Internet...and other happy things

Two months to the day of the first time Airtel told me that my phone and internet connection would be activated it finally is! Yes, I am as amazed as you are. It got to where Airtel would tell me “tomorrow” or “in one hour it will be activated” and I laughed in their faces—which really isn’t the best way to go about getting what you want, but I was that confident that it would not make any difference one way or the other that I risked it.  Then I had a few days of my phone working but my internet not working and most recently, for a change, my phone was not working, but my internet was. And, so you know how awesomely technically advanced I am—the internet was working on one computer but not on the other. So I rigged the working computer to share internet to my computer so that I could get emails in on my laptop. How awesome am I? I know…but then, I realized that all I needed to do was uninstall and re-install the internet USB thingy (yes, I know it’s called a dongle, but that is the dumbest word and I refuse to use it unless I have to), and so maybe I am not as technologically advanced as I originally thought.  But I know I am more technologically advanced than Airtel Customer service—or maybe I am just more logically advanced, but I do know that the following conversation with customer service is rather circular:

Trying to call from my phone:  “Your out-going calls have been temporarily suspended. Please call 121 for more information.”

And after calling 121: “Your out-going calls have been temporarily suspended. Please call 121 for more information.”

Anyway, if Airtel craps out on me in a few days (very possible), I already have a back-up plan: Daniel’s wireless connection, which comes in very clearly to my flat. I haven’t met him yet, but I am sure that his name is Daniel. Why am I certain that he named his wireless internet after himself? Because he is not creative at all. How do I know that? Because his internet password is “123456.” Thank you, Daniel, for not reading any of those scary articles about hackers who steal your internet and then your identity and not changing your password to Fwe23g49Hjq*?p.

My happiness at finally finishing the internet/phone business, which means that I don’t have to go back to the Airtel office and sit there for hours again, made me start thinking of other happinesses in my life:

·      I have moved the bazillion boxes of stuff from the old office out of my house and into the new office.

·      And the new office has multi-colored walls.

·      And they moved the stuff out of my house by bicycle rickshaw. Yes, it was awesome.

·      And I have discovered a 20-minute running loop around my neighborhood. It’s not a great route like my down-to-the-Ganges River-route was, but there is less likelihood of me being attacked by a river dolphin or kidnapped by a gang of angry fishermen. The 20-minute loop is something I can work with—run it twice plus whatever smaller loops I can find or run it three times for extra fun.  Running here is tricky because I can’t go before the sun is up (currently about 6am) since I might trip over a sleeping water buffalo or fall in a craterImeanpot-hole. But if I’m out running too late (i.e. past 7:30), I get stuck in school traffic—kids in uniforms erratically riding their bikes down the street or bicycle rickshaw drivers with carts full of school children riding erratically down the street or cows wandering erratically down the street…keeps me on my toes, figuratively and literally.

I’m sure there’s more stuff to be excited about, but it’s wedding season here and blasting fireworks are shattering my peace of mind. I saw an elephant walking down the street last night from my car window—part of an elaborate wedding procession. I leaned out of the window to try and get a photo (for my nephew who recently made it clear that he likes elephants way better than cows and I want him to like me the best of all) and knocked off my sunglasses that were on my head that I had forgotten about because it was night-time and I wasn’t using them because I am not a hiphop star (yet).  The wonderful man who is helping me out this week, slammed on the brakes and went back to get them for me before they were squashed by the elephant.  That same man plus our newly hired field officer have contrived not to let me carry anything from our office-shopping list. I am telling myself to accept the chivalry and enjoy not having to carry anything. It’s not so bad since, true to my womanly nature, I always carry around overstuffed bags with things that I’m sure I can’t live with out and I might need at any random moment but most of which I never use. Not having to carry other stuff kind of helps.

And now I should start winding down so I can do the other stuff I was supposed to do before I started writing this.  I will leave you with this photo of an elephant butt that I got after the elephant passed us while we were looking for my glasses. It is the only one that came out.