Worldspace shutdown - the death of a prodigy

Dec 25, 2009: I returned to my tent at the Kali Wilderness Camp, Dandeli after enjoying an hour-long coracle ride with family amidst the mesmerizing beauty of Kali rever and migrating birds. And, awaiting me was this shocking email from Worldspace on my IPAQ phone that my favorite radio would not be working after Dec 31, 2009. As if the news about Michael Jackson and Jack Rose were not enough, I was disheartened to read about the sudden demise of my favorite radio.

I have been an avid music lover since my childhood, with equal passion for good quality of sound. When I bought Worldspace in 2006, it was like winning a lottery. Apart from good choice of songs and sound quality, what I also loved was the class with which each channel was managed and broadcast by Worldspace. Unlike the FM radio channels in India, where apart from advertisements, most of the remaining time is taken away by the RJs themselves, it was like magic to listen to Worldspace for hours without any such nonsensical interruptions. In fact, I had bought high-end speakers exclusively for my Worldspace receiver, and was very proud of my investments. My favorite channel was #13, i.e., Radio 'Amore' that used to play love songs. Last year, I had bought another receiver and gifted to my parents, so that they could also enjoy spiritual music and discourse every morning.

Needless to mention, I am deeply saddened by this sudden and unfortunate development. It's not the loss of unutilized subscription money that's hurting... I really miss my favorite music channels. At the same time, I feel extremely sorry for the 300-odd staff members of Worldspace India who continued to work till 31st Dec with the same passion and commitment, but were asked to leave without settlement of their dues, let alone any reasonable severance package. Similarly, the subscribers have been asked to seek remedy under the U.S. bankruptcy law if they wish to seek refund of their unutilized subscription money. No doubt, the whole process has been played out in a hush-hush manner, which is indeed unfortunate.

Given there are 450,000 subscribers of Worldspace in India, I believe there is a great business opportunity for the existing FM Radio operators to launch a similar high-quality, no-nonsense service. There would be lakhs of people willing to pay for it... I surely am. Hopefully, we will hear some good news in the near future... the true 'music to our ears' !!!

Axis Bank Home Loans @ 8% - Beware of 'Thugs' !!!

I am one of the victims of Axis Bank's offer of home loans @ 8% (fixed rate for first 12 months). They had organized a big Expo in Koramangla Indoor Stadium, Bangalore on 6th, 7th and 8th Nov '09. Since I was unhappy with the higher rate being charged by my current home loan provider, I found the offer from Axis Bank prima facie attractive and applied for the same. In fact, I forwarded their proposal to many friends and neighbors as well.

Then began the ugly story... The Axis Bank agent, Mr. Keerthi Jayappa, who had taken all the papers from me in Nov '09, came to my place in the first week of Dec '09 with an approved loan sanction letter. He got the Agreement Book signed, and also took away some undated cheques and a duly authorized ECS form. He told me that the disbursement / takeover would be completed in next couple of days, and that the first EMI would be collected in Jan '10 from my bank account through ECS. However, to my utter shock and disbelief, Axis Bank encashed one of my cheques (equal to one monthly instalment) the very next day without my knowledge, that too when the disbursement had not even been processed by them. When I called the agent, he first had the courage to say that one advance EMI was supposed to be paid by the customer in order to avail of the offer of 8%.

As next step, I called their home loan manager, Mr. Vilas Namannvar and gave him a piece of my mind, followed by a strongly-worded email. After several phone calls, they finally apologized and 'unofficially' admitted that they were facing this problem with many other clients who had opted for the 8% scheme, and that they were in the process of refunding the advance EMI to all of them. I got my money and documents back after 4-5 days, but never got any reply to my email although Mr. Vilas had promised that he would respond.

It's a glaring case of poor corporate governance where a reputed bank has tried to openly misguide people at large, with an itention to make money through unfair means. Ironically, the bank's CFO, Mr. Somnath Sengupta got "Best performing CFO in the Banking Sector" award from CNBC-TV18 around the same time in Nov '09.

Many more complaints against Axis Bank home loans can also be found here.

Thirsty Crow Poem of 21st Century

Grandson of 'Thirsty Crow'... the 21st Century Poem !!!

This is the story of a thirsty crow,
But mind you, not the one you know.
Here the climax is different,
So see you hear it till the end.

This story has a young hero,
the grandson of the older crow.
Remember? The one who threw pebbles!
In the water to change its level?

But when our hero felt thirsty,
He looked around and wished could see,
Some cola, orange or any other drink
But this time there was no such thing.

Then he thought that he would rather,
Look for some good old water.
As there was a great famine,
A drop of water couldn’t be seen.

As he flew and looked some more,
He saw something and was quite sure,
It was an earthen pot of water,
In the backyard of the potter.

But again the level was as low,
As the crow’s beak could not go.
And the pot’s neck was so thin,
That the crow could not go in.

Now my dears he had to think,
What to do so he could drink
All the water in the pot,
And a great idea he got!!

The thought was surely worth applause,
He flew to a shop and got some straws.
He joined them all to one another
And put them in the pot of water.

And all the water he could drain,
That’s because he used his brain.

- Poem and Computer Drawing By my daughter, Ria Kejriwal

Airtel Mobile ka 'Atoot' Congestion

Airtel Mobile - All Promises, No Network !!!

I am sure many would have read the news article Airtel most congested network, says regulator that has been published in the media. As a customer, my experience with Airtel Mobile in Bangalore has been just terrible. Isn't it amazing that you don't get cellphone network coverage in the IT capital of India, that too from India's largest GSM service provider? I have a record of complaints lodged with the company in the last two years. What is surprising is that everytime, their call center - which by the way is depressing - is only interested in issuing a new ticket number. A couple of times, I managed to escalate and speak with someone little senior in their system. They told me that they were in the process of erecting more towers in the city. But in reality, the network coverage has only deteriorated during this time.

I know some people who were equally frustrated and switched to other service providers. I do have that option as well, and I am going to exercise it now anyway. But what has left me wondering is that the company - instead of fixing a known issue - is keen on spending millions on fancy deceptive advertisements, and making false promises that Airtel works for example, even in remote jungles, mountains etc. Whereas the reality is that people in the IT capital of India can't talk conveniently on this mobile network.

I guess it happens only in India, where we still don't have enough consumer protection laws to ensure flow of truthful information, and to prevent businesses from misleading their customers. Even if the laws exist, the enforcement is certainly questionable. And that's indeed unfortunate!