Relieved of Telemarketing?

I remember there was a time when I was tired of taking calls from telemarketers. There would be different kinds of “them”. Some would wait for you to respond after their two lines of introduction. Some would just not pause without completing their memorized lines. Others would ebb away their voice as soon as you said, ” sorry” or “next time please”. When I came to this country (USA), I was given a hint by my well-wishers that if I want to live in peace and I was busy I needn’t entertain a telemarketer. So, I would most of the time say, “it isn’t a good time” and avoid them. The fact is it wasn’t a good time, ’cause I would be in my preparatory period for taking some examinations. But never in my wildest dreams I thought of getting confronted by one of them.

My story, a true incident, goes to the time when The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was about to take some plan of actions for reducing this “nuisance”. Being a homemaker and studying at the same time I would keep away the telemarketing calls by saying a quick polite, “no”. One fine day, as usual my eyes were glaring my books, when a phone ring disrupted my whole schedule for the day. The conversation was with a telemarketer of a renowned newspaper group of Bay area. (Not mentioning the name for obvious reasons).

So it started like this…

He starts the usual way…”I am from blah blah blah…”
I snap in between - “please, I am sorry but I am busy now.”
He retorts, “So if you are busy, why did you pick up the phone?”
I thought I heard something wrong, ” Sorry, come again!”
He answers back, “ If you are busy why did you pick up the phone?”
I was taken aback, never had ever heard something like this before.
I replied, “err…I thought it would be urgent”.
His voice is gets louder, “so how did you think this wasn’t urgent?”
I dropped my timidness, “well, I know it is not urgent.”
He was now uncontrollable, ” so HOW HOW?!”
Well I was aghast, how could someone speak to me like this?
A question struck me in a lightening speed, “Can you tell me your name?”
He goes… “What…what?”
“Your name sir, I need your name…“
“My name…err…umm… what will you do with my name…?”, came the voice, a little shaken this time.

Fortunately or unfortunately some call was coming. I switched over to the other line to get a word of advice from whoever it was. It turned out to be a friend of mine. After keeping her on the hold, I switched over the flash button on my phone with all the fire in my eyes and the blood running up my veins…the result was a silence. Probably the man on the other side thought I had ended the conversation or may be he realized I was also canny. I really don’t know where and how long those strings of dialogue would have continued if not for that interruption. I was infuriated and upset about the incident. On the advice of my brother-in-law I called the supervisor of the Newspaper. After my narration of the incident there was an apology and a promise, not to be harassed in future again. Well, the calls from that particular newspaper did stop but the saga of telemarketing continued till the FTC came into action.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched the National Do Not Call Registry to give Americans a choice about getting telemarketing calls at home. According to a recent Harris Interactive poll, 92 percent of people who reported placing a number on the registry said they are receiving fewer calls; a total of 78 percent said they’re getting “far fewer calls” or none at all. (Do Not Call)

Well, that looks true in my case too. I am getting no telemarketing calls. Thanks to FTC. We signed up at the National Do Not Call Registry. If it wouldn’t have been their plan of stopping those calls I don’t know how I would have been managing my time and work, especially with my baby. Relieved…? yes, I would say so!

- Shephali

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Medical Cartoons

Found some hilarious medical cartoons while surfing. For more funny ones take a peek at this site - http://www.almeidacartoons.com/Med_toons1.html AND enjoy!

- Shephali

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The hat, my baby and the fairyqueen

When I was a child I remember a way to learn the names of some colors. It was fun to sing those lyrics.

Red red go to bed
Blue blue polish my shoe
Yellow yellow dirty fellow
Green green fairy queen

I never thought that one day I would be relating to the fairy queen through my child, again. My baby came in my world four months back. We, me and my husband, tried to talk to him as much as possible, thinking we will be the first best friends he will have. Slowly as days passed, we realized he spent a lot of time looking and smiling towards the wall. Well, on the wall are two of my hats hanging from a nail. We observed he spent a lot of time staring at it. Then his vocal cords also spent a lot of time exercising its power. We assumed there must be someone behind the hat with whom he made a friendly talk and plays peek-a-boo. We guessed it must be the fairy queen perched on the top of the hat. Who else can it be? Every time we changed his diaper or massaged oil on him, he would turn his neck all around to have a glimpse of those two hats in the room, sitting on a nail pierced in the wall. My conversation with him during those times is really amusing.

When I say, Sweetu, “is there a fairy queen?” He says, “aaaah!”
When I ask again,” is she pretty?” He says “angaaaagooooo!”
When I furthur inquire, “Cutie pie, is she watching you?” He laughs and coos at those hats.
Not once does his eyes move away from those hats.

His gurgling, swinging of his hands in the air, cooing again with a big open mouth, and a wink with his eyes has infused in us the belief that there is definitely a fairy queen. Who else can he talk to for so long? For us it is an imaginary fairy queen, but for him…?!!!!

- Shephali

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A dream so real

- Shephali

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A Raita without yogurt!

Must be thinking of how is it possible to have a raita without yogurt. Well here is a recipe {a low calorie, enriched with minerals and vitamins} in which you replace the yogurt with tomatoes. It is worth trying, specially in summer, the cool moist cucumber with it’s high water content really cools you from inside!

Method
Put some oil on your fingertips and rub it all over the tomatoes.
Broil the tomatoes in the oven. Turn it around and make sure it is roasted well on all sides.
After the tomatoes are broiled, let it cool in a bowl.
Once it has cooled, put the tomatoes {without peeling the black roasted covering} in a blender. Add the red chilli powder, black salt, common salt and blend the tomatoes.
Once done, pour the content of the blender back in the bowl. Add the cut cucumber and the roasted cumin and the lemon juice. Season it with mint leaves.
Enjoy the cucumber in the tomato!

- Shephali

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Amusing Oxymorons!

It is fun to read oxymorons, which are self-contradicting phrase. Appropriately, the word oxymoron is itself oxymoronic because it is formed from two Greek roots of opposite meaning, oxys “sharp, keen,” and moros “foolish,” the same root that gives us the word moron.

Do we realize, how many of these we use in our daily talk?
Here is an example of a small conversation between a man and a woman using oxymorons while talking.

The oxymorons are in italics.

W: Hi Andy, You look pretty ugly!
M: Yes, I am a living dead.
W: Good grief! What happened?
M: My bag is found missing. It had an original copy of my work permit and my proof of being a resident alien.
W: Can you tell me almost exactly when did it happen? Did you note down the taxi nameplate?
M: I think I left it in the taxi and I don’t remember the Taxi number. I acted like a perfect idiot. People will find my true story to be seriously funny. For me this may turn into a rolling stop to my carrier.
W: Well don’t tell the boss now. Act naturally until you file a lost and found complaint at the police station.
M: Well they don’t go by random order. It may take days. I might actually find it difficult to maintain my job in Microsoft Works.;)
W: You got to be still moving. A constant change in life is good. Why don’t you try a job with your Political Science background? You were second best in your school.
M: Thanks for the advice. I’ll try during my working vacation. But I think it will be an open secret when I will be officially probed about my documents. Anyway, what I need now is a wholesome meal. I have a bad headache.

Amusing- isn’t it?

- Shephali

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A Sparrow’s ancedote

- Shephali

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Keshav’s power of imagination

This is a drawing made by my five year old nephew, Keshav, for my husband’s birthday. In the picture he has drawn himself, his little sister Vittu and our baby boy, Svanik. Along with them there is a Rhino. There is a love sign in red and lines of different colors depicting the rainbow. He described each character in the drawing with intense emotion and excitement.

Children-Oh Well! They can be so imaginative and creative!

- Shephali

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Sweet memories

A few days back my niece came over to my place. Seeing her revives a few memories of my childhood. I remember, when I was little, I often went to visit my maternal uncle with my parents during vacations. One of my maternal uncle adored me so much that he composed a song and sang it for me. Today I have grown out of my childhood. Watching my niece jump and play, the words of his song came to my lips…

Lovely little darling,
Dance and sing!
Lovely little sweetling,
Laugh and zing!

- Shephali

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Flat surface?

A laptop abandoned?! Oh no, this is a drawing. As it can be seen, that this piece of drawing is on the sidewalk, so obviously it is on a flat surface! Well, a friend of mine sent this picture to me. It is unbelievable and amazing piece of art!

- Shephali

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