A Moral Victory

Have you been unfairly charged by our service providers? I am sure all of us have faced such a situation at some point in our life. So what do we do? Here's my experience with Vodafone recently.

The Problem
Last week, accidentally a few key presses caused caller tunes to get activated on my Vodafone number. This led to deduction of Rs. 50 from my balance and activation of a crappy ringtone. So, the next day I called up Vodafone Customer Care. They informed me that nothing can be done to deactivate and get back my balance. Instead he had the audacity to tell me "Now that you've activated it, just use it." Like he pays for my bills!

The steps
So, the next day I tweeted about the same. To this, I got a negative reply that there's no chance of getting it back. And two people who experienced the same and never got their money back.
I still decided to go ahead and give it a try. First step was to have a written, verifiable record. Doing this in writing and submitting it at a Vodafone store is difficult to manage with work timings. Thus, I visited the vodafone website and visited "Got a problem" page. So, the best way forward was to contact them. My chosen medium was e-mail.
This was the email sent by me to vodafonecare.mum at vodafone.com

Dear Sir,
   On Saturday i accidentally dialed a friend's number and numbers
8*2 got pressed accidently while the call was in progress. This
incident activated caller tune on my number, without any additional
intimation or warning. I just got a SMS to inform me that a caller
tune has been activated on my number. A call to the customer care
proved to be futile. I don't need or want to have a caller tune. I
would just like to have my balance back.
  And while at it, it would be surely preferable if an esteemed
telecom company like you stop using such cheap tactics. Just an
additional SMS to confirm the activation of caller tune would be so
much more convenient and error proof. I would urge you to take steps
in this direction and thereby avoiding your customer losing faith in
your services.
  Hoping for a positive response.
With Regards
Mehul Ved.

The Response
There was no response to the email. Just as I was considering reaching to the nodal officer, there was a reply. Finally!! 4 days later they reply to me by email that they will get back to me shortly.

Dear Mr.Ved,
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. We hope we have addressed your concern regarding Caller tune charges for your Vodafone mobile number 9819XXXXXX.
In case you need any further assistance, do call or email us, We'll do our best to help you. 
Happy to help

I decided to wait for another couple of days to see what happens next.
Finally I got a call 3 days later from Vodafone. I was anxious as to what will be the reply. Luckily they agreed to reverse the charges but made it sounds like they were doing me some favour by saying that they are doing it just this once as a goodwill gesture. Balls they've got.

The Followup
Two days later I did get a refund. But, the refund was worth Rs. 45 instead of Rs. 50 which was originally cut. Something better than nothing.
This was followed up with an email from my side as to how they can improve the system to remove this inconvenience. Here's the text from the email

Thank you for addressing my query. I would appreciate if steps are
taken to correct the fault in the procedure for copying caller tunes
from friend. The current procedure is causing inconvenience and
feeling of dissatisfaction amongst many customers of Vodafone. The
current procedure is
1) Dial your friend's number
2) Press  while the friend's caller tune is playing
3) Send SMS to inform of activation of service.
If you notice here, there is no step for confirmation in accidental
press of  button.
This procedure could be easily corrected by implementing the following steps
1) Dial your friend's number
2) Press * while the friend's caller tune is playing
3) Send SMS that a request has been sent for activation of caller
tunes. Do you want to really activate caller tune?
4) Once the confirmation SMS is sent, activate the caller tunes
5) Send SMS to inform of activation of service.

I hope this post will help others who've been bullied by their service providers and have been unfairly charged for services. If you do have such experiences of your own, please do post it on your blog to give it a visibility and motivate people to not take the atrocities of the service providers, just lying down.

Cycling Bug

I started cycling in my school days and used to ride my bicycle regularly but almost gave it up ever since I came in the college. But, a year back I returned back to cycling after buying a new bicycle.

But, I was hit by cycling bug last month after reading tweets from Mrugesh, Aalaap and Shakti on cycling.

It first started with cycling off to work, which has slowly become a regular activity for me. I end up cycling about 100-150km per week. One downside to this activity is the amount of sweat that I end up with. The scorching heat doesn't help any, adding to the amount of sweating. And the lack of bath rooms means I have to make do with 2 pairs of shirts each day. But, totally worth it. It's also fun to have a look at people who stare at me as if I was an alien just cos I wear formals while cycling. Kya kare there's no way out.

Besides cycling to work, I go cycling on Sunday morning with the group at cyclists.in. The event, started by Aalaap, is known as Ride The Weekend. A group of people numbering from 2-6 people meet up at Shivaji Park at <s>7 a.m.</s> 6:30 a.m. and go to different locations around Mumbai. In the 5 RTW's that have happened so far we have been to Bandra, Marine Drive, Wadala and Worli Seaface. Each ride has been awesome – meeting new people, learning more about bicycles in the process.
Lately, a event has been happening on Saturday mornings too. People gather at Bandra at 6:30 a.m. and go riding. I am looking forward to join them this week. If I can find a place to have a bath along the way, I could stay for the whole event.
Among my cycling to do list is getting a helmet, always be safe than sorry. And prolly buy a new bicycle in the next couple of months. My current Hero Hawk was never bought with such long rides in mind.

If you're into cycling and in India, do join cyclists.in they have lots of people spread around India and visiting different places. And if you live in Mumbai you could join us for RTW and other events.

Me!!

Yesterday was a day when I ended up being so pissed off on myself, I've never been there ever before. A whole new experience for me. At this I realised that I have never blogged about myself, just about my surroundings, happenings and experiences. Thus, I'd like to dedicate this blog to a small happening that occurred yesterday and made me stop and think about my priorities.
The first thing, I forgot a friend's birthday. I don't like forgetting people's birthdays. Whenever it happens, I end up angry on myself. Still, luckily I ended up being there to wish her when the whole group had decided to meet up. I joined them up and had a good time with them. What happened henceforth made me write the post. Since I was still within office hours, I decided to leave them mid-way and go to the office. At any other time it'd be a sensible and right decision but not this time around. I knew that I did not have any work at the office, I'd just go there and [b]waste[/b] my time. And that's exactly what happened! Nothing worse than sitting idle at office and the fact that I let go of having good time friends makes it even worse. As it is, I hardly meet them up these days due to mismatch of timings. One opportunity and I let go.
What makes it even worse still is that I decided to go back to the office since I didn't want to loose Rs. 200 that gets cut for half day at office. Now you see why the whole melodrama? The fact that I put money before friends is what's hurting me. Money's important to me at this stage where I am but not at the cost of my relations. The latter's way more costly to lose.
Well it's not all downhill, there are a couple of good things too. I have been cycling and gymming regularly and playing cricket on weekends. Sports and exercises are an important part of my life. Devoting time to them feels awesome. Also, the fact that I've been doing what's on my mind. In the past I used to hold myself off and let the opportunity pass. Some simple incidents as getting ticket for the old man who had to get off at the next stop but couldn't reach the conductor to discouraging a person from spitting on the road or cycling to work, not caring about what people say. Small incidents like these make me feel happy that I am doing something instead of just sitting back. Hopefully I'll take it ahead and do better things to contribute to getting things better. Cause the best thing it does is build up my confidence and make me feel happier.

Airtel (Un)Fair Usage Policy

Airtel has recently introduced Fair Usage Policy(FUP) to restrict the customers of unlimited plans from using excessive bandwidth and inconveniencing the rest of the customers.

What is the FUP?
FUP is a policy devised by Airtel to penalise customers using excessive bandwidth so that the other customers are not constrained to using lesser bandwidth. This happens as certain customers make high use of available chunk of bandwidth thus making lesser available for the other customers to use. This is true because ISP's ration the bandwidth assuming that only a certain percentage of the users will be using the Internet at any given time and that they will only make use of a certain percentage of the allocated bandwidth over the given period of time. Thus, the idea of Airtel to introduce FUP to cap the bandwidth of those users making excessive use of given bandwidth.

Where do I get the details of the FUP?
http://afup.broadbandforum.in/what-is-the-fair-usage-policy
To check the original details, visit http://airtel.in, navigate to "Internet and Broadband" -> Tariffs -> "Select your Circle" -> Check your unlimited plan.
As can be seen there, Airtel cuts the available bandwidth to 50% of the normal bandwidth of the users who cross the mentioned bandwidth limit. This cut is effective from the time of crossing the limit to the end of the billing cycle.

How does FUP affect me?
http://afup.broadbandforum.in/how-does-the-fup-affect-me
As you can see here, this leads to a 30-45% deficiency in available bandwidth for the users of unlimited plans. But, at the same rate as before. And the rates are completely at par with the rates of other competitive ISP's. Thus, there is no justifiable reason for such a step.

How can I voice my opinion against it?
You can voice your opinions against/for this move in various ways. Some of them are mentioned below:

• Post your comments on youhttp://afup.broadbandforum.in/
• Blog about this issue
• Raise the awareness of this policy on popular websites like facebook, digg, twitter, etc.
• Spread the word amongst your friends and relatives who use Airtel

I am not using Airtel. Why should I be concerned?
Though this issue is contained only to Airtel unlimited plans as of now, it sets a dangerous precedent for other ISP's to follow. Successful implementation of this policy may inspire other ISP's to follow suit and provide dis-service to their customers, who are already facing slow connection speeds or grossly low download limits on fat pipes.

Aren't Airtel doing the right thing by penalising people who inconvenience the others?
NO! Airtel is not doing the right thing. By this move they are trying to hide the deficiency in their infrastructure. This happens so because they set-up the infrastructure considering that only a certain percentage of users will be active at the given time period. If there are more, everyone will suffer lower speeds. This scenario is very much like what is known as overselling in web hosting scenario. At no given point of time does their infrastructure hold if nearly 100% of the users make use of the resources concurrently.
If Airtel, considers that the infrastructure does not support the current load of users, they could have introduced this policy with rate cuts, so the customers are reimbursed for the deficiency in service from the ISP's end.
This could also be seen as cheating the customers as they do not provide quality service as customers are not able to make full use of advertised bandwidth. All said and done, Airtel has to be credited for openly mentioning this policy on their websites, unlike some other ISP's who hide it in small letters within myriad terms and conditions.

On the whole, this is a wrong move on the part of Airtel, as they are not only likely to loose customers but also the faith of the customers if they pull off this gimmick. Plus the bad publicity on various websites and blogs, which are freely viewable and visible on Internet for a long time to come. A case to this point is the activity on Deep's blog post regarding SBI Credit Cards till date.

BarCampMumbai5 – The Experience, The Firsts

Sunday February 1 2009 was the day when BarCampMumbai 5 was held with the same old enthusiasm but at a whole new venue – VJTI College, Matunga. The camp was host to many firsts for the BCM as well as for me.

1. First time BCM was held outside IIT-B.
2. First BCM without any sponsorship. It was jokingly called as recession camp by a few of us.
3. First time I had the responsibility of handling something on my own
4. I took a first session at BarCamp
5. First opportunity for me to live tweet from an event

Taking up a session was an awesome experience for me. I haven't spoken in front of a crowd since college days, when we used to have presentations in front of the class. And I am glad that I was able to speak better than I did at college. Also, the amount of response I received from the crowd was unexpected. I expected to have 3-4 people attending the session, so I decided to go for a BoF. But in the end had to adjust it to accommodate an audience of 15+.
There was a downside though, I almost attended no session at all throughout the whole BarCamp. The opportunity to meet up people and do something more than made up for it.
Icing on top of the cake was when some of us went to see the play -The Park, at Horniman Circle. It was a perfect way to end the nice day. Thank you Thakkar for informing about the play. My next blog post would be on the play. It was too awesome to not have it's own separate post.

BarCampMumbai5

BarCampMumbai is back with it's 5th edition and a brand new venue.

Date: – 1st February 2009
Time: – 10:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m.
Venue: – VJTI College, H.R. Mahajani Marg, Matunga, Mumbai.

BarCampMumbai will be held in VJTI college during their technical festival Technovanza. Unlike, the previous BarCampMumbai, this one will be a one day event but it will be preceeded by BotCampMumbai on the previous day to appeal to robotics enthusiasts.

Some important links regarding BCM5
How to get there – http://barcampmumbai.org/BCM5_Venue
Register your session – http://barcampmumbai.org/BCM5_Sessions
Register as a volunteer – http://barcampmumbai.org/BCM5_Volunteers
Register for attending – http://barcampmumbai.org/BCM5_Register
Facebook page for the event – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=45216741177
Link your blog/photos here – http://barcampmumbai.org/BCM5_Online#Photos
Follow on twitter – http://twitter.com/barcampmumbai
Mailing List – http://groups.google.com/group//barcampmumbai2
BarCamp Blog – http://blog.barcampmumbai.org/

See you at the BarCampMumbai.

Mumbai Traffic

The Mumbai traffic scenario has come under the scanner of media lately due to a series of incidents involving accidents caused by underage kids who take up the drivers seat. This has raised up lots of questions regarding the involvement of parents and competence of traffic authorities, which has let such an ugly monster raise it's head. As we all have read in the recent articles or heard in the news as to how easy it is to get license for anyone without even appearing for a test, and even if you are under-aged! The parents are also blamed for allowing their children to get access to vehicles.
But, the actual problem is much more deep rooted than that. It's not just the underage driving but the whole culture surrounding vehicles and traffic in India is flawed. Let me make a list of all the flaws in the traffic scenario in India

• Driving Etiquette: The foremost thing that most drivers in India lack is the basic driving etiquette. Their only aim seems to be racing through the traffic as fast as possible to reach from one point to another. A lot of bikers would not even mind riding on the footpath to get out of the traffic jam.
• Not Enough Understanding of Traffic Laws: How many of us can stand up and say that "Yes! I am familiar with the traffic laws of my state. Ask me what you want to know.". Many of us are not even aware of what the traffic signboards put up on the roads mean besides the most familiar ones like 'No Parking' and 'No Honking Zone'.
• Road Crossing: Driving in India is a nightmare. You would find half the humans and their cattle in the middle of the road when you least expect it. This makes it dangerous to the lives of both the parties.
• Shabby Roads: The lesser it is said about the conditions of our roads, the better it is. On some of the place you'd be happy to find a road in middle of the potholes, even in posh areas of Mumbai.
• Right to way: A lot of times I have seen traffic jams happening because people refuse to give way to other vehicles, blocking the whole road. It is a no-win situation.
• No Respect for Traffic Rules: This, IMO, is the single biggest problem of those mentioned here. People see traffic rules as something that is against their fundamental rights. They do their level best to break the rules. Why are police insisting on seat belts and helmets? For the safety of the people on the vehicle. But for most, it is a way for police to exhort money from them. We even disrespect our traffic signals. When was it last that you drove your vehicle through a red light? I am sure that would be a very easy answer for lots and lots of people.
• Traffic Management: Huh? Did I say Management? Traffic Management is a non-existent word in the dictionary of the government. It is very easy to spot pot-holed roads, badly lit streets, non-functional traffic signals, badly diverted traffic.
• No respect for Traffic Police It is a common sight to see people breaking the traffic rules and escaping right in front of the traffic police. Even when the traffic police catch them, more often than not the drivers run away from under their nose and the police are left to watch it haplessly. No point pursuing them for petty offenses.

Some of the problems can be solved by some simple solutions. eg. Having SMS short codes to collect information about damaged roads, faulty signals, oil spillage. The highest priority can be given to problem for which maximum number of complaints have been received. A minimum number can be kept, only above that number of complaints will the action be taken. Other solutions include periodic tests and workshops on traffic rules and regulations and need to follow the same. The solutions exist but who among us would take the responsibility?

Welcome the New Year

Ring out the old, Ring in the new

This is the quote which comes to my mind this new year. Year 2008 was an eventful year worldwide, though it will be remembered more for it's negative consequences more. There have been some really sad events that have affected all of us in the year gone by – the recession, personal tragedies, terrorism, political controversies, natural calamities and lots more. But, it's so great to see people fighting all that back, building up their life to adapt to the circumstances and coming out stronger through it all.
Personally, I have seen some tragedies in my life, too. With the year lowest point being my dad's sudden death which left my whole family in a very vulnerable state. I am glad to see that we have all pulled through that phase and have moved on with life without any further hiccups. The very same year has brought in a lot of good things for me, too. It has been a learning experience to participate in various events that I have participated in from Technovanza to BarCamp to various other meet-ups. With the family responsibilities on my shoulder, I have had an opportunity to learn so many things I just took for granted. I have met many people who have enriched my knowledge and left lasting impressions on my mind.
Now, we have entered a new year. A year full of hopes and aspirations. I am in a much better situation then I ever was as regards my career. For the first time in my life I know my short term and medium term goals although my long term goals are a bit sketchy. I also see a lot of activities happening in this year, which promise so much more for me, gladly looking forward to those in the upcoming days.
This year threatens to show us the lows of economic depression and terrorism. But, at the same time it gives us the strength to fight back all the negatives and come out shining and better sculpted at the end of it all.
Wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year for 2009.

Last Month CAT Preparation Strategy

The countdown to CAT 2008 has begun, just 2 weeks to go. This being my 3 rd attempt at CAT, have been some of the things that I have learnt along the way. There is no silver bullet or a magic potion that works for all. It's a journey of self discovery. Some things that follow may work for you, some may not and some may not work but still help you find what works for you. The important thing is to realise what ticks for ourselves and what doesn't.
So, here's my take on CAT preparation during the final 2 weeks

1) Solve CAT level papers regularly. Previous years CAT papers make a good choice for practising but anything that matches the level of CAT can be considered worthy.

2) Review the paper that you solve. This is a very important step that people seem to miss out. It's important to solve papers but it's even more important to review it after solving the paper. It helps you not only to solve questions better but also to gain overview on how to prepare strategy to solve the paper, understand your strengths and weaknesses and also time yourself.

3) Understand your strengths and weaknesses. By this point in time you should be familiar with what you are good at and what you are not. It is more important to spend time understanding your strength and weaknesses then trying to learn new things at this stage. Learning new things may not help much if you are not familiar with your strength and weaknesses as you may not be able to formulate the right strategy.

4) Study in moderation. People tend to step up their study schedule to cram in as much as possible during the last one month. But, what has worked better for me is gradually stepping it down a couple of gears in the final 2 weeks.

5) Relax on the day before the exam. For last 2 years have never studied for more than 2 hours on the final day. I prefer to relax and refresh my mind to be all prepared for the exam pressure next day. I plan on doing the same this year too. But, be careful. Don't over exert yourself to get to the point of tiring yourself mentally or physically. That may keep your from having peak concentration levels. Also, avoid caffeine and alcohol or any substance that gives sends you into a low after small period of high, as the high may not sustain throughout till you finish the CAT paper.

6) Practise relaxation techniques. Practise whatever relaxation technique you like – meditation, imagery, breathing, etc. I tend to prefer imagery personally but other things may work for you. It's not about which technique you use but the result you achieve. It's important to come fully relaxed for CAT and channel your nervous energy in a positive direction.

7) Eat properly. Yeah most of us find it difficult to maintain a good diet and avoid unhealthy food. But, it is important to eat right food. It helps you keep in proper frame of mind and feel active to last through the paper. And eating right reduces your chances of falling sick. That would be a disaster, won't it?

Get ready. I prefer to start preparing all your material to carry for the paper, atleast a 3 before CAT so as to avoid any last minute running around. Also, I pay a visit to the exam center atleast a week before examination to get myself familiar with the place and it's surrounding and note down any special/unusual things that I may have to go through.

9) Study with friends I like to prepare while sitting with friends for the last couple of weeks since it creates healthy competition among us and try to achieve higher. Also, sitting together helps us analyse each other to find points which we would have otherwise missed. Also, some nice fun together during breaks gets you ready to take on further preparations.

10) Believe in yourself. Rest of the things all amount to nothing if you fail to believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, rest should surely be much easier and should fall into place.

If you have your own ideas, points of views, suggestions please share it with us. I'd be happy with valid criticisms in my methods too.

Communication with simple emerging technologies

Seeing a friend giving directions to another friend on how to reach the given location, over twitter made me realise all over again as to how much we can achieve using such simple and relatively cheap technologies available to us today. A GPRS enabled mobile phone and a twitter account is all that was needed in this case to make it possible.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. With more websites and applications coming up with various interactive contents and cell phone with never before heard of features & ultra portable laptops coupled with internet on the move, we are all set for a big change in ease and style of communication. It can now happen in absolute real time, at lower cost. But, unlike previously it need not be one to one anymore. The cost still remains the same if it is for a group or for one on one interaction. At the same time service providers stand to gain as they have more subscribers subscribing to such services.
To top it all, India is already getting ready for high speed Internet connectivity on the move with technologies like wimax, evdo and 3G. Once those technologies perpetrate to the masses we will be able to have world wide video conferencing while travelling in a local bus or train.
What we really need is technologies like wimax to reach the remote parts of our country to realise the true potential of these technologies. We have all been dreaming and speaking of the day when the technology will be advanced enough to make any kinds of communication – audio, video, real time, delayed, private, group, one-to-one, open to public and so on. The technology to change these dreams to reality is here. But, there are 4 areas that need to be worked upon:
1) Reaching critical mass
2) Right implementation for the right people through proper segmenting and need-based product/service customisation
3) Ease of use and good interface
4) Adequate security
As always this development will have both positive and negative impacts but technology has to evolve and people will adapt to it.
It is going to be great to see this unfold in front of us. The dynamics of communication are changing – the cost of communication is going down and the user has choice to make on appropriate mode of communication to select.