होली पर एक शेर

चलो होली के इस रुत में आज कुछ रंग हो जाए,
जो आशिक है छुपा बैठा, थोड़ा सा तंग हो जाए।
महक फूलों कि चादर मैं बना कैसे इसे ओढूँ?
हवा में खुशबुयें जो हैं, हमेशा संग हो जाए।

चलो फिर से शेर सुनो

अजीब वाक़या है ये ज़िन्दगी हर मोड़ मुड़ती है।
लगे तो ये कि आखिर मै चलाता हूँ इसे फिर भी,
ये अक्सर राह ही अपने आप मुड़ के यूँ निकलती है।
खुदा जाने कि राहें ये चुना मैंने, या उसने है चुना मुझको?
पर जब भी यूँ लगे कि हाथ में पतवार आयी हो,
झटक के वो सहारा ही मेरे हाथों फिसलती है।

A week with Six companies

This has been a week where directly or indirectly I interacted with six companies for the services I use. Here is my rating out of 10 with 10 being highest:

• Costco - Went to buy a Sleep Science mattress. Costco only carries them with online orders. Ordered one online with tentative shipping day between 2-4 weeks. Seemed a lot. The next day I receive an email that the order has been fulfilled and Mattress has been shipped. Rating - 8
• Sleep Science - A manufacturer of memory foam mattress. I have used NovaFoam toppers before but this 10" mattress is just awesome. Not as good as Tempurpedic but the cost difference vs quality is just too close. Rating - 9.5
• UPS - Costco shipped the bed with UPS who gave me shipping time between Morning 8AM to Evening 7PM. Not something you can plan your day around. Because of this vague time slot I had to work from home all day. A shorter slot could have been much better. Mattress arrived around 3PM. Rating - 7
• Comcast - A company slowly that is getting difficult to pass by these days. I had to transfer my services to this location. They were good to give me a time slot between 4-6PM. The technician arrived at 6:30 - so not good. Looked friendly but he found he needed an amplifier as signal was too low. He was not carrying an amplifier which I would think should be part of their installation package in case required. He plugged some basic cable with a promise to come tomorrow between 12-1PM to install the rest. Rating - 6
• Apple - A company that boasts itself an epitome of perfection. I have an iPhone so this has become an ongoing thing. I had bought an iPhone compatible data cable because of repeated issues with one given by Apple. This cable worked with my iPhone for close to two months and I carry either this or Apple's when I travel. Last night I suddenly get a message that cable is not compatible and cannot be used. With USB being the only option to charge this phone, my iPhone discharged over the day. I wanted to give Apple a big zero for the premium they charge and pain I am having but giving a benefit of doubt over using a cable not from Apple. Rating - 1.5
• Sprint - I have a Sprint data card that has been a key to my productivity because the nature of my job where I cannot expect a Cat5 around all the time. In December'09 Sprint offered me a complementary upgrade to their 3g/4g device. Soon I found it was not a complementary upgrade but a Test Bed of it's new technology. I am sitting at the heart of bay area and this device has trouble finding the signal. It connects and disconnects intermittently severely affecting my work. Spent close to 30mins with their technical support who could not fix it and asked me to go to a near by store. I feel cheated by Sprint. With no phone and this flaky internet has put me almost isolated. Rating - 0
  

इक कॉमेडी शेर

पुकारें सुन सुन के वो खुदा शायद थक गया होगा,
ईमेल है नहीं मेरा "अच्छा है" ये फिर भी सोचता होगा।
गर चीखें मेल से आतीं तो कैसे हेल्प करता मैं,
जो टाइम खोलने में लगता बेचारा मर गया होता।
मोबाइल ना बनाया मैं पर उंगलियाँ दी बहुत सी हैं,
रहम एसेमेस से जो जाता, तू क्या मस्जिदों में बिल भरता?