Warning : this is a long rant.

Its been a crazy weekend.  Rains and technology just don't mix well.

Was up in Khandala and we were in clouds and wild rain for the weekend.  Was beautiful.  So so beautiful.

Until we started making our way back to bombay - when the car wouldn't start - a car we bought this year in January - and the battery was discharged. 

We call the mobile number we have from the authorised dealer - being a Sunday - noone picks up the phone.  Absurd - emergencies don't wait for weekdays.  We figure another number from the manual and call another service centre - this time in Pune - which is about 30 kms away from Khandala.  And wait 4 hours for a service man to come - its raining wild so am not fussing - four hours and several calls later he arrives in his van, and jump-starts the engine.  If it were my old car, i would have got the local mechanic to fix it in a moment.  Then you pay when you pay don't you !

at a railway crossing

driving back

And then another tiring four hours navigating traffic and rains, driving back to bombay (when it normally takes us just 1.5 hours).  The photo above is a clear stretch of good road - for the most part i was driving over what seemed like craters on the surface of the moon.  Listening to depressing commentary as India loses the match to Srilanka.

Get back to bombay past 10 in the night, have a long soak, and switch on my computer thinking it will run all night and download stuff.  Wake up next morning and disaster has struck again.  There's a puddle of water under my laptop - right beneath it.  No window kept open at night, no leaking ceiling.  The laptop is off.  Can't figure whats happened.  Tentatively switch it on - it comes on and hear a loud crackling sound.  Unplug all the ports and the power.  Call Dell support in a panic - at 8 am a silly recorded message tells me to call between 9 am and 6 pm.  Annoying.  Then my husband looks at it - and notices that the puddle of water is around where the dsl link cable get plugged in.  Unplug the cable and it starts dripping on my desk. 

The dsl cable is full of water - this is unreal ! The cable box on the building terrace must be flooded.  I've called the company - Reliance has taken over service from BSES - lodge four compaints at different times of the day - its 7.30 pm as i write this and noone has come to attend the problem.  Have the cable stuck in a mug - which is half filled with water from it - here's the mug shot :

In parallel - am on with Dell support all day - they get me to run diagnostics - the first time i run it, there are errors on my hard disk.  They promptly send me a quotation for a new hard disk and tell me it may take a week, and only after they receive payment for an exorbitant sum. That is unacceptable - its an emergency - i want it fixed in 24 hours ! Then i run the diagnostics again - this time no errors.  And a third time - again no errors.  So confusing.  I am then told it may be a problem with just the sound card, as everything else seems to be working - so the motherboard will have to be replaced.  This is nuts - i'd rather spend a little more and buy a new laptop. Finally am given the option of a service guy paying a visit to diagnose the problem - of course that could happen tomorrow - the day after - or who knows when.   Absolutely no client delight whatsoever.

In between calls to the dsl guys and Dell support - i have backed up my hard disk.  Now that IS in my control - small mercies !  And managed this rant too :).  Through a dial-up. 

The dsl cable continues to drip rain water into the mug. 

And my cable TV isn't working either - the cable box might be flooded too.

When it rains ... it pours !

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