Friday, May 22, 2009

Blow to Blogging - Blame it on God

As I feared, with the frontiers of occupation becoming more numerous, time is becoming progressively scarce for me. And in such times of scarcity of a resource, the most obvious thing is to demand an increase in the supply of the resource. However, I don't know who gave the right to that God person to declare so arbitrarily that there cannot be more than 24 hours in a day. So I am compelled to do what the wise guys like me do - fall for the second best (aaahhhh, been doing a lot of that lately).

Therefore, as a result of some random whim by an inefficient administrator of this universe, I'm compelled to cut sometime off blogging. And in these times of recessions, I've also decided to free up a few megabytes of server space for blogger. Hence, I am not only stopping writing in two of my blogs, but also going to delete them. I know nobody gives a damn and nobody gonna miss all that blabbering. But if I cared about that, did I start any blog at all?

As a final word, in a few days' time, I'll delete two of my blogs - the poetry blog and the another one for policy related matters. These two were started the latest and do take a lot of time too. Not that I'd stop writing or enjoying poetry or policy debates but blogging would no longer be there. Thanks to those who stood by.

P.S. - who appointed that God person as the administrator of the universe? I demand more transparency and some more competition. Vote for me.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

And Some efficient ones

Although I've already written about some (in)efficient companies and also about my mixed experience with large corporations in "The company you keep", now is the time of praise for some deserving ones.

Beginning with the biggest one of them - Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Few months ago, a pack of 100 teabags of HUL's Taj Mahal wasn't being particularly satisfactory due to the continued in-cup tearing of teabags. Amazingly, a single e-mail resulted in a phone call within two days and the delivery of a brand new pack within a week. That was nice to realize - despite the size, volume, and brand, HUL cares about satisfaction of individual consumers.

As another unexpected instance, Cleartrip contacted me in response to a blopost. There was some confusion regarding the refund channel and some detailed communications ensued. Finally I got a refund of more than 2K. But more than that, I've been a loyal customer to Cleartrip since that day for booking all my tickets. At least they are responsive and I know that the company cares in case something goes wrong.

However, the best, and rather surprising, experience was with Kingfisher Airlines. I booked two tickets and when I wanted to cancel one and alter another, they told me, "Since the flight time has been shifted by more than 15 minutes (20 minutes to be precise), we will give you full refund on the cancelled ticket and free rescheduling for another." The real shocker was that they didn't even charge the price difference of over 2000 bucks upon rescheduling. Although one would rate it devoid of business sense, since after this experience, I'm willing to stick to Kingfisher than with any other airlines (specially Spicejet, which really behaves like shrewd and mean businessmen).

P.S. - If you've read the old post (The company you keep), IRCTC is not so bad after all. After the derailment and the whole incident, I got the refund about eight months later. I guess they are not bad or greedy, just lousy.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

I know...

I know a poet who had written loads and tons for you. He could never write again once you left him.
I know a man who loved you like no one ever could have had. He never asked for your love in return.
I know a friend who spent sleepless nights to fulfill your every whim. He still doesn't sleep well.
I know a student who learnt a lot from you. He still misses all those lessons.
I know a man who used to make tea and snacks for you. He still buys your favorite snacks but never had a meal as fulfilling.
I know a man you always said was a pessimist. He is a pessimist now, for he has left any hopes of your return.
I know a man who was a true friend. He doesn't care now.
I know the man for whom you don't exist anymore. The man has moved on.

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