Premyz’s Voice

In less than 48 hours, 25 serial bomb blasts have taken place in two of India’s major cities killing nearly 30 people and injuring hundreds. Yesterday it was in Bangalore and today, it is Ahmedabad. Nearly 16 blasts have taken place in Ahmedabad alone and most of the bombs have been planted in cycles. Four of the 16 blasts took place in hospitals. Though the blasts were of low intensity, it has created a huge amount of fear among the people. All of a sudden, India has become one of the unsafe places to live. All these blasts took place in a span of 70 minutes and it is said that all the blasts took place in communally sensitive areas. The blasts were similar to those that took place in Bangalore yesterday.

Amidst these attacks, the most painful or rather shameful thing is that politicians have started playing their games pointing fingers at each other. News channels are competing each other to get the edge over the other in reporting the news. A group called HuJI has taken responsibility for the blasts. It is always the innocent people who take the brunt of the terrorist attacks. The prime reason for these types of attacks is not because of the lack of security systems or infrastructure but the infiltration of corrupt practices in each and every system of the society that is taking a heavy toll.

Update: Death toll increased to 46; live bombs found in Surat also

Pothys, the Aalayam of Silks, has been our favorite dress store for the past four years or so. Earlier, we used to purchase from Jeyachandran’s (only for a very brief period) braving huge crowds in and outside the shop. Then we tried in Pothys, and since then, it has become our family dress store. Pothys offers lot of varieties and it’s worth the money; the ambience is fantastic and it has lot of space that can handle peak seasons comfortably (relatively better to other stores). The main feature is the customer service. The sales people are patient enough and they do not grumble or say “no stock sir” – which we normally hear in Saravana Stores. Even we tried in other stores like Sree Krishna Collection, Kumaran Silks, Nalli Silks, RMKV, Saravana Stores….mhm..nothing can beat Pothys.

Note: For this Aadi sale, they are giving fruits and vegetables as gifts for the purchases you make - creative thought and a nutritious one too

Consequences……………

Meaning - I AM NOT HERE TO ROB THE BANK, ALL I WANT TO SAY IS I DON’T WANT ANY CREDIT CARD OR LOAN FROM YOUR BANK PLZ STOP CALLING ME………………………………………………………..

A few weeks ago, I applied for a credit card. The sales executive came to my office to collect the documents. I handed over the necessary documents to the executive and signed the application form in the places where he asked me to do. I neither did read a single word on that application form nor fill my personal details. He just came, collected the documents, got my signature and went off in less than 5 minutes. After he left, waves of fear crept into my mind, only then I started to realize the blunder that I have done. A lot of questions came into my mind and I felt disturbed for sometime and after a few minutes it just faded away. But the most important point I would like to emphasize is NEVER sign an application or document or whatever it may be without READING IT PROPERLY. This act of signing the application forms without reading is happening more in corporate companies, particularly when opening corporate salary accounts. A person from the bank comes in, asks the employees to sign in a few places and instantly hands over the kit including the cheque book, debit card, etc. The employees are not properly informed about the features, rules, privileges and other things related to the account. This happened to me recently. I was charged for a particular service, which I was not aware of. When I asked the customer care, they replied, “YOU HAVE AGREED FOR IT AND SIGNED THE DOCUMENT WHILE OPENING THE ACCOUNT.” So it is always better to spare a few minutes to read to avoid problems in the future.

I am one among those who got impressed with The Times of India newspaper, which was launched in Chennai six weeks ago. I haven’t subscribed any newspaper in life and for the first time I decided to subscribe “The Times of India.” My friends told me that there was a launch offer and by the time I inquired about that, it was all over. I checked with the newspaper vendor near my home and he too told the same thing.

I then googled to get some subscription info but I could not succeed. In fact, I really wanted to subscribe even without the offer. Luckily I got a phone number on the net but that number never rang, as it was always busy. Finally, I got an email ID from the net, crm.chennai@timesgroup.com. With tonnes of hope, I emailed about my interest in subscribing The Times of India, and I had mentioned the area in which I live and I asked to provide the subscription and the agent details. To my delight, I received the mail the very next day and in the mail, they thanked me for the interest that I have shown for The Times of India and they apologized that currently there are no schemes available and that they will let me know when they come up with new schemes. I didn’t know what to do to bring The Times of India home…

A few weeks ago, I was waiting at one of the busiest traffic signals in Chennai. The signal was red and I was waiting right on the stop line. Somebody honked and I turned back. I saw a white SUV approaching the stop line. I thought the vehicle was going to take left and I moved to my left so that it can take the turn. But the SUV did not turn left and the vehicle slowly moved ahead of the stop line. I peeped into the vehicle and found a familiar political face but I was not sure at that time and fellow riders on the road later confirmed it. He was reading a newspaper without bothering what his driver was doing, and short of patience, with the signal still in red, the SUV vroomed ahead and sped away on the lane meant for two wheelers. What a great demonstration of social and civic responsibility??? Who will bell the cat(s)?

I heard this story yesterday, and even though it was funny and sounded like a kid’s story, it has a very important message in it. A man was on his way back to home. While he was walking through the woods, he spotted an egg on the ground. He found that it was an eagle’s egg and as he could not place the egg back into the eagle’s nest, he took the egg to his home and kept the eagle’s egg along with the hen’s eggs. After a few days, the eggs hatched and there were about 10 chicks including an eagle chick. These small chicks started growing slowly and the eagle chick did what the other chicks were doing. It scratched the ground for its food and picked up dirt and ate small insects. One day, the baby chicks tried to fly a bit by fluttering their small wings. Seeing this, the eagle chick also did exactly the same as other baby chicks and did not fly high. Days passed by and one morning, the eagle looked up at a bird flying high in the sky. It wondered what a bird it was and how beautifully it was flying high in the sky. The eagle asked the hen what that bird was? The hen replied, “It is an eagle that flies so high in the sky and you don’t even imagine that you can fly like that in your life.” The eagle not realizing its potential listened to the words of the hen silently and believed that it too was a hen and convinced itself that it cannot fly like an eagle, and finally it died.

A lot of people are like that eagle who despite having all the skills and abilities think that they are not too good to achieve success and they are scratching for bits and pieces on the ground instead of flying high in their lives.