That Bloke In The Big Smoke

In a daring act in 1746, the French Admiral La Bourdonnais captured the British East India Company garrison port of Madras. However, less than two years later the French were forced to exchange it for Louisbourg in Nova Scotia (in Canada) under the terms of the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Ever since I learnt about this nugget of historical significance, I have often wondered how events might have transpired in colonial India. It could be argued that in the mid-18th century the French and British had fairly equal control of their Indian territories. Possession of Madras, the then untitled capital of The Company's Indian 'Empire' (until this role was officially usurped by Kolkata in 1792), for a significant period after 1746 could've turned the tide for the French against the British. Who knows? I could've been speaking French today and India might've actually become a better football playing nation. Who cares? I certainly do. My conclusion is that if it weren't for the 1748 Treaty, and all other things remaining fairly equal (ie, a French Raj lasting until the mid-20th century and having an effect on India similar to that of the French African colonies), my dad would not have emigrated to Britain in the early 80s and I would not now be preparing for exams involving the greatest British gift to humankind ... English Law. Good Night!

I just discovered that Ronnie O'Sullivan's dad is serving a life sentence for murder while his mum served seven months of a year-long jail sentence for tax evasion worth £250,000. Where were the profits raked in from? His dad's Soho porn shop empire. It got me thinking. Who else do you know has overcome their parental follies to become a legend of their own, for all the lawful reasons?

My mate is filling in a health and safety form for a portering dispatcher's job and there is an interesting question on it: Does your weight remain steady? Yes/No, if not give details.

It's not often that the Daily Mail captures my attention with unique and interesting stories and as is typical, yesterday there were two such stories. One involved the unearthing of secret Nazi bunkers that had lay hidden for more than fifty years, and the other involved a group of Microsoft researchers trying to prove the six degrees of separation theory by studying the addresses of 30 billion instant messages sent through its network in a single month in 2006. Apparently it's closer to seven degrees of separation, but don't worry, you're still only four degrees separated from The Queen and Sachin Tendulkar through me. :)

I bought my first game yesterday evening: Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

Last week, my mum spent a couple days here on her way from San Fran to Oman. While in Cali she got me the new 6th generation iPod Classic 80GB Video MP3 player. I feel like I belong now! (Sorry Sony, it's the end of an era...)

Around 6:30am yesterday morning, my Internet went kaput for the umpteenth time since I took a 12-month unlimited broadband contract with BT, formerly British Telecommunications, now known for its gut-wrenching service. Anyways, I figured it was the typical problem where my laptop loses its wireless connection and I either need to restart the computer, or give the modem a quick rest. This time, it didn't work. And it stopped working completely for the rest of the day. When I called BT's Technical Desk (which is actually outsourced to New Delhi) in the evening, we spent an hour trying to fix up the Broadband. It didn't help so the Technical Desk tried transferring me to the Land Line Fault Department (outsourced to Northern Ireland/Wales) but it was taking so long the guy told me they would call me back. Why? Because unlike 1-800 numbers in North America, we have to pay for Customer Service phone calls to BT! It's absolutely ridiculous. The buggers are making more money of me for no fault of my own!

A few minutes later the Land Line Fault Department calls me, but barely a minute into the conversation the line cuts. That's the last I hear from BT for the rest of the night. Barely a moment after I put down the phone, my mum calls me on my cell phone and asks me why I'm not picking up my land line. Assuming she heard a busy tone the past hour and a bit due to me haggling with BT I tell her what was happening. Turns out something I said in half-jest has become serious. My mum's in California at the moment, staying with her sister's family (the same one I spent 3 months with this time last year!). A couple days ago she had asked me if I wanted anything from there since she's spending a night in London before heading back to Oman. After initially saying nothing (as usual, besides a keychain and postcard which my dad had already given me when he passed through last week), I asked for an ipod. My mum took it seriously and then I said nah, forget it. Turns out she told my dad about it and he's agreed to pay for it! Now I better get that job soon!!!

So mum called me last night just after I put the phone down with BT to tell me I had less than 24 hours to tell her exactly which iPod I wanted. Brilliant! Just when my internet's decided to go walkabout because of BT incompetency. And it gets better! I agreed to let her know assuming my internet would come back by today at least. Surely they couldn't shaft me for so long? BT that is. Anyways, a few minutes later my land line rings and I pick it up, so far so good. The guy on the other end starts by telling me I've got his number. What? Yeh, he's dialled his own number and it's been cross-over to mine! Turns out the previous day, some engineers, BT guys I think, were trying to set up his new account because he was switching OUT of BT to a different provider because he was fed up with BT, and the buggers crossed our lines (we worked out that we live within a mile of each other). That's how I lost my internet and that's why my mum couldn't catch me on my land-line! Which made sense because earlier, when the Land Line guy tried calling me, he ended up calling me on my cellphone even though I'd given him my land line number, which seemed odd at the time but he told me he couldn't reach me on my land line. I found it bizarre because I was sitting right next to it and when he told me that I checked the phone's volume and it was on maximum! I thought he was having me on. Oh well, thanks BT for that screwup!

Now, this guy who's got my broadband and phoneline gives me a number to call and try to sort things out but they're closed by 10pm and it's nearing midnight. I then decided to call back BT's Technical Desk and tell them about the problem. The lady on the line tells me my account has been seized; i.e. cancelled without warning. And they're investigating it. WTF?! That's all she can tell me and she then gives me the Order Management's number. Apparently only they can retrieve a cancelled account. I was pissed off and went to bed.

This morning I called what I was told would be the Order Management Department. Instead I got re-routed back to the Technical Desk in New Delhi and they couldn't help me out. I then got transferred to the Order Management Department (which I think is in Wales) and they said they had no clue what was wrong with my account and passed me on to a number I'd already called and run into a dead end with the previous night. Figuring I had no choice I called it anyway and they transferred me to another Department, Land Line Faults! Finally, back to square one. Finally they told me what was wrong but said an engineer could not come around till tomorrow to fix things up. I gave her a earful (without any bad language) and voila! Here I am sitting merely 6 hours after a one-sided barrage of insults aimed towards BT and I'm back in business. My phone line's been uncrossed and the broadband seems to be working.

I've had a few problems with BT Broadband since taking that 12-month contract in June, but this one tops it all. This kind of screw-up can happen anywhere in the world. Perhaps the only difference between it happening here and somewhere in the third world, is the fact I don't need to bribe my way back into service. Though that said, they did charge me for all the calls I made to try and sort it out.

THE END!