September 04, 2008
Customer Service You Can Only Wish For
I had bought a Playstation 3 last year and it was working well until 2 weeks back when it went broke. My wife was very happy though to see the back of it. I knew that there was a manufacturer warranty of 1 one year, but wasn’t sure when did I buy it nor was I able to dig out the bill. Since I also brought a GAME reward card at the same time, was wondering if I should call up GAME to see if they can help me in getting a duplicate invoice.
I didn’t do anything for a week, just moaning that my PS3 has become another junk which just took space at home. But finally decided to do something and did some research on the net. There were lots of people who had the same problem with their PS3, especially the 60 GB model which I also owned, but there wasn’t any good reference as to how to go about it except taking back the console to the dealer with the original bill and get a replacement.
I decided to just browse through the Sony website, initially found it hard to navigate through the site, and couldn’t find what I was looking for. Eventually, found the page I was looking for with the hotline number for PS3. I didn’t have much hope because I didn’t have the bill and wasn’t even sure if it was brought within a year or not, but anyways, gave them a call.
I explained to the guy what the problem was and he asked few details like where I bought it, make number, et al, and he asked me if I will be available at home the day after to collect the replacement. The call took about 5 minutes.
I was stunned!!
I have had my fair share of problems with gadgets and others, but have never experienced anything like this. It always takes ages to get through to someone in the customer service and takes a millennium to get the thing repaired or replaced. Also it is always I who have to take the equipment to the service centre which will be in another planet.
My initial thought was, is this some kind of a joke. It reminded me of Real Hustle and the slogan “if it is too good to be true? it probably is”. I checked, re-checked the number which I called but it was a genuine one.
I decided to play along and bang the day after, the courier guy came with the replacement console, opened the box in the front of me, gave me the console and took back my old console. The console is working fine (for the time being!)
For a change, this was a pleasant surprise and I only wish this is true for every other customer service department around.
If you are complaining that I haven’t mentioned the hotline number here, I am not as good as Sony service centre.
Posted by Vasanth at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2008
Award
Only in India people demand and ask (not) for awards. That's not the surprising part, but it is the awarding to the one it was demanded for?
Why don't I demand bharat ratna for Super Stat Rajinikanth, why you might ask?, it is just to increase my hits from google.
Posted by Vasanth at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2007
Late
It was perfectly fine on Friday. However, when I came to office same time on Monday, I was late by 1 hour.
Posted by Vasanth at 02:59 PM | Comments (2)
March 19, 2007
Dead Mail
How would you feel when you get an out of office auto-reply like this?
Hi,
Thanks for your e-mail.
I am dead with no access to mails. I would reply to you in my next birth. If there is anything urgent, please pray to god and hopefully he will pass on the message to me in Heaven.
I regret the inconvenience caused, if any. Have a wonderful day.
Posted by Vasanth at 10:08 PM | Comments (2)
March 09, 2007
Do it Right
I was walking towards it and there it was again. A large contingent of people was waiting for their chance to get on it through the right side. The left side, as usual, was almost empty and yet no one seemed to bother taking that side. I effortlessly walked through the left side and was on it immediately. Had I waited to get on it through the left side, I would have had to wait for at least 5 minutes.
Isn’t this an irony? People are prepared to wait for a few minutes for the right side while they could have immediately stepped on it through the left side. Have these people mistakenly taken “Do it Right”, literally?
The catch is you can stand on the right but have to walk on the left.
For those souls who haven’t figured out what I am talking about, it is of course, the escalator/s in the tube stations.
Posted by Vasanth at 08:29 PM | Comments (3)
March 02, 2007
Is this pain in the a**?
You have to give it to these guys. Last evening, someone rang the door bell and when I opened the door, there were these 2 guys. They introduced themselves as marketing executives for British Gas and asked for some name which I had no clue of. I told them there is no one of that name living in this house and they said its fine, we want to talk to me.
The conversation went like this:
BG: Which company bill you for gas and electricity for the house?
Me: Southern Energy.
BG: Do you pay any standing charges for gas and electricity?
Me: I might but I am not sure.
BG: Can you show us the latest bill, we can see if you pay any charges?
Me: Bills are somewhere in the attic and it will take some time for me to trace it out
BG: We will wait no problems.
Me: Can I know what exactly do you want?
BG: Actually, we (BG) have withdrawn standing charges and it should not be charged and also reduced the tariff for gas and electricity.
Me: I am not with your company, so how does that matter?
BG: If you switch over to BG now, we will give you £40 credit, reduced tariff is frozen and no standing charges for 2 years. If you give us the bill, we can tell you how much saving you will make.
Me: I know that BG has slashed tariffs, so does other companies and I am sure SE would also follow suit, so I don’t intent to switch over now.
BG: How does it matter who bills you, the supplier for all houses is national grid. Switching is very easy and you stand to gain a lot.
Me: I need to think it over and I can’t make any decisions now. Leave me with your contact details, I will contact you once I made up my mind.
This went on for another 15 minutes and finally I got really fed up and told the guys that I am not interested and they can leave. They didn’t leave any contact details with me and I was wondering whether these guys are genuine marketing guys from BG.
After about an hour, some one again rang the door bell and when I opened it, the same guys stood in front of the door. I was about to scream at them, probably sensing my mood, one guy said they have finished off for the day and asked if they could have a glass of water?
Did I mention both the guys were South Asians?
Posted by Vasanth at 07:23 PM | Comments (5)
February 26, 2007
Swinging
It is just a swing and pocketing a hole if you watch on the tele.. But wasn’t so when you actually do it. Yes, I have joined for golf tuitions last Saturday in a nearby golf course. The golf course has 9 holes, but that’s more than enough for a beginner like me. I have been to the driving range a couple of times in Bangalore, but it was more a wild swing at the ball than anything else.
I joined for group lessons consisting of 6 people. I think it is a compact group and you get enough attention from the trainer. It’s a 6 weeks course, after that I was assured that I can start playing in the course and start getting my handicaps, I still don’t fully understand this part though.
Posture is very important, I was told this by the trainer atleast 20 times in 1 hour. Everything depends on the position of the legs, shoulders and the body. The left leg in straight line, the right leg V shaped, left shoulder up, right shoulder down and the hands at an angle. The main problem for me was that there was too much use of wrist which I picked it up playing cricket. I need to change that quickly to be in shape for a good drive.
After all the position and grip training which went on for 45 minutes, we were given some golf balls to practise in the driving range. Man, it was difficult to hit the ball leave alone hitting them with accuracy. Most of the times, the ball just went along the surface and wasn’t climbing at all.
I was fully exhausted walking back home, but was fully enthusiastic and started practising with the new 7 Iron club which was given as free for joining the course. Not sure how long this is going to last, but knowing that there is no retirement for this game, I can go as long as I want.
Posted by Vasanth at 08:53 PM | Comments (4)
February 19, 2007
Names - where from?
Since English as a language was introduced to India by the British, I assumed that the names by which fruits and vegetables are referred to in India, have also originated from England. However, surprisingly, many of the English names we use in India for some of the most common items in any grocery store are not used in England. In fact people draw a blank when those words are spoken in any conversation.
I wonder where these words have originated from!- Perhaps they’ve originated, from some of the Indian languages! However, when you search for the origin of these names used in India, there is no evident proof of origin!
Our own ‘lady’s finger’ is called ‘Okra’ which has a “West African origin and is cognate with "ókùrù" in Igbo, a language spoken in what is now known as Nigeria” - courtesy Wikipedia; but ‘lady’s finger’ does not have any origin.
‘Brinjal’ is called ‘aubergine’ in UK and ‘eggplant’ in US. Again, the orgin of both ‘aubergine’ and ‘eggplant’ are traceable, but ‘Brinjal’ does not have one. "Eggplant developed from the fact that the fruits of some 18th-century European cultivars were yellow or white and resembled goose or hen's eggs. Aubergine is the British name given to this fruit, from the French aubergine, derived from Catalan albergínia"- courtesy Wikipedia
A few other examples of names with unknown origins are ’Curds’ (never used in England, but commonly used in India. While ‘yogurt’ is used in both places), ‘Capsicum’ (used in India to refer to a vegetable) and ‘peppers’ (Used in England to refer to the same vegetable which the Indians call ‘Capsicum’. Interestingly ‘Pepper’ is used to refer to a certain member of the spices family in India.) .
Posted by Vasanth at 03:53 PM | Comments (4)
February 12, 2007
A tribute to Veerasami
Here comes the winter
We may need sweater
And also a heater
I hope he becomes sweeter.. and sweeter… and sweeter..
Posted by Vasanth at 09:28 PM | Comments (6)
February 09, 2007
Free
Metro is free and it travels free on the tube. Of course fare paid by the commuters.
Posted by Vasanth at 03:30 PM | Comments (2)
February 02, 2007
Tiffin truth
I saw this in one of the Indian restaurants (or Bangladeshi?) in Canary Wharf.
Indian food isn’t fattening. The real Indian cuisine doesn’t use a lot of oil. We also do so. Have you ever seen any fat Indians around?
Don’t you think it is little too much?
Posted by Vasanth at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2007
Snow
As a Chennaivasi, I never had a chance to see snow. When I woke up in the morning yesterday and looked out of the window, it was a pleasant surprise to see snow all around. Though the temparature has been dropping since last week, there wasn't any forecast of snow in London, but suddenly the first snow of the winter arrived in London yesterday.
Met forecast more snow to arrive today, but as usual, they got it wrong and the roads were clear this morning and no trace of snow anywhere.
Posted by Vasanth at 04:59 PM | Comments (2)
January 18, 2007
CBB
Much has been said and written about Shilpa Shetty appearing in the Celebrity Big Brother show on Channel 4 in UK. I was watching the show till last week and stopped watching it after unsavoury happenings inside the big brother house.
I thought including a South Asian who hasn’t lived in UK in the show was a recipe for disaster as it would be difficult for Shilpa to adjust to the British culture from the word go. . Most of the other participants were British and also most of them were Z list celebrities.
The show kicked off well but it all started when the team was spilt into 2 and the introduction of Goody clan into the house. 3 voluntary walk offs as they couldn’t stand the clan and I think Shilpa should have done the same thing at that time. The show was already losing viewer ship and it would have been a death knell for the show as there weren’t any characters left in the house, but she continued despite crying most of the time inside the house.
British TV is entirely different from India TVs, here most of the programmes, even if it is in the prime time, were sexed up for attracting more viewer ship which is fine for British culture. However, anyone from South Asia who just moved to UK would find it difficult to watch some of the programmes with family. I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong about it, but we weren’t used to such programmes, so find it hard to believe.
Back to Shilpa, I think there was an undercurrent within the South Asian community that there are racially abused in this country in some ways and could relate this episode to their own life. Otherwise, I wouldn’t think there would have been such a response, because, after all Shilpa is said to be paid £300,000 for appearing on the show and could earn £1 Million if she wins it.
Posted by Vasanth at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)
January 09, 2007
Car & Bike Show
Its been great passion for me to see a formula 1 race in the racing circuit, which hasn’t materialised yet. However, I had a chance to have a good look at this Williams F1 car in a motor show in Canary Wharf sometime back. Would have been nice if it was moving, anyways, that will soon happen I guess, I mean, watching a race in action.
This bike was colossal, I don’t think I can ride this without putting on some more pounds!
A cute one, Thalai Ajit might like it..
Posted by Vasanth at 04:25 PM | Comments (3)
January 03, 2007
Serene
Some time back we had been to this beautiful place which is on the western ghats. Its kind of a jungle resort set on a hill top island all sides surrounded by water (how stupid, isn’t? island is always surrounded by water).
View from the resort overlooking the dam
The cottage where we stayed with the beautiful view of blue and green background, of course, water and forest
Photography mastery from me, just kidding…
Posted by Vasanth at 05:21 PM | Comments (3)
December 19, 2006
Think again!
If you think you are independent in all respects, think again. I used to always think I am not dependent on anyone and I can do everything on my own. That was until the other day. That day evening I was driving back home on the Koramangala ring road and I saw a truck on my rear view mirror. The truck was very close behind me and was trying to overtake me.
That moment it struck me how blindly I trust that truck driver. Not even a single moment I thought that the truck is going to hit me. I was driving at my own pace and he overtook me without a hitch. Then I realised how this world revolves around on blind trust and everyone is dependent on one another.
It struck me again while reading the killing of Russian ex-KGP agent through polonium 210 poisoning in a restaurant. In the olden days, the kings and the queens used to have royal tasters who would taste every food before it is taken by the kings and queens. That way if anyone tries to poison the royal family, the royal tasters would be the first to know about it. How many of you have hired tasters now? Do you get to know what all has been added in your food in the restaurant. You blindly trust the chef who prepares the food and the server who serves food.
You can see this blind trust in all walks of life.. your hair dresser, your car driver, the bus driver, the pilot… the engineer who built your house, if you don’t trust him, would you sleep under the same roof?
Think again!!
Posted by Vasanth at 06:49 PM | Comments (3)
December 17, 2006
Back!
Wouldn’t say back with a bang because I have never been active nor a famous blogger. Not even sure if anyone would read this blog. Anyways, its been a long journey from home and sort of settled down in the new place and time to start all again
Posted by Vasanth at 03:33 AM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2006
Playing Politics
MPs expelled from parliament for accepting cash for raising questions in the parliament based on suggestions from the inquiry committee headed by a MP who resigned as the chairman of the committee for inappropriately giving money to a sports club from his MPLAD funds who has been made an union minister immediately upon his resignation.
Can Indian politics get any worse than this?
Posted by Vasanth at 03:35 PM | Comments (4)
January 02, 2006
News Now
The new direct feed of TV news to blogs from Reuters early access Affiliate Network program is cool. You don’t have to pay anything for it, not even bandwidth, hosting and server space which will all be taken care by Brightcove.
I need to do some tweaking to my website to accommodate the player, however, have placed it on the side bar just to get a feel of it.
Try for yourself.
Posted by Vasanth at 04:33 PM | Comments (2)
December 23, 2005
Feeling on Top
When you feel like on top of the world, this is the best thing to do…
Posted by Vasanth at 05:14 PM | Comments (2)
October 06, 2005
Railways Blues
If this is true, then god save us..
I would like to bring to notice a certain injustice that I have subjected to at the Bangalore Railway Station (Majestic). On September 30 (Friday), 2005, I had been to the station to see off my fiance and her mother. They took the Karnataka Express (Train #2627) to Jhansi at 6:30 pm.
On my way out I was asked to present my platform ticket by a railway official. On producing the same, the TT turned around and told me "What if I say that you haven't given me the ticket?" Before I could react, he along with his colleague pushed me into the adjacent enquiry cabin and physically manhandled me. I was slapped several times, my spectacles were grabbed and deliberately crushed by foot, and my phone was flung away from me. The RPF comprising of one RPF and four constables, appeared on the scene. The surrounding public was whisked away. None of the railway police officials cared to listen to me and they started hitting me indiscriminately with lathis. They dragged me out, and all the 4 constables continued hitting me with lathis from Platform 1 to Platform 3/5, till we reached the station master's cabin. Racist abuses and threats were made on the way. At the station master's cabin, I was told that I have been charged with a non-bailable offence and would be behind bars for 15 days.
Not for a single moment was I allowed to speak. All of a sudden a stranger came to the scene and he claimed that he was there to help me. Having lost all my physical strength and mental senses, I was happy to see some sort of help. He, claiming to be V Srinivas from Infosys, talked to the officials and the railway police in Kannada. He told me that the only way I was to get out was if I was willing to pay my way through. Being in no state to make a rational choice, I gave him my ATM card and pin. He took one of the RPF chaps along with him and said he would clear the matter. He returned some time later saying that everything was okay now.
I was asked to sign a statement which said that I hit the police and TT in a drunken state. I refused. Finally, they pressurized me to write that I did not produce a platform ticket when asked. I wrote the same and then V Srinivas took me out of the station. He joined me in an auto and took me to the ICICI ATM at Anand Rao circle. He withdrew Rs. 15000 from my ATM and got back. he took the cash under the pretext that while helping me he had left his wallet in the train he had left behind and that he would return the same through his ICICI Internet account. Having broken down mentally I did not realise that I was being cheated. He then took me to a Samsung showroom and tried purchasing a cellphone worth Rs. 18500 with my card. It was only then that I realised what was happening. I grabbed my card back, caught him by the collar, snatched my cash that lay in his pocket, and got into a running auto.
I have now realized that all of this was a plan. There is a strong nexus between the railway officials, the railway police and the fraudster. The railway officials identify a victim who they think is well-to-do, the RPF beat that individual till he has no physical or mental well-being. Then this fraud chap comes on to the scene, takes advantage of the situation, and takes all your cash away. Also, this series of events generally occurs on the last day of the month as they know that the salary gets credited on this day. (This strikes me now because the self-proclaimed Infy employee, V Srinivas, clearly asked me whether I had received my salary. He said that he just wanted to find out if there was cash enough to tackle the case.)
Now three days hence, I have tried to run from pillar to post. I have been forced to miss office hours in my effort to get justice. But I don't want to give up the fight midway. If any of you are in the media, or have friends/relatives who are in the industry, I'd like to speak with them about this in greater detail. I can be reached on 09886179319 or 08030933067. I believe it would catalyze my efforts.
Also, please pass this email to all the people who reside in Bangalore, so that they don't fall into the same trap.
Regards,
Nimish V Adani
IIML Batch of 2003
ITBHU Batch of 2001
Posted by Vasanth at 06:23 PM | Comments (2)
September 06, 2005
Traffic traffic go away
There are few other things which makes driving in Bangalore a pressure than a pleasure!!
This one happens very frequently in Bangalore. You would be going in a narrow road which has space enough only for 1 vehicle one way. There will be a minor traffic jam and you will obediently park your car on the left side behind the vehicle in front of you. If everyone does the same thing, it wouldn’t have resulted in a major traffic jam. But here is the twist!! Like in the movie, our hero driving a Qualis will zip pass you on the wrong side, as though all the drivers in front of him are mad and don’t have any destination to reach and are enjoying the music played in Radiocity, and try to sneak his way through into the incoming traffic. Because of one madman, the entire traffic stalls and everyone in there has to pay the price.
Also, I don’t understand how they could get it so wrong. All the bus stops are bang next to signals. You will be overjoyed to see the signal turn green and step on the accelerator only to get stranded behind a public bus parked on the middle of the road.
I am sure that the days are not far off when the kids will be singing this:
Traffic, traffic, go away
Come again some other day
We want to go outside and enjoy
Come again some other day
All this apart , today turned out to be entirely different from the routine as the traffic was light and I could go in the top gear in some of the busiest roads of Bangalore. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t have dared to even attempt the 3rd gear.
Life isn’t that bad after all. Let me make the most of it .
Stopped writing and started singing…..
Traffic, traffic, go away
Posted by Vasanth at 08:12 PM | Comments (4)
September 01, 2005
Road Non-Sense
If everything goes well I could reach office in 25 minutes. This is what I think always in morning when I start my car. However, not even a single time it has gone well in my 6 months stint in Bangalore so far.
I used to wonder why is that you get stuck somewhere enroute daily. Though lack of infrastructure plays a major part, it can’t be the sole reason. I think it is the mindset of the people which makes the matter worse.
The other day I was driving my car towards a four road intersection which did not have a automated signal nor there was a policeman. In an ideal scenario it should have taken not more a minute for me to cross that junction. However, it took more than 20 minutes for me to cross that junction on that particular day. There aren’t many vehicles also in that junction, it was hardly 1 or 2 from each of the four roads. The traffic didn’t move in any of roads because the vehicles in front of each road didn’t want to give away to one another. If any of these cars had given away to another, we all could have moved out of that place in just 2 minutes. Instead everyone was stuck for more 20 minutes.
What do you call this. Isn’t this absolute madness? If all these guys had any road sense, we could have all saved 20 minutes of our time.
Posted by Vasanth at 05:56 PM | Comments (4)
August 24, 2005
Kingdom & Democracy
People will immediately think that this is the aircraft owned by the King of Saudi Arabia or the King of Brunei. You all have got it wrong, it is one of the 3 Legacy Executive aircraft delivered to Indian government by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer for exclusive use of the Prime Minister and the President. The government is planning to order 2 more planes to have a fleet of 5 such planes for the exclusive use of the Indian top brass.
Is this what people call the narrowing of gap between the Kingdoms and the Democracies?
Posted by Vasanth at 08:31 PM | Comments (4)
August 22, 2005
Punishment
I was listening to Radio City while driving to the office in the morning and there was a debate on punishments meted out to students in schools. There were many people who were vehemently arguing that punishments have an adverse impact on a student and the schools should stop meting out punishments to students.
I find it hard to buy this argument. Threat of punishment is the only way, I think, you can bring about discipline, be in the school or in the larger outside world. Can you imagine a world without punishments for wrong doing? Only anarchy will prevail in the world. We are living in a society where there is least level of tolerance and so much of hatred among people.
What people should be arguing about is the severity of the punishments meted out rather than the punishments itself. I have seen many instances in my school days where the punishments meted out were harsh and nowhere commensurate with the mistake the student had committed. However, if there was no fear of punishment among the students, it would have been a different ball game altogether. There wouldn’t be anyone who comes to school on time, there won’t be any respect for teachers. People might argue that teachers gain respect by the way they teach and the kind of knowledge they posses, however, without a stick approach along with it, it is never going to work (come on guys, we have all been students once and we all know how naughty and notorious we were in school?).
My sincere apologies to all of you who have patiently read this post and thought that you have wasted your time!!
Isn’t this also a kind of punishment for visiting this site?
Its been long since I posted a blog, so I am rusty (Don’t I have the right? Only the Indian cricketers can claim that benefit??)
Posted by Vasanth at 06:27 PM | Comments (5)
May 18, 2005
Intriguing experience
Meeting a fellow blogger is an experience by itself. This is the first time I am experiencing it. I have commented on his blog and he has commented on my blog. That’s all the connection is. I have noticed somewhere in his website that he lives near London. Once I landed in London, we exchanged some mails and got his address and the phone numbers. We spoke over the phone nearly for half an hour about various things, surprisingly nothing about blogging and decided to meet up at his place.
Chakra a.k.a. Chakrapani, lives in Bournemouth, a peaceful, beach side town in the south west of England. I decided to go by a coach (that was a different story) to Bournemouth on a Saturday morning and was planning to stay with Chakra for the weekend. It took about 2 and half hours to reach Bournemouth and I was there at Chakra’s place at around 12.45.
Unfortunately, Chakra’s wife wasn’t there with him as she had given birth to a baby boy and is in India. My hopes of having a south Indian lunch was dashed, but Chakra made it up for his wife absence. It was a wonderful south Indian meal and he indeed is a very good cook. I really cherished that lunch as it was almost 20 days since I had a good lunch.
We then decided to take a stroll around the place and went to beach first. It was actually very windy and was cold and walking on the beach didn’t help either. It was a nice little town with wonderful long beach, greens all around and serene.
There were few things which were very funny out there. The winch on the foothill was really funny. It will take you little less than 2 minutes to reach the top, still there were quite a few enthusiastic people going on that. And there was this train, the train which goes on the road and not on the track. This runs from one end to the other end of the beach. Probably we can introduce that in Marina and I am sure it will be a huge hit.
We also took a plunge into the casino and watched people play for most of the time. It was amazing that even a 2 year kid was gambling in the casino. We finally decided to throw some money into the casino (Ohh no, it’s really embarrassing to tell the amount) and try our luck. It was good initially, but eventually we lost all the money we played for.
Unfortunately, the Bournemouth Eye wasn’t in operation because of the windy conditions. However, I was told by Chakra that I am not missing anything.
It was a fun filled 6 hours on that day which I really enjoyed and more than that I could share my thoughts in our own tongue. I just can’t imagine this kind of a thing happening, visiting somebody whom you have no clue of? Infact, I and Chakra had lived in the same place in Madras, but has never met.
It was truly intriguing experience!!
Posted by Vasanth at 05:37 PM | Comments (3)
May 12, 2005
Little few things
London is living upto its reputation and you all know what I am talking about which is almost synonymous with London. Yes the weather. It is as usual predictably unpredictable. I am really scared to talk to any Londoners about the weather because that becomes an end less talk for hours.
Last Saturday, I had planned to go to Bournemouth to meet a fellow blogger. I had planned to take a coach which is supposed to leave Victoria coach terminal by 9 in the morning. So got up early in the morning to find that it was quite sunny and I thanked my stars for that. At around 7.30 in the morning went out of the hotel to realize that the weather was too cold outside. I could barely walk for 2 minutes to go to the nearest tube station, eventually could not go any further and retuned to the hotel. Checked the temperature in the net and it was 4 Celsius. Later on I found out from one of my colleagues that more sunny it is, the more chilly it gets in London (funny isn’t?).
However, I somehow managed to go to the coach station at around 9 and went straight to the ticket hall to get the ticket. I asked for a ticket for the earliest bus which is leaving for Bournemouth and the guy promptly asked me whether for one way or return. I was in two minds whether to go for a return or one way, but finally settled for one way since I thought I could buy the ticket from Bournemouth for the return. It cost me £ 16.50 and went to the gate around 9.10 to find that the coach has already left the station. I had to go back to ticket hall to move my ticket from 9 to 10 and I decided to buy a return ticket as well. The guy asked me to give £ 3 more and I thought its for the cancellation charges. So I asked him again to issue me a return and he kept on saying give me £3. I decided not to argue with him and gave him £3 and got my ticket. When I opened the ticket jacket, I could not believe it. There was 2 tickets, one for onward and another for return. When I looked at the receipt everything fell in place, he had charged £2 for the cancellation and £1 for the return journey. Again one of my colleagues told me that it’s the way it works here!!! And he has told me to always check for return journey fare in the ticket hall before booking. Cut.
Imagine the same thing in India. If the ticket counter guy tells you Chennai-Bangalore one way costs Rs.400, would you dare to ask what’s the 2way fare??
Posted by Vasanth at 01:57 AM | Comments (7)
May 02, 2005
An Old City
I have never expected London to be like this. I am a disappointed man today after roaming around London for 2 days in succession. I wanted to make a phone call, so searched for (actually not, you can find it quickly) the famous London red colored phone booths. I stepped into the phone booth, but could not stay there for 10 seconds. It was stinking and is, I think, basically used as a dust bin. I would have tried atleast 10 such booths, it was the same all through.
Thames River doesn’t stink, but the story ends there. It is as good as or as bad as our own rivers in Madras. It was full of filth (could see it if you go on a cruise), water was muddy, couldn’t make out if it was because of the dirt or because of too many cruises on the river.
The parking space at the Heathrow airport, the tube stations all tell the same story. I have heard people saying that it’s a old city, but has never expected it to like this.
Leaving my thoughts here and hoping for pleasant endeavors in London atleast in future.
Posted by Vasanth at 02:38 AM | Comments (12)
April 24, 2005
Way to London
One of the costliest blogs I have ever written. Rather this is the only blog for which I have paid something. Sitting at the lounge at the Delhi Airport and waiting (rather sadly) for my flight to Milan.
Hope to write something from London and see you guys from there.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:06 AM | Comments (4)
April 19, 2005
Still Busy!
Its been long since I wrote a blog. It feels as though I haven't blogged for decades, but its only a month. Its going to take a while before I start blogging, but be ensured that I will be back with a bang (I mean from Bangalore).
Life has never been this hectic!!!
Posted by Vasanth at 06:12 PM | Comments (3)
March 11, 2005
Habits seldom die
This is what happens when you start using a phrase more often than needed.
One of my friends has this habit of starting with “I think” before he talks anything. The other day, we were eating lunch together at a restaurant and he was busily talking on his mobile with someone. The signal wasn’t great as usual so he cut the call and called up helpdesk to complain about it. When he uttered the first few words, I almost fell off my chair. Guess what he said?
“I think I am P*****n speaking”
Posted by Vasanth at 11:30 AM | Comments (9)
March 10, 2005
This is no economics!!
The Veeranam project is jinxed, be it old or new. It’s always at the thick of controversies ever since it was conceptualised. The critics say that the project is not viable but the government says its viable.
Now there is a new controversy brewing up in the Veeranam belt for the Chennai Water Supply Augmentation Project-I (New Veeranam Project) in form of farmers and other local folks protesting against the drawal of water from the Veeranam lake as well as from the deep borewells. They claim that it will have a serious consequences on the water table in those areas and the Veeranam lake might get dried up because of the withdrawals which will take away their livelihood.
Here is the twist. I don’t see any demonstration whatsoever in Chennai against people at Panruti-Cuddalore who are refusing to give water to Chennai. However, there is such an outcry every time Mettur Dam dries up and Karnataka refuses to release waters from its reservoirs irrespective of whether there is any water in those reservoirs. One more twist. Where does the water come from for Veeranam lake? Yes it’s from Karnataka and Mettur dam.
What happened to celluloid world and politicians who were all up in arms when the Cauveri issue erupted last time? Isn’t Kollyhood part of Chennai? Why aren’t they agitating for Chennai’s cause?
This is the problem in our society. Without analysing the cause for the issue, everybody plays into the hands of the politicians. Politicians arm-twist issues to suit their local constituency without bothering about merits of the case or seeking a solution for the issue. Keeping power is paramount as far as the politicians are concerned.
There is no problem when there is plenty, be it water or money, it always an issue only when there is a scarcity. Cauvery issue or for that matter, the Veeranam issue, is not a geo-political issue, it’s a simple issue of, what you call in economics, demand supply mismatch.
Posted by Vasanth at 12:20 PM | Comments (1)
March 09, 2005
Its a vicious circle!!
My car’s fuel meter was running low, so I decided to fill in fuel at the nearest gas station. I filled up fuel and also checked the air pressure and should have gone back to office but decided to go to Adyar Anandha Bavan at that gas station. I always have a craving for chats and whenever I fill up fuel for my car, I somehow get attracted to Adyar Anandha Bavan and my legs automatically take me to that place.
It was a late afternoon, so no one was there and I ordered for a Channa Masala and an Aloo Chat. When I was enjoying my Channa Masala (Yummy it was!), a man (gentle!) entered and ordered for a Somosa Channa. It was a self service counter and the service guy tried to pick up a spoon from the bowl (unfortunately, there was only one spoon on that bowl) kept on the counter, but it fell down. He promptly kept the spoon back on the bowl and picked a spoon from somewhere else and gave it to the gentleman standing nearby. He relished his Somosa Channa and was happy, I guess, with the way spoon issue was handled. He left satisfied both for the food and the service.
I was still finishing my Aloo Chat when a new customer came in and ordered for some fancy Halwa. It was like an action replay for me, everything was same expect that this time the spoon didn’t fall down and ofcourse there was no spoon left on the bowl.
Now I am thinking about my spoon.. Oh no, it’s a vicious circle??
Posted by Vasanth at 11:47 AM | Comments (4)
February 22, 2005
Change!!
Change is always painful. When I read Who Moved My Cheese , I immediately thought that resisting change is the greatest sins of all. I even used to think why many people are making a fuss about change. However, when it happens to you then you realise how difficult it is to adapt to changes.
After living in Chennai for almost 2 decades, I am leaving the city and heading north (north west to be precise) to Bangalore, the garden city (not anymore, I guess!).
Its been quite a eventful stint at Chennai (I like Madras than the current one) and would always cherish those memories. Suddenly, there is an anxiety about how will I adapt to the new environment. I guess, there is no other go but to adapt to that environment.
I am quite busy in winding up things at my current office and therefore, would be irregular in blogging (as though I have been regular all these days!?).
Posted by Vasanth at 10:58 AM | Comments (6)
February 17, 2005
Thinking??
True to my tag line, I was thinking and thinking for some time and finally came to a conclusion that I shouldn’t be thinking at all. What does thinking do to you. Let’s think about it for a moment. Opps.. Again, I have started thinking.
Can we ever do away with thinking? I wish so….
PS:Currently thinking how to delete this post!?
Posted by Vasanth at 04:52 PM | Comments (7)
February 16, 2005
Blogs What?
Busy with work + lazy to Blog = No Blogs for some time
Posted by Vasanth at 03:02 PM | Comments (1)
February 09, 2005
Southern Beauty – II
The enchanting beauty of this place incarnates at the hallway itself. Pathways laid out of granite give an artistic look to the entire place and the greenery is soothing to the eyes which are always glued to the monitor. My eyes thanked me for the welcome change!
Our first stop was to the craft bazaar which was ironically full of things from north India, though no complaints from my better half.
I particularly liked those bows and the arrows and the way it was all colourfully done.
Wow those canvas paintings were amazing which showcased our culture and were quite affordable also.
Postscript: I am really sorry about the quality of the photos as I accidentally stumbled upon this place and didn’t have the foresight to carry a Cam.
Posted by Vasanth at 06:46 PM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2005
Now or never
When you are already running into heavy traffic, moving inch by inch, bumper to bumper and there is an ecnalubma with a blue top light coming behind you, what could you probably do?
I face this problem almost on a daily basis when I go to the office in the morning peak hours. I immediately try to move over and give him way, but that’s when reality strikes. You cannot move even an inch in that heavy traffic.
The ecnalubma driver horns like mad, but you are helpless. Vital time is lost for the ecnalubma negotiating its way around me and that could be a deadly blow considering that he has to negotiate 10s and 1000s of vehicles like me to reach the hospital!! Is it really my fault? Or whose fault is it? It’s really the system which is at fault.
I also see vehicles with red top light more often than not in our roads. How is that it is able to negotiate it's way through the traffic without any hitches? And mind you, they somehow choose only the peak hours to travel on the roads!! The answer is very simple; you block the road beforehand, provide as many escort vehicles as possible, so that those vehicles and ofcourse, the people in it, can peacefully pass through and reach their destinations in time.
Why the same thing cannot be done for an ecnalubma also? I know it’s difficult because emergencies cannot be predicted, but with co-ordinated effort by the traffic police, anything is possible.
Posted by Vasanth at 06:29 PM | Comments (7)
February 03, 2005
You cound't ask for more
This is what BSNL-Chennai can do to you.
A friend of mine has a BSNL landline connection and not anymore, I guess, after this episode. He lives in one of the suburbs of Chennai and pays all his utility dues well within the due date. But one fine day morning (not so fine for him though!), his telephone line went silent and he tried registering a compliant with the so called BSNL customer service. However, I guess the lines in the customer service (outsourced!!) also met the same fate as my friend’s. He would have called around 10 customer service numbers, but no one picked up the call. Finally, he got through to a customer service guy, ofcourse only after his fingers were numb, who patiently listened to my friend’s compliant and asked him to hold on for a minute. Opps!! That was the longest minute anybody would have ever waited!! Ultimately, he had no choice but to hang up the phone.
Finally, he decided to go the traditional way by approaching the telephone office directly and was shocked to know that his connection has been temporarily withdrawn because he has still not paid his bills. He had showed them the proof of the payment of the bills which was made long back. He was told that there was a technical glitch and the system has not been updated for the payments. He was assured that the telephone line will be restored in 24 hours. Bingo, those guys kept their word and restored the line in a day’s time.
Oh no!! The next day, the lines went silent again and he was told by the automated response machine that the line was temporarily withdrawn because of non payment of dues (Is this the only response that it has been programmed with?).
He was running from pillar to post for restoring his connection for about 2 weeks and now he has the start the entire process again.
I am sure if the same condition continues, BSNL Chennai will no longer have any customer to service and the bells stop ringing at the BSNL offices.
Also, if you need some more entertainment, look at the Discussion Board of BSNL Chennai. Only solace for my friend is that he is not alone!!
Posted by Vasanth at 01:57 PM | Comments (4)
February 02, 2005
The Southern Beauty!!
Would you believe if I say this is our native village?
You wound I know but you shouldn’t.. Because it’s not our native village (okay don’t look at me like that!!). This is exact recreation of a village street by the famous Dhaksin Chitra.
The moment I stepped into this place, it brought me back the memories of my native village in the erstwhile Tanjore district. Though I have not lived in that place, we used to frequently visit it in my childhood days. Nowadays, due to the hectic schedule (am not talking about blogging, got to work for my bread and butter!!), I am not able to go there often.
Okay enough of my childhood memories (who cares??) and back to the tale, I was always wanting to visit this place and would have crossed this place many times, but, somehow didn’t make it till last weekend. That too was accidental, but it was worth visiting that place.
I am going to blog about this place in toto because I really don’t have a choice. So keep visiting me if you want to know more about the beauty of this place.
Posted by Vasanth at 07:21 PM | Comments (3)
January 31, 2005
Who Heeds When the Mother Nature Cries?
I was quite appalled when I saw this construction work happening at the heart of the Chennai’s only wetland. Many people in Chennai would not have heard about this place, but this place is very important for the delicate eco system of the city. The Pallikaranai’s wetland at the southern outskirts of the city, flanked by Velacherry, Taramani and the new christened IT High Way, is already looking like overpowering stench of garbage. Now it is being obscured by the heaps and heaps of steel and concrete.
The wetland is believed to have spread across 50 square kilometres few decades back. However, it is gradually giving away to dumping of garbage, encroachments and developmental activities shrinking it to less than five square kilometres at present.
In the name of haphazard and ill-conceived urban development, the Chennai only wetland, which is home to rich bio diversity and a vital aquifer for the city that depends mostly on fast depleting groundwater supplies, is being destroyed relentlessly.
This wetland was once home to more than 100 species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals which have been entirely wiped out because of the dumping of garbage and constructions activities. The entire waste generated by the city (including yours and mine) is fully dumped at this place and the same is set ablaze to keep the growing heaps at a manageable proportion causing air pollution of greater magnitude.
On top of all these, the Chennai Corporation and the other adjacent municipalities are hitting the last nail on the coffin by dumping sewage waters onto these already threatened marshlands.
Posted by Vasanth at 03:21 PM | Comments (5)
January 25, 2005
An Empire in Shambles???
A nice quote on the Reliance Industries episode which I really liked.
“A poor, ill educated man created billion dollar Reliance Industries. Two business graduates from Stanford and Wharton Business School, busy breaking it up. That's education.”
Source:NA
Posted by Vasanth at 11:23 AM | Comments (1)
January 19, 2005
It stands world tallest!!!
Its open to public!! Taipei 101 Tower in Taipei, Taiwan, the world tallest buiding as of now is opened to public today. At 508 meters (1,667 feet) high the tower and its spire, outrank the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
But Center of India Tower, Katangi, India will be the tallest building in the world when completed in 2008.
Posted by Vasanth at 04:40 PM | Comments (3)
January 17, 2005
Social Responsibility – Is it a myth?
Be it Corporate Social Responsibily or Celebrities Social Responsibility, you always find many people going overboard on it. They have little hesitation in accusing the corporate world or the celebrities for the lack of social responsibility. This has been in my mind for some time and always wanted to write about it. In fact I have been googling for the past few days for any article on this.
Vijay Rana of History Talking.com writes in Bollywood`s silence on tsunami about Bollywood’s indifference to the tsunami tragedy and lack of it’s social responsibility. Finally he concludes by saying “After initial silence and after this article was written some of the Bollywood stars have come forward with donations. Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherji and Karan Johan have donated Rs 1.5 crores and Ashwarya Rai has made a contribution of Rs 5 lacs. Javed Akhter and Dilip Kumar have made appeals for public donations”. I find this very amusing!! He has said as though all these bollywood celebrities have contributed only after this article was published… Nice story Vijay, but a bit difficult to digest though.
The corporate and the celebrities are certainly helping the social cause in their own way. Some publicize it, but others keep it to themselves. I don’t contribute to social cause, either financially or physically, just because some celebrity or a corporate contributed to it. I do it because of the urge within myself to help people. So the talk of publicizing the charity work in itself will induce people to do social work, I think, will not hold water.
I anyways don’t think high of people who wait for others to do something before they start moving.
Is the feeling mutual??
Posted by Vasanth at 04:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2005
Pongolo Pongal
Though Pongal has lost its relevance in city life, it still brings cheers!!! Yup, you don't have to go to office for 2 days!!!
Wish you all a very happy Pongal.
Happy Maatu Pongal for all those who only celebrate Maatu Pongal.. lol!!
Posted by Vasanth at 05:37 PM | Comments (2)
January 10, 2005
A Pleasant Suprise!!
A pleasant surprise awaited me yesterday when I took the car out of my office. My office is right on Mount Road near the Nandanam Signal. It usually takes 2 to 5 minutes to get into Mount Road from my office in the evening peak hours and another 5 minutes to cross the signal. Since I need to take a U-turn at the Nandanam Signal, I always struggle and wait for the traffic to die down, which incidentally never happens, to cut across the road to reach the other end.
But yesterday it was all done in just 2 minutes. While coming out of the office, I was at the office gate probably for 15 seconds. Surprisingly a bus which was going straight stopped in front of the gate and the driver waved me to take the turn and also protected me from the traffic behind.
I waved him back with lots of appreciation and took the turn. Luckily for me the signal was also on and everything done in just 2 minutes (Enough to cook Maggie, though I entirely disagree with that claim!!).
I always despise bus drivers for the way they drive on our roads. They show little patience and little respect to fellow motorists. They always think that they are the kings on the road and no one can shake them off.
But this incident was a very pleasant one to me. Though it didn’t alter my belief about bus drivers, it was certainly an eye opener. There are after all few bus drivers who are considerate for fellow drivers on the road.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:45 PM | Comments (3)
December 24, 2004
How Far Will This Go??
There was such a hue and cry about the Delhi's school boy MMS episode, the arrest of bazee.com's CEO and the Kareena's episode. Whilst the former relates to the cyberspace, the later relates to the print media.
As though all these are not enough, there is a new controversy brewing in the form of sting operations which is done in the name of investigative journalism. Investigative journalism is fine as long as it doesn't infringe into the private affairs of people. All journalists consider themselves demigods when it comes to writing.
They think that they can write any crap and get away with it in the name of "Freedom of Expression" provided in the constitution. Where is the accountability for the journos? This has been bothering me for quite some time and the sheer magnitude of these operations in the recent time has given me a sense of insecurity that this can happen to anybody. If sombody aims at tarnishing the image of a person, irrespective of his social standing,it can be done with ease!! There are always two trials going on, one in the Courts and another in the Media. Has Media Attained the status of Judiciary in the country? What is the locus standi for the Media to act as a Judge? These questions are asked almost daily, but we are yet to find the answers for all these!!
We don't even have to go into the Articles of the Constitution to understand two fundamental rights. The Preamble to the Constitution of India would itself throw more light on these.
"We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to
secure to all its Citizens:
Justice, Social, Economic and Political;
Liberty of Thought, Expression, Belief, Faith and Worship;
Equality of Status and of Opportunity;
and to Promote among them all Fraternity Assuring the Dignity of the Individual and the Unity and Integrity of the Nation"
There are two important principles set out in the Constitution, one is the liberty of thought and expression, and the other is the fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual. I think both freedom of expression and assuring the dignity of the individual go hand in hand. You have been given freedom to the extent it does not affect the dignity of an individual. You might say that you can file a defamation case in the Court, but what is the purpose, the damage is already done. Can you unscramble a broken egg? Let's take Kareena's episode. First of all, I am not one of Kareena's fans, if you think that's the reason I am writing this blog. Midday, the tabloid which carried the photos has apologised now for hurting the sentiments of the cine couple. Is that all? An apology and the daily goes uncaught??
Take Tehleka, it does all sorts of things, sting operation, spy cams and many more. Who has given the authority to Telhleka to do all this, to infringe in the private affairs of people. Are these people above law? Can they do anything they want? Why is a part of the Journo community indulging in such activities and why is'nt the rest of the jurno community raising its voice against these activities? Why aren't the law-makers bringing in laws to regulate activities of this kind? Is this all for cheap publicity?
I hope all these questions will be answered in the near future!!!
Posted by Vasanth at 02:47 PM | Comments (2)
December 20, 2004
They Know What Sells In India
The other day, in the late evening, I had been to the Marina Beach. It was a quite a pleasant evening with a chill breeze blowing from the Bay of Bengal. One thing that immediately comes to mind whenever you go to Marina beach is the Molagai (Chilli) Bajji. It's quite an experience eating those and walking across the beach.
One more thing which is becoming popular oflate (though not as popular as the Bajji's) is the roasted Sweet Corns. One of the reasons for its popularity these days is the brand building which the sweet corn shop owners have undertaken, ofcourse, without the help of any of the management consultants!! Every shop in the vicinity has been renamed as "American Sweet Corn Shop" with the new Mantra that the Sweet Corns are being imported from the US though the guy has told me privately that these are indeed coming from the nearby farm. But sales of roasted Sweet Corns zoomed after the re-branding...
Posted by Vasanth at 11:35 AM | Comments (2)
December 16, 2004
New 7 Wonders Of The World
Only 381 days left for the voting in the selection of the new 7 Wonders of the World. Out of the total of 71 nominations, India has 34 nominees which incidentally include Anna Nagar Tower from Singara Chennai (Surprising!!!).
Taj Mahal is at 3rd spot as of now which is not at all surprising and the second best from India is Meenakshi Temple, Madurai at 26 place. All others are languishing at the bottom of the nomination list.
Overall, most of the votes have come from the Mainland China and its no surprise that Great Wall of China is at the first place!!! But India is catching up fast in the votes and in the last 7 days, 99% of the votes have come from India and Taj Mahal accounts for almost everything... I have voted for the Meenakshi Temple and guys, it's your turn now to vote... It's very simple!!! Just visit this site The Seven New Wonders of World and make your vote count... And one more thing I would like you guys to do... You can put Nanganallur in the world map by suggesting a new nominee.. You have guessed it correct!!! I have suggested Nanganallur Anjaneya Temple to be included in the list of nominees... But atleast 7 persons should have suggested the name before it makes it to the list of nominees....
Any volunteers??
The list of nominees from India: Ajanta Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, Anna Nagar Tower, Chennai, Arunachaleshwara Temple, Tiruvannamalai, Brihadeshwara Temple, Tanjore, Gateway of India, Mumbai, Gomateshwara Statue, Karnataka, Jain Temples, Rajasthan, Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, Konkan Railway Viaduct, Kutub Minar, Delhi, Lotus Temple, New Delhi, Mahabalipuram, Tamilnadu, Mangalya Building, Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Palace of Mysore, Raigad Fort, Maharashtra, Ranakpur Jain Temple, India Red Fort Complex, Delhi, Sabari Mala, Kerala, Saint Thiruvalluvar Statue, Tamilnadu, St. Thomas Church, Kerala, Sun Temple, Orissa, Swami Bagh, Agra, Syayambhu monastery, Taj Mahal, The Bahubali Gomteshwar Statue, The Belur Temple, The Golden Temple, Amritsar, The Halebid Temple, The Statue of Bahubali, The temples of Hampi, Victoria Terminus, Mumbai, Vivekanand Rock Memorial.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2004
Its Official Now!!!! 'Chennai better than B'lore for IT'
With better infrastructure and quality human talent, Chennai fares better than Bangalore in attracting new investments from BPO and software firms, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said on Thursday.
"Bangalore is overheated. The infrastructure there has not kept the pace of the growth in the IT sector," Karnik said, after inaugurating the new facility of BPO firm 24/7 Customer in Chennai. "The value proposition of Chennai is good," he said, adding Chennai was poised to become a major hub for business process outsourcing (BPO) firms. Karnik said Bangalore's infrastructure was facing severe constraints and Chennai could take advantage of this. "Chennai continues to have a narrower gap between infrastructure requirement and supply," he said. Karnik, however, asked the state government to make sure that Chennai does not face constraints in the future as more and more companies set up their development centres and back offices in the city.
Vivek Harinarain, IT secretary, Tamil Nadu, said the government was able to increase the space requirements for IT firms by many fold
in the last couple of years to attract companies.
"We were able to change the perception about Chennai (that it was not an IT-friendly destination)." PV Kannan, founder and CEO of 24/7 Customer, said the company held a CAT (common admission test) model test for prospective employees and it was found that the Chennai youngsters were at least 20-25 per cent better in analytical and problem solving skills, compared to their counterparts in other states.
Source: The Economic Times
Posted by Vasanth at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)
I Can't Believe This!!!!!
Believe It or Not.... It's happening in the US... Sometime back I was offered the position of the CEO in the Software Big Daddy Microsoft. But because of some domestic commitments, I wasn't able to shift to the US... But one fine day, one of my friends in the US has sent this snap and has informed me that a major agitation is going on in Seattle to appoint me as the CEO of Mircosoft... While I whole heartedly thank the people who are participating in this agitation, I call upon these people to call off their agitation as I am not in a position to move to US now.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:39 PM | Comments (5)
December 07, 2004
"Indians What We Achieved" A Follow Up
Ever since I wrote about the achievements by the Indians and the progress made by us, there were lots of rebuttals and questioning of the data published in the blog Indians What We Achieved Just to throw some more clarity on those issues... There was a mention that the I have overlooked the plight of Indians in the Gulf who are treated like third world citizens (of course, India is stil considered to be a third world country by many of the westerners) and the number of Indians in the Gulf are quite high in comparison to the numbers in the US and other western countries.
Though, frankly, I don't have any idea about the numbers either in Gulf or in the US, I will certainly do a research on that and write on it in the days to come.
And there was a rebuttal by Manoj (I would say, a very detailed one; nice work man) in his blog Pride or Vanity regarding the authenticity of the data... I respect his sentiments on this and would certainly concur with his views that we should not be living in the world of fallacies... But these data have been taken from the official website of the Ministry of Tourism of the Government of India... Though I cannot vouch for the data put in the website by the Ministry, I would presume that these should be authentic data otherwise they would not be putting that in an official website... My only purpose of putting those details in the blog was to make people realise that we have achieved many things for which we need to be proud of. It's very sad that many people whom I interact with, mind you I am talking only about Indians, not foreigners, crib thoroughly about the country, the attitude of the people, the infrastructure, the bureaucracy and what not...
It's a fact that we are a developing country (I think it's a better phrase than under developed country) and I am nobody to deny that fact…. But we Indians should move beyond all this and try to help the county to move forward to become a developed country in true sense in the years to come... What purpose is it going to serve by just cribbing about the state of affairs of the country.....
At this point I am only reminded of John F Kennedy's words "Don"t ask what the country has done to you, ask what you have done to the country"
We can all contribute to the success story of the country by doing something which will help achieve those goals and not just crib; cribbing will take us nowhere... Don't think that I am some freak social worker who runs a NGO for the upliftment of the society... I am an ordinary Indian just like you and would love to see India move forward in all her endeavours...
I have always been an optimist and will always be that way....
Posted by Vasanth at 09:34 PM | Comments (2)
December 03, 2004
Wanna Trade in Shares???
Hey Guys just came across this Blogshares which is quite interesting... and this is what they say about themselves
"Welcome to the game of BlogShares, the addicting and fast-growing web-based experience! Take the time to pop into our Forums and introduce yourself to the friendliest community on the Internet. Get involved! From documentation and support to game logic and coding, BlogShares depends on the amazing volunteer spirit of its players to improve and grow. BlogShares is more than a game, it's an addiction. Keep reading to get in on the fun! BlogShares is a fantasy stock market where weblogs are the companies. Players invest fictional dollars on shares in blogs. Blogs are valued by their incoming links and add value to other blogs by linking to them. Prices can go up or down based on trading and the underlying value of the blog"
Guys go out and enjoy the fantasy world and trade in the shares of the blogs including your favorite ones.
Posted by Vasanth at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2004
Indians What We Achieved
You must be wondering why this is no way connected with topics "in the womb"... This has nothing to do with Nanganallur that's why? Just came across this and wanted to share it with you guys out there... Some of the facts about Indians were recently published in one of the German Magazines that deals with World History and here they are...
38% of Doctors in America are Indians.
12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
36% of NASA employees are Indians.
34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians
28% of IBM employees are Indians
17% of INTEL employees are Indians
13% of XEROX employees are Indians
Interesting isn"t?
But there are many more facts which are not known to people about India and Indians.... We Indians always have the uncanny habit of degrading ourselves without looking into what we have achieved... Such facts should be publicized prominently and Indians should be made proud of what we had achieved and what's at store in the years to come. Days are not far off when we Indians, whether in India or otherwise, will be a dominant force to reckon with if not already...
Some more facts...
Grammar constitutes one of India's greatest contributions to Western philology.
Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian, who lived between 750 and 500 BC, was the first to compose formal grammar through his Astadhyai
Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today?
India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software
Jai Hind
Posted by Vasanth at 02:43 PM | Comments (5)
November 09, 2004
Official Bloggers Meet At Chennai
Hey Guys.... Wonderful Opportunity for the Bloggers at Chennai to meet and exchange their views on the blogging activities happening at Chennai... Its been organized by Lazy Geek (Guru), the veteran Blogger based in Chennai, in fact, from our own Nanganallur... The meet has been tentatively fixed for the 14th of November 2004 at 3.30 pm at the Elliots Beach... For updates on the timings, visit Lazy Geek.
Posted by Vasanth at 01:56 PM | Comments (4)
October 19, 2004
Chennai Test!!!!!!
What a test!!! But what a damp finish... It was all an anti climax... What should have been an enthralling final day turned out to be damp squib. Everybody thought that India will square the series and will play with a new vigor in the Nagpur test.. But I personally believe that it was a blessing in disguise for India! India had to score 210 runs on the final day, on a turning pitch, Warne at his best ever Indian tour, the Indian top order at its worst!! The best ever 4th innings successful chase by any team in Chennai was 155-8, which was in the India-Australia series of 2001 where India marched home with 2 wickets and won the series 2-1!!
It was a sad day for Karthik also, since he had planned to go to Chepauk for watching the final day's play.... But it was nevertheless a blessing in disguise for Brooks!!!!!!
Posted by Vasanth at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)