Radiohead caught once again, in first ‘bloom’

I wrote this. For a friend. I wanted to avoid words like 'groovy', 'brooding', 'lilting' and phrases like 'uncharted territories', most of them staples in music reviews and some in descriptions of Radiohead's music.
Also I barely had any ideas of how to describe the package that is TKOL, the effect the whole thing has, the experience each song is, so please pardon the complete n00biness of it.
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 Radiohead caught once again, in first ‘bloom’


When it comes to bands exploring new sounds, no one’s dropped a bigger bomb than Radiohead, when they released their mind-bending album Kid A in 2000. Their persistence and continued experimentation in that direction has led to it becoming the sound that they and only they can be identified by immediately.

In their last release, 2007’s In Rainbows, it seemed they had perfected the foreboding, moody song that brought you down and left you wondering. King of Limbs continues on that trajectory with its loops, samples, hushed whispers and frantic chants. The album opens with Bloom, a personal favourite, with its clashing drums and synthesizer hook that moves just a step behind the drums, trying to catch up and making wonderful music in the process. The groovy sound connects Bloom with Little by Little and Lotus Flower on the album, easily the most pop Radiohead could sound. Lotus Flower especially is a great track; the brooding bass grabs your attention, Thom Yorke’s crooning runs rings around you. All he wants is the moon on a stick he declares, creeping into your head. On Little by Little, the repetitive chants appear with the band shuffling words and drum beats into each other, exhibiting the signature unstable Radiohead energy.

Morning Mr Magpie and Feral try to deviate, jump the tempo with their rushed rhythm and bass. Accusatory lyrics and intimidating noise, they stick out on an otherwise mellow collection. The slower tracks are the gems as I always feel to be the case. Codex with its lilting keyboard bass takes you through space as Yorke’s voice floats around, convincing in his urging for an escape. The slightest hints of a guitar being plucked pepper Give Up the Ghost, with forgiveness and reconciliation being its theme. Separator is a nice, upbeat conclusion to the unusually short album (just eight tracks).

It’s a sign-off track, talking about going back to a familiar place, finding old comforts and being pleased by how liberating it is. But then they warn you, “If you think this is over then you’re wrong”. The message couldn’t be clearer: If you think Radiohead is done charting unknown territories with their music — you’re wrong.
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Hope that weren't corny.
This first appeared in Deccan Chronicle on July 16, 2011 Link

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A letter to Tata Photon Customer Care

Update:  Just got a mail in which I learnt nothing new, again a promise that it'll be resolved by 24th July. Still waiting.

Update:  27th July: I checked my a/c tonight, no refund, this despite receiving a call from a Tata Photon exec on Friday assuring me that they'd definitely resolve the issue by Sunday, 24th July. Great going! 
Will try escalating tomorrow.

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I wrote this mail just a while ago. I love Tata Photon, it's a good product, good plans to select from despite being way better than any of the competition in the market. I used to have an Airtel usb internet stick earlier which gave me a measly 5 Kbps only if a billion planets and trillion galaxies aligned favourably so using a Photon was like jumping back to the present from the middle ages.

But lately it's making me fly off the handle like Prakash Raj in Gilli. Maybe I'm overreacting, maybe it was just love that I kept ignoring the little problems like the abrupt glitches in connecting, the device disconnecting etc. Read, and you tell me

from Crownish noway@gmail.com to  cs.mumbai@tatatel.co.in date  Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at  1:14 PM subject  Photon no: 92218xxxxx Statement mailed-by  gmail.com

hide details 1:14 PM (21 minutes ago)

Hi,

As discussed in our conversation over the phone earlier this morning, please find attached a mini statement of the account from which I had attempted the online recharge of my Tata Photon (no. 92218xxxxx) on July 1st 2011.

The Recharge:

My initial attempt to recharge it failed when the gateway page did not load. I waited to see if I get a sms notification about money having been debited before I tried to recharge it again. I didn't get any message, money was not debited. This is reflected in the debit charge of -1250 you see dated on 1st July on the slip. I also clarified this with my bank, the first charge was cancelled. The second time I completed the transaction but there was no confirmation page, I received a notification sms confirming the debit charge.

Again, I confirmed this with my bank  

Interactions with Photon Customer Care:

I first registered this complaint on 2nd July. The executive acknowledged the problem and informed me that this process would take between 7-10 working days and by 11th July 2011 they would make sure that I would be refunded the same amount.

I require internet for work so I asked a friend to recharge my account online for Rs 300 on July 3rd, that transaction too failed after his money was debited, even he has registered a complaint, I have no idea whether he has been refunded yet. Eventually I got a recharge for Rs 1250 from the Indicom outlet in Borivali East on 6th July.

I next checked my account on 15th July and discovered that no refund had been made till then.

Customer Care cutting calls

On Saturday, 16th July, I called up the customer care helpline again. The first time, after explaining the lengthy details, the executive I spoke to said he couldn't hear me properly so I should just call again and cut the call.

 The second executive I spoke to heard out the entire story again, this time I also told her that her colleague had just cut my call. She made no sound for about a minute, no responses, nothing, before cutting the call.

I even tried contacting your twitter account @tataphotonplus who took one more day to reply. 

The third executive I spoke to heard out everything and very solidly assured me that my problem would be fixed by 24th July 1:47 pm.

Heartfelt request

This may seem a nice story of a misadventure but it really isn't when you're in my position. I have barely had problems with Tata Photon before this, one of the reasons I bought it was because a friend who uses it had assured me that customer care is excellent and they solve problems in no time. I'm aware that a problem of this nature requires time to solve but 20 days is already a lot. 

I request you to please live up to the standards expected of a Tata enterprise, fix this situation asap. I'm tired of contacting you, through the customer care helpline, through email, through twitter, through facebook even but I'm ready for any other input required if it helps you work this out easier. 

Regards,
Crownish
Tata Photon Customer

Also, I heard about @customerpain today. It revolves around bringing customer grievances to the fore, ensuring brands follow up on complaints etc on twitter, a good initiative if you ask me. Brands for companies who offer services have learnt that twitter is a hard place if you don't follow up on your promises and Customerpain is actually helping them survive and thrive.

The mail is sent and I'm waiting for word from Tata Photon, I'll post updates as they come in.

Update:  Just got a mail in which I learnt nothing new, again a promise that it'll be resolved by 24th July. Still waiting.
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Bringing you up to speed with March and April 2011

Interesting, post worthy things have happened since the last post happened.

I got to see India qualify for the semi final of the World Cup live, they won that a few days later. I have managed to overcome my fear of being obliterated in a road accident for now to ride a bike occasionally. It doesn't go above 50 so that's like a circuit breaker to cover my ass. My laptop is fucked, don't know if the data can still be recovered, if it's gone then I'll have lost the last ever videos I had of my Pune house. Just had three 2 minute videos made from a poor 1.3mp camera to remember 20 years by. That and the somewhat ridiculous mix of music and youtube videos downloaded over two years is what I'll miss the most. Along with the screenshots of my CS and Solitaire high scores. Plus I'll have to download the fucken iTunes package again.

My attempts to go for an IPL game this year have so far been a failure. Mainly because of my lack of effort to  get up and go buy tickets, the financial implications (might as well tear the bottom of my pockets and let money fall through it) and misinformation on their sites regarding outlets where tickets can be bought. It's a long story on it's own which I can make into a whole new post so that's what I'll do.

Osama was killed, will anything good come out of it (for India wrt Pak being held accountable for sheltering him and other perps) remains to be seen.

 Also, making it to recommended reading is this article which makes a few uncomfortable observations about Tamilians. Like,

We have no sense of knowing how to express our feelings; just as damagingly, we aren’t consciously trained to build a verbally sophisticated argument.

and

As a general rule, we Tamil Brahmins are nerdy, non-confrontational, and, when pushed to the wall, exceptionally passive-aggressive. None of this should be confused with an internalised humility: we want praise alright, but we want others to blow our trumpets. When we find people disinclined to do that, we mutter under our breaths that the world doesn’t value our talents, and then go back to repeating the same mistakes. 

Heavy no?

 This site meanwhile is about something almost anyone brought up in India can identify with. The specifics aren't the same but anyone will remember the experiences which mostly were disappointments. Is it mocking in it's nature? I didn't think so. But that's because I don't have to do a lot of this stuff any more. For people who still do it may appear more condescending. All it did for me was get me nostalgic but then so can a lot of stuff if you're convinced life's never gonna be better than it was in childhood.

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Turnarounds

I've heard a huge number of people complain about India's loss against SA on Saturday. Whatever may be the reasons, and there were many of them, defeat is one thing that is not so readily accepted from this team.

This wasn't always the case though. Moments of brilliance weren't savoured as much earlier because we knew they were fleeting moments. We would pray for draws and respectable second round exits, we would settle for a loss on the last day or in the death overs, considering them an honourable result.

Why now are we not as patient? If you try tracing it back to see if there was one point where change began, when it turned around, it's this game.
It's not exactly a moment, because moments cannot contain the struggle which tests you. Struggles are beautiful, they empower you.
My memories of the game are a bit hazy. We'd been rolled over in the first test and ecams were approaching so preparations were on in full swing especially at the tuition I would go to after school. A small TV would play on mute (If our tuition master felt like it) and the feed would be blighted by static but it was good enough. It was on the first day's afternoon that we saw Harbhajan put us in a good position for the first time. A lot of unbelievable Australian fightback followed which made use lose hope.
The first innings collapse was a stark reminder of our hopelessness. But what followed was history.
For two days we feverishly followed the score with transistors hidden in schoolbags, through the kids of teachers who had the luxury of going home during lunch break, or we would ourselves go to the school peon's quarters and beg their families to let us watch the cricket for that half an hour, giving up lunch for a seat.

On the final day, at the tuition, everything else stopped. Algebra and trigonometry could take a hike because we were egging the team on with every delivery. When the victory was sealed, our tuition master treated us all to samosas, a rare gesture from a man whose telephone lines we would cut and whom we would lock in his house (getting up at 5 am to do this stealthily - and we were a bunch of 12-13 year olds!) so that he couldn't call our homes or get out of his.

There was more drama within the next week at Chennai and then there were series in West Indies, England, Sri Lanka where we could sense possibilities but none can match up to this game.

Today is the 10th anniversary of this game. Here's a lovely account of the day by Sambit Bal, it's a gem especially with the anecdotes by then India coach John Wright.

So the next time you cry about India being a team that can only snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, remember the time it went the other way around.
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I talk about food

This article didn't butcher everything I said as much as it fabricated it.

• I eat everywhere, I wash my hands before leaving home just in case I see something I want to eat on my way. It's hard for me to pass on more than four food stalls in a row.
• I used to cook even when in school. It took me years to get to this really low rung of cooking ability I am on now, I didn't simply begin at a mediocre level. I had to get here.
• I can't experiment fo'shizzle and I'm a frikkin vegetarian.
• Also, no mention of my meandering monologue on the properties of tur dal, my discourse on why South Indian vegetarian food rawkz and finally my picture did not carry the 'avid eater of food' caption I'd suggested, nay, requested.

Food By Night stuck firmly to the lines though they left out the part about the anda bhurji which is the tastiest thing besides the pav bhaji to have at the Malad Mindspace khau galli. I plan drinking scenes around whether I can go to Mindspace khau galli, it's that good.
Also, I fall under neither of the categories I mentioned there. By assorted drunks, I mean you can really see the whole range from the just-got-started-and-heading-to-a-party-with-the-car-stereo-blaring to the out-of-their-minds-walking-funny-talking-strange-will-do-crazy-shit-and-not-remember-a-thing-the-next-morning kind. There are a few bars around too which are open till the early hours, another reason I love the place. Click on the image to read it in full size.

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Dinner With Friends: Astrology and shit

In the midst of dinner with friends...

A: I don't believe in it. Besides, my zodiac sign hasn't changed. It's the same.
P: Yeah, mine has. I was a Pisces earlier. Now it's the thing that's before Pisces.
A: Aquarius
P: Yeah Aquarius, and my planet, you know, my ruling planet, it was Neptune earlier. Now it's your.. what do you call it, it's....
A: ?
P: Wait, wait.. wait for it.. it's uhh..
A: Mercury? Venus? Earth? Mars? Jupite-
P: Anus. It's Uranus.
A: ....
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More Dinner With Friends


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Why Facebook Should Introduce Paid Searches

Type in something in the search box on your Facebook homepage and hit return. You'll get a list of possible results on Facebook (people, pages, groups and so on) and someway down the page, results from Bing, Microsoft's search engine.

I used their search a couple of times whenever I've had to research a brand's social activities, to see how and what they're doing. The trouble is that both popular and not as well known brands or personalities might have multiple pages and groups dedicated to them. So if I'm a fan of a show or a team and I want to receive updates or participate in contests to win free stuff, I'll have to go through a bunch of them to see which one is official.
Hardcore committed pages moderated by fans here are a pain in this case because even though it might be updated frequently and have a lot of extras in the form of fan art and fan fiction, the information is not being relayed first hand. Official pages which do nothing but only push out information like a publishing feed are no good either, they're missing the point of being on a social networking site.

Similarly, if your name is fairly common but your profile picture is not clear and most of your profile is restricted to friends, it's a pain for people to find you because they'll have to go through a bunch of profiles to figure out which one is yours and add you.

Facebook Ads already help brands promote their pages and sites to users who are a part of the demographic they've targeted. It helps them seek out users who might be fans or simply interested.

What if a user actively seeks out a brand and has to sift through the clutter of pages, groups and people (brand mascots)?
This is where paid searches comes in. Brands should be able to push their official pages to the top of the Facebook's onsite search results. If I search for say, Kenny Powers, the top result should be the official Eastbound & Down fan page. Below that could be a fan generated Kenny Powers Quotes fan page which would bring you the great man's quotes if the official page isn't doing it already. Which they would be doing if they read their Facebook Insights report properly every week.

 So if you want to know more about that little known band you saw live last week, it'll help you search for their official page or group to join. You could hunt for more bargains in your locality or other bands you may not have heard of which make the make kind of music you like.

It would help brands and social organizations with valuable RoI since there is no Facebook equivalent of Twitter's Verified Account badge to lend their page that credibility. Competing brands could take advantages of keywords to gain exposure, this would also separate the bargain hunters from loyalists right at the beginning depending on the keywords they used to get to your page allowing you a deeper targeting option.

Finally it would help Facebook's search feature if the results they fetched were more relevant. It gives them an option to offer businesses who may feel the budget at their disposal cannot sustain an ad campaign but who can boost their RoI by being smart and practical with their keywords and scheduling. To keep businesses with deep pockets from monopolizing the keywords, Facebook could restrict number of keywords they're allowed to bid for.

It's not just a win-win situation, it's a three-way of win-win situations. We all know how awesome three-ways are, hence this is something Facebook should jump in to right away.

PS: I haven't researched to see if Facebook has something similar in the pipes so please leave a link if you've read  this somewhere else earlier. Feedback is sought and will be appreciated.

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