Technology - complexity of simplicity!

I'm an ardent admirer of technology (flair for technology as I coined it!) - it makes our work easier and simpler. But sometime, making things simpler can end up creating complexity. My recent experience with the Jet Lite website rightly demonstrates so.

The website provides the facility to check Flight Status but thanks to the complexity they've created (probably to make things simpler), I was unable to use it.

I wanted to check the status of a flight which was scheduled to land at Kolkata Airport (CCU) at 2340 hours. So, I searched for Arrivals by Airport and selected the date and the airport from the drop-down list. Now comes the complicated part - I had to select the earliest time and latest time (both in hours and both drop-downs providing numbers from 00 to 23). Since I wanted to check the flight status between 23 hours and 00 hours, I selected the options accordingly.

Bleep - "Choose latest time greater than earliest time" - erupted the error in red!

"Preposterous!" - I exclaimed. The site has a validation script which prevents entering the latest time lesser than the earliest time and hence preventing me from checking the status of any flight scheduled between 2300 hours and 2359 hours! Thank you Mr. IT Guy who programmed the script!

I intend to post a link to this post as a feedback to Jet Lite (since the site does not accept a feedback more than 200 characters - another complexity!). Hope they fix up the bug(s) soon!

Two wrongs make a right!

Mathematically, two negatives (multiplied) make a positive. But do two mistakes or two wrongs make a right? A recent incident has made me ponder over this theory.

It was evening and I was about to leave office, waiting for the elevator in the lobby when I heard a senior colleague (SC) calling, "Vivek, which car do u have - is it an 800?".

Me: "I drive a Wagon-R, any problem, ma'am?"

SC: "No, I've left my car key inside the car (Mistake no. 1), just wanted to check if some other key could help. Do you know anyone with an 800?"

Me: "XYZ and PQR bring 800 to office, but they would've left office by now. We can try using my key or else I know how to open the door using a ruler - let me see if I can help you out."

We went to the lower basement taking along a chauffeur who drove an 800 and had met us in the upper basement.

A few tries with the two keys on both the front doors and the boot lid did not help. The only course left was to slit open the rubber lining on the window and use a ruler to unlock the door.

I was about to go to my cubicle to get a ruler when the chauffeur who was accompanying us shouted - "The rear door is open, you forgot to lock it madam!" (Mistake no. 2)

"wOw, what a blunder!", I said to myself with a smile on my face and bid farewell to the SC.

Coming upstairs to the upper basement I mused over the incident and muttered, "Two mistakes can actually make a right!"

Wish life was indeed that way - two wrongs/mistakes making a right!

Top 13 food items I miss from Kolkata

Mumbai is a good city and I truly like it. But when it comes to food (apart from ice-creams), I can hardly compare it with Kolkata. After having left Kolkata 13 months ago, here are the top 13 (in no particular order) food items I miss from Kolkata:

1. Bhel Puri @ Belurmath.
2. Garam Samosa and Faluda Kulfi @ Tiwari Sweets [counted as 2 separate food items].

3. Garam Rosogullas at night from Shreedhar (local bengali sweet shop near my place).
4. Pure veg dinner @ Gangaur (Park Street).
5. Doodh-ThumbsUp @ Bhawanipur (Sardarji's dhaba beside the gurudwara).
6. Sabji Kachori and Jalebi @ Sharma's in Bhawanipur [counted as 2 separate food items].
7. Chole Bhature @ Mission Cafe.
8. Chilla @ Vardaan.
9. Pav-bhaji @ Mayaram and Kanishka.
10. 'As You Like It' ice-cream @ India's Hobby Centre (Park Street).
11. and finally....Puchka (pani puri, as called in Mumbai) @ any damn place in Kolkata.

Am I missing something? Not in the list - but I'm missing the people with whom I used to have these food items (my friends and family members). I'm sure without them these would have never tasted soo good!