Internet banking

Internet banking is the worst thing ever conceived by man. I have spent almost two entire days trying to figure out how to pay my IIT semester fees on the net, and still have not managed to succeed.

The most interesting thing is that SBI, IIT sent me two sets of distinct user-ids and passwords. So at first, I spent about half an hour trying to figure out which one to use. I finally picked one, and tried it out. It worked, and showed me, to my satisfaction, that I had Rs. 18,000 in my account. Enough to pay my sem fees, with a decent amount left over, I thought. Then I tried to use the second set, and found to my surprise that over a matter of a couple of minutes, the money in my account had shrunk from 18,000 to 2,000. This, I thought was very curious, especially since both the user-ids and passwords were being used to access the same account number, which belonged to me. I still haven't been able to figure out how to remedy the situation. I have been rendered 16,000 bucks poorer because of some bug in the SBI site. Hai!!! main barbaad ho gaya.

I also got my learner's driving license yesterday. I went to the office of the South Delhi licensing officer, which is this crowded and disgustingly dirty place at Sheikh Sarai. To get my license, I had to take a test which had 20 questions, the pass marks being 12. At first I was pretty apprehensive, but when I actually got down to reading the questions, I was quite convinced that nobody could possibly get less than 12 on that particular test.

Allow me to present before you a couple of sample questions to give you a basic idea of what the test was like. Bad grammar goes with the questions, lest you question my grammatical skills.

Q1. In the rainy season, driver should drive slow because:

a)Children like to run and enjoy in rain.

b)Roads are slippery.

c)If driver drives fast, glass may break due to rain drops.

d)Pedestrians carry umbrellas that obstruct vision.

Q2. If you are at a railway crossing, with lights flashing, you should:

a)Get down and investigate.

b)Sound horn to let train know.

c)Wait for train to pass.

d)Block path of train with barrier so that you can pass.

Thankfully I passed, and after a somewhat longish wait, got my license.

I must also point out that my license clearly mentions its validity at two places on it. At one place it says, "VALED UPTO 15 JUNE 2005", and at another place, on the same sheet of paper mind you, it says, "VAILED UPTO 15 JUNE 2005." This inconsistency in spellings at Delhi's main transport department office does not bode well for the city.

Nothing much happened other than that. I have been having a pretty unexciting and calm two day period. Will write more here when something comes up.

Till then, may my readers never be befuddled by profound driving license test questions.