Sunday, February 22, 2009

On movies

On movies:
 Saw "Slumdog Millionaire" recently and rewatching bits of "Motorcycle Diaries" on TV right now. I'm again struck by a certain gap between movies -- there are a few that are excellently made and feel truthful, and then there are some more that are really rich and complex and have a depth to them that the other category does not have. Slumdog Millionaire falls into the first category for me, and therefore does not seem totally Oscar-worthy, though it might still be the best film this year. What are the deeper films ? Brokeback Mountain perhaps. Motorcycle Diaries also does not have that much depth I feel; though if took on the challenge of Che's later life it would probably get that depth. Woody Allen's movies are excellent examples of good movies of the shallower category, though at his best (Crimes and Misdemeanours, Annie Hall) they scrape into the Great category. Apollo 13 and Titanic and Usual Suspects took relatively mundane topics and elevated them to Great (or almost). The Matrix trilogy was completely inconsistent in quality but kind-of scrambled up there.
 What movies do you think are great ?
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 I'm twittering actively -- visit me there ! http://www.twitter.com/ahminotep . Twitter is remarkable in its potential to propagate information instantaneously.
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 Its occured to me subconsciously several times, and suddenly struck me forcefully -- its striking how close Riley's (the obnoxious kid on "Boondocks", might have got the name wrong) character is to Sukesh Patro's. Right now there's a thread going on about how the kid insists on being as slothful as humanly possible in front of the TV. Apologies to those to whom all this means nothing.
 

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Movie on farm crisis in Vidharbha

I am so glad somebody did this :
 
 
 

Wherethehellismatt.com

 
India is hilarious at 2:36
 
Best wishes,
Vijay Krishna
Manager, India Water Portal
 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Rajni facts

Rajnikanth makes onions cry

Rajnikanth can delete the Recycle Bin.

Ghosts are actually caused by Rajanikanth killing people faster than
Death can process them.

Rajnikanth can build a snowman..... out of rain.

Rajnikanth can strangle you with a cordless phone.

Rajnikanth can drown a fish.

When Rajnikanth enters a room, he doesn't turn the lights on, he
turns the dark off.

When Rajnikanth looks in a mirror the mirror shatters, because not
even glass is stupid enough to get in between Rajanikanth and
Rajnikanth.

Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards.
Rajanikanth can throw Brett Favre even further.

Rajanikanth does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die.

Bullets dodge Rajanikanth.

A Handicap parking sign does not signify that this spot is for
handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot
belongs to Rajanikanth and that you will be handicapped if you park
there.

Rajanikanth' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no
one fools Rajanikanth.

Rajanikanth can do a wheelie on a unicycle.

Once a cobra bit Rajanikanth' leg. After five days of excruciating
pain, the cobra died.

Rajanikanth can kill two stones with one bird.

Rajanikanth was once on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and was the first
to spin. The next 29 minutes of the show consisted of everyone
standing around awkwardly, waiting for the wheel to stop.

Leading hand sanitizers claim they can kill 99.9 percent of germs.
Rajanikanth can kill 100 percent of whatever he wants.

There is no such thing as global warming. Rajanikanth was cold, so he
turned the sun up.

Rajanikanth has a deep and abiding respect for human life… unless it
gets in his way.

It takes Rajanikanth 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.

Rajanikanth once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by
yelling, "Bang!"

In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Rajanikanth could
use to kill you, including the room itself.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every dead man,
there is Rajanikanth.

Rajanikanth got his drivers license at the age of 16 Seconds.

With the rising cost of gasoline, Rajanikanth is beginning to worry
about his drinking habit.

The square root of Rajanikanth is pain. Do not try to square
Rajanikanth, the result is death.

When you say "no one's perfect", Rajanikanth takes this as a personal insult.

Outer space exists because its afraid to be on the same planet with Rajnikanth.

Rajnikanth has counted infinity--twice.

Rajnikanth doesn't wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

The Bermuda Triangle used to be the Bermuda Square, until Rajnikanth
kicked one of the corners off.

Rajnikanth once are an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink.

Where there is a will, there is a way. Where there is Rajnikanth,
there is no other way!

Rajnikanth can eat just one Lay's potato chip.

Rajnikanth can slam a revolving door.

When Rajnikanth falls in water, Rajnikanth doesn't get wet. Water gets
Rajnikanth.

Rajnikanth can divide by zero.

The grass is always greener on the other side, unless Rajnikanth has
been there. In that case the grass is most likely soaked in blood and
tears.

Rajnikanth is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.

Rajnikanth ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.

Rajnikanth frequently donates blood to the Red Cross. Just never his own.

Rajnikanth's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

If paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper,
what beats all 3 at the same time?

Answer: Rajnikanth


If you want a list of Rajnikanth's enemies, just check the extinct species list.

Most people put their pants on one leg at a time, Rajnikanth does both
legs at once.

Rajnikanth does not use spell check. If he happens to misspell a word,
Oxford will simply change the actual spelling of it.

There are two kinds of people in this world:
1) those who are dead
2) those who have yet to meet Rajnikanth

Music listens to Rajnikanth.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Ad for Bharat Matrimony

There is an online banner ad for Bharat Matrimony (website) that advertises their 'chat' feature where you can chat with prospective partners. It shows a sample chat session in progress:
 
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Me: Cricket is my favourite sport
Menaka: Mine too !
 
Me: I love Bhel Puri and Dahi Puri
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No comments. If you get the point you get it, if you don't, you don't
 
 
 

Financial crisis

I know painfully little about the financial crisis but some of my recent reading has been about how to handle the fact that the banks got us in trouble in the first place so is a punishment appropriate. Earlier I vaguely bought into the "Economist" magazine kind of view, which was that its huge mess and the banks were responsible but now we have to get out of it, and lets be realistic, we need to work with them on it so we can't get all medieval on their asses and so on. But read an interesting transcript of an interview recently :
where a high profile guy is saying that we should go to the extreme and 'break the power' of the bankers. Felt like he has a point. I was fantasizing about what could be done to punish them. Perhaps we (well not 'we', but 'they' as in the American govt. or American people) could say that all the banks don't give any salary to their first line officials at all for x years, or until they pay back the govt money, and also take away all their 2008 bonuses. The fundamental case is very strong -- when you've wreaked havoc on the world economy and so many people are out of a job because of you, its completely reasonable that you should be quite stringently penalized financially, especially as you've made enough money over your banking career to never have to ever contemplate being close to a median national income in your life ...
 
Opinions ?

Saturday, February 14, 2009

More on HDFC

Here is the latest communication between me and HDFC. Unbelievable stonewalling:

=============

Dear Mr. Keerthi,
Really, I must say HDFC Customer Complaint representatives and managers seem to be highly trained in avoiding the substantive issues and deflecting complaints. None of the points I have raised below have been addressed. So let me start with just one point and I would like the Banks' response to it:

To state the issue under dispute in the simplest terms: There were fradulent transactions on my credit card in early May 2008 and these transactions were credited back to my account in November 2008. I have the following questions regarding this:

1.) Does the Bank consider this an acceptable quality of service ? (I was told by the Bank representative that 45 days was the turnaround time for action on this. Clearly this was not met). If the Bank agrees that this is not acceptable quality of service, what then should the Bank do about it ?

2.) During the period from May to November, there was no proactive communication from the Bank's side at any point regarding the status of this matter (other than one written communication in July/August that said that the amount would be credited in the next cycle. This did not happen so this is worse than non-communication, this is a promise that was not followed through on).
Does the Bank consider this acceptable quality of service ? If not, what then should the Bank do about it ?

I look forward to an honest answer to these two questions,

Best wishes,
Vijay Krishna G

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Dear Mr. Guntur,

This is further to your e-mail dated 12.02.09 regarding your HDFC Bank credit card account. It is disappointing to note that we are unable to convince you despite the best efforts taken by the bank. We once again wish to summarize our findings with the bank for your ready reference.

We are deeply concerned to note your feedback on the previous interactions with the Bank. We wish to reaffirm that it is our constant endeavor to ensure that each and every interaction of our customers are made pleasant and satisfactory. Your feedback has enabled us to introspect and reinforce our efforts further in this direction.

We regret to note your concerns expressed with regard to the credit of disputed transactions on your card account We wish to clarify that post completion of the investigation at our end, we had credited your card account for the disputed transactions amounting to Rs.33376.00 along with the associated finance charges. Please be rest assured that your specific feedback has been shared with the concerned for appropriate review.

We reaffirm your credit card is invalidated from further usage and there is an outstanding balance of Rs.10622.09 as per your February'09 statement. We acknowledge receipt of your payment of Rs.9869.24 towards your February'09 statement. We request you to effect payment towards the remaining due of Rs.752.85 as on date within the stipulated payment due date to preclude levy of further bank charges.

Mr. Guntur, please feel free to get in touch with our customer service representatives at the contact number: 080 – 66224332 or write to us at customerservices.cards@hdfcbank.com for any further assistance / clarification that you may require and we shall be glad to assist you.

We trust we have addressed your grievance in a fair and equitable manner and that the issue has been resolved to your fullest satisfaction. As part of regulatory requirements, we also mention that if you are not satisfied with our response, you may approach the Banking Ombudsman appointed by Reserve Bank of India.

Kindly log on to http://www.hdfcbank.com/common/customer_center.htm for details of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme - 2006 and procedure for lodging complaints.

Assuring you of our best attention at all the times.

Regards,


Rajeswari Jayasekar
Senior Manager - Service Quality
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Saturday, February 07, 2009

HDFC Bank sucks...

..and the Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman Scheme is not much better either.

Previous posts about this here:
http://vk-writtenword.blogspot.com/search/label/hdfcsucks

I went to the Reserve Bank of India Ombudsman scheme to get this redressed and they ruled in favour of the bank. I'm not happy and I think they were wrong and didn't understand the details of the case. I'll stomach the decision but I'm glad I went through the process and pushed the matter to a conclusion.

To recap:
There were fraudulent charges on my credit card in April. These wern't taken off till November and after repeated calls and complaints. In the meantime, since they were not responding to repeated calls regarding the status of the fraudulent charges, I decided to stop making payments as I no longer had any faith that they would redress the matter, and they were charging me for the fraudulent charges also. At the same time, there was a separate issue where they turned on automatic withdrawal from my bank account for a cash loan that I had taken and continued to apply that direct withdrawal even after the loan had been paid off. They also have an interesting system where you can turn on the automatic withdrawal on the phone but you have to write or fax in to turn it off. They gave lots of instructions to turn it off through the online account none of which worked.
Overall a whole bunch of fines and late charges had piled up which they refused to withdraw. Oh well, I'll pay off and cancel the card and never use their services again. But wait -- that's expecting too much of them. I closed a bank account with them 2 years back but it stretched their capabilities too much to do it and the account is still alive and waiting to be misused.

Rudeness and harrassment from the customer service personnel trying to recover the money were in evidence right through my dealings with them, but an apology for the incredible delay in dealing with the matter was never ever forthcoming.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Karsh Kale and Medieval Punditz



I saw them at a concert in Bangalore recently. I am all praise for them. Indian concert music seems to have come of age, sometime between the last time I saw something (back in 1992 odd at IITM :-) ) and now. The music is so fun. it draws on both the Indian classical music traditions as well as bollywood, western pop/rock/dance music and more. The above comments are based on this concert I went to, as also the Indian Ocean concert in Hyd and other exposures here and there.

See all the 4 videos I have of at http://www.youtube.com/user/ahminotep . Video quality is crappy and sound is not so great either, but if you are somewhat serious about music, its worth your time.

Announcing

The Schools Water Portal: http://schools.indiawaterportal.org 
 
Check it out and please tell teachers you know, especially social studies and environment teachers
 
Best wishes,
Vijay Krishna
Manager, India Water Portal