Costly affair

Heavy customisation and not joining the crowd can be a very costly affair as I recently found out. I wanted the security of windows 2000 just about a year back and removed XP for it. Now it has come to bite me in the back. Not only I have to download separate versions of software for it, I can't even use some games which my mother loved to play on my old win 98 machine. Now, after going for the only broadband ISP willing to give a connection to my home, I found out my system can't be used as it is. I have a lot of problems in my hands now after updating to windows XP (again). None of the administrative tools in control panel are available, there are problems with my TCP/IP settings, cannot use my old 56K modem, my new Cable modem, etc etc. They say I have to format my harddisk now and do a fresh installation of windows XP. The thing which I used to do for free now will cost me Rs 250 (discounted), and each CD that I write will cost me Rs 550 (!), I was robbed off of Rs 200 per CD last summer, when I had to recover my crashed harddisk. The 'tech' guys who came to 'install' broadband could not find out this problem after working for two days. Most of the time they were just refreshing the desktop as if it would do something magically. One guy who came today found out what the problem was. Why didn't they send him first? Now, they won't even give me a refund for unutilised unusable services. I stand to lose close to Rs 2000 just for finding out that standing out from the crowd is costly indeed! When will I realise any slight deviation in this country will leave you hanging?

Anyway, I will be leaving this city for the city said to be the main cause of AIDS in India, after spending a few days for my convocation in the place I called home for the last 2 years. People say I will spend close to Rs 10000 on house rent alone, a huge part of my salary.