ExpertDabbler

http://infibeam.com/

http://www.amazon.com/

One person who immediately came to my mind was ‘Meejik’ director Deva.

Here is the story. I ordered a book via Rediff Shopping on 20th Sep, 2009. And I was waiting till today.
And then they have successfully canceled the order after my repeated requests. Not sure when I can get my money back.

They do not have a customer care number published anywhere in the site.

I did some legwork and found this number:

Rediff Customer Service Number: 91-22-24449144
US Office Phone Number: 1-212-929-1727

It is not like I was just waiting sucking my thumb. I’d written to their folks a few times, I tried contacting the vendor.
The vendor (Shoppers stop) is not able to help because he does not have the order number that Rediff gave me.

There has been absolutely no follow-ups from Rediff. All the follow-up actions were from me (naturally). All I have got till date was one pathetic two liner last week. After my caustic remarks and specific instructions to cancel the order and refund the money, they have done the nalla kariyam today.

Of course, I am not alone. Please have a look here
http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/rediff-shopping-c33008.html

Services like flipkart, futurebazaar, infibeam are thousand times better.

Oh yeah, please order something in Rediff shopping. Kevalam!!

I was returning to Chennai along with my friend in Cheran express. Lucky me got Side upper - A 5′9.5″ guy should’ve done some real punniyam in last incarnation to get side upper berth in trains. Notwithstanding side upper, i was sleeping quite well when my friend who was in side lower woke me up.

He:’Dei, ticket edu’

Me: ‘Nee eppo da TTE aane?’

He: Vennai oru chinna confusion.. ticket edu mudalla!

Only then I woke up fully to see another young guy standing beside him.

The Summary of the matter was this: We had tickets for berths 39 and 40 and were snoring to our hearts content. The train had reached Erode by then when this new chap who boarded there came up with a ticket for berth 39. No wonder my friend got worried.

Now, we can see IRCTC’s infamous ‘Service unavailable’ page everyday during tatkal hours, but to say IRCTC gives two tickets for the same berth might be a stretch. So I was just breaking my head in half sleep with two tickets in hand, both for berth 39.

Then my friend sorted out.

“Hello, inge parunga train Erode la scheduled departure time is 00:07 which is the next day. Neenga nethiku ticket vechirukeenga”

To his credit,the young chap was smart enough and nice enough to realize his mistake quick and acknowledge it.The TTE was kind enough to recognize the issue and give him a berth elsewhere. I’ve seen some old folks stating adamantly what their ticket is the ‘most validest’, or whatever. I’ve seen the same thing happen so many times that I thought I should write a post about it.

Rule of thumb: When you are boarding a train around in the night,its better to verbalize it as the ‘previous day’s night’.
For e.g A ticket for 19th Oct for a train which departs at 00.30 AM is the ticket for 18th Night.

I wish the IRCTC folks print the same in the tickets. But then wishes are wishes and those who are smart wish less and plan more.

Idhuku dhaan periyavanga anaike sonnanga, ‘it’s always better to be approximately correct than precisely wrong’

PS:
I had once booked an airline ticket for 7.55 AM when the same friend above wanted to travel for 7.55 PM

The weekend GMAT classes has given me an opportunity to mingle with folks eight to ten years younger than me. And not surprisingly, most of them are BE grads, working in companies like TCS, and with about two years of work experience. They all share two things in common. First, they claim they are terribly bored of their present job and hence want to run away from the IT industry at the first given opportunity. One guy from Wipro said he wanted to get into investment banking (ahaaa), another guy spoke about supply chain management. Second, they are just waiting to complete two years in the present job so that they can quit to prepare for their GMAT full-time. And that is precisely what made me write this post.

Had I met these guys in their final undergrad years and asked them where they wanted to work, any guesses what might’ve been the answer? ‘Software engineer in an IT company’ would’ve come through before I had blinked. In essence what they felt about IT companies in the recent past is very different from what they feel now. That’s how it is – we think we know what we want in future only to find our mind kick us in the ass later on.

From my observation, very few people occupied in any top tier Indian IT services company like their job in the first two years. This is as fundamental as ‘the sun rises in the east’, or ‘night is followed by day’ phenomenon. So these guys are not alone. Now, I am not alone is a big consolation and I wish these guys realize that. A good portion of the lot who palambufy learn the tricks of the trade and move ahead in their careers to become damagers.

Second, even if they want to give GMAT, or even want to start their own business, or write a novel – there’s as much point in starting out full time as in printing an invitation card before fixing the marriage. For one, they may have lot of explaining to do with the B school admission folks to begin with. Moreover, this kind of ‘focus’ reasoning is merely an extension of that famous line, “I cannot chew gum and think at the same time”. There are some things which if you can’t find time to do for some hours a day, chances are you do not have it in you to do it full time anyway. Have we mediocre students ever studied during our ‘study holidays’? I’ve never come across anyone who has bunked classes all along, turned studious during study holidays and came out on top. I’d say the same logic applies here.

I hope they give their GMAT test and essays, get their admissions, and visas, and then quit their job. Ennamo wanted to rant on this one.