India Budget 2013

After long time, I am looking forward to Budget 2013. Not that I have any high expectations considering what is the current situation in India especially Maharashtra. But because this will set the tone for how government will be elected in 2014.

Considering how in Rail budget, UPA states were given preference compared to Non-UPA ruled states, should I expect more for Maharashtra? 

Flexible Display

Future is going to be very interesting if electronics were little flexible. Well, software was very flexible for quite some time. This time, it is the hardware.

There is quite a lot of possibilities. Input using gesture or voice and output in flexible ways will drive future development.

As for software engineers and thought leaders, field of Information Technology provide lot of opportunities. But this will only be available to those who are ready to think beyond what is normal and ready to take some risk.

LieStrong ... l

Today, I was shocked to hear what Lance Armstrong confessed. It is not because of surprise but because he accepts and sometime defends his position.

I do remember Mohammed Azarudding being banned for his involvement in scam. And like any other corrupt politician, he is now a member of parliament. He was most admired cricker at my home at that time after Kapil Dev. Sachin was not yet where he is now. Ajay Jadeja  was another cricker in similar scam.

Such cases are rare compared to all other people who play sincerely. But then, this guy created charity and kind of became motivation for so many cancer survivors.

I am not sure if the American Law or the society has any punishment for cheating. In India of course, Azarudding became a Member of Parliament. Him being so called minority might have helped. Even though he is no minority in Hyderabad. I guess Jadeja was not so luck in that sense. But he gets lot of invitations from TV. In fact, those who something wrong are more liked by media.

Over all, I hope not to see any more such people whom I admired in the past.

In the article on firstpost.com about LieStrong, I was also shocked to see so many support statements and comments for him being honest. I guess liars cannot oppose liars. Kalyug hain bhai Kalyug.

Aadhaar is No Aadhaar ( आधार - निराधार )

कहना बहुत कुछ हैं पर आज की बात मैं आधार तक ही सीमित रखता हूँ ।

जब आधार की घोषणा की गयी बहुत सारी बातें हमें बताई गयी । मुझे जो सबसे ज्यादा याद हैं कुछ कारणों से वह यह की कुछ भी हो ये राशन कार्ड की तरह नहीं होगा ।

एक सप्ताह पहले मेरी सोसाइटी में किसीने हमें बताया की आधार का एक कैंप लगा सकते हैं सोसाइटी में । हमें प्रसन्नता हुवी की चलो कुछ अच्छा हो रहा हैं की सरकारी काम बिना कुछ किये हो जाएगा । मेरी खुशी कुछ पलों के लिए हि थी । हमें बताया गया की आधार कार्ड एक ऐसे कंपनी ने यहाँ करने के लिए जा रहें हैं जिसका आधार से कोई रिश्ता ही नहीं । और यहाँ भी बताया गया की इस के लिये 'पहुँच' की अव्यशाकता हैं इस लिए हम इसे स्वयं नहीं कर सकते ।

मुझे लगा की यहाँ तो मेरा अधिकार हैं की मैं आधार कार्ड मुफ्त में बिना किसी के सयाहता के ले सकता हूँ ।

मैंने आधार के वेबसाईट पर देखा ... जैसे कहा गया वैसे पूरी तरह से नहीं हो पाया ।

जिसको आधार कार्ड बनाने किए लिए अनुमति दी गयी हो वह सब तरह से अपना काम नहीं कर पा रहे हैं । एक स्कूल जहा मैं गया था आधार कार्ड के लिए वह बंद हो गया था जब की वेब साईट पर उनका नाम और पता था ।

जितने फ़ोन नंबर दिए हुवा हैं उनमे से अस्सी प्रतिशत लगते ही नहीं । ऐसे लोग पे करवाई होनी चाहिए  :)

 आधिकारिक तौर पर तो वेब साईट बताता हैं की इसके लिए अनुमति दी गयी हैं बड़ी बड़ी सरकारी बैंक को । लेकिन इन बैंक ने निजी लोगो को यह कॉन्ट्रैक्ट दिया हुवा हैं । यह निजी कंपनियों ने इसे अपने तरह से इसका उपयोग कर रहे हैं । कहा करना हैं और कहा कैंप नहीं करना हैं इसके लिए वह तरह तरह से सौदा कर रहे हैं । इनके बारें में कोई जानकारी आधार के वेब साईट पर नहीं हैं ।

इन सब में ज्यादा पारदर्शिता लानें में लिए मैंने नंदन निलेकनी  जी को ईमेल भी लिखा हैं जिसका कोई अभी तक तो जवाब नहीं आया ।

सरकारी तौर पर कारपोरेशन से कुछ हो सकता हैं इस से भी ज्यादा प्रयास करना चाहिए । यहाँ प्राइवेट (निजी) कंपनिया काम कर रही हैं और सरकारी जगह पर कतार चार चार घंटो तक हैं । उनको और ज्यादा करने दिया नहीं जा रहा या नहीं करना चाहए ताकि निजी कंपनियों को ज्यादा लाभ हो पता नहीं । सरकारी सांठ गांठ नया तो नहीं हैं ।

एक अर्जी तो दी हैं कैंप के लिए सरकारी दफ्तर में ... देखे आगे क्या होता हैं ।

और हा ... यह अब राशन कार्ड से भी बत्तर हो गया हैं ;-) उसके लिए 10 रुपये शायद देना पड़ता था और सरकारी अफसर उस के लिए भी डरता था। अब निजी कंपनिया , सरकारी लोग और नेता सभी इस का बड़ा लाभ ले रहे हैं और किसी को पता नहीं की इसके बाद इसका उपयोग क्या होगा ।

TATA DOCOMO

After going through my struggle of working with TATA Docomo website, I thought it would be better if I were to write this blog and it might help one of our most respected company from India to improve.

And instead of spending all that money in great ad, could spend on real products and servies.

It all started when I got TATA DOCOMO mifi device. While it works great and used mostly by my wife, first month the bill was 4000 INR more. Her work got stopped as she works from home most of the time, she ran and paid that amount.

Next month, the extra charges due to over use was ... wait... 17000 Rupees. While the month charge for 10GB in the plan that was included is 1250 Rupees, how come you start 17,000 Rupees for over use by 7 GB. The plan for 20GB itself is 1550.

OK, we must have made a mistake.... but no.. 17K. After talking to customer service in the service center that is far far away and couple of hours of wait, they said we will give you discount and you can pay 7000 Rupees more. Still not good.

So, I try to set up my account and change the plan on TATA Docomo website and I realized it is not so easy.

First, there are three websites.


http://www.tatadocomo.com/  ==> This is the branded page but loads iFrame of tatatele.in
http://www.tataindcom.com/  ==> Same as Docomo. But Old Site.
http://www.tatatele.in/  ==> This one is always hidden and loaded within the frame.

If you try to login into the first two sites (which I tried on Chrome Browser on the Mac OSX), half of the features do not work.

Issue #1:
As soon as you login, it asks you tons of question.

You get the idea.

There are two pages of the survey that you cannot skip and shows up every time you login. There is no way to disable. That is some really bad customer service by TATA DOCOMO.

Issue #2:

Internet Usage. 

For the company that is selling Internet Data Card and promises that internet usage will be promptly be shown in real time,.. here is the usage details.

Issue #3:

Most of the links do not work

Issue #4: 

You cannot change your plan. The link does not work

Issue #5:

This one is major issue for me. i.e. Security issue at TATA DOCOMO. It you try to reset password, it will send your password in plain text in your email. That is just not expected from TATA DOCOMO.

I can go on and on about how nothing really worked. But I am writing this in full faith after my previous bad experience at Tata Chroma where I had purchased a blackberry and I was given a returned phone with that person's login already in. When I talked to that person's son, I came to know that it was returned and not some magic :) And of course, customer service was not at all apologetic but rather made sure I am out of their store immediately so they can dope some other customers. And yes, I didn't go after that incident to Chrome... i.e almost more than a year. I tried online customer service and all.. but no use.All the same. So this time, use power of social world.

New York & WTC

I was visiting Jersey City last week on way back to India and took this photo from the Jersey City Side.
I had not seen new construction that is work in progress at the same place as world trade center.

If you have not been there, you can see it here.

I hope you all like the photo.

Why I like blackberry

Today, I was asked question by a friend about why I love Blackberry or RIM. I also recently purchased a playbook @ 199$. While the entire world is moving towards Android or iPhone, the question is vey obvious and I would like to explain.


Background:

• I live in India and even though most of the last decade I stayed in USA.
• I used blackberry for 8 years or so
• I own both android (Original Google Nexus) and iPhone. 
• I moved back to blackberry

For my friends in USA, Indian environment is very different compared to USA.


Cost:


We purchase our phone by paying full price and buy unlocked phone. There are vendor locked-in phones but the discounts are not worth mentioning (20$ or so).


We do not have 2 year contract. Most of the people here use pre-paid plans where you recharge as required.


3G availability is limited. Where I stay, I hardly get 3G speed and where I work, I get good 3G speed. 


Approximately, if you have to buy blackberry curve here and compare the price of it with other android phones in INR, you will get the idea

• Blackberry Curve (20,000 INR = ~ 400 $)
• Samsung Galaxy  (25,000 INR = ~500 $)
• iPhone 4S (45,000 INR = ~900 $)

Phone specs and features are comparable. But again, we need basic phone with phone and apps features. Most of the things required work very well in all of them. i.e. Facebook, email and internet.

Most of the features in iPhone like Siri or other features are specific to USA. Most of the apps are now available to India but requires credit card. Not everyone has credit cards and those who have are not comfortable buying anything with credit card. So, the purchase is not at the volume you might see in USA.




Features


Language:


Some of the phones are built for certain category of people. I personally like to read content on the phone in multiple languages. Android has very poor (i.e. zero) for Indian langues. 


Check the issue here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4153 and http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=12981

iPhone has good support but it is out for several other reasons including cost :)


Think about embarrassment when your costly android phone cannot read SMS or email or Facebook post because it is in some other language :) 


Keyboard


I am a heavy keyboard user. I type on computer and prefer keyboard shortcuts and with heavy usage on blackberry. The experience (or expertise) gained, I cannot give away so soon. In the two years that I did not use blackberry, my responses in email went down. My response to my friends either on chat or SMS was slower and not so interactive and even my wife complained that I do not reply to her messages. Touch was a learning curve. After switching back to blackberry, I dont see that as much a problem. 


It also has ability to enter hindi text directly just like on desktop.


Apps

Blackberry is worst in terms of availability of apps. But again, if I see what apps I use mostly, it is limited to my Facebook, email and browser. There are some games that I play, but mostly that will move on to tablet. 


BBM


Cant talk about Blackberry without mentioning BBM. 
Indian government recently had a ban on SMS and you cannot send more than 100 SMS messages. No limits on BBM messages. I save ton of money by not using SMS but by using BBM and talking to my friends and my wife. 


And you can get all these features of BBM including web browsing for 399 INR on Vodafone (i.e. 8 $) without any commitment and prepaid. 


I must say that BBM is addictive. You may have another technology replace this in near future but for now, it is perfect.


RIM should find innovative ways of working with any of the android vendor and it will be amazing.


Service


When my iPhone battery was not supporting up time of few hours, I went to apple store to replace it. They said they wont support it as it was not purchased in India. A local vendor who said he will replace it, charged me a lot more money and still did not replace it with authentic battery. The phone is a brick till I find right tools to open it and do it myself. For some other day but for now, it is useless.


I can get blackberry parts replaced or phone repaired without traveling too far from my home almost within few hours or a day. User replaceable battery :)


Email


I put this at the end as there is no question that blackberry is still the best way to receive and send email for me. I can see and respond in much lesser time thanks to amazing keyboard. And yes, android does not provide HTML email (at least when I used) by default. Apple iPhone did.


Market Share


A market price or market share is not something I look at when I purchase basic things like phone. They are required but there is no financial planning or life dependency on it. Future phone models do not bother me. When I have to purchase, I will make decision on what is available at that time. When I bought Blackberry, I found it good for the price. When I have time to change, I will do my analysis again.


Will I buy RIM shares? That may decide on their future models and growth.


Social


I have four blackberry users in my family. Me and my wife are only into IT. Other two users are no way closer to Information Technology.


For every 10 people who have blackberry, I find may be 5 with android and someone with iPhone. May be I dont meet lot of elite members of the society here :)






Tablet
Without ability to use a tablet without a need for additional data plan or cost, I am thrilled :)


At the cost I am getting, it is good. Most of the places that I visit, do not have wi-fi. 


Alternatives


Nokia or Samsung. If they work within Indian context and provide hardware and software understanding local environment, people will switch.




So, unless my company provides me with discounted iPhone and 3G plan, I am sticking with Blackberry.