Tata to cable, Sky's the limit for DTH

Vacations are a time of relaxation, catching up with old friends and fun even!
However this vacation has been even more tiring than anything I've done in a while.
What is driving this lack of sleep, frustration and fury?
Simple.
In the hope of making the lives of millions of Indians easier, our very own corporations that offer 'simple services' and 'easy plans' have gone a tad overboard in trying to do so.
I present to you:
Tata Sky's 'easy plan' for losing your mind.
1.Servers are suddenly unable to receive signal( note : this happens at most opportune times such as a cricket match final , a season finale of a K serial and other such defining moments in the life of one's family members.
2.In order to register a complaint, one has to converse with pre recorded voices for about 7-8 minutes, before you actually get a real person.(Mind you, it is possible to get mixed up with the two at times as they often sound the same.)
3.After fully explaining the problem , the telephone line promptly drops, thus making a person do the whole process all over again.
4.On acquiring a complaint number, and being told that 'your complaint will be resolved in 24 hours', nothing happens!
5. On calling to inquire on the status of your complaint, one is often informed that 'in the system, your complaint is stated as resolved'.
6. The end result:Loss of sanity.

Thus Proven: A very pleasant, and loving person, would turn violent given such conditions.(Highly recommended to any Army as a strategic torture device)

Conclusion: The new Tata sky + probably means the following:
Tata Sky + Hidden costs
Tata Sky + Bigger headaches
Tata Sky + complicated processes that no one will ever figure out!
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How I long for the time of cable!Wasn't that great? Everyone got to watch the latest Hindi movies illegally and in turn was subjected to the terrible ads on cable! Remember the cheesy ads for Fantasy collections and Alankar opticians?

In the scramble for money , power and strength, something, and someone has been forgotten.The bigger they seem to grow, the narrower the thinking seems to get.Where are the good ol' values and Indian tradition that most of these companies claim they started out with and where does the consumer figure in all of this??
Whether we like it or not, Direct to Home (DTH) Television is now here to stay.

They talk about maximum customer satisfaction,but just give it a thought.
How convenient is it to just watch TV these days? How many remotes do you own?How many bills do you get in a month and so How many people are you paying just to watch a few shows?

While some of these questions remain unanswered,there is one thing I know for sure.
Since I've lagao dala'd Tata, my life has definitely NOT been jinga lala.

Money - Time = ? : The Money-Time equation

On the morning of Raj Thackeray's arrest, most households switched their
television sets early in the morning,to gear themselves with the news of riots, deaths,and pretty much anything.

However,much to everyone's suprise, no Indian English news channel was carrying anything about the arrest that early in the morning .
It was the regional channels that were flashing images of burnt buses,rioters and of course, 'beybus log '. Television screens were divided into three and four sections with the same information being repeated,over and over again. In their defence-At least there was information!

It was only after about half an hour to forty minutes that our English channels got on board the Thackeray coverage wagon.Up until then,there were horoscopes for the day, cooking shows and even business related stories.

This might be a pretty normal occurence, but it sure got me thinking.
In the age of competitive information, how fast should the news be out?What exactly are reporters scrambling for these days?Quick content or actual content?
Is it better to have the news out faster? Or with more accuracy?
How are these decisions taken?When I posed this question to a friend working in the finance sector, pat came the reply: "It's but obvious. The faster the information, the better."
Could that friend be true?Have news agencies started to operate on the principles
of profit and wealth maximization?If yes, then how viable is that?Wouldn't that work only in the short run?

I guess I'll know soon enough.Until then, the questions continue..

New Age Nazis

Everywhere you look, increasingly, there is a need to conform.
Conform to a standard, a type, a structure.The individual must conform to function within a society and must by no means deviate from the norm.

A perfect example of this is the latest body craze.
Size zero, perfect shiny hair, slim waist, small feet, 36- 24 -36?If you look like this your life is perfect, if you don't, it's terrible.

Society is becoming more competitive.In a warped sort of way. "I must have higher cheekbones, a tighter butt, bigger breasts, a slimmer waist,longer legs."
It seems like a quest for a certain superhuman-type quality.
Only if you are a certain size and type are you important. If not, you're clearly unimportant and a waste of time. You must be changed or done away with completely.

Don't be fooled, this isn't a new age phenomenon.
In my mind, it seems to be the case of history repeating itself.


The ideological roots of the Nationalist Socialist party were based on numerous sources in European history, drawing especially from Romantic nineteenth century idealism, and from a biological reading of Friedrich Nietzsche’s thoughts on “breeding upwards” toward the goal of an Übermensch (“superhuman”)*

Hitler spoke of the Aryan race as a superior one. Blue eyes, blond hair and only that. Extermination of everything and everyone else that deviated from that norm.

Joseph Mengele is known to be one of the central Nazi experimenters who conducted the infamous Nazi experiments. One of the most well known of these was the injection of different chemicals into the eyes of twins to see whether it would change their eye colors . Such was their obsession for a certain type.

Fast forward to 2008.

Cosmetic surgery, liposuction, hair bonding,silicon implants, botox are all the order of the day. Increasingly more and more members of society are "experimenting" with their looks.Unwittingly, by experimenting, they are conforming to a certain norm.
What's even more alarming is the fact that people are opting for these methods by themselves.

What is driving this craze?

Study today's media and there's your answer. Check out shows like Discovery Travel and Living's "What not to wear" and MTV's "Style Check",and more recently,"Biggest loser jeetega" on Sahara One.

On "What not to wear",the hosts raid homes and closets of the 'fashion challenged' and 'teach' them how to present themselves better.MTV "Style Check" has anorexic looking models showing off the latest trends of the season. "Biggest loser jeetega" was a reality TV series based on weight loss and fitness.Simply put,the person who loses the most weight, wins.

Go to your local bookstore and the diet books are literally jumping off the bookshelves.Cosmopolitan,Verve and all the rest of the beauty magazines promote one type. One trend, one shape, one size.

The message is clear.
Fall in line.
Do not question,
Just follow.
Conform to the type.
Listen to the propaganda.

All hail the New age Nazis,the beauty industry and our media.

*Source: Nazism-Wikipedia.