This blog is no longer being updated. Last post was “Farewell”.
No. When I say “difference”, I don’t mean the different look of Ulta Seedha. I mean PTCL.
Also, when I choose the slogan of arguably the most damned organization of Pakistan as the title of this post, I don’t mean it as a compliment to them. I mean it as an ironical device. Because, let’s face it, there is no difference. None whatsoever.
When I closed the public access to this ulta seedha corner about a week ago, I had a quick plan of action in my mind: Create backups. Upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. Upload the newly created theme. Make all those little changes as required. Install the plugins. Brush up the posts and pages. Write a new post. And open the access again. Plain and simple. Shouldn’t have taken more than 48 hours.
Except that PTCL wanted me to feel the difference.
The night I created all the backups, I slept and dreamed of a new version of Ulta Seedha that was smashing. The morning after I woke up and found the phone line gone dead.
“Sir ji, what can we do? The workers are all on strike. It’s been over a month.” A person at the local PTCL exchange office told me when I went there to “complain”.
I sighed and then told him that, strangely, I could still connect to the Internet by using PTCL Broadband. His face lit up, “Acha? You go and do this: There’s a dibbi through which the DSL line connects to your home. Exchange the wire of that dibbi with your regular phone line and it will work!”
I still have no idea what he was talking about.
I didn’t try to locate that miraculous dibbi, though. It turned out that the DSL connection that was running on a dead phone line was of no practical use. It kept on disconnecting after every 5 minutes (with a special consideration for mornings and afternoons, when it disconnected after every 10 minutes), and the only reason that FileZilla, the nifty FTP client that I use, didn’t jump out of the computer to slap me silly on my face, was that it was a piece of soulless software. Otherwise, I am sure it would have refused to work for a master who couldn’t even arrange a stable Internet connection.
Fast forward to seven days after the phone line went dead, and it was still dead. That dibbi person had now started greeting me with a sheepish smile and a sympathetic shrug. Then on the 8th day, he asked me to go and see some Chowdhury sahab.
I found that Chowdhury sahab, a man who didn’t look even remotely like a chowdhury, near the main gate of the PTCL building. He listened to me patiently, and then asked me who had told me to see him. He then motioned me to follow him and entered the complaint office.
The next five minutes were amusing. The way Chowdhury sahab scolded all those guys, including the dibbi person, was a perfect example of an officer gone mad in a Pakistani sarkari office. I did feel sorry for the dibbi person, though — he was always so polite. Within the next 10 minutes, a technician was fiddling through the telephone wires of our home, and the phone line went live. Just like that. I later found out that Chowdhury sahab was the SDO (Sub Divisional Officer, or whatever the hell it stands for).
Now that I think of it, there was a difference that I felt. I had to go to the upper management if I wanted my phone line repaired in the past, and I had to do it again. But this time, I was sent to an officer by one of his own subordinates. Feel the difference, really!
Anyway, feel free to extract a moral out of this story. I am just happy that I managed to do almost 75% of the work I had intended to do for Ulta Seedha. To users of Internet Explorer 7: The new theme will look jittery at some places, I’ll fix it soon. To users of Internet Explorer 6: Stop using it, you are destroying the World Wide Web. To users of Mozilla Firefox: I love you. And if you are one of those rockstars who subscribed to this blog’s feed, please update it to this one [Update: link removed]. (If everything is working fine, the previous feed will automatically redirect, but who knows.)
So this was the story of a different PTCL, and a different Ulta Seedha. Let me know if anything is not working as it should be, and I’ll try to fix it soon. Meanwhile, I’ll also pray that the remaining 25% of the work that I haven’t been able to do remains hidden from the visitors.
19 comments
Hina
Jun 24, 2008 at 12:26 am
Wow… I’m making history.. I mean, I’m making the first comment.
The new layout is so well done! I’m feeling the difference. And as far as PTCL is considered, I’ve ditched it for wateen. And you can try typing PTCL in your cell phone with the T9 dictionary on!
No One
Jun 25, 2008 at 8:48 am
daimmmmm loving the theme. i am jealous as usual! hows it going? supp? take care…peace
UTP
Jun 26, 2008 at 12:55 am
haha…PTCL rocks and people thought the etisalat takeover would change things….heheh…
Saadat
Jun 26, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Hina,
Thank you for approving the new theme. And LOL, T9 rules!
Yes, you did make history. Feel proud!
No One,
Heh, thanks. I am good.
UTP,
Oh it did change things, only for the worse.
Hina
Jun 27, 2008 at 2:24 am
*Feeling proud*.Btw, what are you up to nowadays, Saadat? You are done with your masters, right?
Saadat
Jun 27, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Sigh. Kya pooch liya!
I am not done with the masters yet. There’s a course still left. And since it’s just one course, I am sending my resume here and there these days and keeping my fingers crossed.
knicq
Jun 27, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Salamz Chotey Bhai:
I am loving the new ulta seedha place. I have always been biased in favor of lay-outs where matters of my interest are broadly either left or right aligned.
Loved the PTCL story – some things never change they say, and despite what your title implies it appears PTCL has not changed much
Oh, and I believe your story telling just got even better!
Saadat
Jun 28, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Bhaijan,
W/salam, and thank you, both for liking the theme and the PTCL story. Praise coming from you always makes my day.
By the way, I do like mangoes, but not more than apples.
knicq
Jun 30, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Azizum, Its a delight reading your stories. The only problem is they are too few.
As for Mangoes – I wish more people would be like you – that would just leave more mangoes for me to gobble down. I want ALL oif them. You can have ALL the apples if you want. Its an arrangement that they call WIN-WIN!
UTP
Jul 2, 2008 at 1:38 am
You like apples more than mangoes? WOW…good for you…
Hina
Jul 2, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I don’t know what things are like in Islamabad, but it seems there are a lot of job openings for CS students in Karachi. You can mail your CVs here too but if I were you, I’d rather remain jobless than say good-bye to the hills … well, just may be! =P
Beautiful Stranger
Jul 3, 2008 at 12:31 am
dunno what to say so …………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Saadat
Jul 3, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Bhaijan,
I really need to sort out my aamad routines. *sighs*
And I completely agree with your arrangement regarding apples and mangoes. Let’s start a campaign!
UTP,
Yep. Good for me. And for mango lovers!
Hina,
Young lady, I have been seeing these hills for 25 years now, and that’s my entire life! And yes, I do love seeing them — they are quite refreshing — but as a poet wonderfully said once, that ghams of rozgar are more dil-faraib than many other things, so who knows?
Beautiful Stranger,
Insaan naye layout ki tareef hi kar deta hai!
UTP
Jul 3, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I think its time for a new post…
Ayesha
Jul 4, 2008 at 12:06 am
Though my late to comment but khair hai ;d
layout looking awesome!! you always comes up with something that I look and fall in love with :$ lol….
PTCL!!! lolllllllllllllllllllll *me remembers her experience*, dibbi guy lol hilarious name you gave ;p, waise don’t you really know what he was talking about
??
waise in my case am lucky that my dad taught me many things, from Phone fixing to Electrical things… I can manage anything :$ and thats just because of my dad
! waise I don’t mean like fixing it all but still I can do many things and I know how to make people work for me LOL!
GH
Jul 4, 2008 at 4:16 pm
What a lovely skin!
Saadat
Jul 5, 2008 at 5:58 pm
UTP,
Yes. It sure is time for a new post. The only problem is that the owner of this blog is a champion procrastinator.
Ayesha,
Behna, you are such a sweetheart. Thank you for falling in love with the new layout. And do you give lessons? I, and I am sure many others, would love to learn from you what your father taught you.
GH,
Thank you!
UTP
Jul 6, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Why do I hear the procrastinate word so much amongst bloggers….I guess being regular is the toughest job of all…
Brain block…PTCL can do that to you…heheh…all the best…
Saadat
Jul 10, 2008 at 1:03 pm
“Procrastinate” is one of the most favourite words of bloggers, yes. It’s meaning and feel is simply beautiful!
And not just PTCL, meray bhai, IESCO as well.