What to do with Tata Indicom?

Since the time we got Tata Indicom at home, we've realized how absolutely horrendous their service is. My dad once sent them a real bad stinker and even that hasn't helped our woes. On their customer care helpline, I can't stand talking to people who are technically weaker than me. What's the use of having a customer care when they don't know more than you do? Doesn't that just dissolve the purpose of caring for me?

So for the last few months we've been having problems with connecting to a few web sites. The first victim was www.kotak.com which wouldn't open upon repeated attempts. At first, we thought the site was down, but after two days, we called Kotak customer care to find that their site was up and running and they hadn't received any customer complaints for the two days that we were facing problems. That's when we decided to try using my Reliance Netconnect to open the site. Voila! It opened immediately. We then did a ping and a tracert on kotak.com to see that the packets stop moving after reaching some VSNL Delhi router. We'd complained and many emails later, the problem was resolved.

For the last three days, the same problem has been happening with www.irctc.co.in.

So we did what was natural. We complained to customer care via email. Some stupid lady from Hyderabad calls me up the next day to ask me, "Mam, has your problem been resolved?"
"Do you know what the problem was?" I ask.
"Yes mam, your net was not working."

Aaaarrrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!! Even after writing the long email with ping and tracert results, the only thing that has gone into Tata Indicom customer care's head is that my 'net was not working'!!!! Naive? Or plain stupid? So I just told her that that was not the problem.

Ping results

Pinging www.irctc.co.in [202.93.154.28] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 202.93.154.28:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

Tracert results

Tracing route to www.irctc.co.in [202.93.154.28]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  59.165.11.193.man-static.vsnl.net.in [59.165.11.
193]
  2     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  172.31.148.73
  3     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  172.31.67.2
  4     1 ms     1 ms     1 ms  172.31.67.21
  5     2 ms     *        3 ms  172.31.8.125
  6    24 ms    24 ms    24 ms  59.163.59.37.static.vsnl.net.in [59.163.59.37]
  7    22 ms    22 ms    22 ms  59.163.55.141.static.vsnl.net.in [59.163.55.141]

  8    23 ms    22 ms    23 ms  59.163.55.141.static.vsnl.net.in [59.163.55.141]

  9    50 ms    28 ms    25 ms  172.31.61.202
 10    26 ms    25 ms    26 ms  172.31.61.202
 11    26 ms    26 ms    25 ms  121.241.106.121.static-delhi.vsnl.net.in [121.24
1.106.121]
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20

"That's not the problem. There are sites that do not open on the Tata Indicom network that open up while using other networks." I said. "Do you get it?"
"Okay, so the network is not working." she tested my patience.
"No! Did you get the email? Do you understand what it says? I will repeat. irctc.co.in does not open on Tata Indicom. It opens when I use Reliance Netconnect. This is a constant problem with your service. Everytime we have a problem with one website or the other!" I was almost screaming.
"Okay mam. I will send an engineer to..."
"What will an engineer do at my house? The problem is not at my place. The problem is at your server's end!"
"Yes mam. Actually, I am at Hyderabad, so I will send an engineer to the Mumbai server to take care of the problem."
I have to admit I was stumped. I have heard lame replies before but this took the cake. I didn't bother taking the conversation further.
"When will you resolve this?" I asked. "It's been three days that we're living with this problem."
"Within 24 hours."
"Okay. Don't close this ticket. It is not resolved. Bye."

By now, my dad is friends with the local Tata Indicom engineer. So he calls the fellow 15 minutes later.
"Did you get a call to come to our house?" my dad asks him.
"Yes. Your net is not working, right?" he answers.

So after all that explaining to her that one site was not opening, we've a whole round circle and back to 'net is not working'.
I can't take it anymore! I cannot deal with idiots who cannot solve my problem! What am I supposed to do? Who do I complain to? When will Tata start training their executives technically? Customer care on the phone does not even understand tracert results (this was another call at another time)! I will not rest until I bad mouth Tata Indicom. And hopefully until they do something about it.

Weather and moods

Most psychology studies are done in developed countries where summer is considered a good thing (blech) and winters are depressing. Pan camera to Mumbai where summers will get you assuredly pissed and the onset of rains just makes you go woo hoo! Well, it's time we did some research. I really need to know what the effect of weather has on your body and mind. And why!

Some quotes:

Humidity, temperature, and hours of sunshine had the greatest effect on mood. High levels of humidity lowered scores on concentration while increasing reports of sleepiness.

How true! How true!

Another study by Sanders and Brizzolara (1982) on 30 college students also found similar findings — that high humidity was a predictor for lack of vigor, elation, and affection.

The proof tightens.

People who get to spend time outdoors in temperatures near 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) tend to be happier and also have better memory than  those who spend time outdoors in less optimal conditions, or those who consistently stay indoors in nice weather.

Yeah ok I can deal with 22 degrees.

Researchers have surmised that there is a definite connection between hot temperatures and aggression.

This explains why the most peaceful and liberal countries are Scandinavian!

The perfect temperature, according to the University of Michigan, is 72 degrees. Any temperature higher or lower than 72 degrees is likely to affect your mood.

Is this why people in Bombay are likely to be pissed off all the time?

I found no studies specifically for India or people living close to the tropics, so I guess we wont know what our weather really does to us (unless we believe a new survey that says weather has little or no effect on us at all!). But this is what I get from it.

There seems to be a perfect temperature at which we work most productively. This temperature may be different from person to person, but is statistically around 22 degrees centigrade. At this temperature (and at normal humidity of say 50%), we are awake and aware, ready to take on the world.

The hotter it gets, the more aggressive you get. And I can totally relate to this! The last two weeks of summer were awful for me, with the highest levels of irritability. I was constantly having mood swings and I couldn't figure why, though somewhere I did suspect the weather to be the culprit.

The more humid it gets, you start losing concentration and feeling sleepy. Your appetite goes up. Basically, you feel like doing everything that reads "lazy"! All you want to do is stay in bed. I think the whole romantic notion comes from the linkages your mind makes: lazy - bed - sex. Your brain suddenly releases oxytocin and BAM! You're feeling romantic! (Note: This is only my theory and I couldn't find any research to support it!)

The rains have just started and all I feel like doing is going out and getting wet in the rain! The whole of last week, while I waited for summer to get over, I lost appetite and felt horrible. I'm back to wanting to hog now! Food mission, I'm back in action!