Category: India

damn them buggers @Mcdonalds

There is a McDonalds at the Ampa Mall in Chennai, situated just opposite the KFC. Outside the McDonalds they have the “Drive through” or the delivery counter. Which is convenient, but during the fiasco – realized its faster to go in a order.

So they have a huge board outside saying – 1 minute or a coke free. i smirked – knowing its impossible to deliver an order in 1 minute.

just to humor myself, i decided to check this “offer” out. So when i placed my order, I collected the receipt like a good little boy should, and then in front of the cashier – started my stop watch. Which is a Casio (just to establish the fact that its not some cheap thing which jumps or runs faster).

He immediately jumped and said “SAAR, this is voonly for zingle ORder SAAR” (yes, some creativity in the language, but the message is the same). So I said ok, if it is 1 minute for a single order, then it should be 4 minutes for 4 items.

Nonetheless, they were pretty efficient and brought it in about 2minutes 20 seconds. So, I showed the waiter who brought the delivery my watch.

He said “Sorry sir, but the 1 minute is not valid for delivery”. that kinda kinda put me off. I was like WHAAT?
Then he jumped and said “This is valid only Inside” .. Now that pissed me off even more. Here they have the board outside boldly displaying the fact that if its not delivered in a minute its free, and now they are back tracking on the whole thing. What?

its not about the free coke- its about the principle behind putting a board outside and then not sticking to it. If both the fellows had said the same thing – that this is valid only if you order a single item – then i would have been happy that the delivery was made in 2minutes and 20 seconds.

But with two employees giving me 3 different excuses – that put me off even more. I am sure if i waited longer – they would have come up with more creative excuses.

Anyways- i dont think i will ever go back to McDonalds- instead take my business to KFC, who dont promise anything – but still deliver better.

Its about setting the right expectations – underpromise and over deliver – you have a loyal customer.

My glimpse of #rural #tamilnadu

I had a meeting in Thanjavur, and decided to drive down. The roads were quite awesome – see pic below- which also had its share of these digital display boards. Quite impressive. What i liked the most – i saw NO accidents. Which is unsual considering the fact its a NH 45 – part of the north – south corridor.


Our meeting took us outside thanjavur – to a place called Allakudi, near Vellam. Crossed a few bridges and lots of farm land to reach there. and it was exquisite.

hoping not to look too touristy but professional (1stop short of a tie and blazer) i took all these pictures from the car.

Doctors and the Consumer protection act – #India

There was an interesting debate going on on the Radio this mornig – as to should the doctors be brought under the consumer protection act. Personally – my views are mixed. A part of me says yes – yet a part of me says no.

No – When someone looses a person or goes through a loss of some kind or is affected by any way- the first question they ask is “Why me?” a feeling of victimization comes in, and then they want to realize their loss by taking “Revenge” how – by filing a case. If doctors try everything to save, no matter what – would that be seen- or would it be that the outcome is noted?
Its easy to sit back and say – yes, i tried, but i am sorry, and the patient thinks- i have to live with this, and not you. how can this be? I personally believe this will lead to unrelated cases against doctors and putting a lot of pressure on the legal system which is already burgeoning.
In certain cases, due to legal reasons – doctors don’t treat accident victims, simply due to the fact if they die – the doctors will be responsible and a whole host of police complications. From a legal reform perspective, doctors who do not treat patients should be taken to task – esp accident cases, in which the first hour is the most critical hour.
With a hospital bed density of 3.9 beds per 1000 – the reach of healthcare in India is abysmal, and thus the need to have victims rush to the nearest hospital is of greater importance than to insist – accident case -go to the Government hospital.
In these cases the doctors should come under the purview of the consumer protection act – which simplifies the process of seeking justice due to reduced paperwork and other legally related issues.
In the recent past, a close family friend lost a relative. The patient was in a coma for nearly 3 weeks in the ICU. With the kidneys shutting down and the liver stopping as well. Now, the doctors and in this case I would blame the hospital – pushed the parents to the point where they are now in debt by about 15L. As a parent, any possible hope that the child would survive, will be a ray of hope- simply because NO parent wants to bury their child. However, to a layman, this case of the hospital scans, xrays and infusing blood into a coma patient who’s organs have all but shutdown is a process of opportunistic. The said hospital also told the parents to get two medicines that cost over 2L each “which would help clear the body of toxins” created by the defunct liver.
After three weeks in a coma – the hospital took the patient in for an “operation” to clean up the body.
Would these procedures help or were they excessive in order to extract more from the desperate parents is a question I am not qualified to answer, but should doctors come under the purview of the consumer protection act (which incidentally they are) – is a yes.
The next logical question – should a hospital be a corporate entity?

x Files – the Movie

Terrible!

Have been a long time X-Files fan so when the new movie was released, I quickly got the DVD when it hit the stands. So yesterday, my wife and i decided to watch the movie.

summary in a single word – terrible.

The plot, story, characters and the overall movie would hav been a good film if it did not have the xfiles tag, as there was no X in it at all!

at the end of the movie it was an all and all disappointing flick, that mulder and scully had a kid who dies, but they are not married, that the FBI is looking and that no one but him believes in psychics.

One would have assumed that the movie would have started off where the other left off. but that was not the case, and it brought about a whole different angle to it.

It would have made a good episode in the x-files but not a full length film.

Legend that is Yuyutsu

A friend of mine and his wife are expecting their first child, when asked what is the name on his mind – the name Yuyutsu came up. At first – I thought it was an african name, with the Us and Ys… but then on further research, I was uniquely surprised that its an Indian name and more importantly from the Mahabharatha.

I read the great indian epic a few months ago and, to say the least, have been quite inspired by it. Indraprashtra – the home for the gods was also the kingdom of the Pandavas after they lost everything- a symbol of what can be built even with nothing – now thats inspiration. It towered over the landscapes and contained all the comforts that adorned a king, however, the land was barren before the pandavas were given the place.

coming to Yuyutsu – i starting doing some research and found him to be quite a character. He was the 101st kaurava but was born to Dhritrashtra by a Maid servant who was waiting on him. He was one of the 11 athirathi or one who is capable of killing 10,000 warriors at a time.

He was righteous to the point he stood up against Dhuryodhana’s actions – against dhraupadi and the pandavas and was thus the last and only survivor of the Kurkshetra war simply because he joined the side of the Pandavas.

when the pandavas finally passed over – Yudhishthir handed over Indraprashtra to Yuyutsu.

What a story!

sourced from all over the internet.

about Low Cost carriers

The general misconception of LCC are that they are “cheap”. The low cost carriers, were essentially on the costing front, that established themselves on different cost structures. Howver, we are a society that equate Low cost to cheap. And that is just that. The jostling and the pushing that I experienced from the passenger end was somewhat absymal, and the seating space on the airline was incorrigable. I would call them the “flying chicken coups”. They push in as many people as possible, and make sure that your “comfort” levels are in the negative.
Now, the new issue, giving them copies of one credit card, is rather ridiculous, as if you are booking a flight ticket for a person from another city, you need to scan the card, sign it, and then rescan the letter and send it to them. Why? is flying a sin?

I might not fly by the LCCs again, but they do are making flights affordable.

The planes also are scary- Every time i have traveled there seems to be some new noise coming thru. Wonder when they will be servicing their planes?

Liz Who?

http://203.99.65.121/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10427911

In the article by a reporter of Reuters called Jonathan Allen, which has explored the reactions to the residents of Jodhpur to Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar’s wedding, has uncovered some rather harsh, and at times bordering on the inaccurate faucets of Indian society. However, I read a rather strange reply on the CNN IBN Site in their blog section, where the writer in her own myopic vision, creates an western stereotype and publishes it. At times you wonder why does the one working with a known form of journalism resort to such a low form of retort. Read it here.

Jonathan Allen’s article does give background to the reactions expressed during the interviewing of residents of Jodhpur. Excerpt “Indian women are commonly married off in their teens to a man of their parents’ choosing, and are a cause of despair if they are still a spinster at 30.“

This was a reaction as Liz is 41. Yes, many a times, in our society we do wonder why a person has been unmarried for so long. Even though I do not subscribe to the fact that arranged marriages are the way forward, I have to believe that tradition has played a significant role in the shaping our culture. I can also assume that this tradition, of getting a bride married early can be traced back to a lot of cultures. In india, there might have been the creation of a formal process, which we follow today, but the term arranged can also be substituted by “Engineered”.

In an agrarian society, there opportunity to meet and mingle with other communities had been considerably restricted. With village gatherings and other weddings, families come together. This could have been the platform, where parents introduced their children to each other, and the courtship started. However, this could have then evolved, to the current day tradition.

As a society, we do favor the male child, but as a developing economy, I think we really must grow more tolerant to criticism and help educate the western mindset to indian ethos and values. Engaging in mud slinging would not help in solving the primary problem of education.

It just gets readers more annoyed, and “patriotic” to the wrong things.

Look at bollywood. is that India?