Din's Blog » Reviews

When Everyone’s a Journalist

Din — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:08:49 +0000

When the Indian portal Rediff.com decided to give a chance to all its visitors to ask questions to Resul Pookutty, the Oscar Award Winner, I thought they will do it a nice manner. But everything went wrong from the first moment itself. The chat was dead slow, Rasul could answer a very limited number of questions. But the worst part was rediff never tried to censor the questions ! I will call it as a terrible mistake from their side. Everyone’s NOT a journalist. And some do not know what to ask or how to ask questions in a civilized manner. I was shocked to see some very offending and irritating questions and Resul could see all that. I am pretty sure he was hurt after the chat session, even though he didn’t talk much on that. He ignored most of such questions, but sometimes he had to answer.

Chat with Resul Pookutty

Blame the people ? Wait, It was rediff’s responsibility to censor / filter out the questions. The people who ask questions were not journalists by profession and the age group varies from a school student to veteran. And it was possible technically to do the filtering. Above all such an action was never expected from a company like rediff who are in the news business for long.

Chat with Resul Pookutty

I can’t post the most irritating / offending ones as it will not be nice, but posting some screen shots so that for those who missed it can see how it went.

Asking questions is ok, but insulting an Oscar Winner (ok, forget the Oscar part, lets say insulting a Gentle Man) in the name of chat or interview can’t be justified.

Where is ‘New Cochin’ ?

Din — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:19:08 +0000

I was sleeping blissfully as it was Sunday but the phone call woke me up. A friend who was my juinor in school was on the other end.

Din, important question – where is New Cochin ?

Now I am confused. I was in half sleep plus I never heard of a place New Cochin. I am just 18kms away from Cochin city, and familiar with most of the place names in and around Cochin. I told him I do not know and went back to sleep. No, it didn’t end there.

On Monday morning, another friend buzzed me in Yahoo messenger. The same question

Din, where is New Cochin ?

I asked him what is the matter. So here is the story. As many IT ventures are coming up in Cochin including Smart City the land price went too high. Flats, Villas and even small houses cost a lot in Cochin now. And the real estate guys are taking maximum advantage of the name – Cochin. Classifieds ads here in Cochin reads – Plot for sale, only 40kms away from Smart City ! House for sale, near Smart City. The Smart City is a venture that yet to become a reality, but what is wrong in giving the name in advertisement and lure more and more people ?

Going a step further, the builders Apple A Day Properties is planning to build villas and apartments in Alappuzha district where cost of land is less compared to that in Cochin. But how to attract the people ? Simple, make a new place name – New Cochin – and put that name in all advertisement. And if people want to see a demo flat ? Set up a single demo flat in Cochin and show that !

In Kerala (may be in other parts of India too?) there is a trend. Someone working in a hotel quit one day and starts a new hotel opposite to the one or near to the one with the same name, but a New added to it. Hotel kairali turns to Hotel New Kairali. But using the same thing in real estate field ..

What an idea sirjeee !!!

So all those who were wondering where is New Cochin – it is not in Cochin and not even in Ernakulam District. It is in Alappuzha.

What next ? New Smart City may be ?

Federal Bank – From new generation to pen and paper

Din — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:59:50 +0000

ATM and Online Banking makes the life easy for customers. At the same time it saves a lot of time and resources of bank. It is like mutually benefited. Federal Bank was one of the few private sector banks which made the move long back itself – with a large number of ATMs and also by bringing up online banking. Things were all nice till last month when they decided to charge for the convenience ! Now when a user make an online payment (just money transfer, both the receiver and the sender need to pay INR 28.00 to the bank as transaction fee). That is a total of INR 56.00 (USD 1.3). Yes, it is not a big deal, but think about the other side. When a bank introduce more ATMs or online banking, it help them keep a lot of customers away from the bank. I mean customers need not come to the bank to withdraw money and they need not come to the bank for fund transfer. Bank saves a lot in resources. I do not know what made Federal Bank to take this wrong decision of charging customers for online transactions.

Not all customers will be happy with this change. Result ? More and more people will re-think on online banking, and people may go back to bank for transactions. Who will lose ? Federal Bank – no doubt in that.Forcing people to pay extra for online transactions is like taking them back to the pen and paper era. (This is not same as charging for services like online train ticket booking, which is a totally different matter). I use online banking service of HDFC Bank, SBI and Corporation Bank. And I have friends who use online banking of Axis (UTI) Bank, ICICI Bank and many other banks. None of these charge extra for fund transfer, then why my dear Federal Bank ?

The made in china tag – I am worried

Din — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:41:42 +0000

Bought any electronic items recently ? Any computer parts ? Car accessories ? Toys ? Mobile phone accessories ? And found that is NOT manufactured in China ? Consider yourself as lucky. These days it is quite difficult to find a product that is NOT from China.

I think it started from just 1-2 years back. Its not like I am against China or people out there. But almost everything we buy form the market is from China does not sound as a good thing. I was just making a list of things with the Made in China or Made in PRC. Starting with computer peripherals. About 30 items has been bought in the last 12 months. Only one item says Made in India (very happy to see that these days) and that is blank CD / DVD. The guy who is selling it told me it is not an easy process to make blank media and to maintain the quality and that is the reason Chinese are not into that. Well, do not know whether it is true. Just checked with my brother in law who bought lot of electrical and electronics products recently for his new house. Again, majority has the Made in China tag on them. Even USHA fan !! Next thing was toys that we buy for my niece. China again.

I am pretty sure manufacturing cost is the main thing. And all claim that they maintain quality irrespective of the country where it is manufactured. I am not fully convinced on that. Just as an example, I can see the difference in two computer monitors I bought. Both are of the brand – Viewsonic. First one was bought three years back, not having the tag and last one 11 months back or so with that tag. We can see the difference just by touching the panels, buttons and the body. And I already having some small problem with the display with the second (newer) monitor. The last computer related product I bought was a cartridge. Just by the weight itself I knew it is Chinese (now do not attack me telling weight is not a factor for the quality of printer cartridge, I agree on that). I see the quality of plastic and overall I am not very happy about it.

Two things make me worried. One – Quality is deteriorating – no doubt in that. Second thing is, as everything is from China, if something goes wrong in the relation between the countries (China is always having an unpredictable nature) and if they stop exporting items(yes I know I am paranoid and this is like worrying too much on something), what will happen ? Sure we may not be in trouble as many things can be manufactured here or can be imported form other countries. But that will not be very easy and sure it will take some time.

Why just me ? Or all are worried but do not have more time to think on it ?

Footnote : Wanted to clarify it again. The Author is no way against the country China or its citizens. He is just worried as a nation depend on another one too much, like for every item.

Taare Zameen Par – an excellent movie

Din — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:39:20 +0000

Watched the movie Taare Zameen Par yesterday. Actually my wife asked me many times to watch it with her but I postponed. Finally I decided to watch and the least to say – it worth the time. An Excellent movie from Aamir Khan who does not act in every movie he come across. I think thats the secret of his success. He make only one or two movies in 2 years and that becomes a hit. I loved the movie. It made me cry many times, yes I admit it. It took me back to my school days. It reminded me how lucky I was. To spend time with my loving parents, my favorite friends from all strata of the society, great teachers of my school, no school bus, no barding school, walking 2 miles every morning to the school, no pressure, life was – Bindaz !

Major part of the credit goes to the little hero – Darsheel Safary - he is really amazing. I think, just like in the movie, Aamir comes only second compared to him ! He does not speak a lot in the movie but every word he say, every movement he makes, the emotional scenes, everything will remain in our heart for long.

Every scene of the movie will touch you. Never miss the movie. Please watch it at least once and I am sure you will like it. If possible, watch it with your kid. It is a great lesson for parents who make the kids ready for the race from Age 1. It will sure make them think there are some other things in a kid’s life than getting admission in the best school in the city or getting high marks in every grade or getting some costly gifts or toys for them. As the movie says – every kid has a dream. Evey kid has talent too. Sadly most of the parents and teachers never tries to find what it is.

The movie reminded me two of my friends. One just like Ishaan in the movie, but very good in sports and games, but not that good in studies. When he get gold medals in sports, his parents never cared. They will say – there is nothing great in getting a medal in sports, look at your elder brother who got the first rank in the school. And just like in the movie, they put him in a hostel. I really hope his parents see this movie and at least they realize their mistake.

Thank you Aamir, this is really a nice movie. Motivating, fascinating, inspiring and beautiful. If anyone in this world read my blog, I strongly recommend them to watch this movie.