Author Archives: Karthik

Life !

Posted by on February 19, 2012 No comments

So What are you waiting for ?

Source

Over-Rated Engineers !

Posted by on February 4, 2012 18 comments

“Mera Beta Engineer ban gaya” – My Dad, proudly declares, to his colleagues as he shares a box of sweets .

“ Kitna mila , Sir jee “ – Some one asks

“First Class se pass hua hay” – My Dad says , slyly trying to hide my marks.

I am concerned.  That Sweet Box that he just shared with his colleagues, I hope, is the last expense he has made for my Engineering. 

<rant>

I wish I had never done Engineering. If I had to plot my life on a graph , Engineering would have been the downward line.

And this is not a sudden realization – I had this feeling at the very end of my Engineering course. I had plans to quit then . Weeks before my final exams, I was contemplating dropping out and running away. I was tired of giving exams, writing journals and all this , just for one sheet of paper !. But I decided to let the graph of my life hit the rock bottom and gave the last exam !

Engineers are over-rated. Period. And in India, producing them has become a business – Go towards the south, Chances are you might find an Engineering College at places where there are no Hospitals ! This is a very disturbing trend. It has reached a stage, where we are looking at saturation as well as a burst of this Engineering bubble. Last year , Out of 750 Engineering Colleges in Andhra Pradesh itself – An Estimated 300 of them went without a single admission. And in spite of that , Andhra Pradesh remains one of the largest Engineer producing states. I won’t be surprised, if in the coming days – you will read “Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of Engineers in India” in Geography Lessons.

A Disturbing trend, is the cross-platform support in Engineering. Confused ? Look at the Top IT Companies in India. You see Engineers of all type . Mechanical , Industrial , Chemical , Electrical and Civil among other branches working on Software . Testing it , Building it . No Offense meant , but aren’t you guys supposed to build something in your own fields ? . This trend shows right in the syllabus they are taught . Why in the world, does a Mechanical Engineer needs to learn C++ ? Computer Science Engineers are not taught about Heat Induction or any other stuff like that , are we ?

dilbert_senior_engineer-e1282930317608

The Word Engineer means to build something – and sadly , I don’t see any building process here. I have been to a few Engineering Colleges in the past few months. These Colleges usually have the state-of-the-art campus, boast of High Placement Records. The Directors boast to me about record number of placements, features and Expert faculty. But, talk to them about innovation and they are all confused. Except for the IIT’s and NIT’s ,  very few colleges have an Entrepreneurship cell or an Incubation Center. But all of them, have a Training & Placement Cell.

The point is, I am not asking them to set up Incubation Centers right away. At least motivate them to learn something new. Students usually are burdened by so many exams , journal completions and classes that they have no time left to focus on something new. Embed something that fits with their syllabus. I never quite understood the practice of writing journals ( or rather copying them ) . Practicals are performed for observations – Why in the world do you want me to write the entire apparatus, procedure and other bullshit ?

So how do we solve this problem ? I propose a committee ( we have just too many of them in India ) which will bring in Educationalists, Industrialists at the same level and ask them to design a syllabus . AICTE should take up this step if it wants some real nation building to happen. Industrialists will be the big winner here. If they help design a course, they will have to spend less time training the students and they get readymade employees ! Engineering Colleges and Universities should be forced to adopt the syllabus . I am hinting at something similar to the CBSE Structure.  Adopting the syllabus is not going to change the situation over night – There should be some optional courses for which students can sign up. Students should be motivated to pursue higher studies. More impetus to Research and Development should be given . China leads us in Research and is making technologies which makes our technologies look woefully outdated. Our PhD’s are just sitting in Colleges taking Viva Exams and hell bent on making other people’s lives a hell rather than making it easier.

On a related note, I feel Companies need to get beyond the IIT / NIT Banners . One thing that disappoints me with these IIT / NIT guys ( and which has come as a trend to lower level Engineering Colleges ) is they opt for a MBA after Engineering . ARE YOU KIDDING, BRO ? . If all you had to do was sit and sell Computers , why did you learn how to make them ?

My point is we are not creating innovators, engineers and researchers. and that is what we need the most ! Take a look at China, Many of their Engineers are building the nation in the form of research and here we are becoming a cheap workforce for the First World. We have to depend on the First World for our jobs, usually they would make us happy by releasing reports that we are the happiest people in the World ! But in reality, we are slaves ! It is time we stop over-rating Engineers and stop giving them menial IT Jobs which even a kid can do after a month of training.  Build the nation – Start developing something, Start Building something and above all Engineer something.

And this exactly is why I am regretting doing Engineering. I am not looked anywhere as someone who can build stuff, I am looked at as a “resource” as they say in IT Companies. My Dad could have invested the money in something like buying a luxury car or another house – and I would have been more happy ( and he too, I guess) .

I am not saying Engineering was totally a wrong decision – Of course, I got lots of good friends and had the best times of my life. I learnt many things but all of them were outside the college. It would have just been great, had I learnt even awesome things inside the college !

</rant>

The Journey Continues

Posted by on January 11, 2012 2 comments

[ Click here to read the first part of the Journey ]

“and that is when I realized, the 2nd Stop for the train was just an hour away from there – So I took another bus and reached here well before time ”

“and then you messaged me that you are not coming. You are so evil”

“Well, a bit of surprise has never hurt anyone, has it ? ”

She smirked. He was good at giving surprises. This one was probably his best.

The train had already left the station and everybody settled down. A Lazy afternoon ensured the coach was silent . Occasionally , the silence would be broken by screams of kids . But none of them disturbed them. They were already lost in their own world !

and all of a sudden, it started raining. They left the comfort of their seats and chose to stand by the door while everybody closed their windows. The rain brought with it a new activeness in the coach. All eyes fixed on the them, as they moved and stood near the door – Facing each other , smiling every now and then. He knew, the eyes were not staring at him – they were staring at her . For , she was one beautiful woman !

They had no intentions to sit down – They just stood there . Sometimes talking to each other about the work they do, and sometimes about future plans . There would be times when they would be totally silent and stare into each others eyes. Moments later, they would talk about hands – and that is when he took her hand in his and ran his fingers along . The Hands entwined, and their eyes still searching each other .

It was after sometime that they realized that standing was a stupid thing to do – Their seats had been occupied and they had to adjust with a couple of kids sitting around. He sat near her , somehow balancing himself on the edge of the seat . She pulled him near her and lifted his hand and guided it to her waist. He held her strongly – He never was with many women, but he certainly did know how to hold them. He wanted to be near her , but not with kids around . He hated kids.

They shifted to another row and this time – they sat comfortably . She rested on his shoulder while he still played with her hands .

“I love the smell of your hair ”

“Hmmm Hmm, you do ?”

“Yes, and I love you too ”

She looked into his eyes. He came closer . And their Lips met . Oblivious of the surrounding, their lips met again and again !

and when they were done – they were subject to stares . But, they did not mind.  They just smiled at each other and began playing with their hands again.

The Train started getting empty as stations passed – And soon they realized , What an exotic luxury time is. The train slowed down . and he knew it was slowing down for the last time .  He did not want this to end . He did not want her to go away.

He spoke to her through his eyes and she did too. As the train, rushed into the station – their lips met again. and again . and again. The train stopped and so did they !

” We did not hug each other ” She said. And proceeded to give him a hug .He felt guilty about not giving her a hug earlier, but he was one shy fellow ! They hugged and got out of the train.

“So…” he said, in a shrill voice , expecting an answer .

” I had a really great time with you ”

He smiled .

” But, I am going to keep a cushion here . I am not going to say it’s not going to work – Let’s just keep it open ”

He nodded his head. He knew she would say this . He loved her for this . He gave a gentle smile .

” So , I guess – Bye then ! ”

” Bye ” – She said and rushed down the platform. Amidst the huge crowd exiting it .  As she went away , a song played in his head. A Song, which she had introduced him to.

I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

He woke up next morning . In an another train, In an another place .

His mom brought a cup of Coffee for him .

“What’s that on your lips  ? – How did you get that swelling ”

He touched and quickly retorted

” Oh, that – That is an Insect Bite , mom ”

and smiled to himself.

TEDxNagpur : Bringing the Change

Posted by on January 8, 2012 3 comments

Happy New Year Folks !

This is a much delayed post ! But as I was on a South Safari in the second half of December 2011 and hence the delay .  This is a post about TEDxNagpur – About how it all started , happened and ended .

*Flashback effects*

It all started with a chat with Harshil Gupta, whom I met during Make a Difference’s “Draw for a Child” competition.  We were chatting about the general attitude of Nagpur and how slow life here is and people are business oriented and blah blah blah blah ( the usual rant ) .  So, I always had this plan to conduct a TED in Nagpur , but never moved my ass to take the effort . and then this chat happened

Deja vu . In other words, TED vu

and that was it . The start of TEDxNagpur . This was somewhere in the month of April – May !  So there was an entire 9 months effort that went into the event . We immediately set the ball rolling and applied for the TED license. It took us a good 2-3 months after clearing all the formalities to get the TEDxNagpur license .

Team , Team , Team :

Read this somewhere – “A+ people work with A+ people” . To conduct an event of TED’s repute, we needed a team full of amazing people . Enter , Khushboo Agarwal : The First addition to our team . Khushboo is a teacher at a reputed ( ? ) Engineering College in Nagpur and teaches students ( hopefully ) about Architecture .

Her enthusiasm was contagious. Just talking to her about designing the stage would get us excited. Apart from inputs on the stage, she would always provide us lots of ideas. No one from our team was assigned any portfolio ( which we intended to do at first , but it never worked ) . Everyone just contributed to the entire event in every way they could .

The Team

Abhinavdutt and Abhijeet – Two really excited and motivated individuals . It’s really hard to find such guys these days . A very good connect with the Student Community all over Nagpur , these guys would just do the work assigned to them in a record time and do even more than that at times .  Abhinav’s room would be the headquarters for us – and we turned it into a mess . Posters , Papers , Food and other materials just scattered around here and there !

The Headquarters would be buzzing with activity day in and day out with people holding phones coming in and out . and this was in a peaceful neighborhood. I am glad, nobody suspected us to be a terrorist organization and complained to the Police.

Ambarish and Shalaka - If you meet them at first,  you could easily mistake them for kids . But the fact is, they are not . They were the ones who would make us laugh, whenever we found ourselves in deep shit . They would be full of innocence. So much, even if they did a mistake – We would let it pass . They were the youngest of the team members but the most active of them all . Except for Shalaka , who would drop once in a while and seem lost like a girl in the Forest . But nevertheless, I am happy she turned out for the event ;)

Aditya and Ankita – A Dynamic Brother – Sister Duo . I sometimes wonder what these literature enthusiasts are doing in an Engineering College. Ankita, is really good at writing stuff . When we would run out of words – She was the one to turn to . She would prepare an article out of nowhere . While we pondered over how the next Facebook status should be , She would come up with the content for that .  Aditya, again, is good at writing .  Read his blogs and you will know. Although we could not use them for what they specialize in , they brought in lots of ideas to the table.

Gauri and Khushboo – The Dynamic girls duo – They were the butt of some special jokes crafted specially for them by me and Harshil .  and they would take it sportingly ( kidding , we were given death threats ). It was real fun working with these ladies.

Vikash and Dhananjay – These guys are Designing Geeks . Right from designing the website materials to the badges , these guys did everything . We would just tell them the concept and they would come up with the output in less time.

 

Design Design !

 Abhijit Ranade : Abhijit da is a photographer . He helped us set everything from the lighting the stage to camera angles.  He patiently tried each and every color lights and took thousands of photographs throughout the entire event and made sure the photos came out very good.  His picture reflect the efforts we put in for making the event a success.

A Special thanks to Aditya Gupta, Shrirang, Abhimanyu Ghei , Nhea and Neha who helped us in each and every stage . Right from setting up the website , stage ,  designing , planning and execution and selling Tickets . Our team worked day in and day out to make this event a success.

The Speakers :

The Speakers

The toughest part of the event was selecting the speakers . We had 200 [ Yes , 200 Speaker Suggestions :O ] and from that huge list – trim it down to 8 speakers was a huge task . I will not go into the details of why we chose the speakers and how we did – but to give you an idea : We chose speakers who have been instrumental in making a change , have seen change happening or are supporting change .

And I think , we did a great job at selecting the speakers . Undoubtedly , these speakers spoke with real passion and shared ideas that benefited a lot of people .  Apart from that, it was a motivation for the team to personally interact with them over a span of two days . and a pleasure for me and Harshil to interact with their assistants and secretaries from Day 1 :P

The Other Stuff :

It was really challenging to market TED to people . In a place like Nagpur, people would ask you what exactly TED is. And even after explaining it to them, they would not really understand it . We did not go heavy on marketing the event due to a bit of budget limitations , but we pulled it off very well . Got a quarter page feature on Hitavada before the event and Times of India covered it after the event .  Heavy promotion on Facebook and via [ MH-31 Nagpur Unlimited ] though and that is where it all helped us.

We got connected to lots of people during this event who have pledged their support for next time . So next time, hopefully it will be bigger and better  !

Ofcourse, not everything went smooth as I have been projecting till now . The entire journey was a roller coaster for us and we could have done even amazing things – but I guess for a first time , we did a great job. Everybody who attended the event loved it and it was paisa-vasool for them ! Couple of goof-ups did happen but I guess that happens once and then ! All lessons for us .

It was a pleasure working with Harshil on this event. He is one adamant person, and would never take a no . Learnt a lot from him.  He dreams big ( and sometimes really big ) and keeps the excitement in the team going . We ran on this excitement for 9 months and it was a happy ending for all of us !

This post is already too lengthy for me to put in all problems and challenges before us but if you insist on knowing them – Buy me a Coffee and we can have a tell-everything session.

Awesome way to end 2011 .  and it only gets better in 2012 . Me and Harshil are back to planning something even more awesome .  Wait and Watch ! :)

P.S : Want to be a part of TEDxNagpur or future initiatives ? – Click on the link to register or drop us a message on our Facebook page or Twitter

The Journey

Posted by on November 8, 2011 7 comments

He gazed at the Electronic board above him anxiously. The lights in the board rearranged to form ” D-12 “. He heaved a sigh of relief.

He woke up at 6 in the morning. A rare spectacle for his surprised mom. He didn’t tell them where he was headed to. They thought he was off to finalize a deal. Answering all the questions that were fired at him, he ran out to the bus stop praying he didn’t miss the bus. Disappointment spread over his face as he saw the bus leaving the stop.

“Plan-B, Plan-B” he mumbled as he boarded the connecting bus. He smiled admiring his brilliance. He had chalked up a backup plan. How can he not ? . The admiration and happiness, however was short-lived. In the midst of nowhere, the bus tires decided to burst.

He could feel the Universe mocking him. He got down from the bus and looked at the empty road. Ocassionally looking at his watch, he prayed for a miracle. And it happened. He thanked his stars and hopped onto the bus. He was hanging on the steps, a first-time for him. His lucky shirt was getting dirty, but he was least concerned. The Bus reached the connecting station. He dashed off to the connecting bus, again to be disappointed. He stood there, aimless and no idea of what to do next.

He took out his phone and texted with a heavy heart

“Sorry, I can’t make it today ! A lot has happened”

” :( ” – came the reply

” I can explain ” – he texted back !!

” Not needed. ”

The speakers came to life all of a sudden and his flashback was abruptly disturbed. The Train slowly chugged into the station. Slowly, until it came to a stop. He looked around , a sea of humans appeared from nowhere. His eyes started scanning around desperately looking for her. And there she was – Lost in her own world. With an obvious frown on her face, she had turned to a novel to give her company. He walked towards her. She raised her eyes, after realizing someone staring at her. And their eyes met.

“I am going to kill you. I. AM. GOING. TO. KILL. YOU” She said shaking her head.

He smiled. ” Well, I was expecting something more romantic ”

She smirked. He jumped in. The gentlemen besides her seemed jealous of the new stranger and gave him a stern stare when he asked for his seat. She requested and he moved, making way for the stranger.

He crashed on the seat beside her. And took a breath. May be for the first time that day. She looked at him. He looked at her. Lots of questions to be answered.

The Train started to move. And thus began the journey.

Staying Hungry and Foolish !

Posted by on October 6, 2011 No comments

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.  And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary.

Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish.”

R.I.P Steve Jobs !

HTC – Customer Care Service : A Terrible Experience

Posted by on August 2, 2011 18 comments

I have always wanted to buy a smartphone after using a Nokia N73, Nokia 2610 and a Nokia Supernova. And so when the HTC HD7 was up for 19k at SoSasta.com – I wasted no time in buying the phone. I always wanted to buy a Windows Phone 7 and a phone with almost 10k off the discount – it was a STEAL ! . So the phone was ordered and was to be bought at Pune ( The Offer was valid in Pune ) and Tripod collected the phone.

The Phone !

I got the phone on 6th July and I might have used it for a week ( No Reviews for now – That would be another post ) when one fine day the speakers stopped working all of a sudden. I could hear the music and everything when I plugged in the headphones but the speakers – no sound ! I decided to go to the Nagpur HTC Service Center and check out with the issue ! I am going to narrate the entire incident in a chronological order

11th July : Phone Speakers gone kaput .

13th July : Visit to the local HTC Service Center. Nikesh, the manager tells me there are two options

1) Get Phone Speakers repaired

2) Get a Replacement

Since I did not like the idea of my phone being opened up just within 10 days of buying the phone – I opted for a replacement. That is when it all started ! The Manager told me – I would have to go to Pune to get my phone replaced and told me there is *NO* other option. He told me he can go to Pune for replacement but that would cost me 2000/- which will be for his travel and other charges. Knowing that he was trying to make a fool outta me – I refused and went back home.

I decided to call the HTC Service Center. The Customer Rep informs me that the replacement will be delivered in Nagpur itself and asked me to go back to the Service Center and talk to the Manager. I go back and the manager seems confused. I call up the HTC Service Center and then the Customer Rep and the manager talk to each other, inside the area where customers are not allowed. So after the conversation, my phone is accepted for replacement and I get a Job Sheet done ! I am told I will get a replacement in Nagpur *within* a week.

I am also told that I will get a call the next day about confirmation. I ask “Confirmation, about what ? – Isn’t my phone replacement confirmed ? ” to which I get an answer that it is confirmed I will get replacement – I will get more details about it tomorrow.

14th July : No call from Service Center neither HTC Customer Care

15th July :

I call up Mr Nikesh and ask him about the “more details” he was talking about and he says I will have to collect my phone from Pune itself.

I call up the Customer Care and get connected to the same person who handled my call earlier. After being putting on hold for nearly 20 minutes – I am asked to go back to Pune and collect my replacement. And this comes after nearly half an hour of explaining him what my problem is ( i.e. I can’t go to Pune ) to receive my handset.

He again puts me on hold and then this time tells me I will be given a new phone from Nagpur center itself. One thing to notice here is that I was not called by either the Dealer, Customer Care and the Service Center. I had to call up these guys which means if I had not called up these people, I would have never known about it.

I cut the phone call after assurance that I will get my phone from the Nagpur HTC Service Center itself. I tell them I would like it to be couriered it to my house rather than getting it at the Service Center. So the Customer care Rep Mr Deepak takes my address and mail id and tells me that I will get my phone within 3 days . Relieved and Happy – I ask him for a tracking number of the courier just so that I can track if the courier has been dispatched or not.

I am told that I will get a call from the Complaint Team and my phone would be delivered to the address . Below is a snippet of the conversation

Me : Can you please give me the Tracking Number of the Courier through which you are sending the phone ? I need to track the parcel.

Customer Rep : I am sorry, Sir. Windows Phone 7 does not have this feature.

Me : *facepalm*

I am then told I will get the courier on Monday ( or at the max Tuesday ). I ask them about the accessories box that I have – I am told to give back the box of accessories to the Courier guy.

18th July : Monday – No Courier Yet !

19th July : Tuesday – No Courier Yet !

I try calling the Customer Care Center and I get a Line Busy because apparently the servers are down.

20th July : I call up HTC Customer Care again and this time since Deepak is not available my call gets connected to another rep who after listening to all my problems tells me I will have to collect the phone from Pune. Also turns out that they have not couriered my phone.

*Facepalm*

Tired of dealing with these reps – I demand getting connected to a higher authority so that I can sort out the issue. I am connected to Mr Vishal Bharti who tells me he will look into the matter and call me back.

21st July : I get a call from Mr Vishal on 21st and he tells me that he will get the phone delivered to my house as soon as he gets the defective piece ( from Nagpur ). I tell him that I have the box of accessories still with me. I am asked to return it back to the Nagpur Service Center if possible by 21st night itself so as to ensure speedy replacement. I tell him it is not possible as I am at Office – I will give it next day

22nd July : I go to the Nagpur Service Center to return back the box when the Engineer there tells me that he has received no mail from HTC asking him to collect the box or send back the phone to Delhi.

Enraged – I call up the service center to find out that this guy is in a meeting so I am connected to Mr Pushpender who also knows about my case ( Heck ! Everybody in the HTC Service Center knows my case ). He calls up the Local Service Center and asks them to collect my phone.

23rd July : I go back to the Nagpur Service Center and I give them my Phone Box along with the accessories and ask them to courier it on Saturday itself but these guys courier it on Monday.

26th July : I call up Vishal Bharti and ask him the details – The Defective piece has been sent and will be received on Wednesday. My New Handset will be issued and sent on Wednesday to my house. Mail conversations between me and HTC Service Center ( in_service@htc.com ) happen which assures me that I will get the Docket number ( Tracking code for the courier ) once the phone is dispatched from Delhi HQ.

28th July : I call up again since I have not received any tracking code and Vishal tells me that the phone was received on 28th and they will be sending the phone today and code on Friday morning.

It’s okay – I assure myself – Couriers usually mess up so a day should not matter !

29th July : No Tracking Code sent to my mail. No call either . I call up again . Mr Vishal is either busy / having lunch / in a meeting. Customer Rep tells me phone has been couriered and is in transit. He confirmed this information from Vishal who is apparently in a meeting.

30th July : Mr Vishal has taken a half day leave. 2 calls to different Customer reps and I ask them to ask Vishal to call me back, No call back from Vishal.

1st August : No Courier yet . If you send a courier from Delhi on Thursday night – it should have reached Nagpur by now. I call up and again Vishal is busy ! I have dropped 6 mails till now asking him about the courier details ( These mails are to in_service@htc.com ) Highly unlikely that people won’t see this mail because they have to attend to official mails – I am sure they are ignoring my mails.

2 calls : One to Mr Deepak and one to Mr Pushpender asking Vishal to call back. No luck. Apparently Vishal is too busy reply to my mails or call me back. Some Workload he has !

2nd August : No Courier yet . Call to Customer Care Rep who tells me Vishal is busy and then tells me he is not in Office. I ask him to call me back when Vishal comes !

Update : Phone not yet been dispatched. Mr Pushpender tells me some “courier issues” and assures me via sweet talk that I will get my phone till tomorrow night.

Update : After I publish the blog post – I also mail this blog post to one Mr Yong Chen after someone told me this on Twitter. I mailed and I got a call from one Mr Vivek who got this mail from Mr Yong Chen. He assures me that he will look into the matter and call me next day to let me know when I will receive my phone.

3rd August : No call from Mr Vivek yet ! Neither from Mr Pushpender.  No Courier at my house neither any tracking number in my mail . It is sad to see that even after the top authorities intervening in the issue, the attitude still remains the same. Nobody cares to call me up and give me an update about what happened to my phone.

I am now considering approaching the Consumer Forum or take any other legal ways to deal with this issue ! I have dropped a mail to Mr Yong Chen telling the same.

P.S : 1 month since I bought the phone – The Phone has been with HTC more than with me ! I’ve had enough ! 

Update : Seems like everytime you want the guys at India to respond – You have to drop a mail to Mr Yong Chen.

I get a call around 5 45 pm ( after EOD ) telling me that my phone will be dispatched tonight around 8 pm. All I could do was let out a big *sigh* :| . All this time , I was told that my phone replacement has arrived from the HeadQuarters and now they tell me that It arrived today. So it is clear that Mr Vishal and Mr Pushpender were not telling me the truth ! .

I demanded that I get connected to Mr Vivek . Mr Vivek called me after some time and informs me that the customer reps who handle my case were suspended and the Nagpur Service Center has been terminated. Our Discussion goes on for sometime and I am assured that the Phone will be sent tomorrow without fail. Discussion to continue with Vivek tomorrow too !

August 4 : I get a call from Mr Qayyum Khan telling me that the Phone will be dispatched today. Around 5:30 pm I get the tracking code . Mr Vivek tells me that the Tracking code will be updated after some time and not immediately. *Phew*

Let’s hope the phone arrives soon !

I am also getting a free pouch ( because the pouch was stolen by Service Center in Nagpur ) – Right now , all that concerns me is getting back my phone !

August 5 : I enter the tracking code in the website of TNT Couriers to find that it is not working. I then find out that the code is 8 digit whereas the tracking code should be 9 digit. I call up Mr Vivek again and I get a call back and this time I get the complete 9 digit code. Shipment has reached Mumbai. Expecting the phone to be here by tomorrow.

It’s been 24 days since the phone was submitted for replacement and I am yet to get the replacement. Most of the 24 days has been filled up with confusion.

It really feels bad when you buy something for yourself with your hard earned money only to see it go kaput within a week ( and then experience irresponsible customer care )

HTC Phones are really good in quality but when it comes to customer care, they really suck. I would recommend you guys to buy any other phone but not HTC.

August 6 : I get the phone . But the Courier they sent had no delivery boys [ I know . WTF indeed ] , so I went to pick up my phone . On reaching the Office, I found out that HTC guys had not paid the Courier guys octroi [ or some miscommunication ] . They asked me to wait till the problems got cleared but I was reluctant .

I wanted my phone to be honest, so I paid the Octroi and told the HTC guys to give me my refund money on monday . On Monday, Someone from HTC Nagpur Service Center [ The Receptionist to be precise] , came over and handed me over the Octroi Money.

HTC HD 7 Pouch :

When I went to the Service Center, I left my pouch worth Rs 250/- at the Service Center ( My Mistake totally ). I called the Nagpur Service Center and the receptionist there told me to come and collect my pouch . When I asked him, if it was my “Black Colored, big pouch with HTC” written on it – He said Yes it is and asked me to collect it

But when I went there, the person told me he never talked to me. I was shocked. I told him that I called regarding the pouch and he talked to me – But he denied it. I ask him to ask other employees and one of the employee says that he has the pouch which he will get on Monday.

On Monday however when I call, he tells me it is not a HTC pouch and says it is a Nokia Phone’s pouch.

HTC, This is how you deal with your customers ! I am impressed. NOT

Lies, Lies and Lies : A Big Lesson that comes out from this entire incident is ” Never Ever Lie to Your Customer ” . I would have frankly never got this pissed off if they would have told me in the beginning about the problem [ Unavailability of Stock / Whatever ] and that it would take some time . Calling them up everyday and wasting my time on their phone calls . Such a pain in the ASS . !

and Mr Vivek told me that Nagpur Service Center and Customer Reps handling my case were cancelled . One Word . BULLSHIT ! . The Nagpur Service Center license is not terminated and Mr Pushpender called me up next day asking me if I got my phone or not [ Bleh ] .

Fuck you HTC . I am never ever buying a phone / neither recommending a phone to my friends . EVER

Addressing the Customer : 

The Chaps at HTC Customer Service care ( Hotline ) are good at addressing the customer grievances but during one of the calls, when my phone line dropped – I called again. When someone picked it up, Someone from the background screams ” Karthik fir se aa gaaya ”

I tell Mr Pushpendra during one of the conversation that if I don’t get my phone within a week – I am going to the Consumer Forum . He Replies – Sir, you can go to the Forum : I am not concerned with that . We will deliver your Courier within a week !

IS THIS HOW YOU RESPECT YOUR CUSTOMERS, HTC ?

I also bought a Screen Guard from Flipkart which is now gone with the old phone. So if I go and buy the accessories again – it will cost me 1k more. *sigh* so much for buying a phone at a discounted rate :|

P.S :  Looks like HTC never learns from past incidents . Manish Kungwani, also faced a problem with HTC . Go read it here

TEDxNagpur

Posted by on July 16, 2011 1 comment

 

Will you be there ?

Not so Fair and Not so Lovely

Posted by on June 24, 2011 6 comments

The commercial begins in a interview board room where you see one guy confidently answering another guy’s answer. As the commercial comes to an end, you realize that it was the interviewer who was actually being questioned and instead of him making the offer – the interviewee asks for a joining date. The camera zooms out, shows an entire panel who are mighty impressed by the interviewee’s skills and give him an on-spot offer.

Blah Blah Fair and Blah Cream : Max Impression – a voice in the background says !

Ah ! Fairness Creams and their ads never made sense. But the one I am talking about breaks all levels of retardness. My experience in the interview room tells me that if you display such level of confidence overconfidence in there, not only will you be kicked out of the room but barred from appearing for any future interviews for the companies. The interviewer is someone who has rightfully earned his place by working hard for years – and to have some Fresher come in the room and do a role reversal : I am sorry, this just does not work for me !

The Next Brand Ambassador

India has served as an excellent market ground for these fairness creams. In India, the men’s fairness segment has a value of Rs 4.1 Billion while the fairness cream segment overall clocks a profit increase of 15 to 20 percent every quarter. I am disappointed. Disappointed at the fact that people are buying fairness cream thinking it would give them a job or get those hot chicks drool at you singing ” Hi Handsome, Hi Handsome “.

If we go by the theory that God created man by baking figures of clay – He sure did bake us guys a little longer. And then it carried on . My Dad is not so fair and my Mom is very fair – Eventually My Dad’s Chromosomes won and I ended up not being so fair. I remember as a kid, I once applied an entire tube of Fairness cream to my face only to find that it never worked. But has it made any difference ? Not at all . I have had Girls Girl proposing me , I got a Job and I did some pretty awesome things too. And all this happened with me not being fair !

The point is what you are – how you behave and how people react to you does depend on how you look but not to such a large extent as shown in the TV ads. Think before you buy the fairness cream the next time . Are you sure if you apply it – your voice will get so good that you become an overnight sensation ?. If Yes , then I would have been one and not singing everyday in my bathroom. If you ever are rejected somewhere due to being not so fair, Thank your stars. For if you had worked there, pretty much you would have to bear the brunt of everything !!

I don’t know what is the obsession we Indians have with fair people . When was the last time you stared or drooled at an African ? Never , Right ? . On the other hand , you just stare whenever you see a foreigner from the First World. Wake up People ! Beauty is only Skin Deep ! The Real Beauty lies inside ( no , not inside your clothes – inside your mind ).

It is high time you all stop using those fairness cream or one day as Faking News reports you will end up be like this guy.

 

A New Journey : Next is What ?

Posted by on May 15, 2011 19 comments

“Too often we are so preoccupied with the destination, we forget the journey.”

Isn’t that true ? :)

Engineering officially ended on 11th May 2011 ( Assuming I pass in all my papers ) . For me Engineering has been one awesome Journey . So many Highs , so many Lows , So many feelings , So many Friends . Now that it has all ended , I can only look back and say that the Journey is much much sweeter than the Destination.

At the end of 4 years of Engineering – I found out that I have matured a lot but there is still room for improvement . Got the best of friends – Don’t get me started on this – It pains to talk about them . Imagine one fine morning you wake up and you call up one of them and you have absolutely nothing to talk about .

Fell in Love  – Got myself hurt. Started new ideas and failed a lot  – But came back with a bang . Tried new things , Found a new Karthik – A Karthik , which I never imagined I would become .

Suddenly there is this big void in life – A  Void that cannot be filled for now . If somebody told me , this would be the destination , trust me I would have never taken the Journey . For the destination has brought more sadness than happiness .

It will take some time for me to realize that Life must move on. It will take some time for me to realize that there is a cruel world waiting to kill me out there . It will take some time for me to realize that I will be all alone from now on .

It will take time . Some Time .

Here I am at the Mumbai International Airport , waiting for a plane . A Plane that is taking me to the start of the new journey . A Journey whose Destination even I don’t know .

 

A Journey of Thousand Miles is starting with a Check in . And on that note , I leave you with -

With Lots of Love and Hate

Karthik