A Ghazal by Daag - Uzr aane mein bhi hai

uzr aane meñ bhī hai aur bulāte bhī nahīñ 

bā.is-e-tark-e-mulāqāt batāte bhī nahīñ 

muntazir haiñ dam-e-ruḳhsat ki ye mar jaa.e to jaa.eñ

phir ye ehsān ki ham chhoḌ ke jaate bhī nahīñ

sar uThāo to sahī aañkh milāo to sahī 

nashsha-e-mai bhī nahīñ niind ke maate bhī nahīñ 

kyā kahā phir to kaho ham nahīñ sunte terī 

nahīñ sunte to ham aisoñ ko sunāte bhī nahīñ 

ḳhuub parda hai ki chilman se lage baiThe haiñ

saaf chhupte bhī nahīñ sāmne aate bhī nahīñ

mujh se lāġhar tirī āñkhoñ meñ khaTakte to rahe

tujh se nāzuk mirī nazroñ meñ samāte bhī nahīñ

dekhte hī mujhe mahfil meñ ye irshād huā

kaun baiThā hai use log uThāte bhī nahīñ 

ho chukā qat.a ta.alluq to jafā.eñ kyuuñ hoñ

jin ko matlab nahīñ rahtā vo satāte bhī nahīñ

ziist se tañg ho ai 'dāġh' to kyuuñ jiite ho

jaan pyārī bhī nahīñ jaan se jaate bhī nahīñ 

A ghazal by Abdul Hameed 'Adam'

ha.Ns ke bolaa karo bulaayaa karo 
aap kaa ghar hai aayaa jaayaa karo 

muskurahaT hai husn kaa zevar 
ruup ba.Dhataa hai muskuraayaa karo 

had se ba.D kar hasiin lagate ho 
jhuuThii qasme.n zaruur khaayaa karo 

hukm karanaa bhii ek saKhaavat hai 
ham ko Khidamat ko_ii bataayaa karo 

baat karanaa bhii baadashaahat hai 
baat karanaa na bhuul jaayaa karo 

taa ke duniya kii dil_kashii na ghaTe 
nit naye pairahan me.n aayaa karo 

kitane saadaa mizaaj ho tum 'Adam' 
us galii me.n bahut na jaayaa karo 

Shers in today's mood

bāzīcha-e-atfāl hai duniyā mire aage
hotā hai shab-o-roz tamāshā mire aage

hotā hai nihāñ gard meñ sahrā mire hote
ghistā hai jabīñ ḳhaak pe dariyā mire aage
---
qaid-e-hayāt o band-e-ġham asl meñ donoñ ek haiñ
maut se pahle aadmī ġham se najāt paa.e kyuuñ

'ġhālib'-e-ḳhasta ke baġhair kaun se kaam band haiñ
roiye zaar zaar kyā kījiye haa.e haa.e kyuuñ

=================
ai mohabbat tire anjām pe ronā aayā
jaane kyuuñ aaj tire naam pe ronā aayā

kabhī taqdīr kā mātam kabhī duniyā kā gila
manzil-e-ishq meñ har gaam pe ronā aayā

jab huā zikr zamāne meñ mohabbat kā 'shakīl'
mujh ko apne dil-e-nākām pe ronā aayā

=====================

Raat Ka Maajra

Raat ka maajra kisse poochhoon 'Shaqeel'

Kya bani bazm par mere aane ke baad

Kitni raahat hai dil too jaane ke baad,
Zindagi se mile maut aane ke baad. 

Cinematic Disease

I have developed a new disease - don't worry it's only a cinematic disease. All through "Dear Zindagi" I was thinking how great those dialogues of Jahangir Khan would sound if they were delivered by the great Amitabh Bachchan. After that, in my mind it was always AB delivering those deep, thought-provoking lines. And now pretty early in "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" I realized what a nice character it was that Anushka was playing. Also, how great it would be if there was a good actress playing that part - like Parineeti Chopra.

After that, my mind took over and all of Anushka's parts I imagined Parineeti delivering on screen. And believe me, the Parineeti in my mind did a much better job than Anushka could ever hope to do.

This is why I had started to make films, because I was always second-guessing the directors but it seems that the problem still persists. So, it's not a new disease really, just a new strain of the old virus.

GadgesFix Leeds - Service Review

I gave them my LG V10 to repair on 7th October 2016, Thursday. It had gone into boot loop and I was not able to fix it with factory reset so I thought I would try real professionals before giving up on my favourite phone.

After explaining to the owner that it was a Hong Kong variant of the V10 I told him that I don't put it on any hard surface because of the camera on the back, I don't want it to be scratched. He assured me that they would put it in a bubble wrap before sending it to the tech department. I was happy with that.

He gave the phone to another clerk to log it into the system and the first thing the clerk did was to put the phone down on the glass counter! I picked up the phone and reminded the owner that that's exactly what I was requesting to not do. The owner admonished the boy who put the phone on a plastic sleeve this time and that was that.

The owner quoted me £35-£45 if it turned out to be a software issue and £50-£60 if it needed hardware components. Then explained me that their minimum charge is £25 which they prefer to get in advance. When you want service you need to pay. I paid the £25 there and then without grumbling.

I asked if they would call me with updates and was told yes, but that I could also find out the current status by going to their website and clicking "Repair Tracker".

Cool. So far so good.

Next day I tried to use the repair tracker on their website. After I entered my details and the ID number that they had given me, I received an email that they had received my enquiry. No status update, then or later.

No update until Monday. Then on Monday morning I called them, and talked to the owner. The first update he gave me was that in their system it was showing "Collected by customer".  When I insisted that I had not collected it, he said that they could not fix it because it was a Hong Kong model. (I had told him this myself when I handed the phone in!) He promised to call back with clear status.

He didn't.

After waiting a couple of hours I went to their shop in my lunch break and collected the phone. I didn't get any details or discussion about the problem, just a quick apology that they could not fix it and if I had paid the charges. Then he checked that I had paid and was at ease.

On my part, I was out £25 with nothing to show for it. I give them 2 out of 5 stars simply because I don't want to act like a dick otherwise there was nothing in the whole experience for me that I would count as good. There was nothing in the service that would make me recommend their shop to anyone.

Not to imply that are not professional or anything. They are. But they were more professional about their money than your problem.

Good day? Bad day?

Being a positive person, I am careful never to call a day "a bad day" it condemns that day beyond reprieve. However, my positivity is being stretched to the limit today, it's not even 10 am yet and it's already been a 6 WTF day.

WTF 1: Got up very late.
WTF 2: Snowing outside.
WTF 3: Trump is president of America! (Big WTF this one!)
WTF 4: Realised that I am losing Indian money because leftover money from last India trip is in 500Rs. and 1000Rs. notes which the Indian prime minister has just made obsolete.
(Every India trip I leave some leftover currency in my wallet for the next trip. This lasts me for a day or two when I land in India and I don't have to find an ATM immediately. Last time I made an error in judgement and withdrew more money than I needed just a day before my flight back to UK. So, this time I had more money left over in, guess what, 1000Rs and 500Rs notes. Suddenly realised with a start this morning that I am losing that money. WTF!)

WTF 5: Guitar teacher cancelled lesson for tonight as he is unwell. (I was counting on this to get me through the day.)
WTF 6: The Lemsip I bought yesterday is sachets not capsules. (I should have looked more carefully but they also need to put the words Sachets on the package).


Now, let's see what positives I can find in these.

I got up late but got ready in time and left the house in enough time to catch the same train I do every morning.
The snow slowed me down but still...I was in fact 3 minutes early at the station.
Despite changing to the heavier jacket, I didn't leave anything back - train ticket, office key card, headphones, smaller headphones that fit inside the jacket hoodies. All ok.
Although I do care about what happens to it, I don't myself live in America.
Yes, I will lose that money. No getting around it. But I can obviously afford it.
Without the lesson I will have time to work on the song I am writing. I was counting on my teacher's help but this will give me time to practice and present to him a more advanced project next week.
And I don't have to go back out in the snow once I get home.
I had a colleague who could lend me 2 Lemsip capsules and I can pay him back at lunch time. I have the money to buy new Lemsip and I know I can exchange the Sachet packet in the afternoon on the way back.
It might be snowing outside but I am inside a well-lit, warm building with access to the internet.

Things will get better from here.

And to borrow from my last post - we're still flying.

How to tell if it was a good day

One of the reasons (one of many) I really dig Firefly and Serenity is that the dialogue is very witty and sharp. There's nothing blase about the lines, never the cliche'ed crap that turns your stomach.

Example to illustrate.
It's the end of a very tumultuous day. Captain Malcom Reynolds and Dr. Simon Tam are in the cockpit.

Simon: I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?

Mal: You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed.

Simon: Are you always this sentimental?

Mal: I had a good day.

Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... Half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.

Mal: Well, we're still flying.

Simon: That's not much.

Mal: It's enough.

Noise, Noise, off the wall..

An interesting read by Purba.
http://www.purba-ray.com/2016/09/dj-wale-babu-zara-volume-badhaa-do.html

She is quite right though. We do love our noise. It doesn't even have to be music, but usually we need something that can masquerade as music. I have even heard truck drivers on the highway honk their horns in short bursts of their homemade "melody".

While you do run into pubs and clubs which are too noisy for conversation the same thing is not so common in restaurants. Although, there are restaurants that have very loud music playing, the more classy (read expensive) ones have only subdued, soft music that is a good backdrop to conversation without getting in the way. I know some of these, but I have also been known to ask the management to reduce the volume if I go to the other kind of restaurant. I eat quite often in mall food courts during my India visits anyway.

The thing that drives me up the wall is the incessant hoking! During my recent trip, I had the pleasure(!) of being stuck in many traffic jams (Delhi traffic is off the charts right now!) and people honk for no reason at all. They are all stuck in traffic and everybody is moving as and when they can. But these people would still honk. Seems to me like they are clutching the last dregs of sanity by venting their frustration with their horns. Or they have gone crazy and think that the horn is a video game. I can't decide which!

One thing I thankfully did not run into this trip was a "mata ka jagran" near my house. They play what seems like a fake-bhajans, i.e. songs engineered from latest movie songs with religious words pasted on them. The only "mata" they would remind you of would be Katrina Kaif or Sunny Leone! And volume would be loud enough to rouse the whole neighbourhood, which I think is the idea. It's not limited to any one religion or god though. During Ramzan you can hear the azaan and the call to "sehri" just as loudly.

But coming back to music, it can sometimes be a real nuisance. During one of my India visits I had a young boy in a shop opposite my parental house who liked the song "Main tera boyfriend, tu meri girlfriend, tu mainu kehndi na na na na" a little too much. He put it in a loop and played it at top volume morning, noon, evening, non-stop. Normally, I am a "live and let live" kind of guy but that did get my proverbial goat. Finally, I went there and told him "Dude, change the song or reduce the volume! Or else!" It worked for a while!

You would find the same 5-6 songs playing all over the place - on the radio, in weddings, parties, discos and on TV channels. But new songs have a burnout time of about a month. They get phased out by other equally meaningless, blase songs in due course. Only the most obnoxious, loud and obscene ones would be remembered past 3 months, example Sheila ki jawani and Munni ki badnami.

Note 7 Catching Fire is Boon to Apple

http://mashable.com/2016/09/09/cpsc-samsung-galaxy-note-7-recall/#2ou1PnWkI8qz

I moved away from Samsung last year when they went in for a stupid double edge for the Note edge 2 but still this seems like a huge set back for the company especially in terms of reputation. And a setback for Samsung will be god's gift to Apple. I hate that.

Here's the official Samsung link - http://www.samsung.com/us/note7exchange/

LG V20 - Complete Tech Specs - First Thoughts

Sometimes I wonder if everybody except me is an idiot. For example, why does everybody keep comparing the new LG V20 to the LG G5?? It's a clear successor to the LG V10, by name, by design and by the company announcement, so why are you comparing it to something completely unrelated, morons?

Well, with that off my chest, let's talk about the new LG V20. The model was officially announced yesterday and the specs are as follows:

GENERAL
Release date September 2016
Form factor Touchscreen
Dimensions (mm) 159.70 x 78.10 x 7.60
Weight (g) 174.00
Battery capacity (mAh) 3200
Removable battery Yes
=============================================
DISPLAY
Screen size (inches) 5.70
Touchscreen Yes
Resolution 1440×2560 pixels
Pixels per inch (PPI) 513

=============================================
HARDWARE
Processor 1.6GHz  quad-core
Processor make Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820
RAM 4GB
Internal storage 32GB
Expandable storage Yes
Expandable storage type microSD
Expandable storage up to (GB) 256
=============================================
CAMERA
Rear camera 16-megapixel
Flash Yes
Front camera 5-megapixel
SOFTWARE
Operating System Android 7.0
=============================================
CONNECTIONS
Wi-Fi Yes
Wi-Fi standards - 802.11 a/ b/ g/ n/ ac
GPS Yes
Bluetooth Yes, v 4.20
NFC Yes
Infrared Yes
USB OTG Yes
Headphones 3.5mm
FM No
GSM/ CDMA GSM
3G Yes
4G/ LTE Yes
Supports 4G in India (Band 40) Yes
=============================================
SENSORS
Compass/ Magnetometer
Proximity sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope

As an upgrade, it's quite good. It's not a mind-blowing upgrade but as I mentioned to my brother only 3 days ago, what can they really upgrade in a phone that already has everything. And he mentioned these 3 things, RAM, Processor, Display.
LG has done just that and a little bit better.

The three things I wanted them to keep were:
The second display (it's more useful and less obtrusive than an Edge display)
The removable battery
The microSD card slot

I would not buy a phone without the last 2 things.

LG kept them all. Good job.

The three things I wanted them to improve were:
Display (I wanted 4K screen just like every other geek)
Battery (that's one weak part in the LG V10, but thanks to the removable battery, I can carry spares and be covered)
OS (Android moves leaps and bounds with each version and we always want the latest one)

LG gave me the 4K display but only improved the battery from 3000 to 3200mAh. On Android they did great, we get 7.0 right out of the box.

They have also added a wide-angle back camera and removed the front wide angle camera. I preferred it the way it was but it's not a deal breaker.

So, all in all, it might not be a radical upgrade, it's still worth it for me. I am one of those people who like to upgrade their gadgets at every opportunity and I have been looking for one but not finding any worthwhile contenders. I am very picky, I would not go for a screen .1 inch smaller, I would not touch a phone with a fixed battery, I would not spend money on a phone with no expandable storage..etc. etc.

That made me wait for LG's offering in the series and given that it's a nice upgrade even if not a spectacular upgrade, it's worth buying for me.

What about you?

Pokemon Go Interactive Map to help with your quest

I am feeling generous, here you go UK Pokemon Go Addicts -

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/pokemon-go-interactive-map-reveals-locations-of-rare-creatures-gyms-and-pokestops/story-29524261-detail/story.html

The Union is Dead, Long Live the Union

I find it highly ironical that the same people who want to drop out of European Union strongly suggest that Scotland and Ireland, (and London) should stay in the United Kingdom and continue to be integral part of the Union (UK, not EU).

Being an Indian immigrant my English is not all that great - should this be called hypocrisy or bigotry?

Satisfaction Cost

“How much?”

“Combien?” (French)

“Cuánto” (Spanish)

“Quanto” (Italian)

“いくらですか” (ikura desu ka?) (Japanese)

No matter which language you use this is one expression that is universally important!

How to ask the price of something is an essential phrase whether you are out visiting the market or “agora” in Greek or shopping in the neighbourhood market for melons.

The significance of this question is twofold - to find out if you can afford it and to judge whether it’s worth that price. The order of these considerations changes based on various factors.

And then there’s the whole economics of price vs. supply vs. demand. There are already many books written on this topic so I won’t go into that. However, I do want to discuss the price vs. perception of quality phenomenon.

In Hindi we have a saying, “Mehnga roye ek baar, sasta roye baar baar” meaning the one who buys expensive cries once (for having to pay a high price) but the one who buys cheap cries again and again (when the thing breaks down or lets him down).

Generally, that’s the idea, something that’s more expensive is better in quality. This was based on certain factors that were true in the industrial age. The price of the item depended on the materials used, the workmanship, the machines and other manufacturer-oriented factors.

And then entered advertising into the field. If you could make the consumer want the item, the actual quality of the item could be made secondary. Readers of my blog, and my friends (and strangers) know that I don’t like iPhones and I have commented more than once that they would be alright if they were priced at about £100-£200. It’s advertising and clever marketing that allows Apple to sell them at the exorbitant price that they don’t deserve.

So, what is the real driver for the cost here? It’s Satisfaction. Companies are able to set the prices of their products based on how much a given product will satisfy the customer. You would be more satisfied carrying the likes of Samsung, LG or Sony mobile in your pocket than some unknown brand that originated in a nameless factory in a far east Asian country. The factory maybe situated down the road from the Samsung factory but the product would not give you the same pride, same assurance, same Satisfaction if you will...

Given that it’s not simple enough in these times to compare two products and judge their intrinsic quality from holding them in your hands like you could compare two earthen pitchers, it becomes necessary to take things at face value or Brand Value.

This phenomenon causes the disconnect between cost and price. Companies no longer set the prices  of items based on their cost price and overhead but based on Satisfaction Cost, what the consumer can be made to pay for that item.

[Credit to my brother Anil Goswami, for the term: Satisfaction Cost]