RCom shutdown of CDMA service

Not surpringly this bit of news hardly received any media coverage because the one on the receiving end was the small guy who is nobodys votebank.

Reliance Communications CDMA service (of which Yours truly and his parents were subscribers but out of some premonition of sorts I had made a switch few months but unfortunately my parents were still using) had been discontinued from May 2016. Subscribers have been “asked” to upgrade to the 4G LTE service on the GSM network. CDMA is technically a superior and a reliable network from my experience. GSM, with the advent of 4G might offer higher speeds but is unreliable as the device constantly goes “off network” and one has to switch off the device and switch it on for it or go and come out of the “airplane mode” to re – register it.

My father had to shell out ~ Rs 200 even for the SIM. CDMA only handsets would have to be junked along with whatever balances (Talktime / data) it might contain. There would certainly be cases of people buying brand new CDMA handsets (expensive ones as there were anyway very few available off the shelf) or recharging their talktime / data balances just before the company discontinued it CDMA service. RCom has even discontinued the data offer of 10GB for Rs93.

I think the way the company has handled the affair was unprofessional. It could have intimated its customers 6 months back regarding the discontinuation, re – imbursed balances of people for talktime /data and offered subsidised handset upgrade.

Rowan ‘Mr Bean’ Atkinson – Un”Dead”

Clearly it was an internet hoax, all those rumours circulating online of Mr Bean’s death. He is alive and kicking.

Back to the future

Imagine a scene of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) whizzing past your windows as you stand sipping chai. You might even get delivery of your online orders near your window? Sounds impossible? Not entirely. 7 Eleven, A US convenience store,  registered the first legal delivery of an order by a drone to a US resident by delivering a chicken sandwich, coffee, donuts and candies.:)

7 Eleven partnered with drone delivery company Flirtey for providing this amazing service which is bound to revolutionize the logistics space. However, current rules out there dont permit drone deliveries at night as also the drones shouldnt be out of sight from the operator.

India Logistics sector, better watch out!!

 

Election Season upon us

Its become all too familiar now with a set pattern having emerged. With elections around the corner (And yes that too the mother of all polls, UP Polls in early 2017), a spate of “incidents” have started receiving coverage in the national media. Some unrelated incidents (read incidents that would in normal times would have died down in a whimper) are being blown up and linked to create a grand narrative. This (and the more shocking reaction) and This are the concerned incidents.

So this entire episode concerning Mayawati is about a politically incorrect remark allegedly made by one of the BJP party functionary when making a reference to her practice of alloting tickets to contestants with the highest bids. (Hang on here. Isnt the prostitutes who should really take offence to these remarks ?? I mean they are in the profession out of sheer desperation.) Well, some things are left unsaid. But then the BJP (Dont think its intentional because if it is then stupidity) has developed this habit of shooting itself on its foot. Mayawati and her party have sounded the poll bugle

Moving to the next incident. It involves a group of people beating up another group of people. The media wants us to believe its part of a grand design against the lower castes as the group getting beaten up happened to belong a lower castes. Well, isnt it a crime? Plain and simple. Law enforcement would deal with it. Why blow it up? Why should the lense of caste be brought in here? Would it have been looked at through casteist lenses had elections not been around? And after having coloured it with casteist angle why generalise it??

Came across this piece yesterday. The author picks off on the second incident. He really lets his imagination runs wild here.  In the piece, his main argument rests on dropping the last name for protesting the caste system? He goes on to broadly generalise his argument further by listing some unrelated acts of crime (are non – dalits not at the receiving end of criminal acts in India?) and by rattling statistics (one of it being the high proportion of Dalits of religious minorities?? Now whats that? Arent other religions free from this caste evil? He busts his main argument point here and these poor guys too would have to shed their last names) of unmentioned sources. The rest of the article is plain pointless. I have taken time out to comment on the obviously poorly reasoned article above as it appeared in a paper like Mumbai Mirror and i expect them to maintain certain standard. And similar posts are all over the place.

Politicians have vested interest in keeping the caste fire burning in india, despite its effects waning due to urbanisation. If not religion then surely caste will win votes. Scare mongering is the golden rule. Religion based and caste based appeasement politics was thrashed by the average indian voter in 2014 which stunned its patrons. Like the proverbial worms during the monsoon season they have emerged again.

Availability of jobs is the biggest issue and if it is to be addressed the voter has to continue rejecting the above evils which politicians and the media are so trying to bring back in the limelight by spinning a narrative of victimhood and oppression (remember “church attacks” during delhi elections? and “Dadri” before Bihar. Is this the thing before UP polls? Stay calm and enjoy the circus!!

 

Temples of India – A perspective – Jagannath Temple

Even the lord sometimes needs to sell land to raise finances. Lord Jagannath Puri temple is selling some part of its land holding to raise cash.

More importantly, on the occasion of Jagannath Rath Yatra, an annual celebration of Lord Krishna’s return to Vrindavan, here’s some history of the temple. Here’s some bit of history of the festival.

What struck me was the most important ritual of the festival;

” During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee.

The above re – inforces the fact that everyone is equal before the Lord.

Hmm. Sometimes I wonder, whats the deal with this caste system? If we can have such rituals then certainly the caste system didnt originate from the scriptures. Need to dig deeper on this.