Azaadi...

The following is what I feel after being liberated from Vodafone, the erstwhile hutch, which was the erstwhile Orange.

I have never ever come across such a network. You have got to experience the technical service to believe it. Its worse than pathetic. This is one network, which spends good amount of money only on painting itself in different colors.

Building a brand identity is indeed very important, but then just indulging in brand identity while ignoring the quality of the service? I don't know which smart guy/gal thinks it works that way?

Lets look at the things they have done...

They officially became Hutch from Orange!!!

They then indulge in a massive marketing and brand re-building campaign which also involved, educating the user that Hutch is now pink and that its not orange any more... Like any body gives a damn if the color is orange or pink when we cant use the network at all, especially at times when its really important.

The amount involved for this marketing campaign was huge, had they invested this in their infrastructure, they would have retained far more customers and this would have added to their revenues.

But then who cares, its more important to paint things from orange to pink.

Next, they are bought over by a British company Vodafone...

Now what happens is that, they again need to paint things different all over again... this time from pink to red. And the best is that after Vodafone took over, things have gone from bad to worse, its like from the frying pan into the fire. If you look at their latest ad campaign, its like they realize, the only thing that they can claim good about themselves is the customer service. Other than that in the things that actually matter, the network and the quality of their infrastructure, they are zilch...

Every time they have changed their colors, they must have spend a good amount of time and effort and labour in updating their stationary, websites and most of the other things that were associated with the brand. Isn't it ridiculous that instead of focusing on their core competency, which is providing a good network, they have indulged in stupid PR gimmicks.

If this goes on, I am sure Vodafone would be doing just what the British had to do in 1947.

Politicians, come on.. Not Again!!!

Well, we all need a break from our petty politicians, who have really run out of real issues to deal with. Maybe its the realization that they are utterly incapable of doing something constructive.

• First there is a cry saying cheerleaders imported from the US of A are vulgar.
• Next, they are immoral.
• Next, the bar dancers who have become unemployed since the last time our PP's woke up, should be allowed to dance instead. ( PP -> Petty Politicians)

I reckon, that the real reason why there is such a hue and cry is, because the self proclaimed moral brigade cum PP's haven't got their share of the money or maybe they asked/begged for some couple of million rupees and they dint even get peanuts. So they respond in the manner best they can. Most of them are not good for doing anything productive, and by productive I meant for the nation, not themselves.

I wish to write more, but then as I write, realization hits me that I am wasting my time and energy on this.

Who gives a "f" what the PP's think, as they say, "The Show Must Go On"...

Ricky Ponting, a Cricketer and a Clairvoyant

Ricky Ponting was known to be a cricketer, but I assume since he has been so pathetic lately, he has taken up being a clairvoyant as well. In the sunday edition of The Times of India, he mentioned that a third final wont be necessary, little did I realize that he meant India was to win.
Wonderful...

Its such a pleasure to see the likes of Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hayden, Andrew Symonds etc, eat humble pie...

Chak De India!!!

Sweet sweet Victory

Beating the Australians at Perth, their fortress is a sweet victory. No doubt the Aussie's had their share of bad decisions this test match, but so did the Indian team at Sydney. It was wonderful to see Ricky Ponting eat humble pie.

I guess the best thing would be to win the Adelaide test match. That would round up the entire series and the Australian team, though they might have record books to boast about their second 16 consecutive test victories, deep down in their hearts, they would know they had already been beaten at Sydney.

Ishant Sharma was a revelation. My claim would be, he is the find of the tour. He had Ponting dancing all around the crease. seeing Gilchrist's furniture being disturbed by Sehwag was another beautiful sight. The part where Irfan Pathan asked for some more noise after collecting Stuart Clarke's wicket was a bold statement of his confidence.

We now go to Adelaide with heads held high.

CHAK DE INDIA!!! :D :D :D

Truly Discriminating...

Well, this piece certainly seems to be a little late in the offering. Its almost like beating a dead horse, but I was quite busy when the horse was alive.

The horse in question is the second test match which was played at Sydney.

I never have seen such a disappointing game of cricket. The standard of umpiring was the worst I have ever seen. And to see the Australian captain talk about honesty and integrity was utterly comical. Ricky Ponting is turning out to be the finest cheat in the history of cricket, not to mention that he has a suitable protege in Michael Clarke.

Of course our batsmen should have shown more character by at least staying put for the last three overs, but that  doesn't absolve the Aussie's of the way they played and the way that the umpires gave out the wonderful decisions.

The only way to sum it up was in the way captain Anil Kumble put it across, "There was only one team playing in the spirit of the game". And the reply by Ricky Ponting was at the best a cheap childish reply.

To see the way Glenn McGrath came to the support of his team mates was another sad affair, especially when the whole world know that he had an incident where he spat on Brian Lara. Then we have the match referee Mike Procter who being an epitome of fairness has imposed a ban on Harbhajan. And this guy is the same match referee who banned a ex-captain of the Pakistan cricket team, the stupid Rashid Latif for claiming a false wicket. By the same yardstick, shouldn't  Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist etc be banned for the false wickets they claimed? Quite simply the true racist here is Mike Procter, who is not qualified even to judge over a dispute between two kids squabbling over a piece of candy, is now deciding as serious an allegation as racism.

Since the umpires are also human, we are factoring a huge error in matches by not deciding to use technology. Those who are opposing technology by saying that it removes the human element are just sore losers, who are resisting change. They probably want to get away with false decisions for as long as possible.

Its high time the ICC (Incompetent/Idiotic/Idiosyncratic/Impotent Cricket Council) did something about the falling standards of this beautiful game.

A Dialogue

Following is a dialogue from one of my favorite movies "V for Vendetta". Just love the free flow of words. And hats off to the actor, Hugo Weaving, for the way he has portrayed the character V.

    "Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain     by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox    populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. [slashes a V into a Norsefire poster] The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [giggles] Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me V."

NEWS AHOY!!!!

Do you remember the days when we dint have so many news channels? We had the one and only one Doordarshan news. This was available in both Hindi and English. As for the international news, we had good old Pranoy Roy hosting "The world this week" on Fridays.

But now, I hate to even accidentally land on any news channel while surfing. Practically every news channel is dishing out some trash or the other. I somehow feel that these media personnel are so full of themselves these days, that they can go any length to get that coveted big story. One of the worst lines "You saw it first on ... TV". It doesn't matter what has happened, whether my neighbors cat  farted, whether its a natural calamity, whether its a terrorist attack, no matter what it is, the most important thing is, "You saw it first on ... TV". What's with these media folks???

This seems to be the case everywhere. For some stupid TRP ratings, the media streams painful images repeatedly. The case I am referring to being the tapes of the Virginia Tech student who went on that inhuman massacre. Then there was Anna Nicole Smiths death and the subsequent custody battle that her boyfriend was battling out against some lawyer for her child. One news channel was almost dedicated to covering her. For Gods sake, she was a drug addict and an adult movie actress. By providing her a non stop obituary, the media is doing nothing but glorifying her acts and her life!!! Is this right??? How does the impressionable teenage mind react to this kind of news? Is the media aware of the repercussions of its news hunt? Who cares, the TRP's and the increasing bottom lines due to the increase in advertising are more important.

 The media which is supposed to be the watch dog, has gradually become a monster out on hunt. Preying upon anything and everything which would give them something to talk about.

Another example, Adnan from Mumbai, the financial capital of India, was murdered by a bunch of idiotic guys. The reason, they had kidnapped him and asked for ransom, but due to incessant media coverage the kidnappers got scared, they killed Adnan. If the media had not been so ruthless in its coverage, maybe the Police could have got him back safe.

I wish the media regulates itself. There is no point in bringing a legislation to regulate the media.

STATE OF AFFAIRS!!!

The above dilbert comic strips conveying the exact state of affairs.

Aspirations

Individuals, once they join an organization have an ambition that they want to reach the top echelons of the organization they belong to. Well, yes, baring a few exceptions, who are content with what they do and do not want to rise into the upper echelons, the so called corridors of power. They are the blessed ones. Truth has dawned upon them, that in this game, the prince is but a pauper!!!

Most of us think that once we get the designation of a supervisor, we are all set to arrive in the big bad corporate world.

Just then, we hear a big bell DINGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We still report to another person, who happens to be our supervisor. Hence, the arrival of "The Person" into the arena gets delayed by some period. Thus begins the quest for ascent into the next level of the hierarchy. The concerned individual thinks that the moment he/she goes to the next level, this bigger, meaner, smarter individual would redefine the way things work. Uh oh, did we hear the big bell again???

The answer is yes. Unfortunately, more often than not, the individual meets another bigger, meaner, smarter person awaiting the new jackass!!!

For those who go on to the top positions of an organization, they end up being answerable to the share holders. One of these share holders could in fact be an employee of the same organization.

My take being that this cycle has no end!!! No body is truly king!!!!

Of course there are exceptions, royalty for that matter is such a parasitic institution.

Who would be the First Citizen???

The Presidential elections are around the corner. The electoral college is going to put its "supposed" intelligence to test. Well, not really... the fate of the fabulous Rashtrapati Bhavan has been decided.

Its going to be the wonderful Pratibha Patil. The one lady who believes in ghosts and spooks, and has spooked out a co-operative bank, and also has been accused of shielding her brother from accusations of murder.

WOW!!! Feels so wonderful, that the countries highest office is being occupied by such a luminary. Wonder if we could have some exorcists to keep her company, in case she starts doing a Whoopi Goldberg (from the 1990 movie Ghost). Now that this has struck me, it would indeed be wonderful.

It would be welcome experience if the spirits of  Dr. Radhakrishnan S. , Dr. Rajendra Prasad, or Indira Gandhi etc, could come down and possess her!!!

I am just not able to comprehend why they would want this lady as the President of India? If its really a  matter of showing that women are really empowered in today's India, wouldn't Dr. Kiran Bedi be a wonderful choice? Perhaps, Dr. Kiran Bedi would have been a choice of the intelligentsia. But the current sequence of events indicates that the electoral college does not have any. Maybe it has few.

So given an option I wonder if we still would have Pratibha Patil as our President. Apart from our honorary electoral college,( yeah right, honorary!!),  we have a celebrity who is also vouching for her.

I used to think Preity Zinta was a sensible lady, but I guess sometimes sensibilities do take a backseat...

This is what she said...

'' I support the candidature of Ms Patil. It has nothing to do with politics. It is for the first time that a woman has got the chance to adorn the highest seat of power and I think our country is ready for it''.

As I said, she just blurted out in the spur of the moment, I would like to believe that. If not then she needs to keep her mouth shut and stop thinking. This is the trouble when people who are not supposed to think start thinking!!!

Familiar Thoughts ???

What you would be reading now is my take on the Individuals who change jobs. Changing it frequently or not is immaterial, or maybe it is not. But I leave it up to the reader to decide about it.

What causes a motivated employee to call it a day and move on to "supposedly" greener pastures? Well,  as a common phrase goes, Its not the last straw which breaks the camels back, but the ones before that.

This is not a rehash of the countless emails that one gets being in a typical IT organization. Rather, this is a reflection of my thoughts on what is happening around me.

An employee, after slogging it out, and gaining the trust of the client and getting in more projects expects that he would be given a better remuneration or be suitable awarded. However, the amount he would get would be just about a tad bit more than the folks who did not put in similar effort. Or he would end up getting peanuts for whatever efforts he has put in. This kick starts the thinking process, which questions the intelligence of putting hours of hard work. Then there are the usual pot shots that the supervisor/manager would indulge in. Comparison is a wonderful way, by which they either belittle or destroy an individual. But giving the devil its dues, it is helpful in some cases.

In a nut shell, these behavioral patterns displayed by supervisors/managers, serves only one purpose, i.e. to increase the probability of an individual leaving the organization, and add to the attrition rate of the organization.

I am aware that in the long run, money cannot be the only motivating factor. After spending few years in an organization, an individual would want vertical movement as well. But this is not true for everyone. Some folks might just be content with a good raise every year or every appraisal cycle, commensurate with their performance. This of course doesn't happen. The entire process, almost always, if not every time is skewed in favor of the so called favorites. The reasons why certain individuals are favorites and certain are not, are obscure to a normal individual.

Once the affected individual leaves the organization, the "HR" goes on a wild goose chase to get the right individual. The entire exercise of getting the right candidate would have been avoided, if the person who quit, was not forced to do so. The reasons are varied, and personal reasons for quitting, cannot be avoided. But individuals who quit because of work related reasons, by individuals, I mean, good resources who quit because of work related reasons, should raise the alarm bells. It should be reason enough for the organization for a process of introspection.

Phew, that takes some load of me...

Atto Rik Sha

This is an incident that a occurred few months back. Before I start, a little information about what the premise is.

In Bangalore there was a move to replace all the analog autorichshaw meters with digital meters. These were "supposed" to be "tamper proof".

Well, fine Wednesday morning, after I was in office for almost the entire tuesday night, I go out hunting for an auto. I am waving at almost every auto to stop.

Few stop, and say they need Rs.100 for traveling 6 km. The standard fare being Rs 5/Km. It now stands at Rs. 6/Km.

Finally, after waiting for a good half hour, I get one guy. He just asks me Rs. 10 over and above, what the meter(digital) would display. In a firm and angry tone, I told him, nothing at all. Only what the meter displays. The response, left me stunned.
"क्या साब, दस रुपया एक्स्ट्रा देदो ना साब, येह मीटर दिगिटल हैं साब, इसको मैं
चेध कर बढ़ा भी नही सकता, देदो ना साब"

For those who don't know Hindi, this guy was asking me to pay him extra coz he was forced into being honest, as the digital meter dint give him an opportunity to tamper around, as he would have with an analog meter.

Finally I did make it home safe and sound, without giving any extra money.

naaaaaaaaa, I had to give him some extra amount, since the guy dint have a change.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Another snippet.

This was when my wife, was my girlfriend. She was going to her examination hall in an auto.
This auto guy was "a complete cartoon". In his own words, he had a degree in MRA,
Masters in Rickshaw Administration.

I.S.T

I.S.T also known as Indian Standard Time. Well this is defined as UTC + 5.30 (UTC a.k.a Coordinated Universal Time, a.k.a GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)).

A brief description of time is

IST) is the time observed throughout India, with a time offset of UTC+5:30. India does not observe daylight saving time, (DST) or other seasonal adjustments, although DST was used briefly during the Sino–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971.^[1] In military and aviation time, IST is designated E* ("Echo-Star").^[2] Indian Standard Time is calculated on the basis of 82.5° E longitude, which is just west of the town of Mirzapur, near Allahabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The longitude difference between Mirzapur and the United Kingdom's Royal Observatory at Greenwich translates to an exact time difference of 5 hours 30 minutes. Local time is calculated from a clock tower at the Allahabad Observatory (25.15° N 82.5° E) though the official time-keeping devices are entrusted to the National Physical Laboratory, in New Delhi.

The above is an extract from wikipedia.

Now coming back to my blog... Over the world, IST is not understood as above, but as (GMT+5.30) + increments to it as per own convenience.

Imagine, you have something important to be done say @10:30 a.m. and this task is dependent on some other person, who though he/she might be competent, has a tendency to miss timings.
So what happens is that you end up missing the deadline. period.
I can go on about different scenarios which folks miss the timings, but this wont change the situation overnight.
I do not know what is it that makes folks insensitive about the value of the time of another person.
Is it because of the चलता है attitude inculcated in us since time immemorial?

I DO NOT KNOW!! BUT IT SURE DOES SUCK!!!