The power of choice

Remember the days when our local cable provider ruled the roost - if the local chapter of the cable provider's association does not like the pricing of ESPN Star Sports, i don't get to watch wimbledon or india vs XX cricket series. How handicapped were we, i had the 15 Rs / month ESPN Star Sports demanded - i wanted to watch the action (pretty desperately that too) but as a consumer was not allowed to get whatever i wanted and in a way deserved too..

Yesterday, I could feel the change, the power when i could log in to a site and choose the sports channel i want to watch for the next month. 

Customer service in India

Have things really changed so soon, or have i been suddenly transported to a different age? Customer service in India has improved leaps and bounds. 

Recently, i have been on a spending binge; bought all the electronic items (TV, Washing machine, broadband connection, DTH etc.,) from different vendors and for each purchase i got 2 calls without fail - one to check when they can come and install and one after installation to check how things are. I can't believe it. The vendors i am talking here are Sony, Siemens, Tata Sky and can you guess the broadband service provider - dear o' dear it is good old Reliance.

You won't believe how much i contemplated before taking Reliance's service. After Airtel said my house is in some alien planet and they cannot extend their service here, i was left with 2 choices - Tata Indicomm and Reliance. The choice was more like voting in general elections - choose the best among the worst. Finally Reliance, primarily because the agent spoke to me really well - Tata Indicomm guy was rushing too much to lay hands on the installation charge. The installation went smooth, though i felt the guy was irresponsible enough to come without a working signal detector and relied on his own antennaes to determine the direction of the nearest reliance tower. One month after installation i get a call asking if everything is fine and if i would need some support (i dint need any) - could not believe it. 

I am pleasantly surprised.

Awsome.. you are using google chrome

I like it when such messages appear in sites i visit (this one was @ orkut). 

It gives me a feeling they are getting more pesonal and closer... 

It is not a big deal to identify the browser i use and send me a message but the fact that they have done it is a big enough deal...

Signing In..

After being arrogant enough to say, if i blog it will be on my own created site - after all i am a web designer in my own right why would i write on someone else's page, i am here. 

I can give reasons like well there weren't any good hosting sites that supported the rich features that i would like to build, and the ones that did are prohibitively expensive, but i myself won't accept them as reasonable excuses, inspite of them being true

Don't blame me.. i did try blogging on my localhost site created by me (hell with hosting sites...) technically they are blogs on my sites but somehow did not look or behave the way i wanted them to.. I also tried blogging on sharepoint (i work on this portal solution) but people who have tried it will know that my localhost blogger, even if they have not seen it, would have been much better.

Finally, i have decided to see the world standing on top of others' shoulder, and am here..

Now, what do i want to do here.. EVERYTHING..  I want to write about everything that happens around me.. on everything i have an opinion about, and mind you, i have an opinion about everything that happens around me..

I can't wait to try out everything blogger, as a site, provides to check if it has everything i wanted- i am sure in the process i am going to find some cool features here that i would not have even thought of.. 

i have a long list --> it will be the subject of a separate post that follows soon