if it ain't broke...whoops, too late

A few hours ago we heard a loud bang and then all the power in the apartment went out. We aren't entirely sure, but we think it may have something to do with this:



That would be the plug from the living room a/c. You know, the a/c unit we were only finally able to use again for the prior three hours or so, because the landlord had finally come and jury rigged a drainage system that neither flooded the downstairs neighbors' balcony nor backed up water so that it dripped down the curtains and onto the living room floor. Three or four hours of air conditioned living room bliss, that's what we got before we got the Big Bang, India style.

So, we call downstairs for them to send the electrician, Datta. A very muggy, internet-less, water filter-less, fan-less hour or so later we call again. We are told he is coming in 5 minutes. An hour later, he arrives. To keep this post to a reasonable length I won't go into detail about all the reasons why it took a further 2+ hours before we had everything all fixed, but much of that time was spent in complete darkness.

Please note that the living room a/c was installed, brand new, about 6 weeks ago.

There is something I've noticed here, and it is the following: everything is a piece of crap. Brand new stuff malfunctions immediately or almost immediately. Some recent cases in point:

The newish washing machine requires you to stuff a pen into the latch opening and wiggle it around to trigger the latch so that the door will close properly. If you are lucky enough to get the machine started, it leaks water out the bottom, so you have to shove a thick rag up to it to absorb the trickle.



See the measuring cup in front, with the handle? Now see the one behind it? We bought those in early August. Within a week, I was washing the smaller one and the handle snapped right off.



This is the underside of a colander, also purchased about six weeks ago. The entire f*cking raison d'être of a colander is to have water flow through it. So naturally you would want to manufacture it out of something that rusts. Am I wrong?



I did some ironing this morning. I literally had to unwrap the plastic from the ironing board first, that is how brand new the ironing board is. I ironed a few pillowcases and sheets, and now the cover has a spot that looks like this:



Potential alternate titles for this post included "If it ain't broke, you haven't switched it on yet;" "If it ain't broke, you're not in India;" and "If it ain't broke, it's still in the box (but maybe not even then)."

OK. Completely unrelated topic. Run, do not walk, to get your hands on a copy of Susan Tedeschi's cover of Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's All Right from her CD Wait For Me.



I've had it on loop most of today; she's got a throaty, bluesy voice to give you shivers, and this is a great song to begin with (classic Bob in that he says what he wants to say by saying the opposite of what he means). Get your ass to the iTunes store and give up your 99 cents already.