Yamraj Ek Faulad

Idiot box is indeed named correctly.

Come every evening, it dishes out a strange combination of "Yamraj Ek Faulad", "Mumbai Ki Kiran Bedi", "Phir Ek Most Wanted", "My Boss Bajarangbali", "Gundaraj", "Mere Badle Ki Aag" in Hindi movies section. It's not just Bollywood (its own dubbed imports from Tollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood and it all other south of Colaba cousins) that dishes out same old stuff everyday. Why blame only Hindi cinema! Harry Potter fails to disappear from the English movie section every single day of the week. 300, LOTR series etc are trying their best to add on the list. Options are indeed limited and you are idiot if you think you can get entertained by watching TV once you reach home after the day's hard work.

I'll not go beyond these movie channels to Hindi entertainment section. It's above and beyond my comprehension to find out if those serials are actually same or repeated or totally different altogether.

Need to find a better way to entertained. Or shall we keep challenging the limits!

Old wine in a new bottle

That seems to be the easiest way to smell the past while remaining in the present. Reading old blog entries have the same soothing effect. Some entries are so old (or those memories have settled so deep in some dark corner of my mind) that I feel I'm not aware of those or I don't know the person who wrote those words. While others like my times in Europe are so fresh and top of the mind that I can relive those moments with all the colors intact.

Somewhere I think, writing those blogs has been a really good decision. How much ever easy or difficult it was, the effort has paid up and will be a big treasure in future. PooCh mentions about how he had hidden some of his favorite items in his grand mom's old house so as to find them in future (and get surprised). I've done the same over these years. Hoping to add more to this treasure as I grow older. Investing in future is the best bet I've for myself.

Go Digital Or Go Black

What a threat!

I would imagine it coming from any of my neighborhood cable operator. But alas it did not. It came on the tv. In between those funny cute flipkart ads, they slipped one small little threat. Who are they and what gives them this right? They are our dearest tata, bharti and dishtvs of the world (or their wannabe clones) and it's some act from Government of India that has enabled them to be the God of our choices.

I've not yet gone in detail of this act and thus now know the reason and logic to forcing such a move. However, I can clearly see a good amount of hassle and pain coming my way. I'm yet to get over the Rs 500 shock that Tata sky gave me in name of "Premium Installation" over and above the Rs 175 charges for the regular relocation request. There is no reason I'll be safeguarded from this in future.

It's a very simple business logic: first sell a set-top box to a customer, then charge him heftily for a bundle of channels that he wouldn't want otherwise (mind you, yaha aana free hai but jaane ke liye paisa dena padega), then charge him for every extra bit of wire/screw/use of screw driver that will be required for the connection to operate smoothly over a next couple of years of usage. In marketing courses, we used to read examples of razor and blade (or printer & paper/cartridge) for phenomenon where a customer's  total value to a company is very smartly spread over a longer horizon than just a one purchase event of buying the razor (or printer or things like this). In coming years, these cases can be updated with more suited examples of DTH, broadband etc.

We are slave of these companies now and that's why are handling the shit they are dishing out to us in name of service. I hope there are checks and controls put (and of course somebody to enforce these) for all such future defining moves. For now, time for me to go back and fight with tata sky & airtels of these world to help me live peacefully.

Lists

Having subscribed to a couple of dozen e-mailers from sites that are trying to define the ecommerce landscape of this country, I feel empowered. I can book my tickets, pay my bills, buy clothes, books, electronics and even jewellery, plan trips, read which restaurant to go and what to eat, find a new place to stay and also how to find help to move there - the list is unending.

Next challenge in life - to find balance between the e-life and the real life.