Monthly Archive for February, 2007

Do not call registry – India

If you own a phone, whether it is mobile or land line, you are about to get a solicited or an unsolicited commercial communication. Let us know what these two are. Communication here refers to the telemarketing call.

Solicited commercial communication

I open a savings account with any of the nationalised banks. There is a business relationship established between me and the bank. During the establishment of this business relationship, I consent to receive calls about the product I have purchased or the account I have opened with the bank. In this way, I solicit to receive calls from the establishment. I can always go ahead and tell them that I do not want to be called again on the product which I am using from the bank. This is an example of Solicited commercial communication.

Unsolicited commercial communication

An unsolicited commercial communication is the type of communication in which the caller initiates the call to a person who does not have a commercial business relationship with the caller’s services. To be more clear, the person who is called does not expect the call. Most of us receive these type of calls from DSAs (Direct Service Agent) of Banks and NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies).

What if you do not want to receive unsolicited commercial communication?

There is a DNCR (Do Not Call Registry) service prevalent in the western countries in which the customers can file in their telephone numbers at which they do not want to be disturbed for unsolicited commercial telemarketing calls. The establishments making calls are to screen the numbers through this DNCR and then make calls. If a customer opts to file his number in the DNCR and still receives unsolicited calls, legal action can be arranged against the party which called.

Is there a DNCR in India?

Currently, as far as I can see, there is not a centralised DNCR in India. But there are strict guidelines from RBI regarding the unsolicited commercial communication. The individual banks and NFBCs are to setup their own DNCR. And I read somewhere that a centralised registry is gonna be setup wherein the customer does not have to register for the individual DNCRs set by Banks and NFBCs, instead he needs to file the numbers in the centralised DNCR which will be screened by the banks and NFBCs before a telemarketing call is made.

Where can I find a DNCR list of Indian Banks and NFBCs?

I have compiled a list here. This is a list of few banks and not a comprehensive one. Thanks to a colleague at office who mailed the list of banks to me. Use IE for all these links as a few will not open in Firefox. :-P

What if I still get a lot of calls after opting this list?

When using the DNCR, the bank will take the request in and processes it in 30 or 45 days. Give them their requested period of time to process. If you still receive call, show courtesy and tell the telemarketer that you are on the bank’s DNCR and not to call you anymore. If again you receive it, you can consult your lawyer for legal proceedings. But, I am not sure whether there is a law for this. :-)

8th Pass vs SSLC Fail

Balaji and I had a pretty short argument about the number of calls we receive in our mobiles on a daily basis. Balaji has 20 contacts and I have 250 contacts. I get around two to three calls per day whereas he gets one or two per day. The argument surrounded on who is worth using mobile and this reminded us of the famous Koundamani – Senthil joke. (Excerpt is from the movie Gentleman).

Senthil – Annae! Naan 8th pass annae. Neenga SSLC failu annae.

Koundamani – Dei naan SSLC da!

Senthil – Pass perusa Fail Perusa?

Koundamani – !@#$$%%

This put us in laughter for a while. :-P

Pachai kili Muthucharam – Review

DISCLAIMER – This is purely a personal opinion and may contain spoilers.

Movie Name – Pachai kili Muthucharam
Language – Tamil
Cast – R.SarathKumar, Jyotika, Andrea, Milind Soman and others
Music – Harris Jeyaraj
Cinematography – Arvind Krishna
Direction – Gautam Menon
Production – Oscar Films Pvt Ltd owned by Oscar Ravichandran

Pachai kili Muthucharam is inspired from the English movie “Derailed“.
Pachai kili Muthucharam is a typical Gautam Menon’s movie that targets “A” class audience.
Pachai kili Muthucharam was made to get Sarathkumar out of a slumping career.

These are the statements or rumours doing rounds in Chennai. Pachaikili Muthucharam is worth watching if you are a movie buff who likes incisive dialogues, beautiful cinematography, a good BGM which is synchronised so well with the screenplay. And last but not the least, one who commutes in Beach – Tambaram EMU in Chennai will love it. :-)

Story

Venkatesh a.k.a Venky (Sarathkumar), a pharma medical rep leads a peaceful life with Kalyani (Andrea) and his son Nanda.Sarath Their life boat starts to wobble when Nanda is diagnosed of first level diabetes. Kalyani and Venky start concentrating on his health and their personal life falls into a dry period. Venky is dejected when he hears Kalyani’s plans of practicising celibacy to concentrate more on their son’s helath. This is when Geetha (Jyotika) meets him in the Beach – Tambaram EMU which Sarath uses for commuting. Slowly a thin line of friendship develops between them. The line grows thick and Sarath starts lying to his wife. He starts going out with Jyotika. Jyotika gets all the information about Sarath and his family and tells him that she is madly in love with him. Jyotika complains about her sad life with her husband to Sarath. Sarath falls to her words and they go to a Beach resort in ECR road. Lawrence (Milind Soman) makes an entry into the film and hurts Sarath badly. He rapes Jyotika in front of Sarath and takes their money and cellphone numbers. The movie moving at a snail pace starts sprinting with Lawrence and crew demanding money from Sarath. They blackmail him that they will tell the ECR episode to Jyotika’s husband and he cannot go to the police as it will bring shame to their families. Unknowing what to do, Sarath starts giving money to Lawrence and crew and he spends Rs.8 Lakhs which he had saved for his son’s welfare. He informs Kalyani of all that happened and Kalyani ditches him by going out of the home and tells him not to search for her.

Second half has more twists and turns that adds to the suspense of the movie. Watch it at the silver screen for the suspense to unfold.
Music

Music is by Harris Jeyaraj. As with every other Gautam Menon’s movie, this one is also a musical hit. All the numbers have come out really well. Special applause to the Camera man Arvind Krishna for the beautiful close up shots, Soft focus shots. He is at his best when showing Jyotika and Sarath in the EMU.

Un Sirippini Pon Sirippinil

This is the first song of the movie depicting the romance between Sarath and Andrea. Un SirippinilA soft melody sung by Gautami Rao and Robby is used as a back ground bit in some parts of the movie. Lyrics is by Thaamarai. If you are a person who enjoys lyrics with music, Thamarai has gifted you with beautiful poetic lines. Ensoi Thangamani! :-)

Unakkul Naane Urukum Iravil

This is yet another beautiful song in the movie for the violin bit and lyrics. Voice rendered by Bombay Jayashree. Bombay Jayashree renders her voice to all hit songs in Gautam Menon – Harris combination. Starting from Vaseegara (Minnalae) to Paartha Mudhal Naale (VettailYaadu Vilaiyadu) , there she is with the hit song of the movie. The picturisation of this song is not that good with Jyotika and Sarath dancing with a dozen men with black mask in the background. The violin bit in the song is used as a major part of the BGM in the movie. Over all, I will have liked it much if they did not picturise this song.Unakkul Naane It kind of makes one feel as if this song is thrusted upon them. This is the third time in Gautam’s movie after Thoodu Varumaa (Kaakha Kaakha), Neruppae sikki mukki (Vettaiyaadu Vilayaiaadu) that a song is thrusted beacuse it is hit. Gautam needs to work on this.

Karu Karu Vizhigalaal Oru Kanmei

A good fast number sung by Girish, Karthik and Naresh Iyer depicts the growing friendship between Jyotika and Sarath. A fast western type number with good Tamil lyrics. Nothing much to say about this song.

Kaadhal Konjam Kaatru Konjam Ser

The number shot when Andrea and Sarath start their life in Hyderabad. Sung by Naresh Iyer relies on heavy poetic lines. For people who wonder why this movie is named Pachaikili Muthu Charam, this song has a cue. Watch out the following verses from the song.

” Kayil vantha muthucharam sinthaamal
en ullangayin veppaththiley ottik kollumae

Ezhil konjum pachchai kili vanthaalum
en vedanthaangal vendaam vendaam enru thallumae “

Sarath, Jyotika,Milind Soman and Andrea have done their part really well. Stunts are by Stun Siva and as with every Gautam movie, the villain’s crew has the familiar faces acted in Kaakha Kaakha and Vettaiyaadu Vilayaiaadu. Stunts are not irritating with the typical Tamil cinema rope sshots and bike stunts. Sarath with his physique makes one accept him as a action hero.

Sarath has proved that he is a great actor who shows great expressions does justice to the character given. I particularly liked the scenes with Jyotika where he is hesitant and reluctant. Over all, a fine performance from Sarath. People will like him for his physique and his acting talent is going to be praised.

Andrea plays her part well and she is cute and does a bit of acting. This being her first movie (in Tamil), lip sync is a problem which can be clearly spotted in certain scenes and the first song.

Milind Soman the Indian male heart throb of more than twenty years makes his debut in Tamil as a Villian. Every other Gautam Menon’s movie has a new villain.This time it is Milind Soman who sports a stubbleMilind and his good physique adds power to the character. I suppose Gautam has dubbed for Milind.

Jyotika has matured much in acting and is beautiful. Her eyes are expressive with beautifully threaded eyebrows jyotika and the nose ring adds charm to her beauty. ;-)

Flashes

Jyotika says to Sarath that her husband does not like her talking with other men.

Sarath responds

” Why do you talk when he does not like it? “

Sarath says all that happened to him to Andrea.

” Enna pidichirukkunnu sonna! En mela payithiyamaa irukkennu sonna! Enna engayavathu kootittu po nnu sonna! “

Sarath to Andrea

” Naan senja thappukku un kitta mannippu kaekka porathu illa. Athukku mannippu kedaiyathunnu enakku theriyum! “

Over all, Pachai kili muthucharam is a good movie for people who like dialogues and a good characterisations. I liked it much. The first half moves at a slow pace (not dragging) and the second half sprints. Certain stunts could have been avoided. JyotikaFor people like me who commute by beach – Tambaram EMU, it gives a feeling as if I acted in the movie. Because so many scenes are shot in train. I would been there in one of those. ;-) May be I relate it much. :-)

P.S.:- This is my view of the movie and you may or may not like it for which I am not responsible. ;-)

Trivia

Last night, on my way to home in office cab, had a chance to interact with my Office’s telephone operator. He is a nice guy who I have spoken with much on phones and did not meet him till last night. Our conversation centered around how EPABX system works, hunting lines etc; I was the one to ask him many questions as I always wanted to know the nuances of a telephone operator’s job. We stopped at a local tea shop for a cuppa and continued the conversation. Suddenly, he asked me the significance of the dot in the number five key on my phone’s keypad. I replied in the negative and he helped me understand that the dot in the keypad on any phone is to help the blind. It can be touched and felt so that the other numbers surrounding it can be easily punched. I was surprised and thanked him for the good information he lent. The journey continued and I tried punching the numbers with my eyes closed and Bingo! I was successful.

I really appreciate the goodwill of the guy who invented this tactic keeping the blind in mind. After all it is usability everyone yearns for without their knowledge. :-)

P.S.:- Am I the only to know this little but important thing too late? ;-)

Consult Sabaree

Sabaree, my colleague, is a good pal to me from the day I joined my current job. He is elder than I and has expertise in counseling. His favorite area is HR counseling although he does concentrate in other domains. SabareeAfter seeing my blog, he always asked me to set one up for him. We used to discuss about the same for quite sometime with great fervor and forget it. Today something triggered me to do it for him and at last I did it. Balaji was the one who set things up for my blog. Today, I stole the tricks from his bags to set the site up and running with in a few hours. Consultsabaree.com is setup as a blog and it will be customized as a online counseling portal. I will rather have Sabaree write about his idea behind setting this portal as he is going to be the owner for consultsabaree.com’s content.

Thanks to Balaji, Yahoo domains, Dreamhost,WordPress consultsabaree.com is ready to rock.

Hope all your support will be extended to Sabaree as well. :-)

Originally duplicate

Recently, I bought a new Nokia 6030 Nokia 6030 and gave my old Nokia 2300 to appa. I gave the headset which came along with the N6030 to Appa and retained the old headset with me. The old headset had been my buddy for the past one and half years and I have used him to the max. I used to shuffle among the FM channels with the cute remote in the headset. On Friday, he disappointed me and stopped working. headsetI tried all my level best to repair him but found that he is gone and cannot be used anymore.

I decided to buy a new Nokia Dual Headset HS -7 and here is my experience on the search for the headset. Balaji used to say that buy at the local shops to encourage the local entrepreneurs and don’t go for big shops in TNagar or elsewhere. He bought his new mobile at one of the local vendors. I followed suit and went to the same shop and asked for a original Nokia Dual Headset HS -7 and the boy at the shop told me that it will cost Rs.350 for an original one. He brought a small piece of pouch which had a headset with the name Nokia but it had faded letters and I immediately found that it was a counterfeit one. Here is the conversation.

Me : It does not look like a original Nokia headset.

Boy at the shop : Are you looking for that original Nokia Headset? If so, It will cost you Rs.450 and you need to check out in showrooms.

Me : !@#$$% (asking myself) What is the difference between original Nokia headset and that original Nokia headset?

I tried in a Nokia priority dealer and they did not have a stock of the one I was looking for. Finally I tried to enquire a shop at Tambaram. The guy at the shop told me that he can get me the headset but it will cost me Rs.650. When I asked him to show me the headset, he told me that I need to give him Rs.650 and he will tear open a new Nokia 6030 box Nokia 6030 in front of me and give me the headset alone. I was shocked to see his response and left the shop immediately. There was another shop keeper who asked me to go to the Nokia Factory to find the headset I am looking for. I have a few questions in mind after the search.

1. What will the guy, who promised me to tear open the box, do to a new customer who buys that phone?

2. Why does not Nokia beat these counterfeit products by selling the original ones at nominal rates?

Till my search for the original headset ends, I am left handicapped without my headset and with un answered questions. :-(

Happy Birthday Song

Happy birthday Umesh :-)

After a ton typos and million full stops

Hurray! it’s going to be a year since I started blogging and this post is an attempt to see what has happened in my life, after I started to blog, in this good year’s time.

Why did I start blogging?

Umesh and Balaji were early into the blogosphere and I did not want to be too far behind them. All my life, I have quit a lot of things without pursuing them with the same fervor I started with. When I started blogging, I feared of quitting from this one fine day. Fear mounted when Balaji informed me that he spent dollars for hosting and domain registration. The fear kept me going and here I am boasting about a year in the blogosphere.

The initial days of blogging

In the initial days or months of blogging I changed the themes frequently, put in all the ads available ( thinking of becoming a millionaire someday :-P ), without bothering about the content much. To be precise, I was into gimmicks and graphics instead of concentrating on content. A day never passed by without me checking the ad vendor for the dollars accumulated in my account. The thing never happened and I stopped checking it. Still, I login and see how well I have done on ad space. :-)

Goof ups

When I started writing about things of public interest, got a few human visitors apart from the regular bots. Till date, my posts on Satyam has attracted the maximum number of visitors to my blog when compared to other posts. A few of my posts instigated anger and my blog became a place for people to vent their anger.
People and my blog

Shikha inspired me to start the music quiz section with her own section on song lyrics creating waves. Umesh inspired me to write humorous posts. Badri got introduced in my life. Balaji encouraged and supported me all the time. Deepak pestered me with IMs on the idleness of my blog. Gayu stood by me and commented on almost all posts. Sarayu, one of my early and regular commenters encouraged me to write more. Priya was always a silent visitor and she pitched in with her advice offline. Sabaree, Magesh, Ananth spread the word about my blog at office. Thank you all! :-)

I learned a lot this one year and found that I ain’t a quitter at least in blogging. :-)

After a ton typos and million full stops, I am blogging because I want to express my life and feelings to this world. After all, I am a man and not a super man or What a man. :-)




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