ExpertDabbler

Have you ever seen the ‘Old’ PAN card issued by the Income Tax Department in the good ol’ days of 2002-3? I have one. It would feel more like a laminated xerox copy than an original card. Things got trendier nowadays. The new card is smaller, feels more credit cardish, contains what passes for a hologram, and fits into most wallets.

During one of my recent train journeys, I showed this old card to TTE for identification. The TTE casually said, ‘Travel pannumbodhu original kondu vanga!’ He simply ignored my response that my card was indeed original. So I thought ‘Okay, its time to get a new PAN card’. Getting a new PAN card with my existing card number was much simpler than applying for a new PAN number, or so I thought.

I applied for one online here, duly paid the fee with my credit card, took printout of the acknowledgement, attached the photo copies of address proof and identity proof, along with my current PAN card, and sent it to the NSDL office. I have been patiently waiting ever since the past one month for this card.

Yesterday, the adventure seeker in me prompted to call the Customer Care center to know the status. After the mandatory ‘All our Customer care folks are busy eating masal vadai, please wait for sometime’ routine, I was routed to one ‘amazing’ guy.

It was a unique experience to say the least.
…

He: ‘Sir, this address proof is invalid’

Me: ‘Why?’

He: ‘Because in the address proof (bank statement), the state is mentioned as TN sir, but in the application form you have given it as TAMIL NADU. According to Income tax Department rules, we cannot take this as proof of address.

Me: ’Don’t you see everything else - the name, the last name, the door number, the road name, the City, Pin code matches exactly? My bank follows a code for displaying the state. TN is the same as Tamil Nadu’

He: ‘No sir. TN is different, Tamil Nadu is different’

Me: ‘Yes..err… No, No both are same’

He: ‘TN is short form sir, Tamil Nadu is full form’

(Aandavaa..enna thathuvam…Epdi da ungalaala mattum mudiyudhu?)

Me: See, I know that. But both are one and the same. Can you show me some other state having TN as state code?’

He: ‘No sir, according to Income tax rules…’

(Daaaaai..ennai mirugam aakadhe)

Me: ‘See, there is AP. The state code AP means Andhra Pradesh written in short form. AP means Andha Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh means AP. Its the same’

He: ‘No sir, AP is short form, Andhra Pradesh is full form, according to Income tax rules…’

(Ayyo…Ipdi oru gyana sooniyathukitte maatikitene. Ennale mudila!!)

I gave up. I came home and started humming ‘Madha un koyilil madi dheepam yetrinen..’ to pacify myself.

PS: A few hours later I get a mail which confirms that my documents are in order and I would be getting my new PAN Card soon. All is well that ends well. This reminded me of an AG Gardiner short story read long time back.

I hereby request all banks to issue statements which mention the City, state, Country(Yes), PIN Code, Taluk, Panchayat,etc correctly in full.

But trust NSDL for the very best in customer service entertainment. Some of my other friends have had varied but nevertheless equally entertaining experiences calling the NSDL/CDSL customer care numbers.

Nothing to add. As it is, it stinks bad.

I don’t know when we can solve this problem.

http://www.sramanamitra.com/2007/07/10/happily-bootstrapping-zoho-ceo-sridhar-vembu-part-1/

On the other hand we have ‘kothanaar’ companies who have Rs.10,000 crore free cash, have no debt, and yet are suddenly finding their employees as ‘Non-performing assets’ and laying-off. Well, in a way that’s true. Banks lend money, these IT kothanaars lend IT sithaals to others for a fee. So when there is no market for sithaals, their employees are non-performing assets.

What’s even more disappointing is that these guys cite poor performance now rather than just saying ‘the business environment is bad, so we are laying off people’. That would’ve been more straightforward.

I am sure none of the performance mattered when the ‘associates’ were hired when the market was good. They wanted a BE/MCA with 70% percent marks so that they can be given away to ‘clients’ forever, like Vijaykanth was in ‘kovil kaalai’

I tried to join Adventnet twice and got rejected like five years back. But man, I admire their CEO for sure.

I will be very surprised if any Indian business magazine will ever do a cover story on Sridhar Vembu like this one.

Small world, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

I shot this using my friend’s Canon EOS 1000D. I was thoroughly rocked by this sharpness and resolution.

I should buy one Canon going forward whenever budget permits

Windows explorer, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

I had been on a two-day trip to Kerala. I had lot of fun photographing my office friends’ kids. 2+ year old Neelu was the cynosure of all eyes and its easy to see why. Rembo stylish, rembo samarthu. Sleeps peacefully after lunch just like his dad in team meetings

Trying to photograph children naturally forces to keep photography simple.

Overall I am glad I made this trip.

This is more or less an actual ‘dialogue’ between a Keralite and Andhrite.

AP: ‘We have all hands meeting tonight na? I don’t know how to connect ra!’

KL: ‘Yes da, @9.30 PM…let me show you…you need to have livemeeting installed. You have it?’

AP: ‘No!’

KL diligently goes to AP’s seat, opens the meeting invite in Outlook, clicks the URL, goes to livemeeting site, installs the needed software and says

KL: ‘See? Its nothing da, now just open livemeeting, enter the userid and password given in the meeting invite and you should be in’

AP: ‘Thank you very much! You are awesomu… We can follow the call in skype na?’

KL: ‘Of course, enter the toll-free number, and then it will ask for conference ID…’

KL shows how to enter the number sequence - first the toll-free number, and then when asked by IVR, enters the conference ID

KL: ‘Clear now?’

AP: ‘Yeah… but i have one small problem’

KL: ‘What?’

AP: ‘The call is at night 9.30 our time na… I will already be at home…this livemeeting and skype requires net connection na?

KL: is already glaring now ‘Obviously…how will it work without net?’

AP: ‘Adhi problem. I don’t have net access at home’

KL: is now giving the ‘patti kalvan da mone’ look…controls himself… ‘But… why did you…you are supposed to have net at home da! All our folks have one! I don’t know how come you don’t have one net connection?

AP: ‘Adhu kaadhu…Net connectionu…I don’t have because… I don’t have PC at home!! No use to have net connection without PC na? That’s why!

KL: “!!!”

If at all something happens to him tomorrow, I know the reason.

Eat here if you can, originally uploaded by expertdabbler.

It was disheartening to see this bang opposite a ‘free’ public toilet.
No country insults the poor like we do!

Saw this in Thiruchendur last weekend.
It is difficult enough for these thieves to recognize their own faces among a group of twenty. How do i know?
I find it challenging to find my own photograph among a group of passport size photographs

Do we foresee someone shouting like this?

“maapla dho paar da, en foto vai 2nd row la moonavadha potrukaan!’.

In addition, we are given a string of ‘warning/alert’ messages targeted at a substantial populace which cannot read.

The one on the left was even better. The guy who is featured prominently (a future MLA?) has his face bleached white. The Niram given, as one might’ve guessed is Karuppu!

On the other hand, it would’ve been apt to have ‘Thirudargal jagiradhai’ board next to the Sani Bhagawan Sannidhi inside the temple. Apparently, Sani who always resides in any of the 12 Raasis can give up to 20 Dhoshams, all voidable with a Rs.15 deepam available right there. They may even accept all Visa/Mastercards credit cards for purchases more than Rs.150. Pay through PayPal in INR once Paypal launches in India.

‘Thirudana paarthu thirundha vitaal thiruttai ozhikka mudiyadhu!’

http://moneylife.in/CMS.nsf/AL3?OpenForm&Alert%20Consumers~Consumer%20Products~News%20For%20Sale

When it comes to the Times group, it is always a matter of setting new standards..in ‘everything’

Why the movie is named Ayan?

Someone told me Ayan is another name for Brahma. Okay, so what is the connection between Brahma and this movie?
My guess is the director wanted a fresh three letter tamil name and hence chose this. I would’ve liked ‘Kuskha’ better.

When was the last time AVM produced a beautiful, realistic, interesting cinema in its history?

I don’t remember any. But yeah, in general the tradition aka AVM’s disservice to quality cinema continues.
I am not sure about who produced ‘Andha Naal’ released in 1954.

Is Surya the saving grace of the film?

He is. I am assuming his grace actually saves the film at the box office after all the release hype and Top ten manipulations by the Sun TV group. Just because Surya can do such movies does not mean he has to.

Why the director does not like to be called a commercial film maker?

I really don’t know. Is he really expecting to be regarded alongside Satyajit Ray or what?

When did M S Prabhu start working for movies like this?

He is one of the few very good but lesser known cinematographers in the industry. His earlier works include Mahanadhi and Thavamai Thavamirundhu. He usually insists on a script i’ve heard. Well here… let’s blame it on economic slowdown. He has done his job in this movie too in terms of technique. But it’s more like decorating a dead body.

Who deserve credits?

Surya for his ‘trying to save’ grace, M S Prabhu for shooting action sequences, Stunt master for choreographing Africa stunts, Actor Prabhu for essaying a neat role, writers Su. Pa who should’ have provided inputs for all the supposedly ‘new’ stuff on smuggling and drug trafficking.

Is it really a horrible movie?

It’s like asking if Maakaan is the stupidest guy ever. Well we cannot overestimate things. There are worse movies as there are people stupider than Maakaan. It’s just that Maakaan is not intelligent. This movie is not horribly bad. I do watch masala movies. But this is like two-three movies were shot separately and then combined together in the editing room. The congo sequences are of a different tone and shot in a style reminiscent of Quantum of Solace, then there is the local Chennai flavor, songs are totally removed from the movie except one tastefully done montage song, then again comes a caricature type villain. The end result is like eating Bread sandwich with ‘Ketti chutney’. I like each of them separately, but not as a combo. Anyways its just me.

Verdict: Watch it if you are vetti. You might say ‘Parava illai… masala padam…entertainment’, etc.

But KV Anand’s statement that this movie is a realistic thriller with logic in every scene is bewildering to say the least.