Beware of Cheats - 100BestBuy.com

I never believed in bidding for products at sites like www.100BestBuy.com which ask us to pay Rs.799/- or Rs.499/- for products like Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy and then promise that if we are not among the selected ones, this amount  will be refunded in the form of Credit Points. 

Their advertisements are so tempting that even I thought that there is no harm in spending Rs.799/- and try out luck for an Apple iPhone and at the same time know about the authenticity and modus operandi of these websites. Once i paid that amount, after a week or so I received a call from their executive that I have been selected among top 12 people and out of these top 10 will get an iPhone. 

I was told that to qualify for the final step, I need to purchase Zync Tablet worth Rs.4999/- from them and it will be a free gift as this amount of Rs.4999/- + Rs.799/- will show up in my account in the form of credit points, which I can use anytime when I wish just after minutes of this purchase.

The offer was again lucrative because I was not losing anything. If I pay Rs.4999/- and get the product worth the same amount, its not at all a loss for me. So, on 11th February 2013, I paid up this amount too and immediately over the phone itself, I was shown that the same number of credit points showed in my account at their website. I was told that within few minutes, I will get a mail which will have my consignment number and the product will be delivered to me within 3-4 working days. I didnt receive this mail till the next day and so I mailed them, asking for the consignment number.

I received a mail with an apology that they wont be able to ship the product for a few days due to unavoidable reasons. So I waited for another couple of days and wrote a mail again. This time I was told that issue will be forwarded to higher authorities and they will contact me soon. I was asked to wait for 7-10 working days. 

Its almost going to be a month now and when I called their office 2 days back, after a long wait, the guy who picked up my phone straight away told me that my product has been shipped today because I asked him that my order has not been delivered till date. To my surprise, he didnt ask me my name, or my registration Id or the order id. I told him that without having any details, how can you tell me this, then he took my order number and again repeated the same and ensured that I will get the mail within next few minutes, which I didnt get till now.

Today I called at that number again and was put into Automated Voice System, where I was asked to pick from various options. After doing that I kept holding mobile for 15 long minutes and could hear only one line "Thank you for your patience". Finally nobody picked the phone, even when I called for the second time and waited for almost 7 minutes.

With no other option left, I called up a friend of mine in Bangalore and asked him if he can visit their office and look into the matter. When I gave him the address, he said its 28km from the city and its obvious that before going, he will need to talk to them because its almost impossible to go there for the second time. I told him not to take th trouble and that he should just try to call them. Incase they pick the call, he can converse with them in local language and follow up in a better way as they would know someone is there in the same city.

Lastly I checked out for the option of using my credit points, which are close to Rs.5,800. When I tried to use them, I came to know that in a single purchase, I can only use 30% of this amount. So to get back this amount, I might end up spending more than Rs.15,000 and that too without any guarantee if the product will ever be shipped.

Left with no other option but to wait, I am looking into other possibilities if any and going to Consumer Court is one of them. I will be thankful to anyone who could suggest me better way out, how I can atleast get my money back or the product that I paid for.

When did the Indians start cutting hair & beard?

Sanatan Dharma is the oldest religion and so the earliest people in India were undoubtedly the ones whom we collectively know today as Hindus. At that point of time, when Lord Rama and Lord Krishna took birth on this earth for the betterment of mankind, most of the people in India were very spiritual. Almost every spiritual man/woman, saints, the Avtaars/Prophets had uncut hair and beard as a mark of utmost respect and devotion to God Almighty and they maintained themselves as God had created them.

It was the time when the worst humiliation and punishment for any person was to cut his/her hair. It was considered to be worst than a Death Sentence.

With the birth of Janamejaya and under his rule, many things changed on the Indian Landscape. Janamejaya was a Kuru King. He was the son of Parikshit and Madravati. He was the grandson of Abhimanyu and the great-grandson of Arjuna, the valiant warrior hero of the Mahabharata. His rule marked the end of the complete Spiritual way of Life in India and marked the beginning of Kalyug. He was perhaps the first king who was not spiritually awakened like his ancestors and was more towards the worldly thought process.

Janamejaya always expressed doubt that Lord Krishna was an Avtaar/Prophet. He went with the same doubt to Ved Vyas. The author of the great epic Mahabharata, Ved Vyas was the first and greatest Acharya of Sanatan Dharma. Ved Vyas acknowledged the fact that Lord Krishna was an Avtaar and he  had complete knowledge of Past, Present and Future. 

Janamejaya said that if He was an Avtaar, then why didnt He tell His beloved Pandavas not to play "Game of Dice" will eventually led to so many troubles for them and the war between them and the Kauravas? 

Ved Vyas said that as we sow, so shall we reap and because of past deeds of the Pandavas, they had to face such tough times and bear the consequences and so even if Lord Krishna had told them beforehand, Pandavas still would have played the Game of Dice. Janamejaya over-ruled this and said that even Ved Vyas is a hypocrite and  is making a fool of the people. He said that if Ved Vyas told him to refrain from doing something as it will do some harm, than why would he do the same.

Ved Vyas then told him that he will die of Leprosy, which was completely incurable at that time. Janamejaya said that as per holy books, only that person gets Leprosy who has cheated/ stolen at Holy Place or harmed the Holy People and till then, he had not done any such thing. So if he gets leprosy, that means Holy Books were wrong.

Ved Vyas said that Janamejaya would perform Ashwamegh Yagya in which a Royal Horse was left out and from which all neighbouring states/ erstwhile countries it passed, either the king of that state had to accept the rule of the King who sent that horse or if any king dares to stop that horse and hold it with him, he had to fight with the King to maintain freedom. Ved Vyas said that the king of Banaras would hold that horse and there will be a fight between Janamejaya and that king in which that king will be defeated and he will offer lot of wealth and get his daughter married to Janamejaya.

But Janamejaya would be attracted to the beautiful maid (Daasi) that will come along the Princess from Banaras and will marry that maid (Daasi). Janamejaya will have a son from that maid and he will name him Ajay Singh. This was the first time someone used "Singh" with the name and since Maid (Daasi) was known as "RAJI" and son was called "POOT", Ajay Singh and his generations were called RAJIPOOT (means- son of the maid/daasi) and this word later became "RAJPOOT/ RAJPUT" who till date use Singh after their name.

Ved Vyas said Janamejaya would organize a royal function and will invite the holy men to offer prayers and his Queen (the Daasi) would request that she also wants to be the part of the function. As soon as she would come out to gathering, suddenly with the wind will blow for few moments and her clothing (unstitched cloth wrapped around the waist that covers till knees or below) would get lifted up and her body would be exposed, seeing which the holy men would laugh. In anger you would kill 18 of them and order your army to kill/punish the rest in the gathering. Due to these sins, Janamejaya will have leprosy and will die because of it.

Janamejaya denied and said he has more than enough territory under his rule and he will never go for Ashwamegh Yagya and after that he went away. Ved Vyas had told him that when something is bound to happen, God will make your mind work in such a way that you will do that work - Vinaash Kaal, Vipreet Buddhi

5 years after having this conversation with Ved Vyas, Janamejaya performed Ashwamegh Yagya as suggested by his army chief. By then he had forgotten what Ved Vyas had told him and everything went on as told by Ved Vyas. Janamejaya killed 18 holymen himself and got many more killed by his army. Very few who were sitting in the far corners of the gathering and didnt even know what went wrong were also tied up with rope and he ordered his men to shave off their heads, which was considered to be the most shameful punishment by the Indian men at that time as they kept uncut hair and beard. Their heads were shaved and they were left to move out in public. When people asked them who they were, they told that they were Brahmins. People objected that how could Brahmins cut their hair and beard, they said its because their father/mother have expired and thats why they have shaved their beard and heads. 

From that time, the Indians who used to follow Sanatan Dharam, now known as Hindus started cutting hair and beard and the custom of getting even the head shaved incase of death of ones parent started.

Janamejaya saw leprosy marks on his face after some time of killing these holy men and then he remembered what Ved Vyas had said.  Then he agreed that Lord Krishna was the Prophet/Avtaar and what Ved Vyas told was right - we cant escape but have to eat the fruits of our sins and nobody can save us from what is destined to happen.

He finally died of leprosy which was completely incurable at that time.

Educational Institutions functioning from Private Houses in J&K

Education Minister Mr. Peerzada has always set new benchmarks of corruption for his colleagues in Omar Abdullah's NC- Congress coalition government in Jammu & Kashmir. He has almost ruined the functioning and credibility of Jammu & Kashmir Board of School Education and made education a game more dirty than prostitution. There had been opposition against him from various quarters from a long time and finally he was compelled to offer his resignation which was surprisingly not accepted by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

3000 HEADMASTERS AWAIT CM's STAMP on their promotion. Some of them have retired from service waiting for their confirmation and hundreds of other are now awaiting the CM's approval so that at least their pensionery benefits are finalised. The WAIT OF 9 LONG YEARS HAS BEEN NERVE WRECKING.

Latest report in The Tribune once again highlights the failure of the government in the education sector in Jammu & Kashmir. The government had announced 22 new degree colleges for the state but even after its more than an year, these institutions today are just on paper or are functioning from a temporary accommodation. The slapdash approach of the government can be gauged from the fact that it has even failed to identify the requisite land for establishment of campuses in some cases, while some colleges are being run from two or three rooms in private houses or government higher secondary schools.

Last year, the government had announced 22 degree colleges, including 11 model degree colleges, in the state. The model degree colleges were to be developed with an estimated cost of Rs.8 crore under the UGC's scheme for backward districts.

The opposition had written to the PM, HRD Ministry and the UGC Chairman to look into the violations by the government but hardly anything has been done.

Jammu & Kashmir update!

J&K's 669 MW Hydroelectric projects ill- planned, Power Ministry napping!

Power ministry caught napping, Govt failed to take timely actions. Power Ministry hardly sought answers for Hydroelectric Projects being located in areas which are seismically active area, where natural disasters struck repeatedly.

For example, 240 MW Uri- II hydroelectric project which is likely to be completed by March 2013 bore brunt of earthquake which struck Uri and Pakistan occupied Kashmir on October 8, 2005. This was followed by flash floods in March 2007, May 2010 and September 2011 which resulted in washing away of the coffer dams. 


Medicinal plants that can win J&K a fortune
Some of the most needed medicinal plants grow in Jammu & Kashmir. However, unfortunately the government has been ignoring these resources for unknown reasons. Experts believe the plants can win the state quite a big fortune.

A plant commonly called as Soungul/ Pooes-Tul (Taxus Baccata) collected by Dr. Bashir is believed to yield some alkaloids that are used as anti- cancer drugs in the world of ailments. The plants needs to be studied seriously. 

Vanwangan (Podophyllum Emodi) is found growing all over Kashmir from 6000- 10,000 especially in Fir forests of Gulmarg and Gurez valley. The root of the plant yields Podophyllum resin, which is very popular in modern medicine. It is a powerful purgative and its action somewhat corresponds to that of mercury, hence it is named Vegetable Calomel.

Another important plant is Kuth (Saussurea Lappa). The Sanskrit name of Kuth is Kashmirja, which means "produced in Kashmir". Kuth is used as an aromatic, stimulant, as a medicine for cough, asthma, fever, dyspepsia and skin diseases. It is also used in stimulating mixtures for cholera and prescribed as stomatic tonic, for ulcers and in rheumatism. It is also used as a depurative and aphrodisiac.


Jammu City getting Breathless
There is a bad news for the residents of the city on the health front, as the presence of suspended particles in the city's air is way over the limit considered safe for breathing. Vehicular, industrial pollution has touched a new high. 

A data gathered by the State Pollution Control Board suggests that the Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and the Respiratory Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) have seen a steep rise in the past two decades, crossing the limits suggested safe by health experts.

Jammu's Air Quality

Particulate Matter                         Current Level                             Normal Level
SPM                                             110- 114                                   100
RSPM                                           220- 230                                   200

TIME, Wikileaks are words of God!

Long time back, a friend of mine had forwarded a mail with a scanned copy of an old document. It had pic of a British Gentleman, who was deputed by the British to study the Indian society and how can they easily conquer India and rule whole country. 

He wrote- "I traveled across this country and I am amazed to see that I couldn't find any beggars. People are rich, self-contended and happy and their greatest strength is their culture. If we want to rule them, we will have to change their education system and make them believe that whatever is foreign is better than the Indian."

British successfully implemented this and same feeling has percolated deep inside our genes after centuries of slavery. We believe- All that glitters is Gold and even though politically we are independent, mentally and culturally we are still the slave of the Europeans and the US.

Even till today, whatever people and media of Europe and the US say, its like words of GOD to us, let is be from TIME Magazine or Wikileaks recently. We very well know media has also become a business only to gain power and money and it has been misused by politicians and businessmen like Mukesh Ambani for selfish interests. You will find "Friends of BJP or Congress", Journalists and Newspapers who blindly supports and work for either Congress or BJP and their trolls try to hijack the debates on Social media and influence the Indian mindset.

Ultimately what happens is obvious to us- all of them enjoy and common man suffers and is taken for a ride.

In the same way, news magazines like TIME and agencies like Wikileaks are used by the US to influence the whole world and create an atmosphere which suites their selfish motives and even to destabilize a country by spreading biased information as the people in developing countries neither have knowledge nor time or resources to verify the authenticity of their news/ views. Infact the more unfortunate part is, our own people carry forward their agenda and hype that information further and make it more flashy for selfish motives and use it against their opponents within the country - self before Nation. All of us do this, let it be Congress or BJP or regional parties like National Conference, Samajwadi Party , or Akali Dal. These politicians further misguide the innocent and ignorant people of the country and misuse them for selfish interests.

US has been in deep trouble from past many years and their economy still doesnt show any confident signs of desired recovery. Their expenditure exceeds their income, especially after their interference in Iraq and Afghanistan. (please read -Why things in US might be worse than Europe - http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-special-why-things-in-us-might-be-worse-than-europe/20120628.htm )

We must remember that Americans are among the most selfish and cheap people on this earth who would go upto any extent for their personal interests. They are just like our Mukesh Ambani, who has amassed wealth by all possible means and now portrays a clean social image by running Reliance Foundation. He owns more than 25 News Channels, then who would expose the misdeeds of Reliance and its bosses? The Americans  are there to loot oil from Gulf and Iraq, minerals from poor countries like Congo, create and breed conflicts to sell weapons and what not. Their media supports and legalizes their interests as their intelligence agencies do the ground work.

The recent cover story of TIME showing our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and giving him a tag of an UNDER-ACHIEVER is a part of their such strategies. No doubt UPA 2 regime has been the most corrupt till date and we all, including me, hate them for that but that doesn't mean we should let anyone to further misuse our sentiments and take us for a ride. May be for more penetration and hold in the Indian Markets, the US needs them to be more open which our Government didnt do till date and such a story can be an attempt to create pressure on our Government to do so.

Even during the Economic Turbulence across the World from the year 2008 till now, India has been among the least affected countries and growth rate has been among the best in the world.

No doubt corruption has been the most painful side of the present government but that doesnot mean corruption never existed in the Indian system before? It existed at every walk of life, even 25- 30 or 40 years back and has definitely increased over the period of time.

But one positive development over past few years is that corruption is being exposed more frequently, even the ministers have been jailed for the first time recently and the credit goes to the honest and clean man, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

This was my gut feeling which was supported and confirmed by comments of many of  esteemed readers on my blog for the article - If you are appointed as PM? To quote Mr. Deepak Budki's comments on my article (Twitter- @deepakbudki) - 

"I attended NDC course in 1992 alongwith Gen Vij & AM Krishnaswamy. Manmohan Singh delivered a lecture on Hawala Market & corruption and gave his analysis as to how to eradicate this evil.During the question hour, I asked him a question after reciting a couplet.Nasheman ke lut jaane ka ghum hota to kya ghum tha; Yahan to lootne walon ne gulshan loot dala hai.The question was;The corruption starts from you and filters down.By u I do not mean Manmohan singh but the Politician.In such a scenario I do not think you would be able to curtail or eradicate corruption. His reply was;In the given scenario when I am surrounded by all corrupt politicians, I have two options,One, to take them head on in which case they are so many and will eliminate me and my job would not be done. In the second case, i become one of them and slowly and steadily clip their wings and curtail the opportunities to earned money illegally thereby shall be able to bring down corruption heavily if not eliminate it. I was convinced and in the rest of my career was guided by his advice.Over a period I find he kept using this method quietly and exposing all others while sitting quiet and laughing at all of them.But at times I get a feeling that they have overwhelmed him and tarnished his good image and he has become helpless. As they say nothing succeeds like success, only time will tell who is the winner."

Finally I just want to say that lets not spare anyone who is wrong and we should put the interest of the Nation first. How many of us do this in our day to day life? Those who do only have the right to raise figure on others and blame them. Lets set ourselves right in our day to day life, rest will fall in place.

Secondly, lets not allow anybody within India or outside to misuse our sentiments or exploit our situation for their personal benefits.Its high time that we grow up and be India and love what is Indian and apply our own brains and logic before acting or reacting. We are equally human and intelligent like others. Lets prove it and not just write "Proud Kashmiri, Proud Hindu or Proud Indian" under our DPs on twitter.

DTDC - managed by "Complacent Pranksters"

When I was doing my engineering from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bidar (small town in Karnataka, 140km from Hyderabad), DTDC was the only good courier service which was available there at that time and so my association with them is for quite a long time and overall satisfactory.


This courier service has grown very well with time and now they are a force to reckon with in this industry. Recently they categorized their services like DTDC Blue, DTDC Plus, etc. With DTDC Plus, they are trying to compete with Blue Dart, which offers premium service with guaranteed faster and timely deliver. 


Though Blue Dart also cant always be perfect, but mostly they deliver what is promised and if they don't, at least they are very quick to answer customer's queries and try to solve the issue then and there itself. But massive growth over the years have made DTDC guys complacent and unprofessional. If you have an issue, write a mail to their zonal office or head office in Bangalore, they hardly bother to reply and even if they do, it wont solve the purpose. It will be irrelevant and a generalized answer.


With the launch of DTDC Plus, their premium service, they promise faster delivery. But due to that and to promote the same, they have started delaying the delivery of the courier if its through their normal service. This is to compel the customer to pay almost the double amount for the same service, which they used to give mostly for half the amount. For example, if I send a courier from Jammu to Noida, it reaches DTDC's Delhi office at around 12pm and to Noida office by 4pm. At times they used to deliver the courier in Noida by 6pm but now a days, they have started delaying it and delivering it the next day. If we ask for probability of being delivered the next day, their staff in Jammu office now straight-away denies that.


My friend sent me a bundle of books from Delhi on 2nd July 2012. It weighed 6.5 Kg and she had to pay Rs.900 to DTDC. I waited for 3 days for the courier to reach from Delhi to Jammu and on the 4th day afternoon i.e., on 6th July 2012, I went to their office to ask for and pick my courier.


Only one elderly person Mr. Dogra is the reliable person in their office, who coordinates everything and keeps the things going. I always find him on his toes and most of the others are in a very relaxed poses though office has almost 4-5 employees apart from Mr. Dogra.


Today when I went there, unfortunately I couldnt find him there. When I asked for my courier, one guy was asking other to find, who inturn tried his best to depute the third. One of them finally tried to search for my parcel in their shelves and told me that it hasnt reached Jammu. Since repair work was going on, power was put off. When I insisted, they asked the electrician to put on a connection so that one PC could be put on and they could check the status of my parcel.


One guy put on the PC and without entering the password, he went and sat for lunch and 2 others were still telling me that PC cant be turned on. When i took them other way round the table, then the guys started struggling to enter the correct password. After all this drama, I was finally told that courier had arrived 2 days back i.e., on 4th July 2012.


Then for next 15 mins they started searching every nook and corner of the office, even the big poly-bags which looked as if dumped from ages. Inbetween someone said that check if the delivery guy has taken it today for delivery. Others guaranteed that it was not possible, he didnt take any. I asked them to call that guy but nobody did. After waiting for another 5 minutes I had to raise my voice and ask for that guy's mobile number. When I called him, he confirmed that the parcel was with him and he was at a location which was on way to my home from DTDC office.  


Finally I asked him to wait at a point and collected my parcel from him. Before going to their office, I had mailed about the delay to DTDC's Delhi Zonal Office and Bangalore office, but didnt get any reply till now.


They are surviving because in the country of blind, one eyed man is the king. There are few reputed companies in this industry and courier/parcel volumes are enormous. With the growth of business over the years, they have become complacent and that shows at every level of their hierarchy.

Jammu Refugees have been neglected!

Jammu refugees are the people who migrated from other parts of Jammu division, they are victims of militancy and had left their homes in the early 1990s.


Parts of Jammu divisions like Doda, Bhaderwah, Rajouri, Poonch, etc were among the worst affected areas of the Jammu & Kashmir state. The recent decision to revise the PM's package for "Relief & Rehabilitation" of Kashmiri Pandits has not gone well with the Jammu migrants. They are justified when they say that the government never thought about them and didn't provide them any relief or accommodation. The whole attention was on Kashmiri Pandits and this discrimination has always been there.


The PM has announced Rs.1600 crore package for Kashmiri Pandits in 2008 under which they would get jobs and Rs.7.5 lakh for each family for their return. The package has recently been revised by the J&K State cabinet and sent to the Central Government according to which each family will now get Rs.20 lakh for construction of houses in valley. 


Even the refugees who moved to India in 1947 from the areas now in Pakistan didnt get anything till date and have been living in misery. 


"The Kashmiri Pandits are being given jobs, accommodation, and cash relief but no one talks about the other migrants. We too are the victims of militancy and too have left our homes for safety and security but the government is least bothered about us", said Rajiv chunni, chairperson of SOS, an organization of POK refugees, while talking to The Tribune.


He further said,"the government is trying to create a gap between the Kashmiri migrants and Jammu migrants. If the government does not speak about others, then we will protest against it".


It is sad that our Governments have proved that they understand the language of the bullet and that's why all attention is being given to Kashmir region and people belonging to that part, let it be Muslims or Pandits. Does our Government want the people of Jammu region to ask for separation and then only it will treat them equally? Why should people of Jammu or others across the country pay cost for being patriotic and true to the country?


Under the PM;s package, the Kashmiri Pandits have been provided 1,400 jobs and a township in Jagti (13km from Jammu city) for rehabilitation. This township consists of hundreds of flats, which have been given to Kashmiri Pandits, free of cost. 


The government has proposed 3000 more jobs for them, enhancement of cash relief and Rs.20 lakh for each family for reconstruction of houses in the valley.