Category — My Life

My little Cuckoo isn’t little anymore; she’s about 10 months old and well on her way into becoming a doggie teenager. As teenagers they aren’t very different from us, she’s getting stubborn, shows attitude… you know the drill.

Lately, due to the summer heat I’ve taken to sleeping with the dogs in the hall. If you’ve ever slept with dogs around, you’d know how lovely it is to feel them around you. However my Cuckoo has a strange quirk, she’s hates weight being put on her. This quirk causes growls quite often at night as I turn about with her at my feet.

I’ve been trying different tricks to get her comfortable with people hugging her or smothering her. One thing I’ve been doing is smothering her 10 times a day and then giving her a treat. This method has shown marked improvement.

Last night however, as I was putting my bedding down on the floor, Cuckoo as always sauntered across the room and plonked herself at the foot of the mat. This triggered an idea in my head as I realised that maybe she wants to be close to me but not on the floor. So, off I went to get her mat and place it next to mine. We both had a good night’s rest with no growls at all.

Why am I telling you this? My learning from yesterday was sometimes the most obvious things to do can be the solution or what seems most unlikely to work may be a great solution.

What do you think? Do you act on the impromptu ideas you get? Do you think a lot before you act on anything? Do you prefer the “well-tested” solution to the “freak idea”?

Photo credit: Chenthil

While drinking tea this morning I remembered an old incident that got me smiling.

Some years ago when we were kids we bought our first emergency light. Big deal you say; it was a big deal. In those days every one of our friends had one at home but we still studied by candlelight. So, getting this box with switches and lights attached as antennae had us jubilant and always finding excuses to use it.

A few months later a strange phenomenon started to happen in our house. Clothes suddenly started to get holes in them. The holes like the hole you get when you drop a lit match head on cloth. But, only Dad smoked so how did granny and I have holes in our clothes. One day we found a towel with a huge hole, as if it had just melted away. Then just as suddenly as it started it stopped. We were bewildered but there just was no answer.

This repeated over time; the holes would start to appear suddenly and then just stop too. Feel free to imagine all the reasons we gave and got. From cigarettes and matches to birds and ghosts. But after a lot of examining of the towel (our biggest evidence with a half foot hole) we came to the conclusion that it was acid. Only acid could melt the cloth so.

Now the search began with renewed vigour. We kids found new theories every day. One theory was the washing machine was causing it in some manner, maybe there was an acid leak somewhere. Another was the birds – maybe the birds pooped on the cloth and the acid in that melted the cloth. All of these fell apart since for the towel hole we would have either needed an entire bird community or a giant condor.

Am sure you’ve figured out the culprit by now. Yes, the famed emergency light had a faulty battery. So when we took it down to use the holes suddenly started and when thanks to KEB (Karnataka Electricity Board) we didn’t need to, they stopped. Of course it took us a few clothes, a towel, a carpet and lots of time to figure this out, but it flamed such creativity.

So, why am I telling you this… No reason, just…

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A few days back I met Ramya [Thanks Ramya ] to discuss a social media tool, her company was working on among other things. More on the tool in another post; this post is about the rest of our talk.

I had met Ramya through my blog. We exchanged a few emails and decided to meet. Ramya had questions for me that a lot of others have asked on what I do, why I do it, how I live this life, etc… You get the drift. Talking to Ramya was a walk down memory lane and I wanted to take you along.

A bit about me – I am a freelancer, have a range of skills, I do my own thing on my own time, travel a fair bit, have all I need, do not work for a corporate company and yet enjoy every moment and live life on my terms. [This is as people see me , I do have my own low moments ]

Disclaimer: The walk starts now and may be a bit long so if want to turn back now, you can…

I have always been a bit of a rebel, from way back when I remember I wanted things a certain way and wouldn’t settle for less, I did the unacceptable as normal. I remember my first cycle – I wanted a boys cycle and my parents said no, I waited 2 years stubbornly before they relented (it helped that picking and dropping me off at school was getting tedious).

I didn’t want big things, I just wanted what I wanted big or small but mostly it was small. Small things make me happy, I don’t care so much for the quality or brand of stuff as long as it does the job, I don’t care much for money or tomorrow.

Then about 10 years back I started to learn some lessons (lessons to me that is). I realized the value of today, of now, of each moment. I figured that money had no value because it can’t buy happiness, peace or love. Ok no more gyan, I’m sure you have these answers too.

Anyway so going on, I caught the travel and biking bug in my early twenties almost about the same time. Then on I started to crave to be free, to not have to work, to do my own thing…. I was not happy with the way my life was and so I started to plan to start anew. I quit my job as a corporate trainer and with 30K in hand I set out to travel in 2006. The plan was to travel as long as possible and when I ran out of money come back. But what did happen was I got a travel writing job on the way and they paid me to travel, I met some great people who sponsored some food and stay, relatives & friends boarded me for months and some friends who even travelled along. What did happen was I travelled for 8 months before I finally came back home.

To most of my family what I had done was mad while I was doing it (later it was something to brag about) but they supported me. I met some amazing people who gave me insight into myself and the world around me. I had come back with a lot of data and numbers. I realized that I didn’t need a lot of money but wanted a lot of time; I became a freelancer.

I started out doing proofreading and language editing and soon moved on to writing scripts and storyboards for learning modules. Before long I was working on website content with a lot of research involved. Sounds like a lot of work? It was most times but I loved it, I also loved saying no when I wasn’t in a mood to work.

I worked with Spiti Ecosphere an NGO in Spiti in the Himalayas for 5 months and came back to continue as a freelancer. I had met the man who was ‘just right’ for me, and we fix like a puzzle. I got an opportunity to market BookBuzzr a free online book marketing tool. When I started out it was a challenge, I had in my travelling lost touch with the internet and had to learn a hell of a lot and let’s not mention marketing. So I did what I do best, learn new stuff. BTW social media is fun and amazingly challenging.

So this is where I am today…

Disclaimer – Here on there is gyan, you can turn away now if you want to

To be a freelancer, according to me these are needed.

- You need to find out what you want to do. This is the toughest but you also can do it by trial and error
- You should make sure you have no financial obligations or at least have enough saved for those.
- Be open to less money more time. There are no guarantees of jobs here.
- Tell all you know about what you do. Word of mouth is the best way to get jobs.
- Setup a blog and get a website.
- Learn and set yourself up. Build a reputation.
- Work ethic and conscience is very important as there will be distractions galore.
- And having a supportive family and friends is a plus.

I love my life and how I live it. True I haven’t got a plan for 5 years from now but am sure I’ll figure it out on the way. I don’t have a huge bank balance but I know that somewhere somehow I’ll make as much as I need. I live a somewhat minimalistic life, I question everything as ‘Do I need this?’ and act only when the answer is ‘yes’. Above all I have a great life-partner and family who understand me and what I want to do and love me enough to set me free.

Photo Credit: Chenthil

The last week has been quite a ride. What with Che getting admitted to be operated for stones, Cuckoo needing to fed 4 times a day and work, I didn’t have time for even a breath. But this post isn’t about my sleepless nights; it’s about making sure you’re covered with company health insurance and trusting the company you work for. This is our story…

We rushed Che after 4 hours of excruciating pain to Apollo ER. A few rounds of painkillers later he was sober enough to discuss further action with his doctor. The doctor recommended surgery; they’d use laser to powder the stones and try to remove whole if possible for analysis. Che was asked to get admitted immediately and they planned to schedule surgery the next day. As the paperwork started we called his company to check on his insurance details. (I am not naming the company or insurance in this post, just in case they think up something to sue me but if you want to know please ask.)

We were given the policy number and told total cover was for 4 lakh. Just before the HR guy hung up he mentioned a limit of Rs.20,000/- for kidney stones. We went ahead and gave this info to the hospital who said it was fine as most insurance companies have small pre-approval limits. As the paperwork was getting sorted we got to know that the OT was not available the next day so they would operate on that day itself. This sounded great as it meant less stay at the hospital so we closed on the paperwork and prepared for surgery. (I shuttled between home to feed and walk Cuckoo and the hospital).

Che was taken into the OT at 6pm and the operation went way beyond the expected 1 ½ hour until almost 9pm. That had me worried for a while until I was told that they had started 45min late. The operation went well and 2 stones were removed, 2 powdered and 2 left to come out on their own. (He had 6 – 2 in each kidney and 2 in the urethra – largest being 6mm and smallest 2mm) He was moved to his room by 12 and I got back home at 1am. (We didn’t stay over as he was in the general ward thanks to hospital running packed).

The next day the doctor came by at about 10:30am and we started discharge procedure. The paperwork was faxed over at 12 noon and the chase started. We started calling the insurance company and checking on progress every 1 hour. At about 3:30pm we called his company to ask them to put some pressure. To our surprise we were told we would be paid only Rs.18,000/- (insurance pays only 80%). When asked they said it’s a capping or limit set. We asked how they thought it possible that an operation, any operation can be done in 20,000. To this we were told that we should have found a hospital that would have done in it in that much. (That means we only could have gone to a Govt. hospital).

So now the company helping us was out; friends said not to worry as it’s the insurance companies call at the end; but then the insurance company declined it 4:30pm. We then approached the hospital to see if they could speak to the insurance company and help us out. The hospital guys checked and came back with an explanation. The insurance company would not pay and nothing could be done. It wasn’t their fault. The company Che worked for had wanted to cut down on premiums hence they had struck a deal with the insurance company and capped or limited payouts for almost everything. This meant low premium. So on paper when joining Che was told he had a 4 lakh cover but in small print is insurance was worth small change. His company had short-changed him; something supremely unethical I think especially since it concerns life.

Anyway the bill exceeded a lakh and Apollo hospital gave us a discount. The insurance company paid 18K and we paid the rest. A big lesson learnt.

This is our story and the reason we wanted to share it is to tell you to please check on your company provided insurance policies. Check the fine print and question it well before you ever need to use it. Don’t assume that you are fully covered and for safety get a personal health insurance too. If you belong to an Indian company double check for tricks. In recession MNC are less likely to cheat employees but then again don’t take my word for it. Check!

Photo Credit: Cartoon Stock

We adopted a puppy two weeks ago and from then on it’s been quite eventful and fun. The very first day she jumped of the balcony (we live on the 1st floor), thankfully into the arms of our apartment security guard. We had decided to name her Silk Smitha (after a regional actress) but after the jump we changed her name to Cuckoo – The Bird Brain.

Having a round cute fur-ball of a puppy at home is fun but it’s also frustrating with the increase in chores. Cleaning up after her was not easy in the first week but we have finally managed to have her almost potty trained. A good night’s uninterrupted sleep is yet to happen as we still wake up to her chewing our hands, feet or faces. Her chewing maybe fun for her as she’s teething but it is pretty painful when you feel her teeth on your flesh.

Ok am going to stop complaining because all said and done I love her. So why the post you ask? Well, these issues must be sorted, so I started doing some research and here are some helpful websites and videos I found. So, this post is to help all other puppy people

DogTrainingClassroom.Com – A comprehensive site that covers almost all questions you have. Its has good detailed information on how to train, training mistakes, behaviour problems, potty training, obedience training, games, etc. They also have a newsletter and recommend some books.

I found Melanie McLeroy’s videos and tried them. They are really helpful so here are a few I watched –
Teach Your Puppy their Name – This is an important start point and a good video.
Train Your Puppy Not to Bite
How to Housebreak Your Puppy
Train Your Puppy to Come
Teach Your Puppy to Stay
Teach Your Puppy to Walk on a Leash: Part 1
Teach Your Puppy to Walk on a Leash: Part 2
How to Crate Train Your Puppy

For more videos search YouTube for How to Train Puppies and Melanie McLeroy.

Am off to try out some of these tips. Do you have any tips for me…

Photo credit: Chenthil