I think it's just plain disrespect

This is going to be a rant, so bear with me.

Have you ever been to meetings where the meeting was supposed to start a particular time, but people arrive a LOT later than they were supposed to? I know this happens predominantly in India, so my apologies to someone from outside this country who is reading this. But if you have interacted with Indians in general, you would know what I am talking about.

This all stems from an incident that happened last week which really got under my skin. I obviously cannot narrate the details of the event, but it bothered me nonetheless. I meant to post sooner, but hey, I have people wasting my time, so...

There have been times when a meeting starts a few HOURS after it was originally scheduled and all this while, one is just sitting there twiddling one's thumbs. Now I've been working for quite a few years now and should be fairly inoculated to this behaviour, but I'm NOT! I still get riled up over people not sticking to the time they commit to.

And the crux of the matter is this: Indians have no respect for anyone else's time except their own. They have this distinct feeling that only what THEY are doing is of paramount importance and everything else can wait. What they fail to understand is that EVERYONE is doing exactly that. That's why you see the traffic in chaos...everyone is in a hurry to get where they are going and inevitably cause a delay for everyone.

Earlier, I used to think that we Indians are short on patience. That this impatience drives our behaviour in traffic as well as places where you are expected to queue up. Naturally everyone wants to get their work done as quickly as possible, so has to be impatience, right?

Wrong!

It's sheer disrespect for the other person. "I don't care what you think, I think this way and I'm going for it". That's why we see Indians breaking queues (if they even exist), invade people's personal spaces without realising, talk out of turn, cut people off, etc etc etc.

And there lies my point. being late for something is DISRESPECTFUL to the other person. It is a blatant way of saying "I don't respect you and your time. Your time has no value for me!"

People think punctuality is a good character trait to have...and it is - don't get me wrong - it most definitely is, but not for the reasons you would think. Punctuality means that you are willing to make an effort to stick to a commitment you made, but more importantly, it conveys that you respect the other person and his/her time to not want to waste it by making them wait.

We all have a limited few seconds on this glorious planet. Is there any point in wasting them in some waiting room or some conference room or some phone call or a traffic jam? Instead, if we just respected the other person and their time and their right, as much as yours, to exist on this planet, then we would be a much better country.

It sure as hell won't change overnight, but it has to start somewhere. Change always starts with one, and I for one am going to make it a point to let people know how I feel when they abuse my time.

End Rant!

Language barriers

I know I make it a point not to blog about work stuff, but I just had to talk about this.

I was recently in Bangkok for a business meeting and while a lot of people there understand English, it is not the preferred language of communication. Of course, that would be Thai. There's also the extremely polite "Sawasdeekaaa" with the end sound dragged out and the joined hands welcome that everyone gets.

Now, as an outsider, it becomes a bit difficult to convey everything one has to say to be effective. Especially for me where my play on words helps me to inject some humor in the proceedings. So needless to say, communication becomes a bit of a problem. There are whole parts of the meeting where an entire conversation can happen in rapid fire and then we get a summary of what just transpired. So we end up losing a lot of information. Not to mention the possible jokes at our expense which our local counterparts are too polite to tell us (I'm guessing).

I had a similar experience when I was in Japan last year. With an added complication. We had to present using a interpreter. Now this was my first experience at that sort of thing, so we have to do a dry run of the presentations or the material with the interpreter so that she could effectively translate it during our meetings. What that also meant was that I could not speak more than two sentences for the most effective translation.

I have to admit...I have a fairly fluid presentation style and I don't plan on what I'm going to say. I just go with the flow based on the audience and the mood they are in. In Japan, I had to completely change my style and now think of the two most impactful sentences which could be translated while the interpreter was working on what I had just said. I completely changed my thinking about presenting in a place where English is not the main language.

But the most amazing thing? I was at an offsite with my team from all across APJC and we were at Bintan in Indonesia for a few days. I was getting to meet with all the great people I had met during my trips to all these regions and spend some time (over drinks, of course) with most of them. Guess what? I had the best time sitting around my Japanese colleagues!

Here I was surrounded by six Japanese gentlemen - some much older than me and some around my age or younger - and there were so many topics of conversation. Of course I had to talk about the absolutely awesome food I had there (Shabo Shabo, I love you) and I would get a question like "Malhar-san, which sauce do you prefer with the Shabo Shabo? Soy or Peanut?" and I would wonder if it was a trick question. I even said so. Cause in my time in Singapore, I had been made aware that people make judgements about your provess (you decide which one) or when you will get married simply by the way you hold your chop sticks! So I didn't want to say I like one or the other that makes me sound ridiculous. But no, all they wanted to know was my palette and choice so that they could recommend more restaurants.

The topic went from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka and eventually how I "have to" go to Sapporo the next time I'm there. One of my colleagues even volunteered to chaperone me around and take me to the "right" places.

We were having such a great time and laughing so loud that our VP came around wondering what was going on at "the table that's having the most fun".

So there you go folks...languages can be a bit of a deterrent, but the people are just as much fun, as long as you are willing to have some :)

At least take the label off!

Now I see this a lot whenever I travel, especially to the northern part of the country and especially so during the winter months. Almost everyone there is wearing a suit or at least a jacket. And without fail, more than half of them still have the brand label either still in it's pristine condition on the sleeve of the jacket OR hanging on for dear life from that flimsy tack they put in (so that the label can be easily taken off in the first place).

I'm not sure these people realise it, but the label is there just to make it easier to identify the brand in the store. It's not there to be paraded around for the rest of the said jacket's lifetime.

And yet, there's scores of people who do that anyways!

You can see similar evidence at the bottom of formal shoes as well. During meetings, when your co-conspirators in the meeting are sitting in the famous "one leg over the other" pose and pretending to listen, they don't realise that the label for the price is still stuck on there.

Maybe they want me to know that they are into expensive shoes, maybe they just forgot, maybe it's like the label on the jacket sleeve all over again! They just won't take it off.

Do us all a favor, will you guys?

Rip it off, Puleeeeeze!

Not exactly a resolution, but...

Ho hum! New year and all that, so there's talk of any (if at all) new resolutions for the year going forward. Now I'm not in the habit of making resolutions (as I'm already at superHD resolution), so I'm not going to get into that conversation, but I noticed that I haven't been doing what I used to do a lot a few years ago.

And that is blogging!

There was a time when I would have at least a post a day, of things that I noticed that day, the weird things that happened to me, the rants against some moronic things, or simply to vent how I was feeling. And I noticed that somewhere around 2007-2008, my blogging frequency took a nose dive. There have been a few intermittent posts now and then, but my attempts to cover my North Europe trip also ended up being half baked (with only half the trip documented).

So the effort for the new year is to blog more often. At least once a week if that's even possible.

So here's to a new day. A new beginning. A fresh start.

Wish everyone a happy new year and may it be so much better than the last!

Airtel SUCKS!

This is my experience with Airtel...and it has not been good. In fact, it has been terrible. And I need your help to get this experience out in the open. Help me spread the word!

In November of 2011, I started experiencing problems with my Airtel broadband connection. I raised a ticket to get this resolved. After a few weeks of inactivity and my constant follow up, an Airtel engineer came and checked the connection and said it was ok. At that time, it was working correctly (as per Murphy's law) and so I could not do anything about it. A few weeks later, the problem became more pronounced and I raised another service request. This one on the 17th of December. And at this time, I plainly told the Airtel folks that I would not pay the bills until the service was corrected.

The problem turned out to be that the DSL modem was hanging every now and then and so the broadband connection would also hang. The service engineer acknowledged the problem, but said that Airtel had changed policies last year where they did not provide replacement modems any more and that I would have to buy a new modem.

Now the only way I can use the Airtel broadband service is if there is a DSL modem, which was provided as part of the service when I subscribed for Airtel broadband. Without the modem, I cannot use the service. So I consider the modem as integral to the delivery of the service.

I stood on that principal and requested that the service be made available to me by replacing the modem. After a few weeks of follow up, I was told on the 23rd of Jan that Airtel would not be replacing the modem. In that event, I asked Airtel to cancel the broadband connection and I would clear all the bills save for the broadband charges for the last 2 months since the service was mostly unusable.

On the evening of the 24th of Jan, I got a call from the Customer Retention team of Airtel saying that they consider me a valuable customer and that they would replace the modem for free if I did not discontinue the service. I informed them that I was only disconnecting the service because of modem and that I would have no problems retaining the connection if the problem is resolved. I was told that the problem will be resolved with a free replacement modem in 3 working days.

After more than two months of follow up with Airtel support and after several cases being logged (as documented by the messages I have received from them...the one at the top says they will get back to me after almost 2 months!), I was told that I will not be getting the replacement modem and that my service is being terminated for non payment of bills!!!

You can imagine my surprise when they said that not only is the connection being terminated, I need to settle all outstanding bills, INCLUDING broadband charges for the months where the connection was to be remedied, but wasn't.

I informed Airtel that I will not be paying for a service that was not fixed and so they need to send me detailed bills with only call charges and not a consolidated bill for each month.

Again, after repeated phone calls from Airtel collections people and my repeated requests for a separate bill for call usage, I received an email from Airtel on the 7th of April about the final amount for settlement and mentioning that this was under review by the credit control team of Airtel. My response to them (along with the original mail) is below.

From: Malhar Anaokar <malhar.anaokar@gmail.com>Subject: Re: Outstanding Dues on Your Airtel Account No - 14231243 - Del No - 08040945596_kk
Date: 9 April 2012 10:12:30 AM GMT+05:30
To: Collections.KK@in.airtel.com

I am tired of repeating myself, so I am going to put this in writing once and for all.
I had raised that I am having problems with my broadband connection in December '11. The airtel engineer who visited my house told me that the modem was hanging, was faulty and that it needed to be replaced. However, airtel policy had changed in the last year where replacement modems were not provided and that I needed to procure a new one myself. Since the modem is essential for the delivery of the service and the service cannot be consumed without a modem, I believed that the modem should be provided by Airtel as part of the service. Until my service had been restored to proper working condition, I refused to pay the outstanding dues. Since this was not provided, I finally gave instructions to airtel to discontinue my connection.
I was called by the airtel retention team on the 24th of Jan to tell me that I was a high value customer and that as part of the retention, I would get a replacement modem in the next couple of days. I am attaching a PDF of messages received by me from Airtel (starting 17th of Dec) in which my case was registered and a resolution was promised, but where all that changed was the date for resolution of my problem, but my problem was never resolved.
After several follow ups and no replacement of the modem, I was told in late March that my modem will not be replaced and that my service (phone & broadband) has been discontinued. I was asked to pay the remaining outstanding amount for closure.
Since I had asked for termination of the service a few months ago and I was assured that the modem will be replaced (which it was not) and that my service will be restored to normal (which it was not), I have taken a stand to not pay for the broadband charges since this issue was raised. I am perfectly ok in paying for all the phone calls made.
I was called on the 2nd of April and also on the 5th of April where I was told that a soft copy of the bill for only phone charges will be sent to me by mail post which I can pay for the phone charges and not the broadband charges. I have still not received the bills and instead I have got this message threatening me on further action.
I want to stress that this amount is outstanding NOT because of my inability to pay, but because of AIRTEL'S INABILITY TO RESOLVE AN ISSUE, INABILITY TO LIVE UP TO IT'S COMMITMENT AND INABILITY TO BE A CIVILIZED SERVICE PROVIDER.
My experience with airtel has been pathetic, to say the very least!

Malhar Anaokar

-Malhar
If you have nothing better to do, my dumping ground is at http://totalbakwas.blogspot.com/
"If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem" - Richard Bach

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 4:15 PM, <Collections.KK@in.airtel.com> wrote:
Dear Sir/Madam...
With regard to the above subject we wish to bring to your notice that there
is an amount of Rs. 17636.25 /- outstanding on
your Land line no.- 08040945596_kk , bearing account number 14231243.
Please note this account is under the scrutiny of our credit control team
and Non settlement within 15th Apr - 2012
will force us to initiate further course of action to recover the said
dues.
You can make payments using your Credit Card or Debit card with our online
easy pay option. Kindly log on to
www.airtel.in for more details or walk in to your nearest airtel
relationship center to make the payment.
Please revert your consent for payment assistance by email on
visesh.airtel@gmail.com


Warm regards
Bharti airtel limited

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies and the original message. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure,dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
The recipient acknowledges that Bharti Airtel Limited or its subsidiaries and associated companies(collectively "Bharti Airtel Limited"),are unable to exercise control or ensure or guarantee the integrity of/overthe contents of the information contained in e-mail transmissions and further acknowledges that any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and no binding nature of the message shall be implied or assumed unless the sender does so expressly with due authority of Bharti Airtel Limited. Before opening any attachments please check them for viruses and defects.

As a response to my mail, Paramesh from Airtel sent me the bills Since Nov 2011 until April 2011. Since the connection was terminated near the end of March, the last bill didn't have DSL charges. I used that as the reference to remove DSL charges from the Dec, Jan, Feb bills, but chose to pay for the DSL usage in November as I wanted to be fair as I had used the service and only raised the complaint then. Since the problem remained unresolved from December thro March, I refused to pay for DSL charges.

On the 10th of April, I paid Airtel for charges (minus the DSL charges for Dec, Jan, Feb and March). I was informed that I will get communication that this account is settled.

I received another mail from Airtel threatening legal action if the account is not settled. This is my response:

From: Malhar Anaokar
Subject: Re: Outstanding on your Landline / Broadband No : 08040945596_kk - R3VDate: 12 June 2012 5:00:06 PM GMT+05:30
To: Collections.KK@in.airtel.com
Cc: collections.v@airtelmail.in

It seems that Airtel not only does not care about it's customer, forget retaining them, but also does not read a customer's complaints when written clearly.
As articulated in my mail to Airtel on the 9th of April, here are the problems in chronological order:
1. Problem with Broadband connection raised on 17th of Dec.
2. When called for payment of bill on 25th of Dec, I stressed that I will pay the bill after the problem is rectified
3. Engineer visited home and informed that the DSL modem is faulty. Since Airtel had changed it's policy a year ago, replacement modems would not be provided. I asked how Airtel planned to provide the service without the modem. Only answer given to me was that I have to buy a new modem. I asked that the service be terminated.
4. I was called on the 24th of Jan by people from Airtel Customer Retention team to say that I was a valuable customer and that in this case they would give me a replacement modem as solution to my problem. I accepted that as a solution and said that once the problem was corrected, I would settle all outstanding dues.
5. Over the next month, I kept following up with Airtel on the status of my replacement modem (details of the service request number are below).
6. I was finally informed after 2 months of inactivity from Airtel that the replacement of the modem will not be done and that the service (both my phone connection as well as my broadband) will be disconnected due to non payment of dues.
7. I informed Airtel representatives repeatedly that I will gladly pay the phone dues for the last few months, but will not pay the broadband charges for the last few months as the only reason the service was still active post 23rd Jan is because I was assured by Airtel that my issue will be resolved.
8. I received a mail from Airtel on the 7th of April stating that I had an outstanding of 17k+, but even after repeated requests, I was not told how much the call charges were.
9. I responded to the above mail on the 9th of April (mail attached below) restating my grievances
10. Airtel representative called me to tell me that they cannot segregate the call and broadband charges and asked my how much I would be willing to pay. I asked that the e-bills for the last few months be sent to me.
11. I received an email on the 9th of April from Paramesh.M@in.airtel.com with attachment containing bills from December thro March. The March bill was with with broadband service disconnected.
12. Based on the above bills for 5 months, I calculated my voice usage (plus data usage for December as I had only raised the complaint then) to come to Rs 9750
13. Chq No.885311 drawn on Citibank in favor of Airtel for Rs.9750 was handed to Airtel executive which cleared my bank account on 12th of April
14. I was told that I will get an email confirming that the account is now closed and settled. None such email was received by me.
15. I received a call from Airtel representative several times in the month of April and May (even when I was traveling internationally) to tell me about an outstanding of 7k+ for the land line number which had been disconnected.
16. I received a call from Airtel representative on the 7th of June telling me that if the remainder of the amount is not settled, legal action would be taken.
17. I received an email from Collections.KK@in.airtel.com (to which I am now responding) stating that if the amount is not settled, legal action will be taken.

Let me summarize this in even simple language:
1. I reported my problem to Airtel
2. Airtel committed to me that they will solve my problem
3. Airtel DID NOT solve my problem
4. Airtel is charging me for usage of a service that was not working properly
5. Airtel is threatening legal action for a service they did not provide and for a problem they did not fix.
I want to stress here that in the event I receive legal notice for non payment, I will send all my communications (on the matter with Airtel as well as all the SMS confirmations I have about Airtel promising to fix my problem, but not actually fixing my problem) to the Times of India, the Lokayukta and the Consumer Court as well as publish this information on prominent blogs and social networks.
Instead of apologizing to a long standing customer for not providing the service as promised to him, Airtel has resorted to threatening it's customers with legal action. Is this what Airtel meant when they sent me this mail informing me that I am a Platinum customer?

After repeated calls and my repeated emails to them (just like the above), I received this on the 19th of June!

From: Collections.KK@in.airtel.com
Subject: Oustanding on your Airtel Landline/Broadband No : 08040945596_kk -RV3Date: 19 June 2012 8:50:42 PM GMT+05:30
To: malhar.anaokar@gmail.com
Cc: Collections.v@airtelmail.in

Dear Sir / Madam,
This is to inform you that there is an outstanding of Rs 7886 /- towards
your airtel landline number 08040945596_kk with a/c # 14231243.
The payment has been not received for the same till date. Hence the case
has been moved to our solicitors and a Lok adalat notice has been initiated
on 28th June 2012 at The Deputy Registrar, Mayo Hall Court Complex near MG
Road Bangalore – 01 on 28th June. Between: 11 am to 4 pm for amicable
settlement of the above mentioned account.
The notice has been dispatched to your billing address. Hence request you
to take the notice and appear in the court on the above mentioned date.
Please ignore the mail if the payment is made.
Note: For any further clarification, feel free to contact:-Mr Ashok on
9880052608
Please do not reply on this e-mail for further communication, mark a mail
to Collections.v@airtelmail.in
THANK YOU
BHARTI  AIRTEL  LTD
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies and the original message. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure,dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
The recipient acknowledges that Bharti Airtel Limited or its subsidiaries and associated companies(collectively "Bharti Airtel Limited"),are unable to exercise control or ensure or guarantee the integrity of/overthe contents of the information contained in e-mail transmissions and further acknowledges that any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and no binding nature of the message shall be implied or assumed unless the sender does so expressly with due authority of Bharti Airtel Limited. Before opening any attachments please check them for viruses and defects.

There you have it! Airtel has sent a notice to me for collection on payment of a service that was not provided. 

Please help me fight this insensitive behavior. Please spread the word. Help me get this to the public's attention! HELP ME!

How to save your aging home theatre

I've been facing this problem for a while, but have been too lazy (as usual) to do anything about it. The problem was brought front and center during a conversation with a friend of mine. Let me explain.

My current home setup has a Cambridge Audio Azur 540 as the receiver, KEF Q-series speakers (two floor stander mains, two bookshelf surrounds and a center), a Wharfdale bottom firing subwoofer, an LG 42" Plasma TV, a Sony DVD player, a Sony PS3, An Apple TV and my Tata Sky+ Cable set top box.

The problem is: My TV (which is 7 years old) has only one HDMI input and my Cambridge Audio (again 7 years old) has no HDMI processing and has only one optical TOSLink input. Do you see where the problem is?

If I want to get surround sound, I need the device (either my DVD player or my PS3 or my Apple TV) to feed it to the Amp over an optical link. Up until a couple of years ago, this was not a problem as the only source capable of playing surround sound was my DVD player. But now I had 3 sources and only one connection into the Amp. The source had become the PS3 (mainly because I have been watching more BluRay content these days), but this solution was not going to be, what's the techie jargon I'm looking for, scalable.

So when my friend bought a new Yamaha amp so that he could have HDMI switching and Airplay and all the nice things that come with it, a thought wormed itself into my mind. I needed a way to make this work without making too much of investment. And that'w where the research started.

Now the solution is so crazily simple, it will make you all laugh.

I got a small device called the ViewHD Matrix HDMI Switch which is this super cool little device. 

It allows four HDMI sources (it supports HDMI 1.3b which means it supports 3D as well) to be connected as sources which can then be displayed on two HDMI displays (one will be your TV and the other can be your HD Projection system...something that's on my shopping list and which should come in a few months). But here's what makes the device special...It has an optical out! So the device filters out the sound from the source's HDMI signal and sends it thro the TOSlink to the Amp! Hurray! My problem solved! I tested it...all my sources can now spit out surround output to my Amp which beautifully reproduces the sound (did I say I love my Amp?)! My setup now plays whatever encoding the source is playing (DTS, THX, Dolby Digital ES or Stereo) natively without making any physical changes! But wait, there's more. 

The cute little device has an audio headphone output port which I can use to hook up my wireless headphones. Hurray!!! Now no matter what I'm watching late night, I can still enjoy the full benefits of sound without waking the house (which i will anyways do when ManU scores a goal)

Simply outstanding! Here's the amazing part...I paid only USD79 for it! That's nothing considering that this little piece of equipment made in China just made my current setup future proof. I can do Airplay (something that I have been doing for a while now, but only in stereo as the output was feeding only the TV), play BluRay rips from my PS3 (with HD Audio) and my DVD player still plays DTS DVDs to my heart's content!

Do I have more? You can bet your a$$ I do.

Now you may have noticed that I have a fair few devices that need to be controlled (and a new one for the ViewHD), so you will not be surprised to hear that I have a Logitech Harmony 700 Universal Remote to make sure that I have only one remote control to use. Unfortunately, the Harmony can't control the PS3 natively as the PS3 works over Bluetooth and not InfraRed. So I got a Logitech adapter for the PS3 which pairs as a controller over BT with the PS3 and then takes IR instructions from the Harmony! Sweet?

There's more!

But that's for another post :)

Keep waiting for that...hehehehehehe

Lapkook

Day 8 

Swedish massage is like Mysore Masala Dosa! Anyone who has gone to a dosa wala in Mumbai, he would get a concoction called Mysore Masala Dosa, which is not a bad thing to eat, but there is one problem with it. It's origins are not from Mysore. Imagine my surprise when I didn't find any Swedish Massage parlors in a place that it was supposed to have originated from! I would have thought there would be one on every street corner (ala Thai Massage in Thailand). Obviously I was wrong!!! 

First things first, we had to finish packing as the train to Narvik was later today. After cramming all the photography equipment we had carried between the 2 bags, we headed down for the same crappy free breakfast the hotel had to offer. We took the time to wash a few of the essentials in the common use Washer and Dryer the hotel had in the basement. And then it was time for the massage...which was ok ok at best. Nothing like the Swedish Massage I was expecting when I landed in Sweden.

Post checkout we headed to Centraalen where we realized that there was a storage locker crisis...we couldn't get a single decent free one. So while Praveen went to get our seats confirmed, I waited like a stalker to see if a locker opens up...which it did after about 30 minutes. We piled our stuff into that lone locker and then headed for some inner glove shopping at new intersport store. There was some sort of promotion happening in the store next to it, so there was a long queue that had formed with people just waiting to get in, despite the face that it was it's snowing outside, but that's normal for them I guess.

Around the back of the Pizza hut (where veggie lunch was possible for my partner in crime) we went, searching for Naturkompaniet which makes awesome cold weather gear, but the wind trousers were way too expensive, so I decided to ignore buying them and take my chances. Pizza take away was the only option for food in the train journey as we had to get going, but we were distracted by the Candy store bang opposite the Pizza Hut. So tons of candy shopping was done for the kids. Now the only thing left to buy was a few bottles of beer, so we would have to head to System Bolagade, knowing that we had to rush back to empty our locker locker. We realized that apparently u can buy booze & carry it on the train, but u can't drink it on the train...very different from our experience between Amsterdam & Copenhagen. Decide to ignore.

It was time to call my little princess to tell her that it's snowing & that I'm leaving for Narvik. After a lot of running around trying to get in time for the train, we reached Platform 4, bogey 14, seats 83 & 84. This time we didn't have the entire bogey to ourselves. We were seated with a gentleman from Kiruna, this huge guy who was a management executive, but who in his past life used to have snow mobile tours. It was an interesting series of conversations with him which ranged from his visits around the country, his hilarity at me being cold even in the train and finally his description of Raindeer blood soup (lapkook). That somehow didn't kill my appetite and I decided to dig into the take away pizza around 9ish

The next day, we would be at out destination. Spirits were high and it took me a while to drop off. But eventually, it was time to say good night!