Dilbert Syndrome

Warning: Some loaded rant and bitching about the past, ahead. 

There is an almost evil sense of happiness/achievement when you look back in time and feel vindicated for that stand you took, and that crazy audacity you showed in taking people-with-power head-on. 

While going through all the backups I had collected over last many years on my drive, I came across this write-up, which literally made my day. The date on the file was June, 2011; and I had named it 'Dilbert Syndrome'. It somehow never made it to the blog, but it made me chuckle many a times as I read it and as the events and characters waltzed past my eyes. 

That was a crazy time, with some crazy amount of introspection and some otherwise crazy decisions which made me rock my own boat. The writeup was about those times and totally blog-worthy. That rant not only made me chuckle, but gave me a priceless glimpse into how I thought and felt during that difficult time period. I came out much stronger eventually. 

I don't take names here, neither company nor people. A lot of water has flown under the proverbial bridge already, and I have moved on big time. So only someone who knows me personally, or was around me during those times, will know what I am talking about. And relate and chuckle, s/he will. Guaranteed. 

Reminder: The piece below, was written almost 3-1/2yrs back about some events that took place over about 6 months before that. So take the present-tense with a pinch of time-travel. 

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Ultimately, as expected, due to those heroics in December, my promotion was denied, and I was placed in 'C' band. This was when, on the performance rating, I was rated at 4.16 on a scale of 5. There was a formal way of escalation to make your case for a better rating. A rating lower than 4 and I was prepared to make my case, just in case. It's fine till performance ratings, but after promotion and bands are announced there is no way to escalate!! Take that! In effect, the performance-rating, about which so much noise and hoopla is made, doesn't have any bearing on the final outcome! And you cant escalate or challenge the final outcome! What a mess of a policy!

So there is no doubt this is a foul play. Disappointing for sure. But on the brighter side, it validates my decision to break away from the project which was run by some vernacular old farts, without much technical aptitude, making - politics and sucking-up - the most important characteristics for having any future there. Inevitably, their desire to stamp their authority would make them over eager to pass unsolicited judgments just about everything pertaining to their juniors - their bikes, their colour choices, their girlfriends, their dressing sense, even their guts. As If they were so sooo gutsy that they had just soloed an E11 rockclimb; or as if their blue-coloured 1857-fashioned plated trousers (rolled up to the ankles), their marooned, white checkered shirt, and those excessively-oiled परिसर अभ्यास hair - all combed on one side - would have won them a top-ten spot on the list of world's most desirable men.

However good the architecture of that C++ system was, the project was run by those who sought yes-men as their juniors. You put your foot down and take a stand and they will take pleasure to screw your hard work. Just like the Congress party. You suck up to the Gandhis and a dumb Shivraj Patil can go on to become India's Home Minister. You don't, you have your say, and you are sidelined. Your credentials notwithstanding.

I tried approaching the HR, explained the glaring disparity between performance rating and allocated band and lack of promotion. They sent out one liners asking each other to help me with my 'query'. Some bozo sent me a one-liner asking me to meet him, and went underground when I asked whens and wheres. I got the message. I am working in a private sector tech firm, which is no better than some bureaucratic govt institution where the brightness in your corporate future is directly proportional to the amount of sucking up you do to the managers that be. Appalling. And this is the case with an organization which was considered one of those better companies in India, which valued technical prowess. At least that was the reason why I joined this organization in the first place. 

It's quite easy to ignore this as rant of a 'disgruntled employee who lost out on a promotion'. It's not the lost promotion or band why I am so pissed off; promotion, band - eventually I will get it all, and I guess this delay just detaches me further from the rat race. But it's the way these guys think they are invincible no matter what they do, that triggers me to retaliate in any which way possible.

Anyway, no point in letting these destructive emotions run amok. There is hardly anything I can do to affect the outcome. So better to keep these emotions in check and focus on the happening stuff with python and web-development stints that makes me feel quite upbeat with prospects. That's the other - the brighter side of the december-decision. In a way, I paid for the long term with an year of my hard work.

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Those emotions awakened me from a slumber and made me take a decision that I would, otherwise, have never taken, maintaining the status quo. 

Fast forward to the present. Today I work for a fantastic organization, where the culture itself is such that only and *only* your technical prowess alone can take you places. No one has any time nor desire to give a rats ass to politics. The team I work for, is made up of winners - all technically super strong, sharp, well mannered, and jovial people. That's my kind of team. 


And I credit those emotions for getting me till here.  

A Fraud called eBay Guarantee

While eBay can be, and has been, a boon for sourcing items that are otherwise difficult to get, it's a big misery when the item doesn't get delivered, or a faulty one gets delivered. To make matter worse, the fraudulent practice that eBay calls - eBay Guarantee - adds salt to the wound. The whole eCommerce apparatus is based on trust between - not the seller and the buyer, but between the website (which works as a middleman) and the buyer. That's why Flipkart enjoys a lot of trust and is still synonymous with peace-of-mind eCommerce in India. 

eBay is just the opposite. It's all good when you can source things like old manual lenses, tools, equipment that are otherwise pretty difficult to find from local market. It's all good when the seller is honest and well-meaning. It all starts falling apart when any of that is not true.  

Quite a few experiences so far when eBay failed big time for me and caused a lot of distress and that infuriating feeling of being deceived. It's not about the money you lose, it's the feeling that you were taken for a ride by someone/something you trusted - that really pisses me off. eBay guarantee is one such thing. You purchase from eBay thinking it's too big a company to be dishonest about its promises to customers - especially with something as sensitive as eBay Guarantee promise that says you are covered if a seller deceives you. I fell for it. And it failed me. More than once. 


First was when I had bought a case for Moto-G (PaisaPay ID: 36040966303), about six months back. The case didn't fit. I applied for return and refund. These guys took almost 2 days to reply. That too with a funny excuse - "You were not reachable on the contact number you mentioned - 988******, so please upload photographic proof to process your claim". That's my old number from Pune. I still have a screenshot of the order, and it clearly shows my Bangalore number 95******* and says - you will receive SMS alerts and order status on this number. Even the delivery guy calls on *this* number, and eBay just ignored it. 

Unfortunately, by the time they replied, I got impatient and broke the flimsy cover while I trying to force it on the mobile. I mentioned so, and closed the claim. Only if they had called me on the right number ... 

That was the first time I grew suspicious about their practices, even though it was my fault to break it while trying to put it on the mobile. 


Then came this current infuriating episode. My 7-year old Dell laptop's charger went kaput. I decided to buy a locally built one from eBay - thinking even if it turns out bad/conterfeit, eBay will be able to cover it under it's eBay Guarantee. What was I thinking!? 


Here is a step by step account of how and why it got to my nerves - 

I ordered one 90W adapter from eBay (PaisaPay ID: 37359944823) with the same charger family and even validated the plug dimensions against the original one I had. The adapter worked for couple of days, and then on one fine day, it stopped working! Just like that. The green indicator on the charger brick would turn on, but it wouldn't charge the laptop. 

I wrote to the seller about the problem. 

He took almost a week to reply. 

I called this engineer and he came to conclusion that the charger may not work for the laptop even though specs were right. "Only genuine Dell one will work. You can buy that from our eBay shop". We had an agreement about refunding the amount paid. 

I raised an "eBay Guarantee" claim with these details. 

After couple of days, I got a response from ebay, saying they couldn't contact me. 

Preposterous. Both of them were my Pune numbers, long discontinued. I have screen-shot of the order showing my Bangalore number. Why they would not even try a number that's so obviously used for communicating order details and alerts, is a mystery to me. I still replied back with my Bangalore number, along with other details. On the very same day. 

Since a photo couldn't a be proof, I even got my wife to shot a video showing the charger in non-working condition. The charger serial number is also visible in this video http://youtu.be/bUnz7KRyT2U

All this on the very same day. 

And then, couple days later, I receive an email from eBay, saying the claim is rejected! What a rip-off! 

If this is not infuriating, what is!? 

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The eBay head-ache doesn't end here though. Another order (ID: 324132884013) placed on 25-September, with a European seller, is still not delivered, and I have as good as given up on that refund claim as well. 

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This was not the first time I was shopping online. I have shopped from many eCommerce websites, from nascent-stage ones to the well established, from American to Chinese, for electronic goods to cycling equippments. But the kind of trust kickback I received from eBay was unprecedented and unique. 

These days, ebay is completely out of my shopping radar. I even tend to filter out ebay results from my google searches as well. They are the ponzies of online shopping for me. 

The only good thing that came out of this distressful experience is that it got me out of my blogging slumber, and made me finally write about this, so that people would be aware of the reality behind this so-called eBay Guarantee, and would be wary while dealing with eBay in general, due to lack of any real fallback mechanism in case one gets duped. 

Caveat emptor!



PS: I have uploaded the whole guarantee claim page here - a.fraud.called.ebay.guarantee.proof.pdf. Read bottom up. It contains all the communication regarding the claim. 

Why I support AAP and Kejariwal

For long, I had been etching to write about AAP and why it still matters despite all its misgivings in the recent past. This question on Quora - Why do AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) volunteers follow Arvind Kejriwal despite his taking so many U-turns? - just gave the right trigger that was necessary to pour those long held thoughts down.

Given the excessive emotions it raises, I had become a little reluctant these days talking about politics and especially about AAP. Those who think for themselves need not be convinced, and those who don't can't be anyway. So it's pointless talking or arguing about it sometimes. But since it was Quora, where I tend to love the answers from its thinking community, I felt I can expect a higher emotional quotient, and objective and decent opinions/arguments pro/against.

Not only did I answer that question there, but decided to share those same thoughts here as well. WARNING: It's quite lengthy. 

I can't say about others, but talking about myself, I can tell why I support AAP. 

At this point in time, irrespective of the follies, mistakes, U-turns (perceived and otherwise) of its leaders, AAP is the only party with a clear agenda to not allow any tainted/criminal elements in its politics. Even though those elements can bring them votes and money. This is the only party which (from what I know) raises all its funds through public participation, and hence doesn't need to fall for the quid-pro-quo that's inevitable when you get funded by lobbying industrialists. 

Why cleaning politics is necessary? Consider this - You overtake someone driving on the road, suddenly the guy gets worked up, beats you up, and you can't do anything because he has 'connections'. Powerful at that. This is a real incident that happened in Mumbai a month or so before Loksabha elections. Instead of guessing which party that guy might have belonged to, take a guess which party he most likely would *NOT* have belonged to - Congress, BJP or AAP? Your guess is as good as mine.

In a country where democracy is just another means to get voted to rule and loot people; in a country where political high-handedness and 'connection' power-mongering is rampant; in a country where wealth is concentrated with a select few, who, in turn can call the shots using the wealth and get richer; in a country where regional, religious, sectarian, caste-based propaganda can be successfully used to turn groups in vote-banks; in a country where the root the root of all evil *is* - being ruled by the evil itself, isn't it about time we clean our politics before anything else? 

The middle class is taught from childhood to stay away from politics; reason, and we have taken this for granted, - politics is for the crooks not for 'us'. We have had generations arguing 'if everyone say so, good people will never get in, and politics will always remain for crooks'. Everybody argues, nobody, including me, acts. Everybody wants someone else to wash the dirty laundry. "शिवाजी जन्माला यावा, पण शेजारच्या घरात; आपल्या नको." (Translation: Shivaji should be born again, but at the neighbors' house, not ours). 

In 2011-12, during the height of scams, movements, and Congress' high-handed attempts to crush those movements, the despair in the air was pretty palpable. "इस देश का कुछ नही हो सकता" (Translation: This country is never gonna change). The politicians who ruled the country will never take a step to clean the same system they thrive off. 

But then one man had the ambition and willingness to fight this one-sided battle to clean the system. He did take the plunge, built a party out of people with credible backgrounds and from the same middle class that used to run away from politics. The party won considerable seats on the basis of clean-politics agenda, in Delhi elections, and all of a sudden, those, like me, who were pessimistic about any change in Indian politics, started dreaming about a cleaner and fairer political system. 

But then Loksabha elections were closing in and both BJP and Congress, feeling nervous and threatened by AAP, used all their might to unleash systematic smear campaign, propaganda and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) against AAP. That Kejariwal is another Congress, that Kejariwal 'took' Congress' support, that Congress is trying to divide BJP's votes through AAP, that AAP's game-plan is to bring Congress to power, that AAP is not fielding any candidates against Sonia Gandhi, and so on. So fierce was this blitzkrieg that even educated people who are supposed to discern true from false, fell for it wholeheartedly. Unfortunately Kejariwal and AAP being new to politics, and despite realizing that the 'system' will try every trick in the book to get rid of any attempt to cleanse it, fell prey to their own inexperience and mistakes that were immediately and effectively blown out of proportions, damaging their own cause and reputation further. Meanwhile all attempts to demean him/AAP were in full swing. Choking him from all sides, trapping him, and then calling him भगोडा, ridiculing him beyond decency, slapping him - they tried it all, and to a major extent succeeded in generating huge uncertainty and doubt about AAP. 

Though BJP got a majority in the elections, watching this FUD campaign from sidelines, I lost complete faith in them, and despite being a very pro-Modi, not more than an year ago, today I stand completely disillusioned by BJP. Those who are familiar with the history of Linux, will not find it difficult to draw parallels to the FUD campaign that Microsoft ran against Linux in late 90s. They did gain considerably in the short term, but Linux didn't go anywhere, and in fact thrived in the later years to this date - because the fundamentals and philosophy of opensource that it was based on, had the potential to survive the test of time, since it resonated with, and empowered people at large. 

AAP and its leaders made mistakes, did face foot-in-mouth many times, but nothing as serious as the amount of flak they receive/d. AAP didn't allow filth in, didn't let money power decide, and didn't play vote-bank politics - those are good enough reasons to look forward to better days for these fine folks who were trying to bring about a change, for which India probably was just not ready and patient enough. 


Good luck to Modi, at least he seems to have some quick-fix approach for the country back-broken over many years by Congress, and so far he seems to be making all the right noises. But for a long term, my support will always be for a party that tries to address the root of all evils in India - filth in politics. And with likes of Yedurappa embracing Modi openly, I don't have any willingness to park my hopes on BJP.