Where were you when I was burnt and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
Where were you when I was hurt and helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else’s words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun

Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And headed straight…into the shining sun

Timeless and absolutely unbeatable.

… And all I have now, is a future …

[Silence … Applause]

…
My blog: Master, I am hungry. For days.
Me: Dear, I know, I have been keeping you starving for days now. Dont worry, I will fill you soon. Soon.
…

Wasn’t that Wish > Click > Go? It was, but only till I did the Wish and the Click.

MakeMyTrip shot into public view with their aggressive marketing (neat campaign made by WebChutney guys). Lowest airfares, wish > click > go etc. sounded very promising. So, when I had to travel to Bangalore, I decided to use MakeMyTrip to book my air tickets. It all looked very good. Their website is cool and yes, the lowest airfare claim stands good. So, I booked 4 tickets for Delhi-Bangalore-Delhi. Payments done. Confirmations done. Problem starts.

These guys promise a 3 business day delivery of tickets at your doorstep, a promise which fell apart terribly in my case. I booked my tickets on April 12th (Wed), and received a notification from my credit card company that payments have been made on the next day. So, I called up MakeMyTrip customer care (getting thru is pain, as always) and asked about confirmation and when will I get the tickets. The lady on the other end promised a 3 day delivery, and suggested me to wait till April 17th (Monday; Friday and Sunday were holidays). So, I waited, and Monday passed silently. On Tuesday, I called them up again. They told me that there was some problem and they are clearing tickets of passengers who are traveling on dates earlier than mine (awk!). I asked them if the tickets were ready for collection if I happen to drop into their office. The lady replied “Sure! You will need to carry an identification proof”. (I am Cactus Jack)

On the same day, I got an email from MakeMyTrip apologizing for the delay due to some technical snag and promised delivery in next 8 days. I decided to wait for a few days. I called them up again on Thursday. The enthusiastic lady from MakeMyTrip said that she will dispatch the tickets right away and I should get them in next 3 days (huh!?). The whole week passed.

I have to travel in the first week of May and the last week of April was about to logon and I didn have the tickets. I kept trying the customer care on Sunday, but to no avail. All enthusiastic people were sleeping. Until now, I had this confidence that no matter what, I can go to their office and collect tickets from there manually (which is bad, but not as bad). So, I decided to pay them a visit on Monday, 24th April (12 days had passed till now). I went and demanded my tickets. The polite receptionist politely asked me to wait for 10 mins. Ok. About 20 mins passed. I pinged her. She said that she will just go and check the status. Ok. She came in 10 mins and told me that your tickets are coming in a moment. By now I realized that I am dealing with extremely slow and unprofessional people.

After 45 mins in all, I told her very clearly what my problem is and for how long I have been put on hold. She hurried, went inside and came back in 10 mins with an ETA (Expected Time of Arrival) of 10 mins. She said that the executive is issuing tickets right now. Issuing tickets right now? Crazy crap! What the hell were you guys doing for 12 days? Sleeping over the money that I had paid? After exactly 10 mins, I went to her and asked her to check whats going on inside. She went inside and took 15 mins and came back with the tickets. I asked her what was the problem, and she replied innocently that there was some technical problem (doh! I should have guessed). I checked the tickets and found them as I ordered. So, 4 tickets actually got issued and delivered after 12 days and 1 hour. So much so for the 3 day delivery commitment. And so much so for Wish > Click > Go.

Cherry on the cake – not 1 but 2. The lady did not ask me for any identification. I had to actually tell her that I was told that you guys need to see the identification (hilarious!). And just when I was leaving, the same lady told me that the executive forgot to stamp one of the tickets. So, she took them back and came back in 5 mins. I double checked the tickets and left.

The other side: My friend Kamalmeet is also traveling to Bangalore. He got his tickets issued and delivered to him by a local travel agent in Connaught Place in half an hour precise. Impressive. Only pain he had to undergo was of traveling to Connaught Place and placing his order.

So, MakeMyTrip guys, congrats! You guys lost your first time customer. I was moved into you by your advertisements. But after experiencing such unprofessional and amateur service, I am disappointed and find the local travel agent a better guy to deal with than you and your enthusiastic staff. Thank you.

Related:
– Another MakeMyTrip victim
– MakeMyTrip is a bunch of clowns

Well, ONLY two things are roaring in India these days – India’s wicketkeeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the Indian stock market.

Dhoni just raced to the number one spot in ICC rankings for ODI batsmen yesterday. This guy is the new rage to hit the subcontinent. Bowlers all over the world fear him. He has torn apart Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England over last 6 months. He is a fierce hitter and the best part (I think) is that he does whatever he does with a straight bat. No wonder, he has become a hero and his hairstyle just adds glitter to the sparkle. Just a thought – would love to see how he tackles the fast pitches in West Indies, Australia etc.

And now to the bull. Its running on booster rockets, it seems. Soaring about 4000 points from 8000 to 12000 in 8 months, the bull, has created history in Indian economy. And it aint stopping. Globally, India is still viewed as very favorable and the growth story is one of the best ones. In my opinion, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is still too much money waiting to be deployed. There are going to be minor hiccups (as there have been already), but the bull will emerge more strongly eventually. Run bull run.

Related readings:
– Scary hair tales
– Opinion poll on most stylish hairstyle in world cricket
– Booming stock market

This is surely the most amazing thing I have seen in the recent past:

GotAPI

In my opinion, this is a haven for any developer. Great work guys!

In case you did not hear the “news” yesterday, Salman Khan was released from Jodhpur jail on bail. Well, I am not here to talk about whether Salman is innocent or guilty, or is the sentence too harsh, or are celebrities the soft targets, and also I do not have anything against Salman. I am appalled by the way the media has handled the whole situation. It is frustrating to see the media play minute-by-minute updates, 24 hours a day about this story, and reporting his return to home as some sort of a celebrated event.

Let’s not forget, for the fact, that Salman Khan is convicted in the chinkara case for 5 years. Technically he’s someone who, in the eyes of law of this land, has committed a punishable offence and has been sentenced (in record time). Let’s not forget that he spent 3 days in jail. Let’s not forget that he is out on bail. Let’s not forget that he has not been acquitted. Let’s not forget that he has to fight a legal battle in this case, and in other cases pending against him, which includes the hit-and-run case as well. Let’s not forget that he was convicted earlier as well in a similar case.

The media, on the other hand, has made him a national hero kind-of person. I saw reporters on various “news” channels yelling how sad and sympathetic they were about the whole episode. One RJ of a popular radio channel even went to the extent of calling up the Jodhpur jail superintendent on her show and asking him to take good care of dear Salman. All this can paint only one picture in the mind of the common man – Salman Khan is innocent and has been punished wrongly. Good. Why don’t you news guys do this with Monica Bedi? She was a bollywood star too. Simply because Salman is a bollywood actor and is loved by so many people does not make him innocent, and definitely not when he has cases against him lined up one after another. Talk about acquittal by media here.

In my opinion, this opportunist behavior by Indian media has just made the Indian law look stupid. Just saying that “Salman is the bad boy of industry” and rubbing it off casually does not complete media’s job. It’s media’s responsibility to bring the facts in public, debate over these matters and play a role in awakening the common man so that he can take his own decisions. A bad boy needs to be punished if he violates the law.

At this point, I must appreciate Rajat Sharma and his news channel IndiaTV. It was the only news channel which clearly stated that Salman Khan has been released on bail only and he still has to fight this legal battle. It clearly stated that he has not been acquitted. This, I think is a bold and true stand in the wake of other channels showing people dancing on streets when Salman returned home!

On a lighter note, I felt that most reporters who got a chance to interview Salman were overawed just by the thought of meeting him in person. Maybe it was a dream come true for them. (Chuckles) So much so for all men are not equal.

Interesting reads:
– Details of the black bucks case
– Sohail Khan, Salman’s brother, says
– Stars in jail

Hey Google,

Look what Kamal found – you came 16th in your own search engine!

Why?
You need to catch up man!

Can you read this? Neither could I. And Yahoo! concluded that I am not a human! Eh, ok, I am not.

Whack! I am going nuts?? No. All these things in the title are related. Here’s how:

We, at Uzanto, constantly keep testing and hardening our software. We often use a technique (which we indigenously developed) called Gangtest. Basically all guys in our team pick up a module in the application and test it independently looking for bugs, unexpected behavior etc. Later, we all convene and discuss our findings and list all notable things on the whiteboard that hangs towards my left. Then the person responsible for that module has to keep track and make sure the things listed are taken care of. Normally this involves noting down the findings somewhere other than the whiteboard so that it can be used for other purposes.

Yesterday we did a Gangtest of the AJAX module that I am making. So, at the end of it the whiteboard was full of things that I had to care of. I hated the idea of noting things down. So, I borrowed my colleague Kamal’s mobile phone (a Nokia 6270; he bought it recently), took snaps of the whiteboard using the phone’s ultra cool 2 MegaPixel Camera (nice high res caps), transferred the images (JPEGs) onto my PC using Bluetooth and asked the Printer to print them. Wow. I have snapshots of the whiteboard on paper. Awesome.

Frankly, this is the best of what I have been able to get out of technology till date in terms of getting real work done. Maybe getting a laptop and WiFi and using it to work freely will be next big leap.