Hi !

I am posting this at 2 AM in the night because I got so much disturbed by what I read just now !

By now, most of you folks out there must have heard of IIPM, Mr. Gaurav Sabnis, and Rashmi Bansal. If you haven't in a Nut Shell, JAMMAG, a popular MBA magazine by Rashmi, an IIM-A alumnus, carried out a report evaluating the various B-schools present in India. She rightly went out to point the fake advertisements carried out by IIPM [Yes, the Arindam Chaudhari School, who recently delved into Movie Production of all things and came up with the maha-absymal Rok Sako Toh Rakh Loh, which is soo bad, that even me couldn't watch it after the first 20 minutes]. Following Rashmi's take on IIPM, her blog was splogged by IIPM activists [U should see the posts to know what I mean], but thankfully she din't budge and stood up to what she had said.

To just illustrate how stinking IIPM's campaigns are :

[By Hanoz, a current PGP-1 at IIM-Ahmedabad]

I have been born and brought up in Ahmedabad and when i saw the IIPM ads for the first time and saw IIPM ahmedabad (magnificient towers, et al) i wondered where it is and if it's so big and state-of-art with 7th-wonder-of-the-worldish architecture, how come I never noticed it.

I got to know about it accidentally one day....IIPM Ahmedabad is situated in Hollywood! (A large slum area quite close to IIM-A) and it's a dingy li'l building (4-6 storey) regular commercial complex with glass !!!
Its called IIPM tower and a uniformed chowkidaar is seated down there.

on further inquiry I found out that only 2 floors were owned by IIPM and they had paid some amt. to have the name hanging from the building! A cramped li'l place with absolutely no infra and located in a stinking area all conveniently washed out and replaced with a nice background using [Adobe] photoshop for the advertisements!

Just thought that this might be interesting for the junta to know !!

So, before IIPM goes all hollering at Rashmi or anybody else, they should look down their own horses, which crossed all limits of decency today.

Well, now talking of Gaurav, he carried a post linking to the JAMMAG story and was harrassed in numerous ways. First, he was served a LEGAL NOTICE [Yes !!] by IIPM's legal department and splogged as well. But, then, when this didn't work, IIPM pioneered Educational Militantism and threatened Gaurav's employers' IBM that all the IIPM students will burn their IBM Thinkpads before IBM's Delhi HQ, if Gaurav didn't remove his posts.

And guess what Gaurav did ? He resigned today. I feel really stupid now. All Gaurav had done was exercised his Freedom of Speech now and asked for Arindam C's credentials [which I doubt now as well, agar hain, toh why is he so afraid of showing them ? Remember Rajiv Gandhi's disparagement about his degree from Cambridge, which was resolved a year back ?]...

My sympathies with Gaurav, and Arindam C...U might have sold a hazaar books, but you sure have forgotten to be decent and humane.

A very pained :(
ranjan

Update 1: Online Petition has been created to protest against IIPM. Please sign the petition and tell these guys to take their trash elsewhere.

Update 2: BlogWorld has actively taken up the gauntlet against IIPM and let it be known, that We won't be cowed by some idiotic sploggers who dare curtail our freedom of speech. Attached below is a list of Bloggers who have actively carried posts about the Issue (Thanx Kaps !).

Harini Calamur, Press Talk, Varun's Thoughtful Chaos, Srini, The Arbit Council, DesiPundit, Anshul, Charu, Patrix, Muthuvel, Thalassa Mikra, Jagan, Vijay Krishna, Vatsan, Mridula, Jo, Varna, Amrit Hallan, Ash, Shivam Vij, Swaroop, Jujitsu Mode, Uma, Abi, Toufeeq Hussain, Shub, Ranj, Shivam, Abhishek, Rajan, Havoc, Kaushik, Chandru, Alpha-Q, Mandar, Kaushal, Chenthil, Tony, Bonatellis, Apurv Pandit, Scudie, Press Talk - K, Sriyansa, Miss J, Neha, TablePost.Com, Chitthacharcha (Hindi), Sujatha, Hitchiker, Sowmya, Saket, Varun (Part 2), Press Talk (Part 2), Vijay Krishna (Part 2), Dhananjay, Sriram, The Comic Project, Curious Gawker, Jai Arjun Singh, Secular Right India, Jaya Jha, Navin, Sudhish Kamath, Ravikiran, Vinaya, Niket, George Thomas, Ajay Bhat, Jinal, Om Malik, Kitabkhana, Jagan (Part 2), BigBlogLog, Kamesh, Transmogrifier, Chernoff, Varun (Part 3), Hitanshu, Srikar, Rajkumar, Almost Useless, Falstaff, Sunil Laxman, Mercatus, Arzan, Nitin Pai, Veer Jain, Nupur Dave, Nirav, Jitendra Mohan, Mayank, Varnam, Soumyadip, Uma MD, Vishal, TTG, Chandru (Part 2), Angry Grad Student, Anantha Narayan, Pradyot, Amit Chaudhry, Sandesh, Dilip D'Souza, Chenthil (Part 2), MMK, Salman's Shirt, Bharat, Nikhil, Kaushik, Aditya Kuber, Icarus Prakash (Tamil), Infinite Circle, Ketan, Durga, Kamlesh Singh, Pankaj, Harish Kumar, Aparna, Ashish, Swarnasrikrishnan, Rachel, Shel Israel, Rahul, Kaushik and Bidisha, Srijith, Anand, I-Sight, Logical Thinking, Sakshi, Shivam Vij (Part 2), Gururajan, Dhananjay (Part 2), Bhagya, Kunal, Sandeep, Ramanand, Satish Vijaykumar, Ashwin BS, Flying Death, Vayanasala (Malayalam), Shivangi, Govar, Harini (Part 2), Shreyas Ghuge, Prufrock, Amit Chaudhry (Part 2), The Unknown Indian, Prasoon, Killer Bunty, Suhail Kazi, Elne, Abhishek, Ravi, Aishwarya, Ram Viswanathan, Curious Gawker (Part 2), Wanderstruck, Leela, Vishwanathan, The Bat, Scribbler (Part 2), Vaibhav, Weblogsky, Varna (Part 2), Divya, Sujith, Jroller, Madhoo, Sowmya (Part 2), Shoefiend, Varun (Part 4), Ash (Part 2), Ravikiran (Part 2), Veena, Salt Water Blues, Hyperorg, Ashutosh, India Blogs, Karthik, Arnold D'Souza, DesiTrain, Suds, Vijay Krishna (Part 3), Saurabh, Senthil, Arzan (Part 2), Uma (Part 2), Urmea, Kingsley, Sad Old Bong, Anshul, Rajesh, Lubu, Ravikumar, Neha (Part 2), Varun (Part 4), Anti, Instant Kaapi, Lazy Geek, Minorscale, Ferrari Prabhu, Emma, Kishore, Chenthil (Part 3), Aekta, Kashyapapeya, Sambhar Mafia !!
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  1. I have been following this issue since it first appeared and the recent developments have thoroughly disgusted me .. IIPM is into arm twisting and the comments on Rashmi's blog are really pathetic and blood curling.. Me being from a media background realise that this issue wont be covered in the mainstream media coz IIPM is a big advt .. even if it is covered the issue will be skewed.. causing Gaurav Sabnis to resign was the heights .. But what really struck me in this whole issue is the way both Gaurav and Rashmi ahve conducted themselves in a mature and dignified manner.. It is heartening to see the online community rallying behind them.. The IIPM tower in Mumbai is no better and is of the same description .. i personally know a student who regrets studying there .. but such institutes have existed and will continue to exist .. since educationis big business in this country..

    ReplyDelete

  2. To Harsh : Hehe :), U remember the 3-roomed IT / Engg. Institutes which run all over the place :) ? Awesomm money-spinning devices !!

    ReplyDelete

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  2. So, now that my posts have turned into Email cribs :), here is continuing the series - what to do, my little Blog is the only expression mode left for individual consumers like me taking on beeg corporates. So, this is apropos my last post which can be read here. To summarize:

    1) I had been an Airtel Internet + Landline user for ~5 years before I moved to a new house last November. My billing cycle used to run from 23rd of every month and I moved on 21st Nov to my new house. I filed a "connection movement" request on 21st Nov which was supposed to happen in 7 days. After waiting duly, I filed a disconnection request on 28th Nov - subsequently the Nov bill had been generated and I paid it promptly.

    2) I get repeat Airtel calls over December and January as to "Why I want to disconnect" but they simply did not disconnect my connection and kept generating Bills for Dec and Jan, charging me for non-usage :). Funnily, every customer rep I spoke to, said "Yes, this is wrong and will be corrected".

    3) Finally the calls stopped in February and I had my mental peace back. This actually had such traumatic effect on me that I did not let my wife install a landline in our new house :) and for Internet we went for a local agency Triple Play which is a MVNO for BSNL, so that when and if we require to disconnect, it is easily done.

    4) Today, on May 11, I get a new notice from cureman@in.airtel.com reproduced below:
                                                                                     Date 9-May-12

    To,


    Mr. Ranjan Kant



    Address - D-103, Maple Heights Sushant Lok-1 122002 Gurgaon




    Del No                01244360947
    Account id -       14309089





    Dear Sir / Madam





    Sub: Outstanding Dues on your Airtel Telemedia.





    Ref: Del No: 01244360947 Account No: 14309089





    We have not received a response to our Previous Tele-calls/Field visit & Letters 
    Regarding non–payment of bills towards the above said account for a net outstanding of Rs. 1470.32.





    We must now tell you that we expect payment to be made immediately. If payment has not been received immediately we will pass the matter to our solicitors with instructions to commence legal proceedings. This will be done without further warning to you.





    P
    lease make the payment in favour of M/s.Bharti Airtel Limited -Telemedia Services A/c: 14309089by cheque/DD payable at Delhi NCR or by cash/credit card. If you have already made the outstanding payments prior to receiving this letter you are requested to furnish us the proof of payment to avoid further action.





    If you have any queries please do get in touch with our representative Sunita  Mobile Number -9650397854 





    For any further clarification please contact the Airtel Office





    Thanking You





    For Bharti Airtel Ltd. 





    Authorised Signatory

    This is Computer generated Letter and does not require any signature 

    So, as mentioned in the email above, I called up Sunita, whose only refrain was 1. "Paisa toh aap ko dena padega" and 2. "Poora mat dijiye, compromise ker ke case close keriye" - she had no clue of what my case was, her only concern was to get the money. Then I figured out this is surely a "Recovery agency" and I did a small google search and see for yourself what it turned out for this band of Hooligans called Cureman - and you would think why would such a big, "renowned" corporate like Airtel hire them, but at some level I am not surprised.

    Anyways, after the highly "decent" phone call with Sunita, I replied to Airtel as follows:


    From: Kant Ranjan
    Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 6:27 PM
    To: 'Cureman@in.airtel.com'
    Subject: Re: RE: Regarding Your Airtel No.01244360947Act no.14309089Ot.1470.33Pr

    Thanks for your prompt reply.

    I have never in my life not paid any bill in my name if it is billed correctly, but in this case I have been billed wrongly which will become apparent once you take time to understand my case. I had called up "Sunita" as mentioned in the doc but instead of listening to my case, all she did was shout "Dena toh padega".

    So, I am also clear - I will not pay. I have not used an iota of the services I have been billed for and hence I will not pay. Just because you are a recovery agency supported by a Big corporate with a battery of solicitors doesn't mean you can bully me into wrongly billed payments. Please go ahead and do as many legal proceedings you want.

    Meanwhile, I will take to Social Media and ensure this injustice and pain is highlighted and becomes well known to the World.

    Many thanks for the document, it actually helps me showcase my case easily.
    @BB 9790 +91 9873637900


    So, now lets wait and see when these dudes choose to sue me :), will keep you posted. And you know the funny bit - I had actually applied to port my mobile no. from Vodafone to Airtel (somehow Voda signal in my house is not that great), but as you can surmise, I very quickly rolled back my porting request - atleast I haven't seen Vodafone using such dastardly tactics, I really hope they don't :), else I will have to shift to BSNL on principle :) !!


    Ah, Life and all that. Till I write next !


    Adios,
    Ranjan


    P.S. I would just appeal to three people:


    1) SRK and Kareena: Guys, you should seriously think if you want to be associated with a brand which uses these tactics with honest customers.


    2) Aamir Khan: Airtel is an official sponsor of "Satyamev Jayate" - does it deserve that ?
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  3. Can't even tell you guys to stay off Airtel - every Telecom operator is as bad, I guess :) - pick your devil types !!! They have told me they will respond in 4 hours, will keep this updated :P !


    From: Kant Ranjan
    Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2011 12:12 PM
    To: '121@airtel.in'
    Subject: Complaint on Billing and disconnection from Account no. 14309089

    Hi,

    I have been asked to write to you by Mr. Amit, Airtel Service representative who called me from 09611237402 and I hope you can finally resolve my problem.

    I have been an Airtel Fixed line + Broadband customer from 2006 (Phone no. 0124 4360947) billing in the range of Rs. 1000-1500 / month and recently shifted houses on 22nd Nov, 2011. Now, this is what happened:

    1) On 21st Nov, 2011 I put in a shifting request vide request no. 7627090 which Amit tells me was technically examined and approved on 22nd Nov.
    2) On 23rd Nov, an Airtel sales rep visited my new home and told me, "Sir, shifting will take atleast 5 months (!!!), you should buy a new connection" – I being a loyal customer, promptly called your call center and was told not to worry in the ususal scripted fashion (also telling me Aapka Din Shubh ho, which is really irritating, but obviously you care so much for the customers afterall!!)
    3) Finally, completely irritated at the lack of internet, I filed a disconnection request on 28th Nov (7 days after which I had filed the shifting request) and was told it will be promptly disconnected.
    4) On 16th Dec, I called again at 011-44444121 (because I no longer own an Airtel Landline and was on hold for 30 mins and this is pretty usual, let me again tell you) and was told the number has not been disconnected WHICH I INSISTED SHOULD BE DISCONNECTED AND I WILL NOT PAY ANY RENTAL BECAUSE I HAVEN'T USED ANY SERVICES DURING THIS PERIOD.
    5) But, as with all things Airtel, I am duly given a bill of Rs. 900 on 26th December and I again called up 011-44444121 but this time it kept getting disconnected after 10 mins and nobody talking to me – again, usual AIRTEL.
    6) Finally Amit calls me today and tells me my line is again ACTIVE !!!

    WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU ? CAN YOU GUYS SIMPLY DISCONNECT MY LINE AND LEAVE ME IN PEACE – I DON'T WANT TO EVER DEAL WITH AIRTEL AGAIN AND WILL ENSURE NOBODY FROM MY FRIENDS / FAMILY BUYS AIRTEL, IF POSSIBLE. I WILL ALSO NOT PAY THE LAST BILL AND ANY FUTURE BILLS WHICH YOU WILL KEEP GENERATING IN LINE WITH YOUR AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE.

    Thanks,
    Ranjan

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  4. Heylo :),

    First up, a bit of feel-good on being able to post so soon after my last post, *sigh* my average posting time had ballooned to months if not years - but the important thing is there is improvement, yesh !

    Coming back to the topicz, as probably some of you would know, I am a die-hard (and boley toh die, die hard) gadget aficionado with the bug having bitten me ever since I can remember which is a longg time when you are 30 years old :). But, instead of spending money hither and thither, I prefer the Value-for-money mode, each of my gadgets (to my mind, IMHO :)) is a deeply researched purchase, though very few make sense to normal people, like my wife :) ! Just to list the gadgets I have had the privilege of owning since time broke this head are:

    1. Windows PCs and laptops (they are gadgets awwright !!) , right up from the old '98 to the new -1 Windows 7 :) !
    2. Linux laptop (heh ! just once and thankfully never again :))
    3. Motorola E1000 (My 1st phone wayyy back in 2005 when I finally bought a mobile in London)
    4. Motorola E398 (and it got stolen :()
    5. Motorola RAZR L7 (you could see I was sold on Motorola, if only they had not screwed up post the RAZR show !)
    6. Sony Ericsson W300i (you just had to love the fold design !!)
    7. Blackberry 7100v (the set was white though :))
    8. Blackberry curve 8310 *IronMan Red* (and this one also got lost in a Mumbai taxi)
    9. Blackberry *2nd hand* waiting-for-a-new-phone 8310
    10. Samsung Corby Pro B5310 (the worst disastrous purchase decision I ever made - guess this was the time touch-and-type bug bit me - pitiful Samsung Touchwiz software I tell ya !! - read here !)
    11. Blackberry Torch 9800 (and there was light again ! bought at 24k from US and sold at 16k in India !)
    12. iPad 1 16 GB 3G
    13. A couple of wife's Blackberry Pearls and Bold 3 9780 :)
    14. Samsung Galaxy Pro (and the addiction with Android begins !)
    15. Nook Color hacktivated with Cyanogenmod 7 (thanks guys !!) to run Android Gingerbread 2.3.7
    16. Tester for Nokia E6 (already running it for the 2nd week !)

    So, 16 gadgets and a few more later, I have pretty much tasted most mobile (atleast the important ones !) and computer (Again, the most important one :)) operating systems and most importantly, understand them. But, as I see around, there are folks who keep struggling with small techie things and either give up or make a mis-infomed choice (like buying the BB Playbook or the newly 9900 - seriously !!). Ideally, there should be helplines which help out them folks, but unfortunately the world doesn't work the Meluha way (thanks to Amish Tripathi for that one :)) !!

    Moreover, whenever I have helped somebody in "techie need" and it has ended well, I have always felt fab (who doesn't after a bit of social work gone well !).

    And hence, here is the pitch - if you have any gadget query (have to buy a new phone, problem with messaging, speaker phone not working etc.) - post it in comments and I promise, I will get back to you as soon as I can !!

    And yes, its free :), thankfully my consulting job pays more than enough for me to live on ! A Thank you though is always welcome and so is a bit of patience if my response is delayed due to my other commitments !!

    Hope to help out some of you out there !!

    Thanks,
    Ranjan

    So, hope
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  6. And so it happened ! After years of multitudes of closet prayers and trying to impress whoever and whatever with my techno-laden boring tweets and status updates, by the will of god - it happened ! With an amazing set of fortuitous circumstances (and yeah, they keep happening to me, good or bad !) somebody gave me the chance to review the Nokia E6, with the handset being mine to play with for a month or so ! Unfortunately I can't tag my benefactor due to confidentiality reasons - but yeah many thanks to you !


    Also, please don't point out fingers at this being an "already launched and dissected" handset and all that, afterall der se aaye, par finally aaye toh sahi !


    Anyways, now getting back to my "official" review, when I had bought my current handset, the Samsung Galaxy Pro, I had duly considered Nokia E6 as an alternative, but due to the significant weight difference (105 g Galaxy Pro vs 134 g E6) - I bought the Pro ! Does that mean, I am regretting now, read on to find out !

    Overall Impression (Heh ! Trying to ape the master techno writers !)

    The E6 follows in the footsteps of its esteemed predecessors E71 and E72 (remember how almost every corporate honcho had one of these in the pre-touch OS days !) with a white silver body and a fairly large bezel at the bottom (recommend to take that out and increase screen size instead !!). The build is typical Nokia-ish, sturdy as hell, polished and "appearance of quality". Infact, Nokia have always priced their devices on a Cost+ basis in line with their Finnish socialism :), and hence they have always seemed to be on the pricier side in India because they generally use high-end components but the Indian consumer couldn't care less, no !

    The touchscreen is capacitive (Finally Nokia gave up on the resistive ones, bleh !) and highly responsive, infact I reckon its as good as iPhone's, trust me !

    On the OS side, funnily enough, the Anna OS (latest and greatest Symbian Belle minus 1) feels exactly like Windows (though its based on Linux) - an OS deep integrated with the Hardware unlike the Android implementations ! And hence, the 680 Mhz CPU doesn't feel itchy at all, everything is slick and fine. But, yeah that doesn't take away the bane of the Symbian OS, not enough Apps !! But, if Nokia does a similar deep OS-hardware integration with Windows Phone 7, they sure have a winner on their hands with the ecosystem a given !!

    The Plus"es" (And yeah, there are many !!)


    1. Amazing keyboard, better than any in the business, Blackberry included - its a delight to type and keep typing :)

    2. Great touchscreen

    3. Very sturdily built and high-quality components - Gorilla glass, high-res screen, 8MP camera !, high-quality bluetooth (the song volume almost doubled on this one compared to Samsung's Galaxy Pro), very good speaker and audio quality!

    4. Amazing maps implementation with fabulous GPS - haven't got a better position lock ever before! With their offline maps feature, it is a complete killer - you can download maps for any part of the world and you don't need any data connection to navigate - what ossumness, Google - hear, hear !

    5. Great Battery life, I lasted a day and more using the same stuff which lasted me ~8-10 hours on Android !

    6. Inbuilt 8 GB memory, who needs an SD card


    7. If the world were simpler (without the Apps ecosystem I mean :)), an OS worth competing with iOS - beautifully integrated with the system, zippy and smooth - does all the Vanilla phone functions very well - calling, SMS, Mail, Internet, MP3, Radio, Camera, Bluetooth etc. !!!

    8. Very good Multitasking implementation

    9. Many many shortcut keys

    10. Dedicated call, end and scroller keys - comes handy even with touchscreens !

    11. The price - At 16k, if you are a vanilla user, this is pretty much a rockstar steal !

    12. Wifi Hotspot feature, still missing from BB and iOS - yeah really !


    And now the bad part :)


    Has to start with the OS right :) - and yes, there is a long list !

    1. SNS integration with Contacts - today even the Chinees OSes allow people to sync FB / Twitter / LinkedIn to Contacts and Nokia doesn't - how does that read ?? And please, "matching" contacts one-by-one to FB profiles is not syncing !!

    2. Missing multiple folder sync in Email app, seriously needed for us Corporate types !

    3.  Missing apps namely Google Reader (Nokia, look past your rivalry boss, no point trying to fight what is already ossum, just go with it ! *Update* Nokia is developing something called the Reader, lets see), password storage app (cloud syncable), good system monitor widget etc. !

    4. Did not try any games, but I guess, there aren't many, are there :) ?

    5. Missing cloud sync for "Notes" - again very critical for Corporate types - will be cool if you could simply sync it to Dropbox - then you can have true cloud implementation !

    6. Poor notifications system - I guess Belle has improved in this regard, bring it on Anna !

    7. Just simplying the OS and setup wizard - e.g. instead of having "Dual mode" under networks - you could call it 3G & 2G - simple things, but makes a big difference to non-geek user experience

    8. Large empty bezel at the bottom - could have removed that and increased the screen size instead

    9. The Weight - very heavy at 134 gms, would have been a fab phone if it was just 10-15 gms lighter !

    Overall verdict:


    For a non-gaming esp. high keyboard user: 7 / 10 (for gaming types, don't even think about it !), loses a couple of points for the sheer weight !

    And yes, it is much better than the comparable Blackberry 9900 touch and type which retails at 32k, I am not sure what dope are they smoking though ! Buy this one anyday over that overpriced piece of slab !

    So, then take care and I hope for my sake that I write sooner again than later !! Adios, all Amigoz !

    *Update* Discovered something called the Nokia Beta Labs which regularly creates new software for Symbian OS (have to marvel at the continued commitment of Nokia for an OS which has been universally panned dead, hats off really - learn Samsuck, learn something !!) - got some of my demand met above through the Beta Labs Apps !
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  7. And so they say, every cloud has a silver lining, but its more like what you get out of a bad situation - kinda like Indian fielding from the SA defeat, but more on that later :).

    Getting back, I and wife dearest were shopping at the Reliance HyperMart in Sec-29, Gurgaon (you know, the one near Bikanerwala types) and as it happened, after the shopping, we queued up to the customer service desk for some stuff. After spending like 10-15 mins there, we left for a friend's daughter's budday party (Yes ! I am old :-)) at Bikanerwala. And as most things Ranjan go, 30 mins into the party it hit me that I did not have my wallet on me. A frantic search ensued, my friends looking inside Bikanerwala, me looking on the way from Reliance to Bikanerwala (they are like 2 mins apart) and Tanya (the wife) rushing off to Reliance. After no luck at Bikanerwala / the way, I trudged off to Reliance to discover Tanya do what she does best - enterprise :), she was in the Security Monitor room trying to get our footage from before. After a painstaking half-an-hour, we found ourselves on the camera and it was like time-travel cum reality TV !! And after another 20 mins, there it was - clumsy me leaving the wallet on the customer service desk and a typical Gurgaon Samaritan pushing off with it - look for yourself in the video below :).



    So, there is the silver lining - I lost almost 3-4k in cash and all my cards (on which I spent some 2 hours blocking and re-getting) but I had myself on camera unknowingly - trust me, a once in a lifetime experience, and the amazing thing was the camera was almost too accurately positioned to capture it! The first time Tanya and I saw the "Act" happening, we almost hyperventilated - I guess its about getting closure and what better than seeing it live !

    Well, and yes, if you can identify the culprits, let me know - I will like to sock them good for sure !

    Hope you enjoy this :).
    Ranjan
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  8. Today got a call from a friend who has got this interview for a Product Manager position at Google and wanted to discuss a set of questions that Google guys had given him in advance to ponder and think about. The questions were the run-of-the-mill kinda around competitive strategy, improvements etc. but one theme stood out - What is next for Google ? How are we gotta stay big and stay the best ?

    So, I got into this long discussion with my friend and came up with a few ideas off-the-cuff. And, as somebody who really respects and looks up to Google (most times for sure :-), except when they are not trying to copy / play catch-up), I thought I should pen these down and who knows, they might listen, copyright free :-).

    What is Google's biggest problem, really ? According to me, it is the fact that their core product - the supremo search engine (>80% of their revenues) doesn't have a 'customer lock-in', the day some Zuckerberg invents a better algorithm, Google is dead - unlike Apple and Microsoft, courtesy their iOS and Windows ecosystem. To stay relevant with its current biz model, Google has to constantly stay at the top of search innovation - and law of sizes say that once a company / product grows large, it competes by volumes and 'being stable' rather than being an innovator - in my experience their have been only a few exceptions, not sure if Google can be one, given the imperatives from its recent reversals in the Social networking and OS space.

    So, what are the opportunities for Google ? Here's my take:

    1) Looking at the online space,
    • I think Gmail is the market leader today but it still has some catching up to do, it has only 200 mn subs compared to 500 mn Facebookers. Mebbe, its time they started focussing on Enterprise seriously and become the RIM of Enterprise mail. Just look at what the Bharti-IBM deal did for IT outsourcing, Google gets one big firm to outsource its mail, they are a done deal.
    • In the social networking space, first up, Google should simply kill Orkut, its no point fighting Facebook, they are to Socializing what Google is to search, period. The opportunity really lies in creating a simple, secure and reliable marketplace which allows everyday shoppers to bring their physical shopping experience online and get hooked due to the obvious convenience angle. Today, atleast on India, online shopping, mainly Ebay :P is limited to WYSIWYG goods like Books, branded electronics, tickets but verry few (me being one of them) ever buy experiential goods like Clothes, food items et al. How can Google intervene in this space - how can it create a strong offline experience to support the online structure (small test kiosks ? tie-ups with existing retail players ?); how can it use its email network to create credibility around products (say I want to buy a phone - if I can clarify my doubts about the phone with my friends - I am more likely to buy it no ?)
    2) Is there an opportunity for Google in the OS space through Chrome? I would think so, especially if it can create a wholesome ecosystem experience around the PC, Mobile, tablet and other future devices :-) - something which Microsoft summarily failed at (Its amazing na, how a market leader by miles can even miss a few tricks !). Its very important that Google marries Chrome with Android and ensures a seamless user experience across its devices - come to think of it, Google Voice can be a key hinge of this ecosystem. But, Google shouldn't try to create a "closed" loop system, it has to realize other OSes will continue to thrive and it will be useful to support the other OSes rather than let 3rd party vendors do a sub-optimal job.

    3) In the physical space, I think Google needs to worry about creating a lock-in product, even go macro and think about evolving into a Telecommunications giant (feasible ? I dunno) but a "branded" mobile here and a netbook there aren't going to do - you need to get atleast one physical niche product right.

    Finally :), a bit of selfish requests, but here are a few changes I would love to see in the Google space:

    1) Create feasible Mobile Apps for all their sites across all Operating systems - currently Blogger and Reader are glaring misses on both Blackberry and iOS platforms. It is kind of frustrating to buy third-party apps to do what should come naturally in-built into the system.

    2) Currently in Google Reader, it will be kool to have a Google Alert kinda feature which emails selected RSS feeds as they are updated - Push is the way to go, aint it :-) ?

    With that, I rest my case !

    Have fun !
    Ranjan
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  10. **EDIT**: This post started off as an only-iPad post but got delayed by 2 months ! And hence, including my newest acquisition as well - the Blackberry Torch 9800 (hope I post it soon :P) !


    So, here I am hit by the iPadic (will that be a word anytime soon, no :-) ?) bug, typing another one of those fanboy posts - but sometimes somethings truly leave us speechless and ipad does that to you,but more on that later. lets start with how I got to own one :) and then we can do some more of my fanboyism :).

    So, as it happened I had wanted to own a touchscreen gadget like ever and my 1st true tryst came with the evil Corby Pro, more of that here. After thankfully transiting out of that device (thanks biwi !), I lost my BB 8310 red curve :) on a Mumbai taxi and was presented with an ossum opportunity to buy another gadget and satisfy my touchscreeny cravings.

    Thanks to my ossum boss, Kanishka, I had 1st hand experience of iPad both of the wifi-only and wifi+3G varieties. So my 'new gadget' choices boiled down to either buying a new kool phone (Android or iPhone 4) or buy an ipad + a downmarket 2nd hand BB 8310 curve for 2k (which I could perk up with my self-devised theme - here). And like a seasoned consultant, I chose the iPadic option, courtesy following:
    • I use a smartphone mostly for chatting and checking the web intermittently, which I can very well do on the downmarket BB as well.
    • But with an iPad I could do a lot more, read books, replace a laptop partially and even try to play games (I pretty much suck at all games :(), and consume media much, much better.
    • Get instant access to 3G with a MTNL sim which will be a long wait if I were to buy a phone (don't wanna change my Vodafone num, right :)).
    So, with a bit of anxiety and blessings of biwi dearest (What would I do without you :) ?), my pals Sahni and Taru practically ordered and got the iPad 16 GB Wifi + 3G delivered from US on Jul 3rd. That said, it has been approximately two weeks since this acquisition and my heart has been a contented place. While the tablet war is well and truly on, currently (and after spending 32k you might consider me a tad biased types :P) iPad looks by-and-far unbeatable and here are my top reasons for loving it:


    1.   The incredibly well-developed OS - while many consider iPad a bigger iPhone, but nobody else (including Android / Microsoft) has been able to adapt their small-screen versions to a large-screen so beautifully and effectively, you really do not care if this is a big iPhone, all that matters is its an iPad :-).
    2.   The best-in-industry touch screen, nothing to say which hasn't been already said !
    3.   The amazing iTunes store ecosystem – so many apps to choose from, so many games to play and they just keep coming.
    4.   An amazing ebook reader – I have seen a lot of junta criticizing the outdoor performance but thankfully, I haven’t had to contend with those conditions – I have been reading extensively and with tons of books to purchase from the Amazon and Barnes & Noble ebook stores, I ain't gonna run out of them anytime soon !
    5.   And even more important than 4 above, an amazing "Comics reader" :P, I have retrograded a bit back in my childhood, jumping between Batman, Superman, Phantom, JLA etc. etc. (yeah, Dhruv, Nagraj et al are next :P).
    6.   The most powerful gaming platform yet (and now officially seconded by the "id software" guys who made Quake and Doom) – one of my wife's biggest pastimes and slowly becoming mine J. And as I said on 3, the games in the iStore are as myriad as they come and you are sure to find atleast a dozen to suit your tastes. And what is wonderful is, they are creating a Xbox live kinda online interface where you can play kool, simple evergreeners like Scrabble (and hopefully CATAN soon !) online with junta from all over the world (I am currently playing 5 games with 5 different peepz and luckily winning in all of them :P).
    7.   The coolest media consumption device around, you feel like reading more and more (and hey, it is a distraction, but who minds J ?) and yeah, fbooking, tweeting and chatting is grr8 as well !
    8.   And its not all play only, but a bit of work as well. With the official Apple Office apps and BCG e-mail / calendar / notes integration, my actual laptop usage (not that I mind with my laptop becoming almost iPadish with my firm giving me a Thinkpad X201 !) has gone down significantly – I do all team work reviews and any work on the flight exclusively on the iPad !
    9.   And to round off there are the small things which I like – the instant switching on (absolute 0-sec delay), 10 hour battery life, "jailbreak" :P, continuous 3G connectivity outside home through MTNL, iPod, ease-to-handle etc.

    Not that iPad is without its flaws – missing cameras (esp. for video-chatters, not for me specifically), no USB drive / support for apps and no plug-and-play support for normal USB printers – but looks like they are gonna address it in iPad 2.0 coming in Jun 2011 (plan is to get wifey the new one J, its the ecosystem man !). So, if you are looking for a tablet now, close your eyes and buy this one – no regrets !
    And now, onto my 2nd new acquisition – the Blackberry Torch 9800. Though my 2nd hand Blackberry 8310 was doing just fine, what with my self-designed fanboy theme, it was just aged, with only a super-limited 64 MB RAM and no more Blackberry love coming its way (stuck on OS 4.7 while the world was moving to OS 6.0), and the nerdie in me was straining its leashes ! With the new Torch around, it was as close as it got to my dreamphone a touch-screen with a BB qwerty keyboard (nobody beats them in this, not even close !) and with a little eBaying and lot of cajoling on the expenses front with the wife, I finally got the Torch for 24k and for now, my gadgetry is replete and complete J. As for my quick impressions, here they are:
    1)  Tad on the heavier side, it still is the slickest touchscreen slider on market !
    2)  The touchscreen is ~8/10 compared to an iOS device and I can live with that, especially because the physical keyboard is bloody good, the best BB ever !
    3)  The highly-toted OS 6.0 is WIP still but they are improving – I only hope they don't get confused like the Nokia Symbian – MeeGo story with their whole QNX foray with the Playbook *crosses his fingers* !
    4)  Spec-wise this is the best BB around with 512 MB of RAM (a 8X jump for me) and a very good 5MP camera – which has made a pic-averse guy like me take and tweet pics !
    5)  Finally a Blackberry browser does what it is supposed to do, browse the web J.
    And hey – they called it Torch because one of the key components - the new webkit browser comes from Torch Mobile, a company RIM acquired !

    So happy to get over with this nerdy post – will be back with something better next !
    Ranjan
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  11. Heh,

    I am getting my iPad delivered soon (more about that later) - so before I get all taken by that ossum device, I wanted to take a minute to list down some of the apps I have got on my BB curve 8310, somehow making my lot with the woefully small 64 MB ROM (BB doesnt allow you to install apps on the memory card - some security crap - and you know everything is fair when it comes to security :P, especially when you have the Americans in picture).

    Anyways, here are the apps which keep me going currently (please let me know if you know more cooler ones):

    1) Latest firmware: If you are the types who has just bought a curve and never fiddled around with it, sooner or later BB is gonna pull the plug on its 83xx range what with the recent launch of low-end  8910 and impending launch of 9300 - and hence get the latest firmware v4.5.0.302. It fixes a lot of bugs and gives you speed, which I think all of can do with pretty well ! And while we are at firmware, please do yourself a favor and change the Options -> Advanced Options -> Browser -> Default Browser Configuration to "Internet Browser" from the default "Blackberry Browser", or else most likely the ossum BES admin of your firm would have set the Blackberry Browser's cache limit and you will keep getting errors and blaming poor BB for it (its not that bad afterall :P).

    2) Blackberry Appworld: Before one installs anything, it is pertinent to get Blackberry's iStore, the Appworld ! They are onto something here, hope they keep their act together. Get it for free, obviously :).

    2) Google maps: Since you already own a GPS-ed device, please do yourself justice and get Google maps (latest version please ! - just browse Google from your phone and choose the maps tab) - it was fantastic and now with the added "layers" feature - it is mindbogglingly Ironman-ish, heh :P. And, for the geographically challenged brethren out there, a must have, you will never have to embarrassingly ask for directions again (mostly, but in India you never know !).

    3) Blackberry messenger v5.0: This is a free upgrade to the ever faithful messenger and its ossum, go grab it - you will find the free upgrade icon already on your phone. Or get it here.

    4) Whatsapp messenger: For the 1st time, some brainiac has invested time in making a push messenger across smartphone platforms - its like BB Messenger for iPhones and Blackberries (they had Symbian (Nokia) plans - but with MeeGo as the new White Knight OS for Nokia Smartphones, I guess they are better off looking at Android) - so if you have frnds on iPhone, makes it worth the 100 bucks you will spend on it. 30-day free trial available here. The free Kik messenger also looks promising, but its restricted to US and Canada - can you believe that, really ! ?

    5) Opera Mini v5: Now, this freebie only comes next to Google maps, but only just next. Everything about it is beautiful and apparently it minimizes data usage, talk about quality with economy. Get it here :)

    6) Google Talk: Again, nothing to say which has already been not said - just get it. Get it here.

    7) Viigo India RSS reader: Probably the best free RSS reader on the curve. Try it here.

    8) Ubertwitter: In my view, the best-supported and free twitter client for blackberry (even better than the original). Even Shashi Tharoor and Sachin Tendulkar use this, sorry that doesnt make it any more useful, does it :) ? Try it here.

    9) Chronograph: My most loyal stopwatch over my BB years. OTA @here.

    10) Beam file explorer: Creates a windows explorer for your BB on-device and SD card memory for free ! Here.

    11) Facebook for Blackberry: Though the actual interface continues to be yawn-inducing, it converts your facebook updates into push messages, which is always pretty ossum. Free and here.

    12) SMSContact and "Forward, Reply & Edit": The fellows at Bberryapp have finally solved two of BB's eternal unsmart mysteries for free - 1) Why could you not forward contacts as SMS like Nokia et al ? Here. 2) Why could you not "edit" and forward, reply to emails ? Solved again, here.

    13) berrysnooper: Probably not the best, but after I lost my last 8310 curve, I got a bit hasty and installed this one as a jiffy. This one tracks your phone and saves you once it gets lost. Let me know if you find something better for ~500 INR, here.

    14) Mobipocketreader: One of the better e-book reading clients - can also import non-copyrighted .pdfs (you get the hang, dont you :) ?). Also, syncs easily between the PC and Blackberry. Here.

    15) Add to Contact: Another one of BB's eternal mysteries solved. Add contacts to phonebook directly from phonelogs / emails - even to existing contacts, no copy-paste business anymore, sir. It will set you back by 150 rs., but I guess its worth it. Trial available here.

    16) LastPass: Are you one of those clumsy, forgetful types (aka me) who struggle everyday juggling online passwords, credit card nos. etc.? If yes, this one is a must have for you. Sets you back by 50 bucks / month - but you get OTA sync between mobile, PC, iPad etc. etc. Totally spot-on !

    17) Free games: Though I am not much of a gamer, and that too on the curve :), I have found two free ones which are pretty addictive. Ka-Glom, an enhanced Tetris game and Blocked Traffic, a kool puzzle game (on the lines of the famous Unblock me on iPhone).

    18) And last, but not the least - my first Blackberry theme - the Norcross, read about it and download here. I waited till the end to write about it, so chalta hai na yaar :). And it has to be free, so it is :P.

    Let me know what apps do you use ?

    Tadaa,
    Ranjan
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  12. So, as it happened BCG deemed good to send me on a 2-day training to Kuala Lumpur (Hey ! I am a okay enough employee, I guess :-)) and as is the norm, Tanya and I converted it into a weekend trip with 2 days in Langkawi and she doing the shopping on the training days in KL (so tough to plan, nahin :) ?). And as with all things Ranjan, this also deserved to be blogged and here I am with the 10-pointer (seems like the iPad - iPhone analogy of consulting's 3-pointers :-)):

    1. Langkawi is Goa on steroids minus the hullabaloo :), cleaner, lusher surroundings equipped with much better infrastructure. And if you are into sea-food, it doesn't get better than this !

    2. In all my times abroad, I found Malaysia as the most liveable city - I actually will proactively try to get a 6-month types assignment there, lets see !

    3. It being a Islamic city is very high on infrastructure, systems and discipline - keeps the city nice, clean and beautiful.

    4. But, despite being Islamic, it is still very open with all possible westernized accoutrements possible and allowed (kind of Turkey, but I guess, even better :)).

    5. The standard of living is quite high - the tourists in Malaysia were even-stevens between foreigners and natives - a surefire indicator of prosperity.

    6. Electronics, clothes et al are costlier than India - but cosmetics are almost 1/4th the price - way to go, biwi :-).

    7. They call a door "Pintu" in Malaya - I could not politely inquire what did Pappu mean :) ?

    8. Malaysians are inherently polite people, but some of their expressions (like Okay, Okay with both palms held outwards) might appear rude to Indians, but they don't mean it :-).

    9. We went to this place in Langkawi where the new "Don"'s end scene (the one with Shahrukh latkofying from the bridge) was shot - the air there is sharp and fast - fantastic place !

    10. And here is the fun fact - AirAsia is offering DEL - KL return fare at ~8k / person starting Sep 1st. Its a wonderful opportunity to go and have fun :-). Try it !

    Ranjan
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  14. I used to love coding and the gizzinks back when I used to pretend that I wanted to be an engineer at IIT Kharagpur (my special proclivity was for obfuscating codes - abracadabra and woom ! the output is there :P - check out The International Obfuscated C Code Contest and then you will know what me is talkin about :)). I loved searching 800 lines of code for that one elusive bug which kept the whole show from getting on ! 

    But since, time immemorial, what man proposes, god obviously disposes :). And so here I am not having written / seen a code (except a few VB macros - MS Excel, right ! - here and there) for the past like 6-7 years. But, you can't really ever take the yearning out. So, as it happened, I decided to buy an iPad over the blazingly and hauntingly beautiful iPhone 4 (more on that next time around), I in the same vein decided to continue with my old but ultra-efficient Blackberry Curve 8310 till I really needed to change it (Hey, biwi - you happy now :) ? My gadget-happy ways are really getting on her nerves these days, I tell you !). And, thence lies the rub. 

    I was quiet taken by the iPhone 4 though and wanted somehow to get a good iPhonic theme on my BB - have been a wannabe all my life, heh ! So, I googled around and found 2-3 themes but they did not look cool enough (and coolth is obviously personal, right :) ?). So, using Blackberry's ossum Theme Studio, I set forth to creating a theme of my own - and here I am, having done it and loving it :-). I obviously think its beautiful, take a look for yourself below [Home, Menu and Lock Screens]!

     
                                
    Yeah alright, its a bit of fanboy stuff - a cross-over between iPhone and Bold themes [iPhone icons transform into Bold icons once you select them] and the Dark Knight Lock Screen had to be there, no :) ?

    Further, I have customized the battery and the network signal indicators a bit - a bit of this and that. And that's why I call it the Norcross theme, like whatever ! And if you like it, drop a comment, download it from the links here - 1. .cod file  2. .alx file and install it from the Blackberry Desktop Manager (Not that it matters but it will work for all 83xx models - 8300, 8310, 8320 and 8330). Best of luck with that !

    Till then,
    Adios from Kant :-)
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