nileshg

: nileshg; December 29th, 2011

1. I booked a hotel using makemytrip.com with all the payments made in advance. They boast on their website as "All the bookings made are confirmed bookings".

2. I check my emails for the voucher. I don't see it, I also wait thinking that booking must be confirmed and it just an email, which should arrive in some time.

3. Its past 2 hours. No voucher yet. Now I call them. It takes ages to reach a customer care executive. Note that the booking ID they have provided me, comes as Invalid ID on their website.

4. I tell him my story. This guy conveniently tells me that "THE HOTEL DOESN'T HAVE ANY ROOMS AVAILABLE, SO THE BOOKING IS NOT CONFIRMED!!".

5. I ask him how is it possible as you clearly mention that all bookings are confirmed bookings? This guy says "It seems to have happened due to some technical errors".

6. I ask him other options available, and I get hung up.

7. Another call to makemytrip customer care, another endless wait as all their customer care executives are busy (which I began to understand why) and finally I get through another executive.

8. Repetition of story, repetition of blasting, but I finally get this guy to cancel my booking with full refund.

9. This guy promises me to get my refund within 3 working days.

10. My vacation has been screwed. I have to sit at home doing nothing for entire week. Fortunately, I waited for the hotel voucher to arrive before I booked any train/bus tickets, otherwise would have lost some money there too.

11. It has been past 3 days, no refund yet. I call customer care (my booking ID is still invalid on makemytrip.com, so I can't check it online), endless wait, and again some executive receives the call.

12. Another repetition of story, and this guy tells his system is not working, so he can't check the status of my refund. He also says his colleagues might have made mistake while committing 3 business days deadline, as refund takes at least (there is nothing at max) 7 working days.

13. Angry and annoyed, I ask him to connect me to his manager. He hangs up.

14. I decide not to quit. I call up again (they claim the number to be toll free, but I dont believe them anymore). Same wait, same messages, another guy takes the call. Another repetition of the story, and this guy puts me on hold for another 10 minutes. Then he comes back saying the refund has been processed and it will take another 7 days to reach my account.

15. I hang up.

16. I still haven't received the refund.

Passport Seva Kendra - Good stuff from Govt.

: nileshg; August 16th, 2010

I completely give my thumbs up to this new initiative called Passport Seva Kendra from the Ministry of external affairs, India. Passport has become a must have these days and I am pretty sure most of us have faced problems with the complications, delays and paperwork involved in the passport issue process. These are understandable when you are applying for a fresh passport but sadly, the process for passport renewal/reissue is equally time consuming as applying for a fresh passport, only because there is no credit given to the fact that I already have a passport and that I have already provided all the necessary proofs to what it takes to get a passport.

And this is exactly what has been fixed in this new system. The process hasn't changed much, but the implementation has changed, making the process much more faster. Now, if I am applying for passport reissue or renewal, the whole process of police verification is carried out after the passport has been dispatched. And it saves a considerable amount of time. We have applied for the change in name in passport for Shruti on 2nd Aug, and we had our passport in our hand on 13th Aug - yes, only in 9 working days. Of course, the police verification will happen now, but we don't have to bother about that. We have a valid passport and it can be used for all practical purposes.

The tatkal process for reissue and renewal has been modified accordingly. Now, you don't need any extra documents or affidavits for Tatkal application , which saves a lot of run around to the govt officials and of course the bribe. For all Tatkal applications for passport reissue/renewal, PSK ensures the dispatch within 3 working days, which is then followed by the routine police verification.

Also, few other notable things are
1. We submitted our entire application online. There is an online provision for submitting the scanned copies of documents too, but still you will have to carry all the original documents with photocopies.
2. The centers are very well facilitated with AC waiting hall, paid photocopy machine, a small snack and tea/coffee counter, rest rooms and a baby care area too.
3. No need to carry photos. Each counter is equipped with a digital camera and you are clicked right there.
4. Once you submit your application online, you can book an appointment at the PSK. The usual wait time is about 20-30 days. But you can walk in too and finish the process the same day. However, don't go by the duration mentioned for your slot, it said 45 mins for us but it took 4 and a half hours for us.

Their queue system does have some flaws and need rectification like merging the application submission and document verification counters, but still, this was a much needed fix in the passport reissue process and I do believe that it will get better with time.

This is the link for PSK - passportindia.gov.in

Coincidence(s).

: nileshg; August 8th, 2010

I have told this story verbally to many friends of mine, but whenever I think this story is over, it always ends up getting bigger and thats why I have decided to put it on this blog.

I always start this story with this question - "How common do you think my individual first name and surname are?" And the answer is "not very common" and the follow up question- "How common do you think my full name is? " and the answer is "should be rare". And I can vouch for the answers. Naturally, you always remember the people sharing your name and I don't have many to remember except one in my school who shared my first name and one in my college who shared my surname,thats all.

So, it all started when I was in college. One fine day, some guy 'X' pinged me on messenger with usual "Hi, How are you" stuff. The name/id didn't ring any bell but still I responded (I had just learnt to use messenger and frankly, I used to get very excited to chat, just chat!). The chat went on for a couple of minutes and I kept trying to recollect who that person was but then I gave up and very politely told him so. X told me that he was my classmate and asked me to guess who he was. Now, I had spent the last year of my schooling at a new school and I didn't remember most of my classmates there. So, I actually tried guessing too, but it didn't work. And thats when I think he got too disappointed and asked me the following -
"You are Nilesh Gattani, right?"
"Yes, I am".
"You are doing your engineering, right?"
"Yes, I am"
"In Computer Science, right?"
"Yes, I am"
"You studied in <some school in Bhopal> right?"
"No, I didn't"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am"
"Ok, I think I have got wrong Nilesh Gattani, sorry!"

And thats when I came to know about the existence of this guy who not only had exactly same name as mine, but also had similar degree and in the same field. Not very common, but coincidences do happen - that's what I thought, and forgot about it.

Years passed, I too passed from BITS, moved to Bangalore and I had totally forgotten about this other "Nilesh Gattani". And then, on one fine evening, someone unknown id pinged and asked me "Hi, how are you?". I responded asking who he was and he said he was my classmate. I felt like this has happened before, but didn't really recall the previous incident. He told me his name too, and somehow I was pretty sure that he was some classmate from the school where I had studied for only 1 year and I really didn't remember who he was. I felt ashamed of my memory, and thought that this guy has put in some efforts to find out my id and ping me, so the least I could do is to talk to him for a while pretending that I knew him. He went on being nostalgic with school days, and I kept giving nods to everything he said. And after some time, I left giving the excuse of dinner.

The same guy pinged me again next morning, and this time, I gave up. A similar conversation of identity verification as of the previous incident above happened, and suddenly I remembered this other "Nilesh Gattani" and cleared up the confusion. (Amidst all this, I had told him that I was working for Yahoo, so when he knew that I was not the one he was looking for, he asked me about the openings in Yahoo and all, but leave that).

Later that day, when I went for lunch with my teammates and my manager, I told them about this other "Nilesh Gattani". And it was the turn for the next surprise. My manager told me that she knew him, because this other "Nilesh Gattani" had been referred in Yahoo and somehow his profile was a good match for my team, and my manager was considering him for my team.

Alright, things didn't get over there. Same night, I was telling my wife about this guy, and thats when she told me that she also knew him as her parents had received his bio-data as a match for her. She also confirmed that this guy is from Bhopal.

Hmmm, same name, same education, could have been the colleague, and he could have stolen my lovely wife too :D. And you will not believe this, I happened to find through a social website(I think it was FB) that a "Nilesh Gattani" (which is not me) is married to "Shruti" (and its not my wife). And the way the coincidences have happened so far, I am pretty sure that he is the same guy.

Mr Nilesh Gattani from Bhopal, would really like to meet you sometime!

5 years, and counting!

: nileshg; July 6th, 2010

--- <Yahoo! HR> wrote:

So are we! :) Very happy to have you as our Yahooite...

Give us about 2- 3 days time and we shall courier the offer letter.

Please fill the Yahoo! Employment form and send across the soft copy.

Regards,
<Yahoo! HR>

-----Original Message-----
From: NILESH GATTANI
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 11:20 AM
To: <Yahoo! HR>
Subject: Re: Yahoo! - Offer

Hi,

Thanks for offering me job at Yahoo!. I "ACCEPT" the
offer and my preference for date of joining is 4th
July, 2005.

I am really very happy to become a Yahooite.

Thnks are regards,
Nilesh Gattani

--- <Yahoo! HR> wrote:

>
>
> Dear Nilesh,
> Congratulations,
> We are very pleased to make you an offer of INR
> X + Yahoo! Benefits .

> Attached is the Y! Benefits sheet and the salary
> break up.
>
> This offer is based on your performance in the
> written test, interviews and
> the programming test.
>
> Once you accept the offer over email and confirm
> your joining date, we shall
> send across the hard copy of the offer letter.

> Looking forward to hear from you at the earliest.
>
> Regards,
> <Yahoo! HR>

5 Years back, when the first email of the above email thread landed in my inbox, my joy knew no bounds. I immediately cancelled my job hunt, proudly told my then employer that I am rejecting their offer because I will be joining Yahoo!. I even capltalized the word "accept" in my acceptance email to the offer just to make sure that they don't miss this word and dont give the offer to anyone else.

Looking back at it after 5 years, it does look funny and kiddish, but these are the moments when are you licensed to behave like this, because this is your moment. This is your dream which came true. Its allowed :).

I have never regretted my decision to join Yahoo! in last 5 years. Yes, there have been rough patches, but who doesn't have them? Compared to the great memories I have had here, those patches seem way too small. If I look at my resume today, I am proud of the variety of work I have done here. All the major milestones in my personal life have been reached while I was here, and there were always friends here to celebrate them with. More than half of the awesome friends I have today, are from Yahoo!.It has just become a part of my life now.

Thank you Yahoo! for the last wonderful 5 years. I hope to see many more milestones like this.

Cleartrip email.

: nileshg; August 18th, 2009

Just got an email from cleartrip, and the first few words read:

Dear Nilesh,

We noticed that you haven’t booked with Cleartrip for about 11 month/s and we miss you.

We wish to inform you that with the reduced air fares, great offers and innovative features, booking travel on Cleartrip has never been more exciting. Please find below some great offers that will help you get a steal deal on our site:...........

I found the bolded words quite funny. It's a corporate email, being sent by one vendor to its customer. I would have liked it more if they had asked me for my feedback on their service or reasons why I haven't used cleartrip for any booking for last 11month/s, instead of just missing me. With a little bit of exaggeration (or may be not) It somewhat sounds like one love-lorn girl calling her ex-flame and saying "oh honey, where are you? You haven't talked to me for 11 months. <sob sob> I am missing you so much<sob sob>. I have reduced a lot of weight , and I look much fairer now, thanks to blah and blah cream. Please come back to me......<sob sob>"

They need to do Repri :D.

Proud on my country, huh?

: nileshg; June 25th, 2009

'X' wants to apply for a Govt job. 'X' needs to send photo copies of all the documents of her life so far 'attested' by a 'gazetted' officer alongwith her application. 'X' goes to a govt bank. 'X' is told that manager will attest for a very reasonable price. 'X' gets irritated, as she has already paid a hefty application fee. 'X' goes to a govt hospital. 'X' asks someone at reception about the attestation. 'X' is told the attestation fee is INR 25/document.

There are about 15 copies to be attested.

Where else would I get a better definition of "gang ship"? One govt body asking for only attested documents which can be attested only by other "special" govt officer, officially giving them the power to lootofy needy people.

It sucks. just sucks.

Can I ever be a proud Indian with these rascals present in my country?

Tags: corruption, frustration

Nostalgia.

: nileshg; February 13th, 2009

Just 10 minutes back, when I was standing at the juice corner in the cafeteria, the girl standing next to me asked the waiter " Jee, order le lijiye " :-).

Its a friday and I am already nostalgic.

Cheers to old times!

Tags: bits, nostalgia

Can you please.....

: nileshg; February 10th, 2009

"Can you please..." is probably one of the most common phrases of our day-to-day life and I have to admit, this phrase always confused me. Somehow, I have never been able to understand what does the person mean when he/she uses this phrase, that whether he/she is :
a) Enquiring about the ability of doing the work?
b) requesting for doing the work?
c) Ordering for doing the work?
d) Blasting for not having done the work?

If you dissect this phrase, you will notice the presence of 'can' and 'please' together. Now, as per my knowledge of general English, 'can' is used in a very straighforward way to denote the ability, and 'please' is put to give a polite touch to your words. So, if you say "Can you do this?" or "Please do this", then they have very straighforward meanings respectively, former enquiring about the ability of doing the work and latter requesting politely for doing the work. But what is this "Can you please..." ? This seems like a sequential merged version of "Can you do this?" and "Please do this" with an assumed "Yes" to "Can you do this?" .

I've also tried deciphering the meaning of this phrase by the tone in which its said and made few observations. Here they are :
a) If there is an emphasis on "ea" part of 'please' (like pleeeeeaaaaase), it usually translates to "Please do this work or I'll die."
b) If each word is said with equal emphasis and if the lips are closed after saying the phrase, it usually translates to a bossy "Do this work!".
c) If each word is said with equal emphasis and if the lips remain open after saying the phrase, it usually translates to "Please do this work".

But again, all my observations translate "Can you please do it" to either "Please do it" or "Can you do it?". So, why "Can you please..." needed?

Can you please explain? :P

The Interface.

: nileshg; February 1st, 2009

While coming back from a movie today with Shruti and Rahul, I suddenly noticed no traffic and a bunch of traffic policemen standing on the opposite lane, meaning that some minister would be passing soon. As every other citizen, I hate this special privilege given to the ministers. Anyways, I started driving a little faster as I have to take a 'U' turn and come onto the same side of the road to reach my home. But, by the time I could reach the 'U' turn, it had already been blocked to clear the traffic on other side. I acted like a hero, and stopped my car right in front of the traffic cop standing there, who gave me an angry look and signalled me to go forward and take the next 'U'. As a sign of protest, I stood there for 2-3 sec, stared at him, cursed him and drove away.

There was a long queue of vehicles at the next 'U', and by the time my turn came, I was already irritated by the slow pace at which the traffic was moving. While I was taking the turn, one cop standing there again started instructing me to move fast with the same angry look. I decided to protest again, reduced the speed, took a very lazy turn, cursed him and drove away.

After both the incidents, I do confess that the feeling of achievement lingered for some time, and that's when it hit me, who the hell I thought I was protesting against? That poor cop, standing there in the sun for whole day, just following his orders? That poor chap gets screwed both ways, a small slip from his duty will mean a very good probability of getting fired, and a little harsh action on public will get him a hell lot of abuses and curses. Keeping so many vehicles on hold for that long, and after that managing those long queues in chaos less way, is not a mundane job.

I felt really bad about the way I had acted, just because someone is an interface to the system, does not necessarily mean that he is the system. Many a times, we just let our frustration out on people, who are just the interface, be it someone from customer care, or be it some dude calling from some random credit card company, sometimes all we should know is that they are just doing their duty, the actual person who is responsible for our inconvenience, is somebody else, not them.

Slumdog Millionaire music

: nileshg; January 21st, 2009

I've never been so late in getting Rahman's new music, as I have been for Slumdog Millionaire, as things have changed quite a lot in last 3 months (and specially in last 2 weeks). Anyways, finally I was able the get the music and as usual, I had to listen to all the songs at least 3-4 times until I could write this blog entry.

I've got to say that this album has a typical Rahman's touch in it. "Liquid Dance" and "Mausam and escape" are masterpieces of fusion, specially the way "Liquid Dance" ends, with the sound of some music disc stopping abruptly, has come out really well. "Latika's Theme" and "Dreams on fire" are soft melodies, which you would love to listen to in the calm atmosphere of night, or on a long drive in night with....:). "Jai Ho" is another energetic song which you would love to listen to when your code suddenly starts working (or whatever you do at your work). "Gangsta Blues" is a hip hop which I would love to listen to when I am brushing my teeth or getting ready for office. "Paper planes" reminds me of a certain band which I am not able to recollect now. And "Ringa Ringa" reminds me of our good old "Choli ke peechhe", and the resemblance is actually good in a way that I always liked the beats of "choli ke peeche" and was never able to play it loud because of obvious reasons. "Ringa Ringa" seems to be a nice replacement :).

All in all, good and nice mix of different varieties.

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