Dec 6th – Four Months

It’s already 4 months and it is time to do another self evaluation.
Positives:

• We all seem really settled down and in a routine. No one has complained even for the smaller things in the last 3 to 4 weeks which is good.
• Kids have become a little more independent. They go to their Taekwando and singing classes in the clubhouse all by themselves and come back. They go play in the evenings w/o the need for us to supervise them constantly.
• Anushka loves her school now and also the bus. She refuses to be driven to school.
• Both kids finally did catch a bad cold and I am really glad, as I had started thinking that we might be the real life versions of the Incredibles. Still haven’t visited a Doctor yet.
• Started driving my Honda City and got back my independence.
• Pallavi also is comfortable driving now.
• Pallavi started working part time and is getting in the groove
• The maid is also settled down and abruptly didn’t show up only twice so far
• Can’t help mention the 24X7 cricket and MTV, VH1 desi again
• Found a couple more great restaurants

Negatives:

• Work hours still remain a concern
• Quality time spent with kids also has not improved
• After sales customer service is non existent. In a specific eg Pallavi’s Nokia phone broke down in couple months. When we went to the dealer he asked us to take it to some common place to get it fixed. After week they did repair it but replaced the faceplates to some other run down ones. So another week to get that done. We must have spent close to 1000 Rs in Petrol and several hours in traffic for this. Though the driver did most of it the ineffiency in the whole system is too much. In another incident the RTO guy did manage to get my registration done in a week. When I got it my name was Lalitha instead of Lalit. Its been more than a week and I am still waiting to get it fixed.

Annoyances:

• Cannot pay my credit card bill online unless I have a bank account with the same company.
• To check my phone/dsl usage bill online I have to submit all details with a photo again and still have been waiting for 3 weeks to get access.

Revelations:

• All family members and friends have their priorities and responsibilities. It is wrong to expect that they will spend more time with you.