but some of them sponsor kids who are above average in studies only. Also the amount of documentation needed to get loans is such a big hindrance. So I decided to to help them on my own. These kids were average students but hard workers. I would NOT give them cash and personally called up the organization to ask them 'Payable to" and write out the cheque. On our kids birthdays we try to send cheques to Udhavum karangal, which somehow is my favorite organization.