A greater ‘hole in the wall’ you cannot imagine. A small fading sign on the top saying “Cellphoon reapars” barely visible through the street vendors crowding the Juhu Market in Mumbai. On my way to buy a new Blackberry, my innate sense of adventure made me stop my car and investigate. A shop not more than 6 feet by 6 feet. Grimy and uncleaned.
‘Can you fix a Blackberry ?”
‘Of course, show me”
”How old are you” ‘Sixteen’
Bullshit. He was no more than 10. Not handing my precious blackberry to a 10 year old in unwashed and torn T shirt and pyjamas! At least if I buy a new one, they would extract the data for me. Something I have been meaning to do for a year now.
‘What’s wrong with it?”
‘Well, the roller track ball does not respond. It’s kind of stuck and I cannot operate it”
He grabs it from my hand and looks at it
“You should wash your hands. Many customers have same problem. Roller ball get greasy and dirty, then no working’
Look who was telling me to wash my hands. He probably has not bathed for 10 days, I leaned out to snatch my useless blackberry back..
” You come back in one hour and I fix it’.
I am not leaving all my precious data in this unwashed kid’s hands for an hour. No way.
“Who will fix it?”
‘Big brother’
‘How big is ‘big brother?’
‘big …. Umm ..thirty’
Then suddenly big brother walks in. 30 ??? He is no more than 19.
‘What problem?’ He says grabbing the phone from my greasy hand into his greasier hand. Obviously not trained in etiquette by an upmarket retail store manager.
‘Normal blackberry problem. I replace with original part now. You must wash your hand before you use this’. What is this about me washing my hands suddenly??
19 year old big brother rummages through a dubious drawer full of junk and fishes out a spare roller ball packed in cheap cellophane wrapper. Original part? I doubt it.  But by now I am in the lap of the real India and there is no escape as he fishes out a couple of screwdrivers and sets about opening my Blackberry.
“How long will this take?”
”Six minutes”
This I have to see. After spending the whole morning trying to find a Blackberry service centre and getting vague answers about sending the phone in for an assessment that might take a week, I settle down next to his grubby cramped work space. At least I am going to be able to watch all my stored data vanish into virtual space. People crowd around to see what’s happening. I am not breathing easy anyway. I tell myself this is an adventure and literally have to stop myself grabbing my precious Blackberry back and making a quick escape. But in exactly six minutes this kid handed my Blackberry back. He had changed the part and cleaned and serviced the whole phone. Taken it apart, and put it together. As I turned the phone on there was a horrific 2 minutes where the phone would not come on. I looked at him with such hostility that he stepped back.
‘you have more than thousand phone numbers ?”
‘yes’.
‘backed up?’
‘no’
‘Must back up. I do it for you. Never open phone before backing up’
‘You tell me that now?’
But then the phone came on and my data was still there. Everyone watching laughed and clapped. This was becoming a show. A six minute show. I asked him how much.
‘500 rupees’ He ventured uncertainly. People around watched in glee expecting a negotiation.
That’s $10 dollars as against the Rs 30,000 ($ 600) I was about to spend on a new Blackberry or a couple of weeks without my phone. I looked suitably shocked at his ‘high price’ but calmly paid him. Much to the disappointment of the expectant crowd
‘do you have an I-Phone ? Even the new ‘4D one ?
‘no, why”
‘I break the code for you and load any ‘app’ or film you want. I give you 10 film on your memory stick on this one, and change every week for small fee’
I went home having discovered the true entrepreneurship that lies at what we call the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Some may call it piracy, which of course it is, but what can you say about two uneducated and untrained brothers aged 10 and 19 that set up a ‘hole in the wall’ shop and can fix any technology that the greatest technologists in the world can throw at them. I smiled at the future of our country. If only we could learn to harness this potential.
‘Please wash your hands before use’ were his last words to me. Now I am feeling seriously unclean.

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Recently I had been to India where you can get a 128 kbps broadband connection on your mobile phone with a limit of 2 MB per month for less then a 100 INR or say 2 USD. The connection would be off course over the 3G and can be used on a laptop provided your phone has the proper supports. The other mobile services are so cheap with a second wise pulse billing going down to a paisa per second, the Indian market is booming with so much competition around.

Back in the UAE the monopolistic trend prevails with not much competition to look at when it comes to the Telecom sector and it is far from being a consumer market. I happened to visit the Etisalat Main Branch in Sharjah for registering a few .ae domain names, which cannot be registered other wise, such as over the Internet. There were 12 counters with only 4 of them active and it took me about an hour to get the 2 out of the 3 domains registered. The remaining one was available when checked on the NIC and aeDA websites but could not be registered because of some technical problem in the Etisalat system. For which I had to go to customer service and report the matter so that it could be escalated to the IT Department, which took another hour just to be informed that it would be solved in 3 working days.

On returning home it was discovered that the sales lady over the counter had made a mistake while entering the email address of the Registrar of one of the domains. Therefore I called the NIC helpline to know that they could not help me and that I would have to visit an Etisalat branch physically or send down a fax for the problem to be solved in 3 working days. I chose the first option and visited the branch the next day. 12 counters and 7 of them working. It took me another hour to get the mistake corrected.

On asking about the domain for which I had raised a request, I was told that the issue was still pending to be resolved by the IT department, even after 24 hours. Such is the quality of customer service you get when there is no choice left.

A request for the reader not to mention the so called competitor Du which is not better. Look  at its twitter notification service which is dead since a few months and all you find @dutweets are excuses.

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Certain policies of world governments have helped these extremists succeed in their evil intentions. These policies rip off the “aam aadmi - mangoman” with his basic human and civil rights and under the pretext of national security destroy the democratic and for the people, by the people, constitution of the nation.

India has implied stringent measures on visa applications of Pakistanis. The simple reason is that they are Pakistanis. A close Iranian family friend, now an American, whose mother was a Pakistani was denied Visa by the Indian Authorities to visit India with her Husband. Reason her mother was a Pakistani. Under the pretext of national security the story does not seem to be justified.

Wives are denied visit visas to accompany their Indian Husbands. The Indian Government officials have gone nuts by writing the nationality of a child’s mother in his or her passport only if the mother is a Pakistani. The mere stupidity of the undocumented rule was declared by another government official by saying that people with evil intent do not travel legally.

The people who sit in high offices do not see the plight of ordinary people who are being harassed and deprived of basic human and civil rights under the pretext of National Security which is more of a concern for the common man who is not being protected by body guards or commandos. The national budget in protecting the common man is far beyond the scale of the expenditure done towards protecting politicians and public figures. Instead pity rules are being placed to protect the civilians which further cause disturbances in their lives. The price of such incompetent national security measures is not only paid by the pockets of patriotic citizens but also by the suppression of their social and civil rights.

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It is the misconceptions of people that lead to such violence while the religious texts are always sacred and divine. They preach love and harmony even where there is a mention of war. It has deep meanings which are misunderstood by many or misinterpreted for the mass by many for personal gains. The police if they have to fire and kill in an encounter are not murderers. They are protecting the peaceful lives of people.

The article that led me to write this blog entry after many days has many aspects that need to be looked into and discusses. The first and foremost are the different concerns cited by the US officials regarding the threat to the US troops by the disgraceful and disrespectful act. Further more the concern about the harm that would cause to the administration and the triggering of the insurgents are also worth noting. All concerns are political crap and none of them even point to the gravity of this act. Any religious book is sacred and should be regarded as equal to the constitution of a country where if anyone who commits an act towards it would be regarded as non-patriotic.

None have raised concerns over the sentiments of American Muslims and another billions of people who have nothing to do with al-Qaida. al-Qaida or its similar types claim to be Muslims but does that make them Muslim and followers of the Quran. A dissident holding an American passport if does an act against the country would not be an American even though he has a passport and claims to be one. The nation would hold him as a foe rather then a child.

The political concerns expressed by the US officials are not only worrying but they point to a true fact that there are motives other then peace and harmony in policies governing deployment of  troops and military might. Unjust and unlawful people of the likes of al-Qaida kill the innocent in the name religion and what not while the people who are trying to uphold the law are doing the same in the name of “War on Terror”.

People around the world need to understand that tolerance will bring growth to peace and harmony while hate will bread fear and hate. Acts such as these are from not learned and civilized people but from the ignorant and misinformed.

Wake up America, the statue of liberty points to the liberty of being human not lawless animals.

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It was first the US who seeded and fed the Taliban against the Russians and now they reign in the territory. If we look at the picture closely we might see that education has a very deep impact on the whole situation. The word Taliban literally means “Students”. These student were brainwashed and emotionally aroused in the name of religion. One might even call it emotional attyachar. Its very easy to get hold of the human mind when you can create sentiments that ping the deep rooted faith of people. Islam was the key to the door here. Islam does not preach violence. There are several mentions of Jihad in the Quran but those are in self protection. Where not only the existence of the faith is in threat but also the faithful himself and that too under extreme circumstances of physical torture itself. Apart  from that rules are in place that make is a Jihad. A simple example is the difference between cross border firing by troops and declaration of war by a country which can only be done by the highest authority which is not self proclaimed.

Back to the topic, the Taliban induced negative thoughts into young minds and created illusions through the logic called little knowledge is a dangerous thing. They provoked religious sentiments and declared an unlawful war on what they thought to be their enemy. Islam became a tool to create intolerance. I would like to point out that in Mahabharat, Krishana preaches Arjun the righteousness of pulling the weapon against the unjust and tyranny. But it was in a lawful war situation. If someone just pickup a gun today and shoots an X person for his wrong doings following the instructions of Gita he would be held a criminal. Islam similarly does not approve the wrong doings of certain people against the faith but neither does it approve the such an unlawful self proclaimed war which by no means can be translated to Jihad. Rather terrorism.

Education was used to induce misconceptions into young minds and an army of a generation was created called Taliban. Everywhere, even in India and places like Kashmir where India flexes its military muscles to protect innocent people, why does the government not invest even a minute percentage of that money to educate people there.

If the Taliban were created out of education in the wrong way why not treat that problem with a similar cause. Educate and induce tolerance. If they used Islam in the wrong direction, use its actual values to create the path of light.

The army may be needed to protect the lives of people but the might of education is far reaching and having deep impacts in creating harmony, developing clearer minds, spreading tolerance and a growing nation.

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There is something about India and being Indian that keeps all of us attached to the matra bhumi where ever we live. Even if an Indian enjoyed full rights of citizenship in a very developed country he would not be able to keep himself away from India and his relatives back home. Probably this is because of the sanskaar that are embedded in the DNA or something. There is a bond and longing for relatives and family in us Indians that keeps us rejoining ourselves to India. Apart from this which keeps the business society attached to the nation, there are several salaried class people who also form a very huge contributing sector for the nation.

Probably due to these factors the NRI banking sector has been ever thriving especially since the Indian government has started to count in this large community and provide it with benefits and facilities that pull in the resources of all these people.

Indian banks have improved to quite an extent in providing very good services for the NRI sector but there are a few problems that I have faced personally and think they should improve on that front. Banks in India might be having fantastic services but when it comes to NRI services they lack behind their foreign counterparts. HSBC and State Bank, for example, create so much trouble to just reactivate a simple Net Banking account that the customer would finally become frustrated. No service centers in the UAE are equipped to help customers even reset their password or TPIN to a simple extent. One would have to place a long distance call to India just to get that done. Another problem which I have experienced with HSBC is that they would send your new password by snail-mail and how painstaking would that be in today’s speedy world could be understood easily.

On the other hand Citibank, I have no reason to favor it, except for the convenience and ease of the services they provide in the UAE itself. The best of all is their phone banking and net banking services. CitiNRI services have always been very costly and have a lot of various kinds of fees many people would surely not prefer and I think they should work out on it as well.

There are several banks out there for providing NRI services but one should really do a little homework and not get lured by the salesman or sales ladies talks, as India has strict rules on banking. Always study the fee structure, ask for their terms and conditions booklet, look for reviews on the internet and ask relatives and friends about their experience. There is a lot of competition in the sector and that makes it more nicer for the customer while decision making tougher.

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The Tamil tigers were the first to start suicide bombings, the Irish were a security threat for years, the black widows have been a security threat in Russia, there have been much more student killings in the US that anyone can imagine but why if some Palestinian, kashmiri, Pakistani or Afghani or any other militant group raise the security alarm level it is the religion, Islam, to blame.

I happened to see the movie Lamhaa, and what a terrific movie it is, during which I tried to focus my mind on this topic. It is not Kashmir only, but it is Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and all sorts of places like these that have become companies and are run by capitalist corporates. I remember back in 1992, I had read in the Khaleej Times that the USA alone, not to mention the rest of the coalition, had charged the state of Kuwait 800 billion USD for the desert storm. This is apart from the dessert shield and the rebuilding process and what not. The entire operation was a corporate operation rather then a military one. This I cited just to compliment the scene in Lamhaa where the businessman cum terror link explains to the Indian authorities the amount of tax payer money that goes into Kashmir’s security budget.

Coming to the question I posed, the answer was very simple to me. Some of the Muslim fanatics, especially the hardliner Wahabi sect are brainwashing people, especially children from a very young age in the name of Islam and are embedding the wrong concept of Jihad in their minds, seeding false perspectives which make them believe this personal corporate operation of terror is religious, which in fact is not. The same perspective is viewed by the world when the puppets go out and actually undertake the terror attack. They have the words like “Allaho akbar” and “la Ilaha Illallah” on their lips which make the onlooker believe that the operation was a religious one, just as the little boy whom Sunjat Dutt killed in Lamhaa was uttering. He was mesmerized and hypnotized into killing himself for years, at a ripe age when teachings have a very high impact on thoughts and behaviors. While the boy was told that he would go to jannat and the key to it was the trigger. The entire story about the associating Islam with terrorism can be conveyed in a single phrase from the above depiction, “God created paradise and man turned it into hell”. Islam is a Godly religion that preaches and teaches peace.

The entire operation of terrorism is a corporate business but alas nor does our government or politicians want to accept it as they get their share of the pie, nor does the media project the facts as they want to keep the reel rolling for their own ratings and growth. The truth is a gruesome fact which normal citizens have to wake up to understand and start asking questions to their governments about their hard earned tax money. They have to embrace the fact that its not the religion but the corrupt minds of so called humans.

I would also like to add as an additional note, that is you would ask any normal practicing Muslim, a modest person, who has visited Mecca and Madina, he would tell you that the Wahabbis even tag most Muslims as “kafirs” or unbelievers and think that their blood is halal.

من فتل نفسا متعمدا فجزاءه جهنم

He who kill a single soul willingly shall burn in hellfire. This includes killing ones own self or suicide, which is completely cowardice and haram in Islam. Islam does not accept the killing of any human being or even a life. Rasulallah (SAW) has said that he who kills a sparrow even without any reason shall find it have a case against him on the day of Judgment.

Everyone should remember that Islam has nothing to do with all this stupidity and nor so Muslims, its the capital market that plays its game.

“Sab Bik Chuke Hain, Koi Siyasat ke liye, Koi Jehad Ke Liye, Koi Mazhab ke liye, Koi Paise ke liye”.

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Education in India has also come a long way with the literacy rate going up and the public becoming more and more aware of their surroundings. The news that India unveils $30 laptop is just over whelming and will not only make a difference to the student sector but will also have huge impact on the way the Indian markets and the businesses operate. There has been a significant change in the technology sector in India then that before 10 years and the dream of Rajiv Ghandi of handing over computers to every person might seem to be coming true. With the Nano laptop which I might prefer to call it for its low price things are really going to rock. As for the services that would be needed to compliment this Nano laptop, such as the Internet, I think India has already achieved a major break through in the sector. At some places in Indi, such as Chhattisgarh, a broadband connection with unlimited bandwidth and a complimentary land line phone with a speed to 256kbps costs less then 5 USD per month. While a 3G usb connection with unlimited bandwidth and a speed of 128 kbps cost only 7 USD a month even while roaming all over India. Such a huge leap of Indian economics and a large consumer base is a business venue that anyone would want to wet their feet in.

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Mr Mani Shankar, a former BJP minister said that no matter what the situation be the Ind-Pak talks should continue. There is no other option for the Indian government to tackle this crucial and vital issue without sitting on the table with the Pakistani authorities, or does India wish to go on the so called “War on Terrorism” just like the US did in Iraq. Off course peace talks held quietly within close doors would benefit both the sides rather and media hyped hot talks. I do agree on this small note made by Mr. Mani Shankar during his Zee TV interview.

Another important aspect that the the Indian government needs to address with top priority is to synchronize its policies within its various departments and ministries. There are several issues on which the different government departments are not aware with the policies of each other.

How fruitful will be Indo-Pak talks?-II

How fruitful will be Indo-Pak talks?-III

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The UAEnic that is .ae has been handled by Etisalat since its very beginning but recently there are many expensive registrars that have the service available. Khaleej Times has an interesting story announcing the Dhs 3.8 Billion/ $1 Billion profit posted by eisalat in the first half of the year. Interesting news indeed in a slow economy where everyone is crying but the telecommunication sector in the UAE. The residents are really happy to see the market bouncing back but its all at the cost of consumers. How does a service industry make such huge postings. No competition and low quality customer support is where the profits are bagged from.

Just an example for low Quality customer care is the registration of the .ae domain. UAEnic which is operated by Etisalat has no means of registering or even renewing a domain online, leave alone the extras such as DNS services and so on. A company that’s boasts to be high tech and has all the resources of the nation lacks in providing such simple services to the consumer. One has to go to the etisalat office if a simple DNS setting needs to be done rather then simply doing it 24/7 from the comfort of his chair.

Talk about customer care and one would have to wait for no less then 15 to 20 minutes to get a call connected to the customer support, if you are talking about the internet. Boasting a high tech society in the UAE the costs of broadband and dial-up services are costlier then some of the under developed countries in the world with very less infrastructure.

Mobile charges are no where compared to the prices in countries like India and Pakistan while the etisalat boasts of millions of subscribers. The reason behind this might be the ratio of people having disposable incomes in the UAE being higher then that of the sub-continent.

A lesser competitive atmosphere in any niche can be suicidal for the industry itself where the capitalists thrive on high profit yields and a consumer focused market if far from being sighted. The growth is merely for the profit building of the company rather then being consumer focused which is a much more win-win situation then the prior. Low quality customer support with expensive services would surely bag good returns  in term of profits and since there is no choice for the consumer but to survive the monopolistic trend of the market sharks they cannot do anything. Healthy competition is not only good for the consumer but is necessary for the growth of the economy and the niche itself.

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