Cyberabad Blues

I have been an early adopter of Dish TV. I subscribed to Dish TV in 2005 and have been renewing it year on year.  I stuck to it because of two obvious reasons - 1) Lack of choice & 2) up front investment that I made. When TataSky was launched, I did evaluate and found that it was not compelling enough for me to switch.

My Dish TV subscription expired on 30th of October and I was half-minded to renew it. I seriously wanted to switch to either Big TV or AirTel Digital TV. For some reason, I liked the AirTel 'Welcome Home' campaign from the day it got aired. After reading couple of positive reviews on the web, I wanted to give it a shot.

Last Thursday at 5 PM, I decided to walk into the AirTel Relationship Center (ARC) at Madhapur. I didn't even expect them to stock the STB and the Dish. ARC had a standee that had a 22" LCD TV and STB showing AirTel DTV. While I was browsing the channels and reading the brochure, a sales rep greeted me and started to explain the features. I took control of the remote and played with it for a while. I was impressed with the quality. The MPEG-4 technology was visibly better than my Dish TV. After a quick chat with the sales rep, I zeroed in on the South Platinum package as it had most of the channels that I want. I was handed over a form to be filled up with my address and other details. I paid 2500/- which is all inclusive of STB, installation and 6 months subscription. Right after I was done with the form and payment, I was handed over a nice looking, compact pack which had the STB and other accessories (excluding the dish antenna). At 5:15, the sales rep called up a toll free no. and gave my details and the S.no of the STB. I was asked to suggest a time slot for the installation. Having experienced the pathetic customer support and wavering commitment of Dish TV team, I was very skeptical of this. But I opted for 9AM on Friday. At 5:20, I left ARC and even before I reached home, I got a call on my mobile from AirTel. Someone called from the local installation team and wanted to confirm the time. I was impressed by the prompt follow up!

On Friday at 9:10 AM I got a call asking for a landmark and directions to my house. By 9:30 the folks were at my place.   They spent 10 min assessing the cable requirements and quickly jumped into the action. Both of them wore an uniform of red T-shirt and black jeans. I noticed that they carried professional tools and was surprised to find a HTC Kaiser phone in their hands. After they installed the dish and connected the set top box, they used the HTC smartphone to browse to a site and instantly activated my STB and smart card. This is the first time that I have seen a services company leveraging the mobile web so well! By 11AM every thing was setup and I was given a brief demo.

They handed over the activation pack to me and asked me to call the customer support to activate my package. Apparently,  AirTel Digital TV subscription would  work for 3 days without officially activating it. On Sunday I called the toll free customer support number and the IVR guided me through the activation process. I immediately logged onto the AirTel DTV web site and noticed that my package was activated!

I was thrilled to see AirTel delivering on the promise of installation within 24 hours!

Overall, it was an amazing experience and especially for someone who suffered with Dish TV for ages.  I wish AirTel manages to sustain its superb customer support even after acquiring a large customer base.

I am very sure that AirTel will be able to grab a decent market share because of the following:

• Brand - It is capitalizing on the popular AirTel brand. Not just the brand but also its brand ambassadors. The launch campaign is one of the best in the recent past. The ad has half-a-dozen Bollywood and cricket stars including AR Rahman! Unfortunately they missed out on Shahrukh Khan as he already signed a deal with Zee for Dish TV. Bharti would never loose an opportunity to rope in SRK when his contract with Zee ceases.
• Reach - AirTel has a large retail outlet chain in the country. They are selling all the AirTel services under one roof. They definitely have a better reach than any other brand. They also have an opportunity of cross selling DTV to its mobile and broadband customers.
• Technology - Undoubtedly, AirTel is by far the superior DTH platform in terms of technology. Their integration of widgets, online services and interactive TV offer a lot of value to the customer.

In my next post, I will share the technical details/features and a comparison with Dish TV.

Last Saturday, Sudhakar and I went to Charminar for an exclusive shoot. The objective was to capture enough number of images to come out with a decent DeepZoom implementation. Both of us carried the conventional Sony DSC Wxxx series cameras. We had a blast. After spending an hour shooting the pictures at Charminar, we went to the famous Mecca Masjid. We left Charminar after enjoying a hot cup of Irani Chai and Osmania biskut. It has been one amazing trip!

Sudhakar - Thanks for the great company! Lets plan for a trip to Golkonda soon!

Below are some pics that I uploaded to flickr

My favorite daily, DC now enters the Karnataka market. I have been reading this newspaper for the last 15 years. It debuted in Chennai a couple of years back and managed to gain a decent market share. I wish that DC emerges as a strong brand in South!

I just found that Yahoo! Maps has a localized version. It detected from my IP address that I am from Hyderabad and showed me ‘Telugu’ option.

Though the Telugu version is not as detailed as the English version, I am still impressed by this! Yahoo! did a great job of it.

I was watching the live program in NTV on Kantri. NTV managed to pull off an amazing feat – Get NTR and CBN face each other. Though CBN roped in the NTR clan to campaign for TDP, this is the first time that they have gone public.

NTR requested his uncle, CBN to take care of his health in the scorching summer and CBN complimented NTR that he reminds his late grandfather. They exchanged few words while the whole  public was watching. This brings huge benefits to both, NTR and CBN politically.

There would be huge expectations from a team that delivered the biggest blockbuster of last year. I am referring to the team of 'Bommarillu' Bhaskar and  'Dil' Raju. They teamed up again to bring in another sentimental, family movie - Parugu. I am very sure that Bhaskar started off this project with an impacting story line. Imagine a plot of this kind - The hero helps a girl from an affluent family elope with a boy from a poorer family. The father of the girl manages to grab all the people involved in this elopement and shows them hell. Instead of giving up and surrendering to the torture, the hero ends up falling for the second daughter of the baddy. How he manages to convince her and finally how he manages to get out of the clutches of the villain's gang sounds like a perfect commercial formula for a Tollywood movie. Add some good fights and songs to it, you already have a winner here.

But, this sounds more like the storyline before the episode of Srija took place in Chiranjeevi's family. With the whole film industry sympathizing with Chiranjeevi's family, Bhaskar must be in a huge flux on how to shape his story. If he goes ahead with the original plot and makes a movie with a hero from Chiru's camp, it will send a wrong signal. Unfortunately, the developments that took place in Chiranjeevi's personal life had a strong (negative) impact on the original plot. He was forced to narrate the agony of a father whose loving daughter elopes without leaving much choice to her family. So how does the new storyline look like? confused, contrived and misleading. In fact, at one point the story takes a steep 'U' turn and makes the hero look like the villain and the villain tries to garner all the sympathy.

Analysis -  Keeping the contrived storyline aside for a while, the performances of the lead actors were fine. Prakash raj lived in the role of a caring father and did his best. Allu Arjun looked pretty decent though he didn't have a lot of scope to show his 6 pack body. His dances were very agile in a couple of songs. Sheila, the newcomer couldn't add much value to the role. She has to improve a lot on her histrionics. Sunil and a couple of new comedians were just fine. Cinematography by Vijay K Chakravarthy was very good. The color degradation was very appealing in shots showing the village locale. Music by Mani Sharma is good. I think Mani Sharma reached a point where he is able to give his best for almost each and every project that he is working on. Dialogues could have been better.

Highlights -  If there is one highlight in this movie, that is Prakash Raj's performance. Aspiring actors can learn from his emotions in this movie. He proves it again that he is a bundle of talent. All Arjun did very well without going overboard. He should be appreciated for toning down the commercial element in the hero's character. He had ample scope to demonstrate all the flavors and but he played a very soft role.

Lowlights - The major let down of this movie is its story line. You would walk out of the theater completely confused. I guess the director also concluded this movie with a lot of confusion in his mind. The heroine, Sheila is one of the other lowlights of the movie. They could have gone for an experienced actor like Jenelia or Trisha for this powerful character. She failed to bring life to the character. If Bommarillu was appreciated for its simplicity and the feeling of this-can-happen-to-me, this movie is at the opposite side of it. The audience can never connect with the storyline and its illogical flow.

Watch it only if you are a fan of Allu Arjun and if it is in your must see list. Otherwise you can let it go and you wouldn't miss much!

I really love this initiative. A bunch of guys got together to fight the global warming and they are doing their bit.

What can YOU do towards this? Simple - Just switch off all the lights and electrical appliances for an hour on May 3rd from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Open all the doors and light up those candles. While enjoying the cool breeze, have a heart to heart conversation with your loved ones. Don't get tempted to switch on the TV, DVD Player or your favorite gaming console just for an hour!

Find more details at http://hyderabadunplug.com/

Pass on this message to your friends and do your bit!

If you are from the coastal districts of Andhra, you would have tasted the famous Goli Soda (గోలీ సోడా) or Lime Soda (నిమ్మ సోడా). They are very cheap and refreshing. On a hot and sunny afternoon, one gulp of this soda re-energizes you. When I used to visit Vijayawada (విజయవాడ) for summer vacation in my childhood, I used to drink at least 3 to 4 sodas per day. It was as cheap as 50 paise! There are many variants of this soda like color soda and the flavored soda (సుగంధి సోడా).

After literally getting addicted to the aerated drinks and the colas for years, I decided to give a break and switch to health drinks. But unfortunately, you don't have many options. Particularly when I am working late in the evening, I need something that I can keep sipping.

Last time when I went to my native place (రాజమండ్రి), I interviewed one of the shopkeepers of a Soda stall to understand the recipe. Though he was reluctant initially, he did explain me how it can be made at home.

I diligently followed his instructions and got very close to the original taste.

Here is the recipe for you:

Ingredients

1. 500 ml. of Kinley or Evervess soda bottle
2. 2 ripe lemons
3. Half-a-teaspoon of citric acid
4. Half-a-teaspoon of cooking soda
5. Half-a-teaspoon of salt

Method

1. Take a tall glass and put the citric acid, cooking soda and salt in it.
2. Squeeze both the lemons and filter the seeds. Pour the lemon juice into the glass.
3. Empty the contents of the soda bottle into the glass.
4. Add a slice of lemon to the rim of glass for garnishing

Enjoy the refreshing lime soda!

The whole country is elated with our victory at the World T20 tournament. If we analyze this carefully, it proves few points. Below are some of the lessons that the corporate world can learn from this victory:
1) Encourage the youngsters – This is the first and foremost learning. Without the presence of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly, this team was almost written off. But the young team went ahead with its own game plan and delivered its best!

2) Keep the performers away from politics – Dhoni and his gang kept themselves so busy that they had no time to worry about anything. Not even on the happenings at BCCI back in India. The best management technique is to keep the top performers busy and insulated from the politics of the work environment.

3) Fire / Sack the mid-level managers – Getting rid of non-performing team members who are suffering from mid-life crisis will open up new avenues for the youngsters.

The team got a fantastic welcome reception at Mumbai. Remember that the same team was sneaked out from the back door amidst tight security when the team got ousted from the World Cup. Dhoni's house got ransacked and now he is awarded with ‘Jharkhand Ratna’ title. Success changes everything!