My social journey on Facebook

I have tired of my FB feed.



“This Is Serious”: Facebook Begins Its Downward Spiral | Vanity Fair writes

There was a time when Facebook made us feel good about using the service—I used to love it. It was fun to connect with old friends, share pictures of your vacation with everyone, or show off a video of your nephew being extra-specially cute. But, over time, Facebook has had to make Wall Street happy, and the only way to feed that beast is to accumulate more, more, more: more clicks, more time spent on the site, more Likes, more people, more connections, more hyper-personalized ads. All of which adds up to more money. But as one recent mea culpa by an early Internet guru aptly noted, “What if we were never meant to be a global species?”

Some people are terrified that these services are listening in to their private conversations. (The company’s anti-privacy tentacles go so far as to track the dust on your phone to see who you might be spending time with.) Others are sick of getting into an argument with a long-lost cousin, or that guy from high school who still works in the same coffee shop, over something that Trump said, or a “news” article that is full of more bias and false facts. And then there’s the main reason I think people are abandoning these platforms: Facebook knows us better than we know ourselves, with its algorithms that can predict if we’re going to cheat on our spouse, start looking for a new job, or buy a new water bottle on Amazon in a few weeks. It knows how to send us the exact right number of pop-ups to get our endorphins going, or not show us how many Likes we really have to set off our insecurities. As a society, we feel like we’re at war with a computer algorithm, and the only winning move is not to play. 

Is it time for me to move out of this medium? i think so.

The service disaster that is ACT

Dec 2016 

Cyclone Vardah

ACT Broadband down and out. Gone with the wind, cables down with the trees. 10 days now and still no  sign of life. 

And however hard their smses work to keep the faith going, it's a FAIL.  

From all across the city they are being trolled on Twitter but to no avail. Their own handle has no sensible explanation or time frames. Obituaries and burials and other dark humour keep us going, as do our mobile 4G networks. 

Click on the picture to read!

As a consumer all I want is a realistic picture of when its likely to be up and running, and a customer service centre that is responsive and human and not responding like a robot, an unintelligent one at that!

And my dad's and pa in law's BSNL is up and functioning. They have the last laugh for sure!  Underground cabling has its long term advantages. 

The Acche Din narrative continues with demonetisation

In 2014 the GOI launched JDY, its ambitious push to financial inclusion, and with concerted planning and large-scale implementation, some 23 crore accounts were opened, greatly increasing the banked population of India. I was impressed at the scale of the operations and whatever the hiccups and issues, by and large the scheme did help people enter the banking system.

Hence my confusion and bewilderment at this demoniacal attack on our currency this last one month.

At 9:45 pm on Nov the 8th I remember messaging some colleagues and friends that the whole thing sounds like a hare-brained idea and I did feel the GOI was either smoking something or adversely affected by the Delhi pollution.  I say this because even at that time it seemed like some Tughlakian idea to me that a country would render its currency illegal overnight.

Since then, I have followed with interest, the framing of the government's communications and the reality on the ground as a lay person from the communication industry. And the din has not been acche, for my ears at least.

(Aside - beats me how PayTM ran that two page ad with the PM's pic on Nov 9th. That would make an amazing case study worthy of an industry Effie for sure. Keep in mind, the use of the PM's picture needs special permissions, which is a tortuous process in normal circumstances. And of course that regular material deadline for advertising for media agencies is midnight at the max. So four hours to create the ad, get permission, buy space and deliver the material, wow!)

The PM's speech outlined two objectives - the rooting out of black money and the removal of counterfeit notes that were adversely affecting our fight against terrorists. (Do remember there was no mention of moving India to a cashless economy at that stage)

The black money battle

Perception framed by government communication: Cash = black money, so let's all starve the evil buggers of their cash, and yes that's the end of their black money. What's a little inconvenience in the face of this great gain?

I found it interesting that in the PM's description of the problem he pointed at government officers with cash under the bed, while glossing over the biggest source of corruption - politicians and elections.

He asked us all to bear the inconvenience for the greater good, and citizens for the most part were convinced that this must be a good way to fight black money. He enlisted us in this battle and we felt empowered, proud and victorious even as we stood in lines to get access to our own money.

Some facts -

# Black money as cash is only 6% of the stash according to several estimates

# The cash removed out of the system is 86% by value

# Demonetisation at best is is like band aid, quick fix and not a measure which addresses the systemic problems that have allowed black money to run a parallel economy

# Introducing a 2000 Re note flies in the face of this whole rooting out black money as now the suitcases required will be halved isn't it?

I thought that if the GOI was serious about the drive against black money, wouldn’t it be more “bold” to look at surgical strikes against political party accounts and their auditing, and the real estate and jewellery industries? Why this carpet bombing involving every Indian citizen? But carpet bombing delivers shock and awe.

Final effect- lets assume we remove the 6% of black money that was cash. (I am of course ignoring the raging hawala and other scams that are probably brewing. ) 6 percent removed for this fiscal, mind you.

Collateral damage - 1% GDP?


Worth it? Majority of Indians think so. Despite these “facts”, despite the inconveniences, despite the loss to businesses, surveys show that 87% of Indian we are told back demonetisation. (No, this is not the Modi survey but the C Voter One reported in the Huff Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/11/22/huffpost-bw-cvoter-survey-87-indians-think-demonetisation-is-h). And most importantly, 70% respondents felt it would help the BJP in forthcoming polls!

Counterfeit notes

Perception framed by government communication: terrorists from across the border are counterfeiting our money and this is financing the increased violence targeted at our armed forces and civilians.

Facts -

#RBI reports that of the 8.45 lakh crores deposited until 27th Nov fake currency was 9.6 crores which is what .001% or something. Any little terrorist financing removed is of course good news but doing it before the winter passes freeze just gives them time to regroup isn't it?

# The new 2000 Re note has no special security features (remember all those whatsapp forwards with the embedded-chip notes?) making this whole stated objective hollow and meaningless wouldn’t you think?

# The press subsequently reports news of dead terrorists with new notes on them. Either they were not terrorists or the new notes have already been faked or they have been able to get their hands on the new notes faster than you and me.

Final effect- bafflingly ineffective against stated objective or am I not seeing something?

What really then was demonetisation all about? Didn't the GOI which did such a good job on the JDY, not know these things? I find that hard to believe that in an important 'bold' move like this the GOI was unaware of the planning needed nor that there were some basic logical flaws in the move itself.

So the only conclusion I would draw is that the RBI (The Mystery of the Unavailable Urjit) and the experts were not consulted or that they were and there is some other objective. Now we come to the more recently stated objective - the move towards digitisation and cashless economy. So by pulling the cash from our wallets by force the only people laughing all the way to the bank are the digital service providers. (Even the bank staff on the ground are not laughing as they have the unenviable job of implementing this with their hands tied and their eyes blindfolded and the goal posts changing everyday. )

Any communication professional will tell you that to be effective, communication has to move people. Emotion wins nine times out of ten. And the messenger has to be credible. Perception trounces fact.

By plugging demonetisation as a personal and emotional battle against black money, this has been a masterful campaign, ensuring that we buy the promise. A superbly effective communication campaign of a brand promise of a flawed product, with a great brand ambassador. So while economists of all hues wring their hands and throw up facts, the perception battle for hearts and minds has been won. The age-old hero archetype has been played out. The dragon of black money being attacked with the weapon of demonetisation. We all need to align ourselves in this epic “battle”, either for the Hero or the villainous black money hoarders.

There is much to learn regarding the new methods and channels of communication, managing perceptions and maintaining credibility. At the moment Acche Din continues to ride. Or so it seems. As The Economist noted, "Trust is fragile, and precious".

It remains to be seen whether it will all unravel or whether we will continue to believe. 

A morning at metro water

8:45am
Saar showed up 15 minutes late.  Then his computer wouldn't connect to the server.  15 attempts, all failed.  Rebooted the machine, no go.  rebooted modem, no go.  Then one fellow showed up with a cloth, dusted the plugs, disconnected and connected the keyboard, fiddle some more with the plug etc.  Success around 9.10 or so!  

Then the person before me (we had an interesting chat, by the way - his nephew had stolen the land where they had a common sump. What to do? Plus he was all praise for Amma for fixing the auto chaps.) took five minutes gathering together his Rs 347.  Change in one fold of his veshti, tens in another, hundreds in a third etc.  

Anyway I paid and got my receipt.  Turns out I was lucky: the computer had been down the previous two weeks.  Felt like some MAD magazine 'A day at the Metrowater payment counter'!

What a great country we live in!

Voting in Velachery

Urur Kuppam, Olcott Kuppam, Save Chennai Beaches Campaign Kalakshetra Colony Welfare Association, Radhakrishna Nagar
Residents Association, and Valmiki Nagar Residents Welfare Association invited all MLA candidates to address voters
regarding their proposals for the constituency. The meeting set aside 7 minutes to each candidate to present his/her schemes.

I went for the meeting. There were only three candidates who showed up. The PMK's M Jayaraman, the Makkal Sakthi candidate, Senthil Kumar and independent Sharath Babu.

Senthil Kumar: Was the only candidate whom I felt like voting for...the makkal sakthi party seems to be working for the future...it is part of the national party Lok Satta, and looks like each time they are fielding increasing candidates. menthol Kumar lives in the constituency, seems to understand the way the govt works, and is a strong RTI activist I think.

I am inclined towards him more than Sharat Babu. Babu is milking his humble upbringing and his stellar education as credentials, still. While he has done very well for himself, for me to elect him, I need to see some proof of what he has done in these last few years. Besides mentioning that he has visited educational institutions and inspired students, he did not mention anything else. Also, he is an Independent, and I see that as a weakness in the current scenario.

Given the need to have a change of government, there is no way that I am going to vote for the dmk-combine, so what about the bjp candidate and bsp and aiadmk? Well, the first two did not show up and the last one came when almost everyone had left. I hear he vowed to do whatever his Amma decided!!

I think as a voter I need to encourage better quality of candidates to come forth and stand for elections. Senthil Kumar seems to represent one such...he boldly called himself a politician. He also said that even if he did not win, he would still be available to constituency members in their fight to get good governance. I liked the sound of him, and the profile of the people who are helping his campaign.

Escape Cinemas

Another pleasant experience.

• Online, quick ticket booking at cinema.in
• Sunday morning easy traffic
• Express Avenue - lot of parking
• Blush screen - nice seats!
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1...not bad.
• Biryani buffet ...Rs 200
• Odyssey book store...their best yet in my opinion.

Parted from a fair bit of our money, for a single day.

Happy birthday, son!

Sony Ericcson

My K750i (I quite like it), but its a pain to charge...gave it for repair...back in a day...problem fixed. Not bad... Happy me.