Floored by books

What a magic world is that of books!
Being a bibliophile, I found myself rearranging my bookshelf to put them in some order.
And I had an opportunity to spend time in front of my best friend Dr.Shankar's bookshelf (read bookshelves) with vast collection of books from diversified topics.  Dr.Shankar introduced me to various authors, characters and subjects. Overnight, I chose to sleep at the feet of the huge bookshelf so that I can flip through all the books the next day (today's) early morning. 
Recently I have developed a lot of interest in Linguistics and constantly pursuing topics on health.  I ordered Manhood of Humanity: The Science and Art of Human Engineering by Alfred Korzybski; and Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss by Fuhrman Joel.  The Eat to Live is on the Top 10 on Amazon and the once-obese-readers have been sharing exciting feedback.
Today, I ordered some more books - some of the books are influenced by Dr.Shankar and some by Bill Gates blog -

• The Elephant Whisperer by Graham Spence
• Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky
• Abundance: The Future is better than you think by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
• The Better Angels of our nature by Steven Pinker
• Linguistics for Dummies

If the world has produced so many books on various topics, they have been published because someone wrote it, bothered to write about something.  But this world has not produced enough books yet - as there are several men and women have not shared their stories yet.

I am literally floored by the world of books. 

She is still around

She is still around.
I try to avoid...
Not sure how I can eliminate beggary...
Undecided if I have to support her !
She keeps appearing on the signals...
Reminding us in contrast of ATMs and Fashions around !
What do I explain to my kid?

Airtel woes - Jo Mera Hai, Woh Tera Hai

Paying bills is one of the monotonous things that everyone hates to do.  You end up avoiding the 'bored' feeling by automating it -  through ECS, automated payment options etc.

But if you just automate and dont verify the bills, you are the problem.

If you are a Airtel customer, Airtel Customer Care is part of your everyday life.  If you have not spoken today, you may talk to them this week.  If you have not spoken to them this week, you will speak this month, for sure.

Most of us almost end up taking to them for Broadband disconnects, Exorbitant Mobile Bills, Telecaller nuisance for one more Postpaid connection.

2G / 3G ?  - How come the customer care people charge you for 2G, and 3G if you have not really used it.  The excuse they give is weird - if your area has 3G network, your 2G becomes 3G.  But my question is - when did I opt for 2G ? 
Everybody is made some form of 2G scam, whether they like it or not. I am also worried more for the poor who are charged exorbitantly for some innocent clicks.

Broadband Woes - Broadband speed invariably varies, sometimes zero.  The technical team discovers that there is a problem in the junction box, and finds need for replacing old cables to new cables.  Dont you guys have a monitoring service? and why do you wait for the customer to call 4 times a month?

Dish TV - Every day, you see a yellow icon eating up the space with new message on the TV screen.  But when it comes to taking that 'extra money' you get a SMS - "new 5 channels have been added to your account; and your package price is increased by so & so".  Whom did you ask, madam?    And when you actually introduced a new free channel, you never let me know.

Online account -  Are there really technical people with Airtel for maintaining their website? I wonder.  You cannot reset your password, manage your account unless you talk to the customer care.

Airtel woes - Airtel woes - Jo Mera Hai, Woh Tera Hai.
Its just not with Airtel, I believe, as I hear from my Vodafone, Reliance and BSNL friends.

Here is a call to change Bangalore city - iChangeMyCity

Many of us often complaint - not to the respective departments, but among ourselves - on various civic issues in Bangalore.  Here is an e-initiatve from the Janaagrahaa called IChangeMyCity (link) where everyone can log their complaints online.

ichangemycity

Here is what you need to do:

a) Create an account for yourself
b) Then post a complaint on the issue that you would like to address -
  1. You select the location from the embedded Google Map
  2. You describe the complaint
  3. If you have a photo or so, you can post one

c) You select the type of the problem (traffic, garbage etc) so that the complaint can be accordingly routed through.
d) You can also view others complaints and vote "I am affected"
e) You can also create a group so that many of us can collectively fight a common issue

The issue gets assigned to the ward corporator or any respective authority.  You also accumulate points for creating issues (I am not sure what it means to have points; but it could be for some motivation).

The authority acknowledges and also provides the contact number, or take action.  Once the action taken, you can change the status to "resolved".

You may say 'there are several such initiatives in the past but nothing happened'; but this is different:  The entire Bangalore city's problems are plotted on a map. It is visible where the problem lies.

If you agree with me, please take action now.  Visit the IChangeMyCity (link); spread a word on this initiative to other friends; if you are a blogger, blog about this. If you are employed, post this info in your billboard.

Be the change, before you expect the change!