Proud to be Indian
A friend of mine (Indian Girl) posted this in her profile. I found this entire advertisement to be a mockery of the Indian way of living and filled with generalized statements that are usually hyped by the media. Most of us are infected with phoren virus imported majorly from the western countries. These infected minds will soon advance to a stage of hating their very own mother because her skin is wheatish and she sweats a lot in the kitchen. They would soon want to adopt mummies from the west because western mommies are fairer, richer and nice to show-off.
Just because we cross the seas and visit other countries doesn’t give us the right to make a mockery of our nation. Do we see any foreign nationals making a mockery of their culture? (Do they have a culture?)
Let me give a point to point explanation for this totally stupid advertisement…
Why do we do this?
We fight…to save a few cents [read paise]…
Yes we fight. We are not a nation who can afford to spend lavishly. We are in a situation that demands us to spend wisely. Is spending wisely something to be shunned at? We fight for every Rupee and we have the tendency to save money so that we can survive and take our nation and family through any crisis.And also fight..to pay a big bill…
Thats supposed to be a sign of friendship and unity. We want to share the burden of our friends and we do. I don’t find anything wrong in that too.We say everything takes “one minute”
Even if it takes an hour
“Yek minute saab…” or “Oru Nimisham saar…” thats a common word. If you are a person who literally translates the meaning to “One minute sir…” I would say, you have forgotton your roots. It means “One moment please…” A moment can be a minute, hour or even a day…We store everything that is plastic..
Thank God, we are not polluting the environment by throwing them away in garbage. We understand that we don’t have a proper recycling mechanism in place. When we can’t recycle, we reuse and reduce…And cover everything in plastic
This is to protect the appliances from sweat and dust which is more common in a tropical country like India, more than anywhere else…We take Cricket seriously…
We take Cricket seriously very seriously…
And Movies, even more seriously…
You can’t generalize and pivot your arguements on what the media highlights…
We have to have pressure cookers…
Pressure cookers save a lot of energy and helps to cook fast. This is a luxury which other countries can’t enjoy because of geographical location, altitude and temprature.
And have to have smoke alarms..
What smoke alarms? Invalid point…We have more spice than food…
Spice and Chilly is good for health and it cools down your system. Again this is a delicacy which only Indian can enjoy. Try eating spicy food in antartatica…And more food than plate…
Plate is new to our culture. Our traditional food is to be consumed on banana leaves or lotus leaves. Its the adultration by the western culture that makes things look bad…We nod to say ‘yes’
We nod the same to say ‘no’
Again generalization and induced mockery…That’s just the way we are..
Yes, that the way we are… thats the way we live because we live in India. I am a proud Indian. Are you?
The real fith of this nation is not in the culture or the lifestyle. Its the corrupt political system and the inefficient governing bodies. Show the world the real state of the nation and I am with you…
Dell tagline – Screw to Survive
My Dell XPS laptop is helping me explore and discover a lot of Dell’s business strategies and most of them are unethical. My previous post would detail the problem I am currently facing with my Dell XPS M1210. I knew that Dell would not help me unless I pay them what they demand. But still I wanted to check my Luck Quotient. I called up Dell and the executive (Mr trained-Smarty-dell-mouthpiece) spoke to me for about an hour. Let me give you the gist of the conversation.
I have recorded this in my mobile. I will post the audio clip soon.
Once I explained the problem, he asked me to be on hold for a while, so that he could check what best he can do for me. He came back on the line and told me that he is going to give me a break-fix-warranty.
Now what is a break fix warranty for me? Pay for 1 year extended warranty + engineer visit + spare part cost. That will be 19,000INR in total. I told him, that this problem is not only with my notebook. Many people who have got the same model have suffered because of the design flaw. This is Dell’s fault and Dell must absorb the cost and replace it without charging.
He accepted that its a design issue with the GeForce 7400 gfx card and Dell has automatically extended the 1 year warranty to an extra year for all the product with 7400 gfx cards. My laptop has cruised past 2 years exactly (on March 8th 2009) so Dell will not replace it for free.
I was pretty shocked. Hang on! One year ago on March 2008, I called you guys and wanted to pay for an extended warranty and no one told me that I get a free warranty extension at that time. You guys sent me quotes and if had gone ahead with the purchase, I would have ended up paying for a free service.
He justified and rolled back his statement that, these free warranty was only for systems with fault. Yes, mine is faulty as well. Only that the fault came to light exactly after 20 days of expiry of the warranty + “so-called-free-extended” warranty period.
Dell… the greatest customer screwing machine of all time… Ok! I don’t want to drift off-topic. Now, I don’t care about extended warranty. A company like Dell must take responsibility for its mistakes and take back the faulty parts it has sold.
His point was, the company has extended its good-will gesture for one year and my laptop had no problems during that tenure and now I have to pay for it.
And so forth and so on… the argument was going nowhere. The business strategy I learnt is, sell a faulty product to the customer and sell it over and over to the same customer, when the product fails. Nice strategy to make money, especially during the tough times of recession. I am sure Dell would not face any economic strangles with policies like this in place. Even if I pay for the service and get the Motherboard replaced, it is bound to fail in another year’s time.
Shall I or Should I not?
When Dell let me down!
Dell, as we all know is an International house-hold name for quality computer products. But what we don’t know is the fact that, Dell have become complacent off-late and are concentrating more on quantity of sale, rather than the quality of the product.
There are people who have purchased Dell’s standard model laptops and sat back contently for the rest of the product’s long life time. There are also people like me who have gone in for so-called premium products (actually, experimental) and are doomed to suffer for the rest of product (short) life time.
I purchased a Dell machine 2 years ago. It was the top end machine at that time. Its the Dell XPS M1210. You can just google for its specifications, if you really want to. I preferred it over other products just for 2 reasons.
- Reliability on the Dell Brand name.
- Portability w.r.t. to its size (12″)
I did a thorough market research before I made the decision. I browsed a lot, I asked questions at forums, chat with people who have got laptops recently, hunted for information and quotations in almost every computer shop in Chennai and finally made the worst decision: to stick with Dell. In spite of the fact that, I don’t get to see the product, before I make the purchase, I went ahead and procured the consignment.
Until then, the customer service and sales personnel were very cordial and helpful. Exactly one year later, they started showing their real face. The scornful capitalistic empty-your-wallet plus-your-life-savings kinda face.
The battery failed me. Instead of the promised 3 hour backup, I got only 45 min or less. Then six months later, the battery went completely dead. I found out that the warranty or the extended warranty would not cover battery. (They were aware that it would fail in 1 year) And Dell batteries are not cheap.
Six months from then, out of the blue-moon, the graphics card crashed. I had no clue why it had happened. The Dell technical assistant over the phone asked me to run a few tests and declared that the graphics card has crashed and told me in a relaxed cool tone that I have shed a fortune to get it fixed. Eyebrows raised, I asked him the reason. He told that the graphics card was integrated with the motherboard and the entire mommy has to be replaced. I was not sure as mine had an Nvidia GeForce 7400 and it must be an add-on card. But the Mr.Knowall-tech-assist insisted that I must pay a shit-load to get my lappie bounce back to life.
To my bitter surprise, I found that many people who had purchased the XPS series had similar problem and I was not alone. The problem is with the heat sink design. The laptop design is so bad, that the processor’s heat dissipates via the motherboard to the vent. That’s a serious flaw in the design and this causes the circuits to fail. Unlike the famous “burning-laptop-battery” issue, this issue is not common in all the laptops they build, but only in a few. I believe that’s the reason, Dell has not called for a mass-recall.
If such a flaw has been detected on their standard laptop models, then they would have panicked, as the corporate bigwig customers would rap the knuckles hard on Dell. But XPS product line is not purchased by corporate houses, instead by single customers like me.
Yet, I strongly believe that Dell must have taken responsibility and must have come forward to solve such known-issues. But they didn’t. All they want is the customer’s money and not their satisfaction. I still can’t digest the fact that Dell has let me down and many other customers. Never again would I go for a Dell product. Not even for a mouse. Many of my friends ask me for suggestions and I have recommended Dell to them. I would never ever do that mistake again.
This time am not gonna pay Dell, instead, Ill try to fix the problem on my own. If not successful, I would ditch the laptop and get rid of the last Dell product among my processions.
Update: Adding a few links to validate the point that, I am not alone -
ITWorld – Dell takes heat for faulty Nvidia chips
the black sheep's message
“Ba Ba Black Sheep.. Have u any message..
Ye Dude.. stick it right before ur visage..
One for the stray Dog…
One for the foolish bloak…
and one for the general Weenie
Who often looses the stop valve…”
The message to Dogs:
Please don’t feel offended. Its not to you the message is directed. You can’t read and still you can still be trained with good potty habits. The message is intended to the homosapiens who can read and still can be very bad when it comes to public toileting habits.
Message to the Foolish Bloak:
I asked you not to do it. I call you a fool when you do it again. But still when you can’t hold it till you reach a private littering area, I have no option rather than to call you a Dog. If you read between the lines of my message, it would be actually an uncouth dog falling anachronically into the 21st century straight from the pre-victorian age, when no toilet was invented.
And to all the weenies who can’t hold it a little longer:
Show little dignity and prove you that you belong to the age of penultimate civilization.
English Translation of the punchlines: Don’t empty your tanks here fools! (1st Picture). Dogs! Its not your toilet (2nd Picture)
Non-destructive vandalism
Its a common sight to see in public places how people try to vandalize public property. Restroom doors and walls, train compartments, bus seats, subway walls, etc are prone to such attack. I actually don’t understand why people go about writing their names with telephone numbers or just their girl friend’s names around. Even if there is some public message, I can understand to an extent. Graffiti is different and ill drift off-track if I discuss that. I remember seeing people write gossips in school or college private areas. But there the person whom the message is intended happens to be around and he or she may get the point. But on public area, no one is going to care on whats scribbled on the walls. Still why do people resort to such vandalism acts?
Recently I was travelling in one of the so-called deluxe buses in Chennai. The standards of the buses have gone up, the conductor has upgraded to ticket vending machine, the door closes automatically, and our people’s vandalism has also taken a new dimension. I prefer to call it non-destructive vandalism. They don’t write directly on the seats or the walls. Instead they write in a piece of paper and wedge it between the seat and the glass lamination behind it.
Ride with the demons
The roads are becoming increasingly dangerous. Not because of the poor infrastructure. Its because of the rising tolerance levels among the commuters and the regulators. The long of law is not long enough to teach the careless riders any lesson. The daily office goer is very busy and has no time to report careless driving. Road rage is on the rise and so is the tolerance level. Breaking the rules has become the way of life for many roadsters. No respect of lanes, signals, pedestrians or the common sense. Its not enough that the citizen journalists get-together to fight external terror or political incompetency to make the city a safe haven. Its time we did a clear check on the internal affairs. It time we first clean the shit on the back and then get equipped to sanitize external threats.
Click Image to Enlarge
This truck was seen speeding on the Chennai roads at peak office hours. The rods sticking out of their vehicle was like something out of the movie “Death Race”. A sudden unexpected break would cost the life of the bike rider just behind him. The authorities have been busy tooth-picking or what?
The Chain-Mail Massacre
Next to Phlishing mail, the most hated mail in anybody’s inbox would be the chain mail. We would have got mails from our contacts with some God’s name in it and asking to be forwarded. If forwarded to n number of people, we will get good luck or good news or even money. If not, we are doomed! I hate these mails, but hate it more when my contacts send it to me. Earlier, we used to get postcards and inland letters of this kind. I remember my grandmom screaming at the sight of such posts and she calls for those mails to be destroyed immediately. Then came chain mails, chain SMS and now it has taken a step further.
Chain Voice Mails. Yesteday, I got a text message asking me to check my voice mail. I dialed my voice mail and I could heard a devotional song. Then a voice told me to forward it to 10 people if I want to get a good news soon. Unfortunately, I left my call recorder off, else I could have shared the voice mail here. I couldn’t help symphatising people who believe in such crap and forward to others. Even the sanest of the sane people tend to fall for such schemes. I only pity them. They must be so desperate in life and want their voice to be heard by God at any cost. God doesn’t work based on chain forwards and hope people realize that.
Candy cents
5 kaasu thirudina thappa? Thappu ille
5 thadave 5 kaasu thirudina thappa? Thappu mathiri thaan theriyuthu
5 paer 5 thadave 5 kaasu thirudine thappa? thappu thaan…- This dialogue from Anniyan movie could have been a object of ridicule for many serials and commercials. But in reality…
Indian Government has been minting coins with various denominations and over a period of time, some of the denominations have been pulled back. But in recent times, though the government has not stopped neither minting or withdrawing certain denomination, some coins are not accepted by shop keepers and vendors. Lets talk about the 50 paise scarcity. 50 paise is not a very weak denomination and one can still buy a lot of stuff for just 50 paise. Though the government is still minting 10 paise and 25 paise, lets not talk about it as you can rarely put them to use (other than start collecting them). A few months back I got to know from a news channel that coins like 1 rupee or 50 Paise are being used to manufacture razor blades and then smuggled out of the country to be sold at a higher value. This is illegal and equally illegal is vendors not accepting denominations of valid coins. But I really don’t care when they refuse to accept it. It really puts me off, when they refuse to give proper balance back to the customers.
Public Bus conductors are the No 1 accused culprits when it comes to not giving back proper change. These guys just refuse to give 50 paise back and a simple calculation will tell that they will be making a profit of Rs 200 to Rs 300 per day, by just not giving back 50 paise. A very easy way to swindle around 30k per month without actually cheating the government.
Also now the vendors have found a better way to give change (substitute) for 50 paise. Candies… From petty shop owners to chain departmental store, everywhere you can find people giving you 50 paise worth (MRP) candies to customers. I find it very irritating coz I am not a kid to be offered with candies. To be forcefully offered something a customer doesn’t want and charge him for that should also be made illegal. Will they accept candies from customers instead of money? If i offer 20 mint-o-fresh candies to a shopowner and demand stuff for Rs 10, will he accept it? Or when he has to give me 50 paise, if I give him a candy, will he give me 1 rupee? (I got into a huge argument with Reliance Fresh cashier when I tried this today morning…finally got my 50 paise…) The actual wholesale price of these candies would be 10-15 paise and they are given as substitute for 50 paise. A 35 paise margin in a shop like Reliance or Spencers would also bring in unaccounted / untaxed Rs 400-500 in to cash box per day.
50 paise on its own is not a big deal to waste one’s day with your bus conductor or store keeper. But I would prefer to give a couple of 50 paise coins to beggars rather than to loose it with people who try to swindle it and be a victim of this un-noticed large scale scandal.
As a precaution, I prefer to swipe my plastic in shops and also carry a couple of 50 paise coins and 1 50 paise candy in my wallet. Shopkeepers be ready for a brawl when I step in…
Doubles not welcome!
Me and My friend Kannapan decided to go out and have dinner one Sunday evening in Chennai. But the restaurant we chose, had different plans for us. Just the 2 of us started out and strayed into Ashok Nagar and stumbled onto Hotel Sangamam near Ashok Pillar. I thought I have never tried that restaurant and so decided to experiment. As we walked in, a friendly door guard welcomed us in Chettinad Style. Then as we asked a waiter (No.1) a table for 2, he asked us to sit along with 2 guys in mid 40s. We didn’t want to share tables, coz we thought this was decent restaurant and we would like to have some time to chat as well. So we sat down facing each other in a table which had place for 4. A waiter (No.2) came to us and told to sit in same side as people will be coming in. I told him politely that if people come in, we will move. We clearly saw around 4-5 empty tables. The guy repeated but I insisted and shoo’d him away. No water was given yet. 5 min later another waiter (No.3) came and told us again to move to the same side. He was testing my temper. I told him, ok ill go out and bring 2 more people. The guy asked us to calm down as he was just requesting and walked away. Still no water served. We asked for water to another waiter (No.4) and he came with a water jug and asked us to sit on the same sides.
This made me really angry and I started giving out my sting remarks. I asked Kannappan if we can walk out and he asked me calm down. By now we have attracted much attention and 2 managers walked to us. They asked what the problem was. When explained, they listened intently and said that they waiters would have requested as they were expecting more crowd and without any apology or action, they walked away. Now the waiter no.3 came back and asked us what had happened. He justified himself but kept on his rude attitude. Now even Kannappan lost it and he shouted at him and questioned his way of treating customers. We walked out.
Else probably all the waiters would have teamed up and would have beaten us up and threated to sit on the same side.
Actually I don’t have any issues sharing tables with strangers. But the way they said it and their collective attitude totally pissed me off. In this chettinad restaurant, you wouldn’t find meaning for Gandhi’s words who said customers are the God.
I usually avoid eating outside for one reason that I always want food to be served with love and care to me. I find in many restaurants in Chennai and was deceived by the friendly door gaurd in this particular restaurant.
Advice is to avoid this restaurant if the number is 2.
