Kaikondanhalli Lake

Such a beautiful jogging track, almost 2KM, around a nicely located lake on Sarjapur Road. Shabana Azmi did wonders to beautify Bandra's promenade using her MPLAD funds. If only Bangalore MPs were less greedy, similar funding could provide a public space to residents of this water-starved area, reduce dependence on malls for evenings and weekend, and public use of the lake would ensure that builders don't slowly but surely destroy and encroach this prime location....

Lake-a-thon at Kaikondanhalli Lake in 2011

Update: the lake in 2020, 8 years later. All the green around the lake has been destroyed to make way for new apartments, that will probably drain their sewage into the lake. Notice the overall lack of green cover on this same area, in just a few years

November Rain

This has been a year of contradictions. With some happy and some sad moments, it has been nothing short of an adventure. While I am glad the year is finally coming to an end, it will forever live in my memory. They say when it rains, it pours. Well, this year the sky fell upon me on Sep 1 when dad passed away. But the seventh heaven beckoned on 12.11.10 when my child was born. In January, I felt sad shifting from my old rental place because Cubby was born there. Little did I know, in less than a year the new place would enjoy the same privilege.

The ped came out of the OT on that cloudy Friday morning and asked "Who's the father of the baby?"; when I went up, he clasped my hands and said "Congratulations, you have a daughter. Both mom and kid are healthy". This time, we were so sure it would be a boy (determining sex of the foetus is illegal in India, so it remains a surprise) that I was once again at a loss to react. Just like we were so sure it would be a girl the first time round. Happily, Bub (short for Babli, which is what I plan to Blogname her after that spunky movie character) completes that fervent dream for me and my family.

The next 3 days were just a pleasant cycle of going home to pack the food, visiting mom & bub during the day, and cleaning poo between snatches of watching "Rakhi ka Insaaf" on TV. Curiously, stormy winds and lashing rains kept the weather cold and wet. Who'd have thunk we'd worry about clothes drying for a November baby?!!

Wife's folks were such a fabulous support and continue to protect our sleep even today, isolating us from Bub's nightly wailings. No one can pamper us like moms can -- it is such a blessing! The hospital, a smallish affair close to home, was also a great caregiver. Pleasant rooms, pleasant nurses and despite the chaos in the outpatient area the inpatient billing was a breeze. The best part is how chilled the doctor was, making our lives that much simpler.

The highlight of this birth was to see how my first-born would react. We were all eager to know, and that wait got extended because he went to school, then went home, then had a bath and followed his routine before arriving around 2PM.

At first he didn't know what to make of this bundle in the cradle. He had always seen his sibling as this extended tummy of his mummy, and now to be asked to believe that this very real baby is that tummy was a bit much. But he is a sweet kid and within a few minutes, Bubli was in his lap. Of course, we sweetened the deal by making sure he enjoyed hospital visits-- Bourbon biscuits, fruit juices, chips, jumping on the bed and running down the stretcher-ramp. By the last day, he was all excited to decorate the house for Babli's welcome home and even helped carry the bags.

Ever since it is a pleasure to watch him copy us in every way-- whether rushing to fetch the wipes, replacing the nappies, singing her to sleep or just random acts of affection. Considering she gives zero response so far, I am impressed that he keeps at it without losing interest. I am told the sibling rivalry truly kicks in only little later. Somehow I have a feeling it is not going to be that bad for us...! In fact, he seems to have grown up little too fast-- and we need to consciously treat him like the child he is. Suddenly, he is all mature, all caring and very understanding. Believe it or not, he even seems taller than he was!

We are also experimenting with an ammaji imported from our native this time. That has been going great and she is a huge support. Such a professional despite her illiteracy, it is a comforting sight to see her massage and bathe the baby. Sadly, she's here only for 3 months and will get us addicted to the good life by then. Like all modern parents, our #1 worry is finding someone to raise the baby we produced ;-)

As we look back upon the last nine months, we have a lot to be grateful for. The best of all was the love and blessings created in the blogosphere, which truly made the experience fun and protected us from evil eyes and Voldemorts. As per the wife's instructions, one of the first few sms's to go out included the blogging moms. I even asked some of them to pray hard, when they wheeled her in for the (brrrr...) operation (ok, ok, i mean, the C-sec). The fabulous baby shower, the elated announcements, the many many congratulation messages, some very sensible advises on managing siblings, the baby-name polls.... thank you, ladies, for making it all SO special.

Sach, is baarish mein aaj doob jaane ko mann karta hai.

Welcome, princess. Wish you a life full of health, zest for life and a sense of humour...

The Mask (1994)

A short poem created in 1995, when the world seemed to be collapsing around a confused teenager. I crossed that bridge to become what I am today. A confused dad. This is dedicated to the force that led me here.... and beyond.

Titled: fooling me into living (Dec 21, 1995)

Tensely

I exclaimed that I just couldn’t sit to study.

“Don’t”, He said.

I finished off the syllabus within two days.

I am lonely because I don’t have any friends.

“Congratulations”.

It is always lonely, He said, at the top.

I gave the performance of a lifetime. It was a flop.

He smiled.

I was “far ahead of my era to be appreciated.”

I have no goodness in me and my life is a mess.

“Agreed.”

I decided to live, and with the badness, after all.

I discovered that He’d been lying all along, to me.

“Of course

I lied”, He said, “...to let you discover the truth.”

Dad/Daadu: Friend, Philosopher and Guide

Cubby's favorite daadu passed away last week. These rare archives of the great moments they spent with each other are all that remain. It is pure joy to see them bounce off each other. Their bond was even stronger than the one I shared with papa; luckily, the brat is too young to notice the void. I do hope, though, that he remembers the love and fun-times with his daadu all those years ago.... when he is old enough.

RIP, dad. You'll be missed.

Good night and take care... (just a bad dream)

Last week, we heard the tragic news of an attack that left my grandaunt fatally wounded and my granduncle fighting for his life. Someone broke into their house in Lucknow and bludgeoned them to death, even as my cousins slept in a room next door. I am still unable to come to grips with the absurdity of this violence. Did someone go this far only to "decamp" with a few thousands worth of cash and gold? What did such a docile, retired and charming couple do to deserve such a ghastly end?

Today my dad called to say that a cabbie for Wipro BPO suddenly accosted him in Pune and accused him of bashing into his cab. As evidence, he pointed to the missing rear-view glass. Oddly enough, there was not a scratch on dad's car and neither did he experience any "contact". The behaviour and circumstances of the accusation pointed to a well-planned extortion attempt. Thankfully, the cabbie was forced to retreat when the security and other people from the apartment complex came around to support dad.

Under the trying circumstances, dad did not think to take the cab's number or driver details. He did, however, note the ID card details of the other person in the cab. He did not look very presentable but carried a Wipro employee ID card. We thought the matter was closed and all's well that ended well.

At 10 in the night, the cabbie landed up at the doorstep of this old couple. What kind of security we pay for, that allows anyone to merely walk up 5 floors late at night, is a separate post. How the cabbie discovered where my dad lived is another scary thought. But there he was. Once again, dad decided not to get intimidated by someone clearly out to play the aggressor. Once again, a bit of yelling and crowd-gathering made the cabbie beat a retreat. Once again, the shaken parents did not get his details or even a cell-phone mug-shot. They just shooed him away and locked themselves in.

It is now past midnight. I am 1000 miles away from those who protected me all their lives. The people I love most in this world are asleep in the next room. The people I love more than most are, probably, tossing in their beds... their hearts skipping a beat at every rustle and noise in the darkness. All I can do is... nothing!

In India, going to the cops is worse than facing the mafia-- so that is not an option. The only security is anonymity. Today, my parents lost their cloak of invisibility. If the person was indeed from Wipro, we are hoping a call to their helpdesk will sort it out in the morning. If he was a ruffian posing as a cabbie, will we live in daily fear of his footsteps? His visit to the house was a clear message.

In the best case, he will take the cash tomorrow and leave us alone. In the best case, he will damage our car and leave us alone.

Until then, a most peace less night awaits us all. This is the land where I pay taxes and cast my vote. Yet, in this land petty goons are free to behave larger-than-life because, let's face it, it is THEIR representatives that we vote to power. As my favorite comic book says: Who will watch the watchmen...?

Even the most nastik of us, at such times, can only say: Please God, make this go away....

Update 24hrs later: We have found the cab number is MH 12 DT 1638. Once we sent that information to Wipro BPO, they confirmed it was one of their fleet. Just knowing that is such a relief! Many thanks to Mr.Mirza, the HR person who went above and beyond to assist us during the entire dreadful episode.

We are now waiting for the cabbie to arrive and take his money, and leave us alone.

Epilogue:

While this story seems to have a happy ending, maybe there is still a moral in this. Especially for the brave-hearts managing the runaway population (I won't say 'menace') of call-center cabs on our streets. We spent 2 anxious days because a foul-mouthed person invaded our home. Irrespective of who is at fault, intimidating an elderly couple in their own house at midnight is just not OK. Instead, cabbies should be instructed that in case of minor accidents, the matter be reported to transport coordinator. Let them take it forward with some decency and professionalism. In the absence of regulation and law, it is up to the BPOs to display sense of social responsibility.

Thanks for all your prayers and best wishes. Hopefully tomorrow morning this will just be a bad dream...

I Know What You Did Last Summer (Worked Guest Relations at ITC?)

Just saw an example of lax security implementations and an appalling lack of understanding the nature of Internet among Indian companies.

Check out the CSV files at this link for detailed email addresses, designations and other details of executives at some of India's best companies. We know this was extracted from a jobsite, like naukri.com or timesjobs.com, because of the "job site" specific fields. Each CSV has 20,000 records!

naukri.com is a brilliant website when it comes to matching your skills to great jobs. The nature of their service requires that we share our contact details, work life details and location details with them. For a spammer or scammer, all it takes is an easy tool to scrape through their pages and voila! they can build a valuable database of the Great Indian Middle Class. This working, web-friendly population is also the who's who of most likely e-commerce users.

Unfortunately, timesjobs.com and naukri.com have no incentive to invest in stronger systems and processes that prevent their pages from becoming a watering hole, where spammers can hunt without fear. There is neither loss of revenue nor any penalties being imposed. In most cases, it is impossible to even prove that the data was leaked from them. After every attack, our toothless regulators get busy chasing after phantom "cyber terrorists". In fact, amateur mistakes in the sites/pages being attacked are large part of the problem.

They are not alone. Airtel, BSNL and Rediff are among critical sites that reveal personal data without remorse. Frustratingly, their help desk does not even acknowledge this criminal negligence, so I've rarely succeeded in getting them to take it off. For me, it took little more than a Google search to spot these lapses. A penetration test may reveal more-- especially around how they store our credit card data (in clear text? easily copied to an employee's USB disk? You'll be surprised!). If they have nothing to hide, they must make results of such tests public.

The way things are, the law punishes anyone who exposes criminal security holes in corporate infrastructure (the ethical hackers) while letting the offending corporation go scot-free. To add insult to injury, the Flashwala website is protected by another service called Privacy Protect. That means you cannot identify who is behind this abusive domain using WhoIs.com.

Once again, the criminals have all the "rights" :-)

Notwithstanding the number of "Do Not Disturb" registries you subscribed to, those pesky calls (and worse, phishing attempts) won't stop till the legitimate keepers of sensitive data are forced to own some responsibility. Ironically, even the so-called "best Internet companies" believe their job ends at slapping together a few pages of HTML code to build a "website". In the absence of any effective regulatory and penal mechanism, they are as careful with our credit card and personal information as a monkey with a Swaroski vase.

Giving them too much latitude, are we?

Received an invite to share location data on Google Latitude from a friend. When I wanted to accept, Google said it is in no way affiliated with the script and I accept at my own risk. Huh? The URL has Google all over it, the page happens to be called Google Accounts and yet Google wishes to wash it's hands off any liability for Latitude. Why?

Like most Google inventions, Latitude overwhelms with its awesomeness. Like most of their inventions, it also petrifies with its power and potential for abuse. Today, most invasions of privacy that we undertake (like Googling the street-view of the boss' fancy condo) border on the benign and the legal. It won't take an Al-Qaeda to figure out more 'profitable' uses of the same. For all you know, it'll be your friendly neighbourhood bank (that epitome of unethical self-righteousness) that starts the trend!

Even the recent Chinese comedy demonstrates Google's cult status. Despite so-called public outrage, they acted against the spirit of the Internet in 2006. For profit. What's the wager they will not someday extend their benevolent gate keeping to other or all users of the Internet? Still, we will use and need to use Google; much like how Holmes needs his opium.

While the Freemasons, Scientologists, OPEC and 'The Temple of the Four Orders' bicker over grandiose plans of world domination, it's fait-accompli for a group of nerds .

The Big Shift

We are starting 2010 with a house hunt. This is not even to buy, so the sleepless nights are absurd. One would think a city like this one would have a gazillion houses for rent. One would think all houses nowadays come standard with stuff you need. One would think the recession would help in getting a good deal (like my tenant sure did when we let out last year!). One would think wrong.

I am anyway paranoid about moving. Having lived in 11 cities and moving every 2 years, I imagined myself to be a seasoned mover. But all those were managed by les parents. Doing it yourself is completely different (and that's the least of things you learn to respect about those oldies, once you become a parent yourself). Apart from the physical movement, there's all the address-proof to be updated, KYCs to be re-known, phone lines to be shifted and blah blah. Then there's the making friends with new neighbours, making deals with a nice or not-so-nice new landlord and of course, praying for a quick and complete refund of the advance from the old one.

Just deciding on a house took us 3 weekends. Starting with a lovely house that had horrendous woodwork, through a small and expensive house with lovely woodwork, we almost settled on a cozy house with no woodwork till suddenly we saw a large house with passable woodwork. Being large it is not as cozy, but it's a corner flat so gets nice light and air from all sides. The colony seems to have kids and space, even though the people there seemed extra sensitive about "non-vegetarians". While we haven't hidden this fact, we hope the good Brahmins won't end up in the shower every time we say "Good morning" to them...

The clincher was that the place has a terrace all its own. That kind of put a stop to any further deliberation, despite the slightly higher tag and slightly inferior fittings. And a nice study table to boot. So I won't break my neck typing out these blogs. Or, er, even the white papers I must write for a living. And did I mention it is right at the corner of the block? :-)

The reason for the shift was simple: Cubby needed the space and security provided by an apartment complex. He also needed the friends that such places usually guarantee. Not that people living in independent houses stay friendless, but maybe this is just the Bambaiyya in me talking. Now that we have identified the right house, it is more than just Cubby. We can't help but dream of having friends over, decorating the walls with new stuff and spending time in the gardens below. Yes, we're kind of stretching the budget. Some say we might as well have paid an EMI. In the end, will it all be worth it?

The present house has been a blessing for us (our landlord claims its the Vaastu). I look at photos of the first time we moved here. The silly grins on our face. The long videos of each empty room. It was our first BIG decision after marriage. It was also the place where Cubby was born.

Will the new one be our "home" as well? I look forward to the memories that A-307 will create... Your prayers and best wishes will make that happen.

Tale of Two Cities

Tweets this afternoon have gone on a creative overdrive. Sample these:

• sunayana Great. Now searching for #bandh gives both #hyderabad and #bangalore bandh updates. How convenient

• aksh_effect: I hope #Bangalore stops honoring the ancient Egyptian custom of burying prominent actors with some of their admirers.

• anand_bala #wtf #Bangalore The art of rumour mongering TimesNow style: "which reportedly could have lead to death of few"

• impiyush #vishnuvardhan died, office off, m confused m happy or sad :( as i cant utilize the time outside...

We are sitting in the office, focussing less on Windows7 and more on the windows that over look the street. So far the road seems peaceful, traffic seems normal, buses and autos are plying... but the sense of dread builds up every time one peeks at the TV news playing in the lobby. Those who could leave have gone, the others are packing for a long night at work. Or maybe a comfortable ride home at 6PM. We don't know yet.

All this fear and anxiety because an actor died a natural death. No bombs, no assassination, no conspiracy.

If you watch TV, you'd think Bangalore is already up in flames. Unheard of channels like the local TV9 are leading with sensational headlines, hoping this is to them what Gulf War meant to CNN. Established channels like Times Now are reporting deaths in police firing, without even a hint of proof. In the most irresponsible manner, they are fuelling rumor instead of quelling it.

In the absence of any genuine terror attacks, creepy serial killers or bomb blasts, the TV News people are clutching at every straw to exceed last-minute targets for 2009. So every rumor is announced as fact, only to be retracted later; every fly-swat is the next big crisis to hit humanity. The death of Vishnuvardhan, a popular actor in Bangalore, brings back memories of the riots that followed Dr.Rajkumar's death. Both were natural deaths, so naturally, people expected their fans to react by turning the city into a funeral pyre.

Some are even calling for all New Year celebrations to be called off. Already all shows of '3 Idiots' have been cancelled across the city (along with couple of screens that bothered showing any other film).

But the situation is hardly cataclysmic yet. At least not until we grant the 24X7 News guys their New Year wish.

Nowadays, seems like there is no difference whether it is Al-Qaeda or the local actor's Fan Club. Either one of them can come between you and your family, without the least bit of provocation.

-----------

On a related note, it hurts to see how Hyderabad, a most beautiful and bubbly city, is being raped by the ones who profess to love it the most. I pray they leave her in peace soon.

Weekend Getaway: Galibore is anything but a bore

On Gandhi Jayanti, our team decided to celebrate the end of recession with a team outing. In keeping with Gandhiji's focus on simplicity, we opted to camp under the stars in the jungles around Bangalore. Also to save money, just in case the recession was not over. After weeks of market research (ah! home ground for we are, after all, the marketing team), we zeroed in on Galibore fishing camp on the banks of river Cauvery.

The camp itself is a beautiful array of 12 cottages nestled among huge, green trees. There is nothing for miles around—no plastic, no vehicles, no food, not even roads. There’s no better venue for a reunion with Mother Nature.

We hired an outfit called Outback adventurers to help us in the wilderness. These guys were quite good although for some reason or other, 50% of the planned activities were scrapped. We did get our money back, so I'll try them again. They were ready for us with the first activity of the day—rafting—as soon as we hopped off the bus.

Getting into the life-jackets we felt adventurous already. After a brief safety speech by Sanjeev, our expert navigator, the real thrills began. A couple of rapids tested our synchronization and strength. No one fell overboard, which was kind of disappointing! A good memory was the 30 minutes we spent dunked (Swimming is too sporty a word for it) in the river, just relaxing. It was also useful practice in case we did go overboard. Drenched and happy, we completed the trip in about 90 minutes.

Back at the camp, the aroma of delicious chicken curry, spicy chhole and piping hot rasam beckoned us. Still in our wet clothes, we attacked the yummiest food we have had in a long time. Stuffed to the gills, we hung ourselves out on the hammocks to dry. After a brief rest, we took off on a short hike into the woods. Unfortunately, they couldn’t fix the mountain bikes so that activity was canceled. Went on a coracle ride instead, during which we scared a crocodile (yeah, right!). The crooner in our group filled the evening air with John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” while the rest of us croaked “Row row row your boat, gently down the stream…”

The rest of the evening we lolled on the banks of the river, enjoying some barbequed chicken and salads, sat around a bonfire playing juvenile games from college. A round of “Truth and Dare” and “Two Truths and a Lie” revealed some dark and disturbing secrets. A blood oath prevents me from revealing the juicy bits here. Soon the frivolous banter turned into heated discussions about love, life and everything in between, which went on late into the night. We gained a lot of new perspectives and probably examined a few beliefs we had never questioned before. Basically, we were drunk.

By midnight, we crawled into our small tent and were off to Snoreville in 5 minutes. The weather was cool but not cold, cloudy but not rainy. They said generally the heat at the camp is sweltering, so I guess we were just lucky. After a peaceful sleep in the tents, woke up only at 6 to the sound of “Trekking at 7, saar. Please have tea and be ready!”.

This time we went up a short hill. We struggled in our Nikes and Reeboks while our guide leapt like a mountain goat in Hawai chappals. The top gave a breathtaking view of the meandering river. It was so calm and peaceful, we felt like staying up forever (also to avoid ambling down those slippery rocks again!). The official lens-men took this time to capture some artistic shots on their digital SLRs, especially one of us being led down the hill by none other than MG him-(err.. her) self. See the pic.

After all this exertion (especially for someone, uh… healthier, like me), breakfast never tasted better.They had the freshest bread and monster omelletes and to-die-for chutneys and... you get the picture, yeah!

Then it was time to leave. We bid a sad goodbye to the river, promising to return with our families soon. We thanked the staff (in cash AND kind) for the excellent service. The return journey was noisier, now that we were better friends than before. Singing and chatting, Bangalore came sooner than expected. Except for the final no-road stretch (about 10KM), the other 90KM has good road. Just the mad truckers and village-routes on Kanakapura Road keep you from relaxing.

We put ourselves back into managing release deadlines and top-lines, bottom-lines, knowing that the only "water-droplet on a leaf" we'd see for a long time now would be the Windows 7 desktop wallpaper. We said a silent prayer for the good people who dedicate their lives to maintaining such oasis of sanity and nature, away from barren information super-highways where Robotomized IT-wallahs like us journey without a destination.

As with every escape to nature, it's the getting back that feels like being 'recaptured' by prison guards.

High-Cost Flying and DG (no-see) A

I remember appreciating the DGCA a few years ago for a rare attempt to show it is not owned by Prafool Patel, who is owned by You-Know-Who. It forced airlines to state the all-inclusive tariff on their web pages and ads. Otherwise, it had become a nightmare to compare Rs.1 tickets against Rs.0 tickets with varying levels of "fees and taxes". Sadly, now DGCA seems to have its hands full with lecherous pilots and runaway VIPs. The cartels work so transparently in the airline industry that a first-year economics student could write a paper on it. Yet, the regulator is unable, unwilling or uninterested in calling their bluff. Instead the Minister doles out a new package to these 'loss making' companies every few weeks, waiving off fuel arrears or infusing interest-free loans. In return, airlines continue to show more losses after paying for free VIP tickets, executive perks and poor-pilots strikes.

A list of the creative ways in which low-cost airlines get money that rightfully belongs to us, shedding tears while they do it:

1. No refunds if you cancel a ticket. The money stays with them. If you don't travel with THEM again within a SHORT period (like 6 months), you lose it. If you are someone old who travels just once a year, or a foreigner, too bad.

2. If you want clear instructions on how to re-use the balance, go rub a lamp. The website won't help. Spend half an hour on the phone, providing all sorts of verification, and then pay transaction charge for booking the new route (which is free in case of web booking). Fail one verification query, and lose it.

3. All this is on top of the cancellation fee which is often double or more the "base price" of the ticket (they claim the rest just goes to the fuel company or the government, anyway).

4. Even on a normal ticket, they have a paradoxical charge. There's the airport congestion fee (that implies LACK of airport infrastructure) as well as an airport development fee (that implies a GREAT new airport infrastructure) on the same ticket. Aren't these two conditions mutually exclusive?

5. Finally, of course, is the stale sandwich at airport cafes that somehow deserves to priced at Rs.150. By what logic, man?

I am all for paying a premium to get great service. Paying for services not used or exaggerated is plain disgusting.

It would be nice to see DGCA demand to know what percentage of the airlines' cash-flow comes from such unaccounted monies. It doesn't take a finance-whiz kid for them to park it safely in the "liabilities" column. Sure, it's a liability to carry someone else's money for 6 months and earn free interest on it, until it lapses and you can finally sieze it.

Liberalisation has opened a new can of worms for Indian consumers. Now that private sector has the flexibility to create confusing and complex packages and plans for most services, a regulator is required on top of them to ensure consumer rights. Somehow we feel this is an acceptable compromise in the absence of a consumer-forum with teeth.

So we have the IRDA for Insurance, TRAI for telecom, DGH for petroleum, SEBI for stocks, God-Knows-Who for cards and loans (that's a separate post) and DGCA for airlines. As scams in all these sectors have shown, the regulators have been as effective as the 70 year old watchman we have to guard our building gate. Unlike the old guard, who is a result of budgetary constraints, the sleepy regulators appear to be deliberate. It gives the appearance of control while allowing everyone to profit, usually at the expense of the consumer or worse, the exchequer (Hail Raja!).

The beauty of the scams lie in the fact that each unit of misdeed is too small to show up on the radar. It's the sheer volume in these sectors that bloats the sum total into a wet-dream for everyone involved. For example, the whole RIL-RNRL brouhaha is only about Rs.2 difference in price of the gas. The mutual funds have only been unfairly loading funds by 1% for so many years. Personally, the loss to me by the UDF-Congestion Fee oxymoron is no more than a piddly 200 bucks or so. Multiply that by 13 million travelers passing through Bangalore's airport alone. Now, stop drooling.

This "indifference" (of regulators and public opinion) has driven crores of unearned Rupees into the balance sheets of these perennially struggling service companies. Thankfully, we know their books are audited so all the losses must be real. Isn't that so, PwC?

The new 5-seater from Bajaj

The 7th Deadly Win

I know this is one of those oh-yawn-not-again ad efforts from Apple. But I just can't help but agree that they echo the exact way I feel right now. The only difference is, after months of gloom and depression, people WANT to believe that something is going to change their life for the better. Even if its only a brighter, more colorful default wallpaper. Which explains this.

Come, take a bite of the newest temptation from Microssssssoft.

Airtel mChek: Convenient but Confusing

Online security is a completely different ball-game. Indian regulators haven't even begun to understand what it means. I am very confident that it won't take too long for a semi-smart hacker to enter and steal information from banks, telecom operators and public utilities. Every once in a while, I notice how many websites have extremely complex processes to hide very basic holes in their security policies.


I registered for the mChek facility of Airtel. This allows you to link all your credit card details to the cellphone number. Paying for services is as easy as sending an sms. The shocking part is that after I canceled my Airtel phone number, the credit card details continued to exist in their database. My linked mChek account is not deleted automatically when the Airtel account itself is deleted. I know this because on my new Airtel number, I get an error stating the credit card is already in use by another mChek account (2 months after that number is discontinued).

When I contacted Airtel, they asked me to contact my bank and get the credit card number changed. So every time I use a lousy service provider, I must get a new card? Wow!

To quote from their reply:

Please be informed that you need to register in your bank if you want to change the number for your card after registering in mchek. Hence we request you to change the number in bank by calling to bank call center and try to use mchek for your new mobile number.

This is unsafe because it reveals that Airtel as a service provider does not really understand how mChek works and how it is used (or misused). Any financial instrument must have the same checks and balances as a regular bank instrument-- online systems requiring MORE so. Why have so many checks on banks but none on a telecom company? In the absence of regulatory understanding, non-traditional financial offerings put too much onus on the user and too little responsibility on the provider.

This is just one example. I have seen similar security gaffes for banks like HDFC and broking houses like NJ Invest. Some time ago, I found all my personal details on a BSNL website while Googling. An application I sent them was available on their customer support server. A direct URL with NO login required! Luckily they took it off after I complained.

Mobile Commerce is new to India and a great technology evolution. These services must take special efforts to appear secure and belie the worries of tech-phobic users. Hiding behind opaque helpdesks and living in denial of breaches already made, is a dis-service to their own cause. The mChek page on Airtel does not even have a link to report bugs, errors or disputed payments. Your only option is the standard Airtel 121 helpdesk which is rather ill-equipped to handle these specialised (and sometimes, more urgent) cases.

Making the customer pay with either his time or money is preferable to securing systems and places where THEY must take an effort. After all, if all comes crashing down, the government is always standing by for a bail-out.

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Next Day Update:
The process is actually as simple as reporting the change of phone number to support@mchek.com and they delink the accounts. Someone at mChek with a knack for thwacking kulhadis on their own feet found this blog and offered to help. Very impressive in an era where they could have easily allowed brick-headed call-centers to play ping-pong with me. Thanks, Nidhi! Next up, try to convince Airtel to add some useful FAQ on their website and educate their L1 engineers about VAS support :-)

Watch Youtube in Gold Class

Noticed this cool feature on Youtube. At the top right corner, they have a bulb labeled: "Turn off the lights". Clicking this icon darkens the screen area next to the Youtube video being played. Clicking it again restores the normal screen.

While this offers a neat theatre-like experience, especially when watching longer videos, it is also a quasi-environmental friendly initiative. Mad scientists have often attacked Google searches as being bad for the planet. Part of the attacks related to Google's love for the white clutter-free screens on most of their apps.

I love the way Google responds to every nutcase, whether it is Bing or Blackle. Tharoor should learn a few tips from them ;-)

Ganpati Bappa.... More... Yeah!!

This huge banner near our house made us do a double-take. Looks like even Playboys need all the luck they can get, eh?

Theatre Review: The Great Lalula

Wifey decided to make Cubby part of a historical moment in Rangashankara's history. The first time that they allowed 20 month olds to enter their hallowed halls-- a space normally reserved for 96 month olds and above. The promise was something special, only for infants and toddlers, in a language they'd understand-- Gibberish. We went to see "The Great Lalula".

It was a disappointment.

To be fair, Cubby did enjoy parts of the performance. He stood and clapped and waved his hands in glee. Some kids chanted along with the artists, some completed the rhymes before the artists could and others merely walked up on the stage, mesmerized. Everything you'd expect from a motley crew of 20 to 30 month olds. There was also some talking on the phones, some flashing of digicams and some running up the aisles: stuff you've come to expect from the yuppie, 'adult' Indian audience.

Despite the success of the play in getting li'l children to enjoy some theatre, I came away disappointed. Probably more for how they squandered a wonderful opportunity, rather than the performance itself.

Here are my reasons:

The artists took themselves too seriously. The focus was on technique. Their 'subtle manoeuvres' really didn't engage the "attention" of the young audience. It was a humorless performance.

Then, there was no music. Children respond best to 3 things: music, physical comedy and surprise. Surprisingly, all of these were lacking. The first half of the performance was too silent, broken only by utterances from the "poem". The actions were slow and deliberate, opera-like. It wasn't until they started clanging some utensils (10 minutes into the show of 20-25 minutes) that most children even looked away from their fidgeting to watch.

Secondly, I wish they kept bright lights on and had something cheerful happen on stage (peppy music, funny cartoons, maybe a clown/juggler?) right when the kids entered. The dark theatre intimated the kids and no child let go of their parents. I remember a performance of "Sleuth" at RS where they had "Tom n Jerry" on TV while people walked in and took their seats, just to set the tone for the "cat and mouse games" to follow.

"The Great Lalula" is acknowledged as a precursor to the Dada-ism movement in Germany. It is supposed to reflect the imaginary world of a child, where he can communicate and cook and drive and dress, all in his own way, in his own language (hence, the Gibberish). The thorn in this beautiful concept was playing it subtle. The priority should have been to connect with the children, even if it meant letting down your guard and engage in some goofy humor!

You think I should've gone to a circus, instead? Maybe.

Let the last word belong to the synopsis of this play on the RS webpage:

Imagine bringing your 20-month young into a theatre only to find a party is being organized – a party for children! And then a lady comes on stage and begins to entertain your children with song and dance, all in a language that only children understand! A mesmerizing world where words skip and dance, move, laugh, jabber, murmur, rustle, rhyme and sing.

Yes! That is what I went in expecting. A carnival of music, dancing, juggling. I wanted my kid to come back with stories and memories of that hour inside RangaShankara. I wanted him to enjoy the exhilaration of a live performance (not just TV), to feel at home in the theatre...

Just 10 minutes later, he had no excitement, no stories, nothing to repeat. That's my rant.

........


Trust me, we really loved this initiative by Arundhati Nag, to have a festival only for children. We have been big fans of Prithvi Theatre while growing up and while RS is yet to grow beyond its very local vision, we want this haven available to Cubby-- even as an iPod toting teenager. We will continue to be part of Aha! next year and every year it happens. With only a prayer that next year, they find some real performances, instead of being happy because a "troupe came all the way from Germany!"...

:-)

Why is Master Bates sulking?

Every time a movie comes out in India, the Ban-chauves (a new term I coined for chauvinists always looking to ban something) come out in droves. The best ones are where the sulking party has no clue about the offending art in question. Remember the Slum-dog law-suit? Now the priests in Orissa have their panties in a ball over (what they assume to be a) "religious" slur in "Kaminey (2009)".

TOI Article

The glory for Lord Juggernaut from this jihaad? Maybe, a few lakh more "donations". And the look on the priest-faces when they discover it was actually about Lord Jack-on-nut all along? Priceless.

Only in India, man. Hyuk hyuk!!

Growing up wasn't half as fun as WATCHING this guy grow up!

Just dropping a line to say you must read the brilliant re-cap of Cubby's two years on the planet, over at his mom's blog

A radio taxi service in Pune

Living in India's Autorickshaw-Hell, also known as Bangalore, I was surprised to note that another city could inspire the same dread of being stranded without transport in the middle of nowhere. Unless, of course, you enjoy daylight robberies in which case there are rickshaws aplenty.

We were recently in Pune and realized that going from the airport at Lohegaon to a destination 15-20KM away can easily cost Rs.600 or more. This is from a pre-paid taxi counter (which is just a farce run by the taxi lobby; it is neither regulated nor reasonable). Going to the airport is another nightmare: apart from a higher price, you can never be sure of simply hailing a taxi or auto. For early morning or late night flights, be prepared to pay a King's ransom!

Delhi and Bangalore suffer from similar woes when it comes to rude, cheating rickshaw drivers. Luckily, both cities now have excellent radio taxi networks that assure a reliable, cost-effective and stress-free ride from anywhere to anywhere. All you do is call a local helpline, they track the nearest taxi on a satellite-system and usually send you a taxi within 15-30 minutes. Surprisingly, none of the major companies like Cel Cabs or Meru Cabs have a presence in Pune. That is when we discovered Wings Radio Taxi. Even the locals seemed unaware of their presence and it was only repeated searching on Google that helped us find them.

They seem to have a small but well-run operation in Pune. We have not used them extensively to comment on their service. However, what impressed us was that they took the effort of following up with us after we made a complaint regarding their service. The executive, Ms.Sneha, called us numerous times to ensure that we were satisfied and that the experience would be pleasant. The driver was also very polite and cheerful, although he kept chattering on the phone the entire time. Can't blame him, since even so-called educated people don't think twice nowadays about talking while driving-- putting everyone else at extreme risk, while they sit safely behind airbags. The vehicle was clean and well-maintained from inside. The exteriors were muddy but that could be just the famous Pune rains... The billing was metered and the driver was happy to return the change. We let him keep it, which he was happier to do :-)

A city with large student and senior-citizen population like Pune needs more such services. One hopes they maintain punctuality and discipline. Reliability and affordability are the #1 expectations from a radio taxi service. Good companies like Spot Taxi in Bangalore have died once their taxis started to come late or not at all. So far, it looks like Wings Taxis are on the right track. We wish them luck!

Bookings are made on a single central number +91 20 40100100 (14 lines)and this is a24X7 service

You can also make bookings (or complaints) at their website

The charges are a bit high at Rs.16 per Km (in most cities the average is Rs.12/Km) but that will come down with more competition. Minimum fare is Rs.50 (for 3KM) which seems fair. Given the low cost of running taxis on LPG, the high taxi fares are nothing but extortion in all cities. Until now, we even got rickety unsafe vehicles for that price but at least that is changing now.

PS: Atul's blog seems to echo most of these views. Have a look!