Bad business ethics - Kotak Mahindra Bank

I wanted to take a moment to write about a really bad business ethic followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank (from now called KMB).

I have a home loan via KMB. Recently I did a spot check and found that I was paying around 13% interest on my loan. I read about the SBI Happy Loan scheme which is giving Home Loans at 9.75% and decided to switch.

As a part of submitting documentation about my property to SBI, I had to collect some documents (viz, Foreclosure Letter, Loan statement and property NOC) from KMB. I called up a representative called Etesh Jandial who handles my case at Kotak and requested him for these documents. Pop came a reply that it will take 7 working days for him to procure the same. On arguing with him about why such a long time, he said, the documents come from Mumbai head office and take time. I stopped arguing and waited for exactly 7 working days and gave him a call again.

This time he said that the documents are available and I should collect it from the Sorabh Hall branch. I went in there and met him. He told me to wait and went inside his cabin. I could see him in his cabin which was luckily visible from the reception where I was sitting. He was typing away something on the computer and then collected some printouts, stamped them and then came out and handed over those documents to me.

Notice that this entire process took 1/2 an hour and was done on the fly when I came physically to the office. So the 7 working day crap which I was given on the phone was just an excuse to delay the process. This entire thing was just an attempt to fool me which I am pretty pissed about.

Its so disappointing to know that professionals of such a large and reputed bank follow shallow and disgusting business practices. I'd really advise anybody to not deal with Pune office of Kotak's Home Loan department.

Freedom of Speech

Your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine
If you don't like what I'm sayin'? Fine
But don't close it, always keep an open mind
A man who fails to listen is blind
We only got one right left in the world today
Let me have it or throw The Constitution away.

- A song by Ice T

Amazing quote by Steve Jobs

While reading a article on "How to network at Startup events" I came across this incredibly profound quote by Steve Jobs. Here is the snippet :

Networking is very personality driven and for several folks, networking doesn't come naturally. Lots of people are simply shy and apprehensive of approaching strangers and starting a conversation. Making small talk is difficult for many people and the awkwardness simply shows. “Aise kaise kisi se bhi jaake baat karu ? Aur kya baat karu ? “. If you ever have gone through such thoughts, then don't worry, you aren't alone. But more than seeking solace in the fact that there are others in the same boat, you should try to work on developing your networking skills.

Here’re a few tips:

1) First and foremost, you’ll need to try and overcome the fear and apprehension of networking with strangers. Since this is an inherent personality trait, you’ll need to work hardest on it. One of the tips that comes to mind is the following excerpt from Steve Job’s graduation speech at Stanford:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.

The Triple Turtle Point

I got Subu's message yesterday to Wish Kama, Pramthya and all the others who were involved in the TTT incident a happy birthday. He considered that as a new life for them and hence asked me to wish them happy bday.

In the evening I met Anu and told her about this. We started reminiscing the incident immediately and had a great laugh. All the memories just flooded back in the head. In fact I feel that we should be paying a homage to Pramthya's Maruti which got Martyred that day saving their lives. May her metallic soul rest in peace.

(I am going to write the whole TTT incident here when I get time)

Remember, I and subu were on the Kinetic (that was the first time Subu ever got his Kinetic out of the 5 km radius from his house) and were mere spectators of the incident. By the time we reached the spot (maybe 2 mins after it happened) the world had turned over. Anu was badly hurt in her head and was acting dizzy. Kama was completely rattled. Was Saini there? I don't quite remember.

I can visualize Pramthya still leaning by the Pole (maybe electric) and looking up to the sky trying to think what just happened and what will be the repercussions back home.


(Need to complete this post)

Recommend/Review Doctors/Clinics/Hospitals across India

Taking a cue from the success of Goolti.com I started realizing that there are many spaces where Public reviews/opinions will be very useful.

Hence, I've launched docstock.in, a review site very similar to goolti.com. Its intended at finding the right doctors, clinics or hospitals across India for satisfactory medical treatment.

Please visit the site and contribute for public good.

Thanks,
Harshal Vaidya

del.icio.us becoming a frail website

Look at the pic. I logged into del.icio.us and it says that you've been blocked since you accessed the website too quickly. Whom are they trying to fool? Its a public website and why the fuck should we users be bothered as to what speed we access it with?
Time to switch to a new bookmarking service.

Osho Gem

The intelligent person hesitates, ponders, wavers.
The unintelligent never wavers, never hesitates.
Where the wise will whisper, the fool simply declares from the housetops.

Why don't I start an ISP in my own colony?

This question has been on my mind for last couple of weeks. My colony, Amrapali Society , lies in a tight spot as far as location is concerned. It exactly doesn't come into Kalyani Nagar, where internet connectivity is available from most of the well-known providers. Nor, does it comes into Ramvadi etc where connectivity will probably be present as well.

Even BSNL says that the landline infrastructure in my colony is too old to support broadband and hence they can't provide connectivity there. Hence, unfortunately it lies neglected by most of the providers except Tata Indicom.

Now Indicom is supposed to be providing good connectivity in Kalyani Nagar as well as other areas of Pune. I know a bunch of friends of mine who are satisfied with the service. However, their service in our colony has no words to describe. Pathetic is the closest i can get. I log a complaint with Indicom customer care center almost every alternate day.

Tired with all this, a thought came to my mind that why not I myself start a broadband ISP for my colony itself. I could purchase a commercial connection from Tiger Telecom which I contacted long time before and then distribute it through a wireless network established through Meraki routers.

Dunno what to do with this but the idea sounds pretty convincing to me.

Why I rejected Manas Webhosting

During my search for hosting providers in India, I seriously considered Manashosting.

The offer of unlimited web space and unlimited bandwidth was very attractive. However, surprisingly these folks have all these plans for Windows hosting only! I couldn't believe it at first. Who on earth will host over Windows? Especially startup folks who are generally cash-strapped.

Unfortunately I had to drop my plans to sign up with them since I needed a LAMP stack.

Why I chose ixWebhosting over ipower and rackspace

I've been running Goolti.com out of ipower's servers for quite a while. Although the service is great there are some potential problems with the service.

1) I can't get subdomain level traffic stats.
2) The number of subdomains are restricted.
3) I can't get an email like sales@mydomain.com for all the domains I host over the hosting account. I can get those kind of email addresses only for the domain that I signup with when I buy the account.

I got all these services at ixWebHosting.com hence I am going with them. I just want to document this down here so that someone searching on google for the same reason gets this and this probably helps him out to make a decision.