Cricket, The Erotic Game

I missed some of the Galle Test between Sri Lanka and India, and reading my friend Sambit Bal’s narrative, I regret it. Especially this bit:

And just when Kumar Sangakkara and Malinda Warnapura were stroking Sri Lanka towards a potentially match-winning position…

Now you know why I love Test cricket. Twenty20 is just wham bam thank you maam.

Posted by Amit Varma on 05 August, 2008 in Sport

Important Research

I love the first line of this book review by Janet Maslin:

There are many indications that David Ebershoff conducted prodigious research to write his novel about polygamy, “The 19th Wife.”

Sadly, Maslin elaborates—and we find that she did not mean what she seemed to be implying. Such a letdown. 

Posted by Amit Varma on 05 August, 2008 in Arts and entertainment

Hoax

Oh man, this is rich:

While investigating the series of hoax calls that have left cops jittery, Thane police traced one of them to the Mumbai police headquarters.

As if there weren’t enough criminals to keep our police busy. I’d love to know what motivated the naughty cop to behave in this way, though. Was he once posted in Thane? What happened there?

Posted by Amit Varma on 05 August, 2008 in India | News | WTF

“Don’t Worry, Sir, The Money Has Been Deducted”

I needed to book some train tickets today, so I optimistically hopped over to the IRCTC website to use their online booking facility. The user interface was horribly designed, but as long as I could figure out how things functioned, I didn’t care. I chose my train, filled in my details, made my credit card payment. But after I clicked the last confirmation button that I had to, the screen just went blank.

I thought maybe my tickets had been booked, and clicked on ‘booked tickets’. No luck. So I called their customer service people. The first time I got through, the woman at the other end heard what my problem was, went mmm, hmmm, and hung up. I tried again. This time, I warned the lady who picked up not to hang up on me. Then I gave her my user id so she could access my account details. Then this conversation happened:

IRCTC lady: So what is problem?

Me: The problem is that after I made my credit card payment, the screen just went blank.

IRCTC lady: Just a minute. (Pause.) Sir, was your ticket worth Rs 365?

Me: Yes.

IRCTC lady: Don’t worry, sir, the money has been deducted.

Me: Ah. Yes, well, but my ticket history is not showing that I’ve booked any ticket.

IRCTC lady: Yes sir. That is because the ticket has not been booked.

Me: What? The money has been deducted from my account but the ticket hasn’t been booked?

IRCTC lady: Yes sir. That happens. It is an online site, no?

I was too flabbergasted by this to even lose my temper. She eventually said that I would get a refund, but no doubt that’ll involve bureaucracy and online forms that go blank and so on, and I’ve mentally said goodbye to these 365 bucks.

If the government simply outsourced its ticketing to competing private vendors, I suspect I wouldn’t have this problem. Where there is an unthreatened monopoly, what else can one expect?

Update (8.48 pm): More than 40 readers have written in since I made this post, vouching for the efficient service of IRCTC, and assuring me that I’ll get my refund easily. Given the number of people vouching for the website, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now. What’s more, I will head over there and try to book a ticket again. Let’s see how it goes now.

Posted by Amit Varma on 05 August, 2008 in Economics | India | Personal | WTF

Chodenge Or Chhodenge?

The difference a missing ‘h’ can make is enormous. This is why I read the Times of India.

In other news, young Aadisht points us to this well-intentioned (and undoubtedly wise) owl:

Reminds me of that classic CSNY song, “Broil Your Children.” Or s’thing like that.

Posted by Amit Varma on 04 August, 2008 in Journalism | Media | Miscellaneous

Where Your Taxes Go: 36

On a state funeral for a dead singer.

Ishmeet Singh’s death might be a tragedy for his family and his fans, but I don’t see why people who do not fall in either of those categories should have to pay for his funeral—and that chartered flight carrying his body from Ludhiana to New Delhi at taxpayers’ expense. If Parkash Singh Badal feels that Ishmeet deserves a grand funeral, then Parkash Singh Badal should pay for it out of his own pocket. That goes for everyone else who holds that opinion as well. Why should the taxpayer pay?

Yes, yes, Badal is obviously just making a populist gesture here. And it will work, because the people who praise him for it won’t figure that it is their money he is spending. Such it goes…

(For more on how our government loots us, check out my Taxes Archive.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 04 August, 2008 in India | News | Old memes | Taxes | Politics

What An Idea, Sirjee

Playboy For The Blind.

Before you quip about how it’s only the articles, let me point out that I first discovered Haruki Murakami, many years ago, on the pages of Playboy. And no, he wasn’t the centrefold. The magazine is worth reading just for the articles.

So there.

(Link via Marginal Revolution.)

Posted by Amit Varma on 04 August, 2008 in Arts and entertainment | Miscellaneous

Andy Warhol, Where Are You?

The most delicious headline I’ve read in the last few days:

Unknown actress complains against paparazzi

How it must hurt!

Posted by Amit Varma on 04 August, 2008 in Arts and entertainment | News | WTF

Breathe Again

"My Friend, Sancho” is done and dusted, and I resume blogging now. Are you happy? Is this what you wanted? Huh? Huh?

Posted by Amit Varma on 04 August, 2008 in My Friend Sancho | Personal

The Boiler Room

In this great interview of (and about) Robert Gottlieb, Michael Crichton says:

In my experience of writing, you generally start out with some overall idea that you can see fairly clearly, as if you were standing on a dock and looking at ship on the ocean. At first you can see the entire ship, but then as you begin work you’re in the boiler room and you can’t see the ship anymore. All you can see are the pipes and the grease and the fittings of the boiler room and, you have to assume, the ship’s exterior.

This is from “The Paris Review Interviews, 1.”

And yes, I’m stuck in the boiler room, wondering if this ship will stay afloat. Such it goes…

Posted by Amit Varma on 26 July, 2008 in Arts and entertainment | My Friend Sancho | Personal