The problem with this world is globalisation. Recently I travelled to London on holiday and was going to stopover at Dubai where my three-year-old neice Anika lives. Most of my London trip was spent thinking about that perfect gift I could buy for her.

I looked high and low and then some. Finally running out of time and tired of stomping through the streets of London, I zeroed in on a toy that I thought would make the perfect gift for her. I paid good money and then immediately regretted my decision.

The weight of this toy was backbreaking. And in the absence of being able to afford a cab, I had to lug this huge toy to a tube station. My only consolation I thought was the look of happiness on little Anika’s face on receiving the gift.

Alas, the wickedness of globalisation put paid to my well-laid plans. After I reached Dubai, while paying a perfunctory visit to a mall there, I saw the exact same toy displayed. There was a minor price difference but apart from that there was no difference.

This is the problem of now travelling to most parts of the developed world. The same chain stores are everywhere. And they are laid out in the same malls. The joy of shopping and bringing back memories of the countries visited is now lost for you just buy high street brands that are now everywhere.

Next time, wiser by this experience, it may be better to just not buy gifts. Or buy them locally.

Never mind the smelly loos, the unhygienic food and the never-on-time schedules. If you were to ask me to choose between air and track, I’d go for the Indian Railways any day, and not just for romancing the countryside, or the fact that I can stretch my legs out even in AC-III, although I admit it was much more spacious a few years ago.

One thing that lends superiority to rail is the ease with which you can strike up conversations — and possibly friendships that won’t last beyond the journey, but who cares — with complete strangers (read fellow passengers–what were you thinking?). So unlike the stiff upper-lip environment in a plane.

Over the past few years, I’ve had a mix of quirky ones, budding geniuses and die-hard fans. I’m not going to be  Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes and say I enjoyed them all and they taught me life-changing lessons (as if!).. but yes, some of them make for fun memories.

Just last year, I shared space with a saffron-robed Iskcon devotee on a Delhi-bound train I was taking after college vacations. The first few topics of our conversation ranged from clothes to Gita, from German conferences he had attended to the life in JNU. So far, so good. It was at dinner time that I was exposed to a completely different facet of his personality. All that finesse vanished the minute I ordered chicken, and what I got for the cardinal sin of being a non-vegetarian was a high-decibel oral treatise on the theory of karma and the knowledge that I would be reborn as a miserable little worm, waiting to be eaten up by the very bird I was about to consume, in order to pay for my sin. Lecture over, the man just went off to sleep peacefully, while it took me more than several minutes to shut my own eyes.

On another journey, there was this human supercomputer, all of seven years old, who could rattle off the names of all the stations from Kolkata to Mumbai — and then some — before you could complete the English alphabet. His dad explained parts of the Holy Quran and compared the similarities with Bible and Gita. I’ll bet if this kid and his dad were on some reality show, they would have walked away with top honours.

I’ve had my fare share of wannabe politicians and politically inclined as well. Take this energetic, prim-and-propah lady on a short-distance train for instance, who boasted she was travelling ticketless. Had she forgotten to buy one? Not enough money? Could she outfox the TC? None of the above. Hers wasn’t an excuse by any stretch of imagination, but a style statement, if there ever was one–”I don’t ever buy tickets…I belong to the ruling party!”

Would the response have gotten her off the hook had the TTE come her way? I can’t say. But it certainly would have warmed my heart to see such arrogance nipped in the bud. Not the kind of feeling I and other co-passengers had for this man who was travelling to Bangalore (a two-night journey from home), and who was booked for enjoying senior citizen’s reduced fare. We all felt bad since he was going to turn 60 on the third day of his journey, but the TTE obviously came in on day one itself. Luck is never on the side of these people.

And, oh yes, what is rail travel without a discussion on Lalu Prasad? On one occasion there were these die-hard fans of the former Railway Minister who waxed eloquent for a good three hours and more about the things the man had done to make our lives more, er, liveable. And others who complained every time the train halted in an unscheduled stop. This is a train, dearie, not a bus where the driver can hear you and act accordingly!

One of the funniest experiences I’ve had was with this 60-something man who kept complaining about me to his family over his cellphone. He was speaking in Bengali, not knowing it was my mother tongue as well, but smiled everytime I looked at him. After an hour of being scrutinised and criticised, I calmly wished him “Shubho Bijoya”. The look on his face at that point, needless to say, was worth a million dollars. And no, he didn’t speak to me after that, thank goodness.

With all the excitement around how can one just leave the great Indian train ride and take to the skies instead?

I think Reva is a cute car and I would like to own one of these electric contraptions. It seems like a lot of effort to manage the charging of the car though, especially even if one lives in an apartment on the outskirts of Delhi. And of course, there is hardly any “public” charging infrastructure.
I had recently written about what Shai Agassi’s Better Place (www.betterplace.com) is attempting to do to yank the world off oil for transportation and move into an electric mode. There is a small clip on the website on what an electric future would be like. I would put it in the must-watch category.
The latest issue of Harvard Business Review also discusses the Better Place model which will be a reality soon, in Israel at least.
One of the readers of my column on the electric future for transportation (publish some time ago) made a very good suggestion for ensuring public charging infrastructure –- install charge points at the new multi-level parkings being built across the country.
Even if the current population of electric vehicles does not justify large scale investment in charging infrastructure, there is certainly a good case for making the new parking lots that are coming up e-ready. In the long run, it will pay for itself.
Look around however, and you would see that electric transportation initiatives are being discussed –- if at all –- in individual silos and the sum of these parts is certainly going to be less than the whole !

How many times have you heard, including in the various courts the case has been in, the view expressed that the Ambani brothers should go in for mediation, preferably with their mother involved – tumhare paas maa hai, uske paas jaao na! Sounds pretty funny doesn’t it, after all it’s precisely because the brothers couldn’t resolve their disputes, with or without maa that they’re in the courts for so many years.

But more than that, even in the extremely unlikely event of the two brothers wanting to conciliate, they cannot and that’s where Petroleum Minister Murli Deora comes in. It’s best to break up the case into two parts to figure this out.

Basically, as part of the family settlement that’s now supposed to have been signed by Mukesh Ambani as Mukesh Ambani and not as Reliance Industries’ chief, the two brothers agreed on the supply of gas from the KG Basin to Anil Ambani’s power plants. This mentioned the amount of gas (28 mmscmd) and the fact that the terms would be similar to the ones RIL had signed with NTPC – that is, for 17 years and at a price of $2.34. So far, all clear?

In late 2005/early 2006, when Reliance Natural Resources Limited was still controlled by RIL, a board meeting was called and a board resolution passed on the agreement – since this, according to the Anil Ambani group, put lots of caveats on the gas supply, its director on the company (JP Chalasani) objected but was overruled since the other two directors were Mukesh Ambani loyalists. A few days later, RIL executives signed the agreement with RNRL – except they signed it on both sides, that is they also signed on RNRL’s behalf. This is what Anil Ambani went to court on – that the contract did not reflect the spirit of the MoU and this is why the MoU keeps coming into the picture. This is why the courts keep asking how, if Reliance Industries is challenging the MoU, the Reliance empire got carved up … but that’s another story.

Working out a settlement to ensure the contract reflects the true spirit of the MoU presumably is something that has a chance, even if similar to that of a snowball in hell, of getting settled between the two brothers. Here’s where Murli Deora comes in.

Apart from the issue of the MoU and the contract, there is now the issue of whether RIL even has the right to sell the gas it gets from the KG Basin. At the time RIL signed the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the KG Basin gas with the government, at the time it signed the contract with NTPC and RNRL, the PSC was quite clear that RIL had all the freedom to enter into such contracts. But when the fight between the brothers escalated, the ministry said RIL could not sell the gas without its permission. The government then repeated this in various affidavits in various courts – though the Group of Ministers’ minutes clearly said their decisions did not apply to existing RIL contracts with NTPC and RNRL, the government is firm that it alone controls who will get the gas and at what price.

So even if the Ambanis decide to bury the hatchet, how does one take care of the government’s view that RIL has no rights to sell gas without its prior permission? Or is everyone assuming that once the brothers settle, the government will automatically reverse its stand?

Tells you just how low the government has fallen in everyone’s esteem.

Absolutely right. I am a woman and I started watching cricket only because of Mandira Bedi.

If not for her outstanding taste in wardrobe, I would have been found chopping onions in the kitchen when a cricket match is shown live!

I saw Dada’s adrenaline pumping jig during the Natwest series and held my breath as VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid stood headstrong to climb out of the hole Australia had dug us butthat couldn’t be the reason for a woman to be crazy about cricket, could it?

Bring out Mandira with her noodle straps and we women supposedly appear magically infront of the television all set to take notes!

No offence guys, this isn’t really a man vs woman post. It’s just that it would be refreshing if people weren’t so surprised to see a passionate female cricket fan. By passionate I don’t mean just those who flock to cricket stands or check the score ontelevision once in a while. I’m talking about the category that will plan its day based onthe timing of a cricket match and google “cricket” the first thing in the morning.

I can’t tell you how many matches us females won for India because we stood/sat/walked/ran/drank water/cooked brinjal/sneezed for superstition! So it seems a little silly then that in the middle of a conversation with male colleagues about cricket, an odd comment about Yuvraj Singh’s batting average against Pakistan will inadvertently draw puzzling faces even if there is nothing earth shattering about it.

Here’s how a typical conversation goes :

X : Batting average? (with eyebrows raised). You watch cricket?

Me: Yes (Thinking here it comes!)

X : Wow, that’s great! Didn’t know girls also like cricket. So what do you watch?

Me : Cricket! (duh!)

X : Ha ha yes..I meant what kind of matches do you like?

Me : All involving batsmen, bowlers, wicketkeeper, umpires, crowds and dogs on the field.

X : Hey! that’s great. So who is your favourite player?

Me : (I know there is nothing wrong with the question..still…looks a little patronising). I like Dada, Dhoni and Dirk Nannes.

X : Dirk Nannes. Cool! (Then he steals a smirk with those around and comes back to me).

So..which country does he play for?

Me : (I pause for a second to let them enjoy the moment.And here we go!) Dirk Nannes, age 33, plays for Netherlands, Delhi Daredevils and the Victorian Bushrangers, left arm fast bowler, former world cup skier, founder of an adventure sports company, speaks Japanese and plays the Saxaphone.

X : Goes into shock! Mouth falls open and eyes bulge out

Me enjoying…

What a great moment for women cricket fans all over the world! And the men think we don’t know our cricket, huh! I feel like some kind of messiah..

X : Wow..you do know your cricket! So when is the women’s twenty twenty world cup starting?

Gulp! My breath stiffens. Panic starts spreading inside me.  I should know this one!! I wriggle an imaginary speck of dust from my eye to buy out time.

The messiah image breaks into a thousand pieces..Oh the shame of it! Sorry girls!

Finally I mumble under my breath.

Me: well…you know what…I wouldn’t know that…Mandira Bedi hasn’t announced the dates yet!

Moral of the story : Gloat by all means, know when to stop!

The silk industry in India has been complaining of dumping by the Chinese. There are press conferences every now and then by either the industry or the reelers or some other aggrieved party to complain about the cheaper Chinese silk imports.

The Chinese have also been facing flak from across the world for their ability to sell cheap products abroad. Indians are not far behind. The Indian businesses are having to deal with products being imported from China that are cheaper.

While the consumer is happy with cheaper products, the businesses are definitely not. The same is the case of consumers and producers of silk.

Those who are directly competing with the Chinese imports in the domestic market are hurt. On the other hand, those who want to reduce their input costs are happy to import from China.

With the Chinese pegging the Yuan to the dollar is helping to drive down the yuan as the dollar falls as the US’s influence. But, the Chinese influence is not falling though. The cheaper Yuan helps one import cheaper from China.

But, not even the China baiters can keep their hands off the Chinese goods it seems. The silk industry which keeps complaining of cheaper imports from China, itself now has to turn to the Chinese to help them cut costs.

At a press conference while complaining of the problems faced by the industry, one complaint was that of the rising input costs. But, how does the industry intend to cut the input costs of Indian silk products.

Looks like the industry wants to use one Chinese to fight another. Some members of the industry said: “We will import Chinese machines as they are the cheapest in the market. Only then can we bring down our input costs.”

Some twisted logic this. But, it makes sense though.

I was on the phone the other day with a seemingly bright young guy. A recent IIM graduate who is now with a reputed (so far) financial services company.

“Our current media mechanism isn’t structured well so I want to set it right,” he told me with enthusiasm that is usually inversely proportional to age.

“Our company is launching a new product and we want to ensure it gets good coverage,” he began, as I steeled myself to listen to the spiel we journos hear only a few hundred times a week. Little did I know how unusual the call would turn out.

After droning on for a few lines, he suddenly said something I would remember for a long time.

“So how much do we have to pay to get the news published on the front page of your newspaper?” he demanded, his tone-very much business-like, no doubt tutored well by one of the best business schools in the country.

I cringed the moment I heard it. Rewinding and playing it a few times again in my head only made it worse.

“What pay?” I blurted out feeling the sense of an impending disaster of a conversation.

“Payment Ma’am,” he replied in the same tone. “Cost to get our news item on the front page headline.”

“There is no such cost” I muttered under my breath and cut the call. I took a moment to compose myself before slumping into my seat with disbelief.

Is that what people think about newspapers???!! That we are some kind of a non-glossy 20 page advertising pullout where the highest advertiser gets the front page story! Had all those hours of forgetting to have lunch and running from pillar to post for quotes come down to this? That we are now viewed by a section of people as selling our main editorial space for cash!

I had a sinking feeling that maybe in all those countless press conferences we attend each week, sifting through endless heaps of “urgent” press releases in our inbox promoting companies and their products, perhaps we have forgotten to promote what we stand for over the years.

Perhaps in the race to break stories and gossip about our competitors (yep, everyone does it) we forgot to reiterate what we stand for, why we exist and how we function( pls, a crash course in this for the IIMs).

If the “elite” educated Indian could view newspapers like this, I am sure we are looking at a pool of thousands of people who think the same. This does not spell good news to the industry, which is already struggling with high input costs and a sluggish readership.

Maybe its time to re-introduce ourselves, or even re-invent ourselves in the way we present our industry to the audience. It does not need to be an outlandish outburst of promotion or anything. It could be as simple as climbing down a few floors from our ivory towers and listening (actual ‘listen’ listening, not just press conference listening!) to what people say about us without expecting to file a story out of it!

Like the IIM guy I am also tempted to make a statement like “I want to set things right” but at the moment as all of my colleagues are, I am occupied with far more pressing issues. You see, all of us journalists want to make difference, which is why we came to the profession in the first place. However, such is our lives that on a Sunday evening, all I can think about is –

What story am I going to file for the Monday page!!

disclaimer :Waat to do, we journos are like this wonly!

The Delhi-based Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation is a non Government Organisation (NGO) working with the specific problem of Indian and Pakistani citizens in the two Kashmirs – Azad Kashmir and Jammu and Kashmir. These problems are human, and in many cases are stories of great pain that only divided families, torn apart for no fault of theirs by forces of the state, can feel. Sixty four participants representing all communities and regions of J&K, Azad Kashmir as well as India, Pakistan participated at an Intra-Kashmir Conference,  titled, Jammu-Kashmir: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead, from October 9 to 11 at Srinagar.
 
The conference was the first major initiative on Kashmir taken by civil society since  the Mumbai terror attack last year and was held in difficult circumstances. The organizers believe that  when governments stop talking, there was far greater responsibility  on civil society to ensure that the communication channels are kept open to build public opinion that would eventually nudge the governments to resume dialogue.
 
Representatives of different political parties and separatist groups, members of trade bodies from J&K and AJK took part in the three-day deliberations. The themes of the conference sessions included –  What can help the dialogue process to move forward; What Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) can help in addressing the trust deficit, and expanding economic cooperation across the Line of Control (LoC).
 
The recommendations of the representatives are interesting in a state where the problems are endemic but have been put aside by India as well as Pakistan because of so many other pressing issues facing both countries. However, it is useful to bring these centre stage. 
 
Without going too deeply into it, the group endorsed the Prime Minister’s approach as spelt out at the Sharm el Sheikh conference in Egypt where he met Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani: it felt terrorism should be delinked from dialogue and for maximum gains, the progress in the peace and normalization process should not just be result oriented but must be time-barred as well.
 
The two Kashmirs have been talking. But there are practical problems. A communication infrastructure needs to be erected. One radical suggestion was that  institutions like universities and cultural associations need to open up branches for joint collaboration.
 
Trade across the Line of Control began in October 2008  but has been continuously facing obstacle. The suggestions from delegates to the conference were practical and urgent in nature. Though the traders were keen to work on a vision document for generating a shared understanding on the future prospects of trade, the need was felt for  multiple entry passes for the traders engaged in the LoC trade. Once this is agreed upon, the Joint Federation of Jammu and Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry should be given the authority to recommend the members from their respective sides for multiple entry trade passes.
 
At this point, traders wanting to go to either side of the  Line of Control are hostage to the Cross-LoC bus services. Delegates felt traders should be allowed to use their own cars till the LoC crossing points. They also felt they were working blind and unless there were periodic meetings of traders on both sides, it was hard to assess supply and demand.
 
Infrastructure on both sides is a problem. Traders wanted an expansion of loading and unloading areas at the LoC clearance points. What would be really helpful, they said was warehousing facilities. Banking and postal facilities were an immediate necessity. Roads and bridges  needed improvement on both sides so that at least trucks carrying 15 tonne loads can pass over.
 
Traders also felt that it was not just the manner of doing trade but also the items to be traded, on which fetters should be removed. Today, officials in India and Pakistan decide what items to trade in. This should be left to market forces. Traders on either side should have the opportunity of placing the list of items in demand on the particular side, for information of the traders on other side, at the Trade Facilitation Centres.
 
To remove transport bottlenecks, traditional routes between both sides could be opened with priority to the routes with trade potential. – traders demanded, specifically, the following Cross-LoC links: Chhamb-Jourian, Handwara-Nawkoot, Nowshera-Khoiratta and Kargil-Skardu.
 
There are some items like tomato and onion which have a unique supply demand and price structure equation on both sides. For example, the price of tomato has been shooting to Rs 120/KG in AJK but when supplies are made available from J&K, the prices have often come down to Rs 60/KG. The same is the case with onions on the Indian side of LoC. This can be corrected if market forces are allowed free play. Today, LoC trade is permitted only on a few fixed days of the week. It should be allowed on all days.
 
For families that divided, life is especially difficult. The conference felt that travel facilities should be thrown open for all the subjects of the state instead of only the members of the divided families.  The group also suggested that the status of the travel applications should be made known to the applicants online. The participants were unanimous in their demand that the travellers from both sides be allowed to ride across in private vehicles.
 
The group greatly felt the need of establishment of a joint disaster management institution to play its role in the face of any calamity that hits the Himalayan region which sits over a seismic fault line.
 
The group also recommended that both governments in Muzaffarabad and Srinagar should cooperate with each other in rehabilitation, settlement and return of the displaced persons, as the case may be. 
 
But is anyone listening ?

I think evolution of union movement amplifies not only the industrial landscape of a nation but also to some explains the nature of the people who participate in it. As a reporter, I have covered the labour-management issues as a routine.  However I never took sides — which is pretty much what any sensible editor must be happy about. Just write what you see was the brief. But, because you don’t get to write what you “feel” does not mean that you stop feeling and go around like a robot eating and vomiting everything you see/hear.

Here is what I really think about the union-management clashes in India. In very broad terms it sucks. Since it takes both hands to make any sound I would say both sides — labour and management — take the blame for the ugly scenes we see when they clash.

Look at recent history. In September 2008, Lalit Kishore Choudhary, the 47-year-old chief executive officer of Graziano Transmissioni India, died in the hands of some sacked employees. A year later Roy J George, vice-president (human resources) at Pricol, is was beaten to death by some workers. Earlier this month Ajeet Yadav a employee in Ricoh Auto Industries was killed that led to the day long protest by workers on October 20 in Gurgaon.  To me that brought back memories of the July 2005 clash between the Honda workers and the police, that had sent a handful of the workers to the hospital. And the one tragedy that takes the cake is the brutal killing of union leader and former MP Dutta Samant in January 1997. I have even heard of a case in a plant near Chennai when a bunch of workers, unhappy with the canteen food, poured an entire drum of saambar over an HR executives head!

I think its time we said enough is enough.  There has to be a more “humane” and sensible ways to deal with this very old problem. Luckily we do have some examples like in the UK we can take a look at.

There are several unions in the UK like GMB and Unite, just as we have in India (AITUC, BMS or CITU). There is a superbody under which most unions come under called the Trade Union Congress (TUC). Philosophically the TUC is closer to the ruling Labour party. Its chief Brendan Barber admits that much. But no financial link for sure, he says. That makes the TUC and its affiliated bodies pretty much independent of any political agenda. Not a day goes by when I don’t get a mail from the GMB or one such union communicating their perennial fight with some management or a local body somewhere in the country which pretty much tells how busy they are.

When I called some of the union members and staffers before writing this blog, I was told, without a trace of doubt, there has not been a single untoward incident that led to someone getting killed in a clash between management and labour.

But this has not been the case always. Historically the union movements have shown their ugly and darker side in the UK as well. The mid-Seventies and Eighties had been the dark age in the union movement when this country witnessed the famous (coal) miners’ strike. Tory leader and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during her heydays had put the militant forces to rest. Violent clashes triggered by labour-management differences is history now. Today the parties on either side of the table debate, argue and negotiate intensely. Industrial action (or lock-out as we understand) is the last card unions play (postal workers strike). Managements for their part don’t jump at their first chance to trim workforce during difficult times. Recessionary periods have shown several intermediary solutions like pay freeze, pay cuts, temporary shut down of plants, re-deployment, voluntary layoff before someone is given a pink slip with a golden handshake. Unions for their part are not docile either. They take their message to the streets quite often, well supervised by the police and without any sign of violence or causing any nuisance to common public.

Yet its not a perfect world in the UK either. Follow this link and you will get a good idea.
http://survey09.ituc-csi.org/survey.php?IDContinent=4&IDCountry=GBR&Lang=EN

In India, the unions have a long laundry list of their demands. Top on this list is the “hire and fire at will” policy some managements are accused of. The grey area is of course the way “temporary” or contract workers are treated. To be fair, managements hire people under this category precisely because they can be dispensed with when they are not needed.
http://survey09.ituc-csi.org/survey.php?IDContinent=3&IDCountry=IND&Lang=EN

The challenges trade unions face in India are not unique. The International Trade Union Confederation in its 2009 Survey points out at fundamental rights violations in 143 countries and that 76 trade unionists were killed due to their actions to defend workers’ rights. A total of 50 serious death threats were recorded across seven countries as well, along with some 100 cases of physical assaults across 25 countries. Columbia continues to be the terror spot for unionists. India is definitely a far better place for those holding up the red flag.

It would however be fair to say that the differences are many. Some of these issues might never get resolved. But that does not mean that we start killing each other. That is plain stupid. As generation of leaders fade and new ones emerge, we might continue to deal with the same problems and pass them on to the next generation. As time goes by, there is a good chance that we might learn to respect each others position and evolve as more tolerant and patient human beings. Until we see this evolution happen, I think we will simply prove only one point. Charles Darwin was wrong.

Those with a cell phone connection are well aware of the numerous calls from many a firm wanting to sell you products and services.

The number of calls from banks and other firms wanting to sell you financial products and services are dime a dozen.
It’s often a big challenge to shake them off. Most of the call centre agents are trained to absorb any extant of abuse it may seem.

If I, as a working professional, gets a call it’s not easy to shake them off. After some adverse reactions and after they were stopped with a ‘Laxman Rekha’ by the government, they had become less persistent. I hoped to get some relief only after I registered my name with the ‘Do Not Call’ directory. What prompted me to do so was a call centre agent who made my skin creep with his over-persistence.

There is no such problem with my father though. He refuses to register his name on the ‘Do Not Call Directory’. Despite this, he doesn’t seem to be getting too many calls lately. I was surprised till I heard him speak to a call centre agent when he called regarding a financial product he wanted to sell him. The bank wanted provide him a depository services.

“I am a retired person.” Bingo! Now I got it. It were these five words that put all those people off, who wanted to dip their hands into pockets of people. A retired person’s pocket as he explains to a salesman is “always empty. And, I have no pension.”

So, now no insurance firm or any bank or investment consultant or an investment adviser wants to waste time speaking to a retired person. Now I wanted to try the ploy while I wait for my ‘do-not-call’ registration to be activated.

But, the first time I tried, the agent seemed shocked. “Are you sure you are the person? Or, are you impersonating the person?” Now, I seemed to be in a spot! Impersonation is not a nice thing to be accused of. The agent seemed to have all details about me on his computer screen.

So, instead of do-not-disturb, I hope to have as much fun with the call centre executives as possible as I shall soon be off the list of people who are not on do-not-call directory.