A book by a doctor from Ranchi…most likely autobiographical, nothing to write about, more like a B minus bollywood movie.

Begins well and then loses its plot, meandering towards it’s closure of 450 pages.

The only reason I ordered was the deal on flipkart and my enthusiasm to see if Indian authors are making the cut.

I had earlier written about Dell here.

Exactly a year later, it stopped working a couple of days back 4th May 2010 to be precise. Since my wife has been using it for basic surfing, chatting, skype, I thought it strange; however the problem was diagnosed as the adapter not charging the battery correctly; the plug being lose; some issue with the motherboard on the 5th May 2010.

She lodged a complaint on 6th May 2010 at around 2 pm. They verified everything and assured her that it would be sorted out in the next 24 - 48 hours.

They walked in at 2.30 pm on 7th May 2010 and replaced the motherboard once again; changed the socket in the computer and gave a new adapter & walked away at 3.30 pm

I know, I know some people told me that with some brands you would not have this problem etc. etc. however my reasoning is simple:

1) For an additional 4000/- I got an onsite warranty in which the total changes would have ordinarily cost me 40,000/-
2) The time saving & customer service commitment which leads to peace of mind is worth it.
3) Having used other brands in the past & even currently, I still think DELL is VFM for product & service particularly for hard usage.

AND hence I see no reason to say that I would have no hesitation to recommend it all over again.

It had been quite a long time since we had gathered, so on popular demand we kept 28th & 29th of August as party days with mine & mehul’s houses as the venue, so that it could be a long innings so to speak.

All confirmations were received, plans in order, when in the evening Sonal calls that I have left from Santa Cruz & need to buy a cake. For a while puzzlement hit me, since the menu already had sweet dish some lovely kulfi from Taj Kulfi before it struck me that 30th August was her birthday & Tushar was coming straight from Delhi by 11.30 pm

So, off we went to search for a cake - dark chocolate only -  at 9.30 in the night….AND it is for no reason that I am good organizer….managed it, asked them to deliver & reached the venue.

The Party began…shall be described elsewhere in detail….And finally the Cake came, but could not be delivered since One phase of electricity had gone, so no lift & he refused to climb 16 floors (even I would). So the cake waited down till an hour later Tushar came from Delhi.

When he finally reached the venue, he was zonked on learning that the lifts do not work & it would be a couple of hours before they would work….BUT the Love overcame…..AND Tushar climbed 16 floors with the Cake so as to reach 3-4 minutes before the dreaded 12 midnight so that he was the first person to wish Sonal…..Kya love hai itne saal ke baad bhi yaaron…..Some photu to celebrate that….God Bless!

A couple of weeks ago, a friend called up & on the spur of the moment left for Pune, a city that I like but have not visited since the past couple of years.

We left at around 11 am on a Saturday, quickly passing chembur & hitting the expressway before hunger hit us. My friend claiming to be a Puneite though he has been staying in Bombay for the past 35 years guided me to the petrol pump after the toll for some refreshments. The first stop was for some good Sev Puri at 1.30 in the afternoon, followed up by Dabeli (not too happening) & super Vada Pav, we continued our journey reaching our destination.

After spending 2 nights, we returned on Monday, stopping at the food plaza, where we had some amazing Pohe & Vada again (also carrying some back home)

What was definitely noticed by me was the better quality of food at the food plazas; cleanliness of facilities (OK sponsored by HPCL but whatever).

But the civic sense of people is still pathetic:

• Spitting & throwing junk inspite of the signs & waste basket placed.
• Speaking on the cellphones at the fuel pump & lighting cigarettes
• AND stopping on expressway to use it as a loo or picnic spot.

For our two days in Pune read here.

I had written about Parking going high tech here.

Yesterday, trying to park at Irla Amar Juice had another experience. Handing over Rs. 10/- as the slip was given to me, the man returned Rs. 5/- along with it.

Looking at my quizzical expression, he told me that was the charge. This aroused my curiousity & I quizzed him about the rates.

He claimed ignorance, but said that the sub contractor was saying - charges different at different places - eg Rs. 10/- near Juhu Scheme, Rs. 20/- near Juhu, Rs. 30/- near Alfa Irla and so on.

Whilst this is welcome, I still fail to understand why is double parking allowed? Why traffic police support is not provided so that driver sitting in those vehicles are made to park & pay for it instead of the usual Saab aaraha hai!

It is surprising & shocking that you can afford a four wheeler but not its parking fees.

I would really love to know what kind of different charges are being levied across bombay, so do write in & let me know:)

A couple of days ago, sunday to be precise, my daughter & I decided to order a Domino’s pizza for dinner at around 9 pm.

She called up, order taken promptly (we do order regularly:)) and delivered under 30 minutes. Whilst taking the box, she noticed that the coke & jalapeno dip ordered was not there. The young man said deduct the amount & pay.

By the time, hungry I had come out & asked my daughter to call up Domino’s which we did. The nice english speaking gentleman at the other end, said the same thing, when I insisted that I wanted the complete order asked to speak to his delivery person. After which he said that the coke would be got from downstairs & delivered. It was here I had to firmly ask him:

• Could I not have ordered it if that was the case (remember this is Lokhandwala where delivery is done till 12 midnight even for <50 Rs)
• We had spent 10 minutes arguing, the pizza was getting colder and how was one supposed to eat the bread without the dip.
• Why could the order not be replaced?

I think the message went through & he agreed after confirming that time is not the issue. Having had a variety of experiences with others earlier, I did not pay & kept the pizza till the new one was delivered; which it was within 20 minutes - the complete order this time.

After demolishing our dinner, I called up domino’s again with an intention of commending for the customer service, however to my surprise a lady picked up but had no clue about the problem faced, though she sounded happy to receive the compliment.

The next day, I lodged the compliment on the website also, receiving a vague templated reply.

It is indeed surprising that in spite of the software being used to identify customers, remember orders, it does not capture preferences, problems of customers or is it that the gentleman did not enter the problem. This is something Domino’s would have to look for internally.

As far as I go, yes I was satisfied with the service & shall definitely order again.

Some time ago the roads near Cinemax Versova were suddenly given new painted poles which had something small written on it, not visible to naked eye with even a 20:20 vision.

Over the next couple of weeks, my wife, daughter & driver enlightened me that it was all Pay and Park notices & traffic was slowly getting regulated. Good!

On Tuesday late evening we went to visit our Sharmaji’s Chaat for a bit of pani-puri. Now Juhu area near woodland has always been a Pay and Park, but I was pleasantly surprised to see freshly painted boards & boys in Khakhi coat moving up and down guiding cars & whatever they do.

Stepping out, one of them briskly came up to me with a machine asked for Rs. 10/- & gave me a receipt, which I pocketed, had our stuff & came home.

Bombay Termo Sensitive Paper Parking Receipt

Cleaning my money clip today, found the receipt, which got me thinking to find out who gets conned, who is the culprit - BMC; Sub Contractor, Consumer?

• The Receipt is issued from Hand Held machines
• They are on Thermo Sensitive paper
• They do not have amount written on them
• They do have in time; date; vehicle last digits & type
• And of course contractor name - Akhtar Enterprise - who seems to be every where
• PLUS of course “Parked at owner’s risk”

The freshly painted boards that are not visible do not give you a clue of the pricing structure.

Now do not get me wrong, I am not objecting to the price, on the contrary…..

• When we keep comparing Bombay to New York, Singapore & what not; why not Parking Charges?
• Why is it at owner’s risk when there is a charge being levied?

I know there are no answers to these questions, but if you have any, would welcome them.

In the meantime I console myself that at least here we keep the Keys of the car with us, unlike DELHI!

Soon after moving, studying, working across the country, we relocated back to Bombay as I remembered it and continue calling it.

Having settled down in our Palace (that could fit into our bath or kitchen back in Calcutta, Baroda) my wife went on finding spree, which being a Bombayite fluent in Marathi posed no problems, not that it gave her problems in Calcutta also.

Finding a dhobi, vegetable vendor (honest, good but important would give her the kind of vegetables she wanted) and finally the milkman. Our requirement was minimal on this front, nuclear family and all that jazz.

Found one at 4 bungalows - Sharma Dairy Farm - tied up & the delivery started. He grew his business, obviously not because of us, though thru references & neighbours did help.

A couple of years down the line, our nuclear family exploded, parents shifted to stay with us, we shifted houses yada, yada….the milk man followed…..

Some 5-7 years ago, one fine day, after the advent of mobiles, got a call from my wife to pickup some extra milk since some unexpected guests had landed. Asked the driver to take the road past the Dairy & park.

For the love of God I could not locate the dairy, but dreading the “kuch kaam ke nahi” tag if I called my wife up; braved the stupid looks people were giving me in my suit avataar marched up to an restaurant & enquired with a young pleasant looking gentleman on the counter.

Prompt came the answer ” You are standing in Sharma Dairy!” Then the man we knew came out, insisting that I have something kyon ki aap kabhi aaye hi nahi; bhabhiji knows & wished us etc. etc. Upon further enquiries, turned that his eldest son had completed his studies & so “thoda sa expansion kar liya”. Promising to visit them sometime again went away.

Over the years, found myself passing by, with a smile on my face whenever I passed the location. The delivery boys changed, older ones started sitting on the counters, became managers at the dairy. My wife also said his younger son was studying.

Today morning, on receiving a notice,

Milk Management Notice

I concluded that his younger son has completed his studies even MBA since I could see PPP implementation (Price, Productivity, Penalty) implementation happening at my old Sharma Dairy Farm….that was surely turning into a conglomerate, maybe a small one but still!

And this generation is bound to give headaches to the New Organized Retailers! They have everything going for them:

• Location
• Operation Capabilities
• Loyal & Trained Staff
• Structured Finance
• Ownership
• Focus to grow

Do let me know in case I have missed out something

I have been having these conversations, discussions, arguments with these young learned friends of mine on Twitter as well as some learned experts on social media whom I follow to understand or rather simplify the theory of social media.

What I see are just links of blogs, articles written by americans, british on case studies done in their countries for their consumers, speaking their One language. AND yes there are some few indians amongst these experts who also talk about such case studies only.  Perhaps taking pity on me Vijay Rayapati sent me a message yesterday “Hi @anaggh, We do have many Indian brands using Social Media for engaging with consumers - U can find info at”  http://bit.ly/D38WW

Full of optimism I visited his blog Social Media Marketing in India and poured over the case study list.

First, having understood and remembered the name opened Sunsilk gang of girls . Case study is brief with just some numbers etc. I could not make sense of  how the numbers came about, what caused the constant stickiness, how much money was spent on offline advertising to drive people to the web etc. which is most crucial was missing.

Secondly, I visited Indian Brands & Businesses on Twitter written by Santosh Maharshi who has been clear in informing his readers “This is the list of (now 75) Indian brands and businesses on Twitter. However, the ownership of these brands is not verified. For example, satyam computers which is a news update account for the company and not by the company. Some of the media brands are actually extending their services through twitter and not necessarily communicating with their users. Some of them can also be bots. Enjoy the list and please feel to add the ones that you come across in the comments section.”

Now nowhere are these case studies as promised but I decided to make a case study of these & share my findings with you: Read the rest of this entry »

Some time ago Tushar Gandhi had brought some lip smacking kulfi from a small place very close to his place.

Whilst all of it was polished, I had promised my parents & in laws that I would soon bring some over for them to taste.

So a couple of days back, taking directions from Tushar ” The Kulfi guy stands at the corner of Ramkrishna Marg & Sarojini Road or Ahimsa Marg he is there after 6 pm if you are coming from town turn left from Linking Road at the Signal after the Khar Danda Road He stands on the corner of the 2nd intersection” who was away in Bangalore reached the place finally.

So whilst he was packing the stuff, we had a kesar pista; malai & kesar falooda. Great Stuff……Now you can go and try them out.