D(H)ELL

If I had to choose a brand which I hate, Dell comes to my mind in an instant!

I really had a harrowing experience with the brand and I am never going to trust this brand again. My brother's first laptop was a Dell inspiron, and he literally had to go crazy taking care of its so many problems.

After a couple of months of absolutely proper and sober use, the lcd cracked without any reason, and when he asked the company to repair the damage as it was under warranty, they said that its not possible as the screen was not covered within the one year warranty scheme. He had to pay RS 16,000 to repair the laptop and he was still not happy with the company’s work. The same old lcd display was never really achieved!

The laptop had this issue of heating up a lot, and it was literally impossible to work with it keeping it on your lap for more than 15 minutes. The sound was of pretty ordinary quality and so was the hardware. The computer was very fragile and the hinges gave way just when the warranty ended…and he had to again shell out 3 thousand rupees to get it fixed! By that time we had already decided that we were never ever going to buy a Dell again our life!

I don’t know if it’s the brand or if it was just me who was having a series of bad affairs with the products of the brand. But soon I was convinced with the former, the brand certainly had a problem as after coming to college here in symbiosis I found that my roommate’s dell inspiron getting corrupt in just 4 and a half months! Though he and I use our laptops pretty much the same manner, but his gave way real too fast! And my new sony vaio which I bought recently was really working like magic! The poor guy (my roommate) had to call up the call centre guys every week to get his laptop fixed but they could never sort out the problems! He had his hard drive crashed twice in 4 and a half months and it was becoming very irritating for him, but finally he got his laptop replaced with a brand new one. But I still hear complaints from him about its poor quality and the problems with the laptop.

My brother's old dell inspiron, which he still uses, again created some problems as the battery had suddenly gone dead and the circuit got corrupted. It set him poorer by another thousand to get it checked and fixed. And now I have no trust left with this brand. I am irritated and really feel like advising everyone against buying the brand as I don’t want to go through the same problems that I faced. I feel that the company does not focus on what they have really set out to achieve. The service is of very poor quality and I find my current brand of laptop (sony vaio) very satisfying as I have used it more than one year already and I haven’t have one single problem with it.

In India people a very price sensitive and if a company delivers something cheaper without having to compromising on the quality then people appreciate the products and start trusting the brand. But when people realise that it’s just a strategy to cut down on manufacturing and production cost by compromising with the quality of the product they really don’t remain on the same respect level anymore. I think dell should take this into consideration and start making good quality products so that people like me don’t have such harrowing experiences after using the product!

Rishikesh- travel experience (in progress)

Day 1- day of the journey

We had to board a bus to Rishikesh from Kashmere gate ISBT at 11 in the night, but things weren’t quite going the way we expected them to be. It was a very hot and unusually humid day in delhi, and I was already taken for a fry doing market survey at Ghaziabad for my company as a management trainee. I reached Bumba’s place from Ghaziabad exactly two and a half hours after noon. He wasn’t home, but he left a key under the wastepaper basket.

The plan was to collect all our booze and clothes in as little luggage as possible as a lot of trekking had to be done. At around 8pm we set our journey with Riku joining us directly at ISBT after finishing office at Noida sec 16. At Kashmere Gate we had dinner at dominoes and when we went to the bus depot, we were surprised to see that there were no buses empty! All the seats were already booked even before we reached there. And we realised that we had no options but to take the private bus by paying extra. And the delhi heat and the food turned out to be quite a disaster for my stomach, and I got my stomach a little runny!

The bus was not even an AC one and we were cramped into tiny seats with overboard bunks as sleepers. The people travelling in the sleepers had to really struggle as there was about a couple of feet space for two persons. The situation was really getting a bit too crampy and uneasy, and the heated bus environment was drying our throats as we constantly sipped water to stay conscious. I was already feeling a bit nauseous with the heat and the sweat. in about some umpteenth attempts, the bus started the engine and throttled forward with the cold night air gushing in through the window.

In the meantime, another thing happened- the conductor had boarded an extra passenger in the bus and she had no seat available. The bus therefore had to turn back and get her down at the depot and start again on the same way. The only female passenger deserted us and we dolefully made our way into the silent delhi night. The clock showed it was already half past midnight and another 5-6 hours of journey was left for Haridwar.

After a couple of dusty and bumpy hours in the bus we arrived at a refreshment point where we all got down and had some food and fags. The bus again started after 30 minutes at that place, and this time we all dozed off peacefully.

It was already 6 am when we woke up at the sounds of the passengers, you always know that you destination was near when you heard such sounds. We got down at haridwar and I ran for a paid toilet. It was a great morning. We were nearing the thick of action and couldn’t wait to explore all that was waiting for us.

First stop hardwar

The morning air was refreshing for a change. We were pretty tired from the uncomfortable bus ride (thanks to the agents who promised us an air conditioned bus but ultimately accommodated us in a non a/c one). The much awaited trip for us was finally on its way and was rolling just as we imagined it to be. We took out some fags (we were stocked with about a week’s fag) and started our journey.

Breakfast was the next thing on our mind as we weren’t much of pilgrims. Though we were in Hardwar we didn’t feel the urge to get bestowed by the holiness of the place, but we did feel a lot of peace and quiet there in the morning. No hustle bustle, no chaos, no announcements over the mikes, no pilgrims, no noise...just the ghats and some devoted people who had come to take a bath in the river Ganges. The water seemed so much fresher than what we saw in UP and Bengal, and free of the mucky and gooey colour and feel. I almost wanted to touch the water and sprinkle it on my tired face, but seeing the rush and the current of the water I decided to postpone the idea.

We reached a pretty done up alleyway, full of advertisements and posters, chai and breakfast shops. Amongst that we noticed a nice restaurant totally Indian, rather desi, with lassi glasses and galebies on display. It pretty much brought a smile on our face as we entered. We ordered for a regular breakfast of puri and sabji and a glass of lassi. It was one of the most satisfying breakfast experiences for a very long time, as i had been staying out of home for a pretty long time and my culinary expertise fell flat when it came to the desi breakfast at this particular shop.

Converse- All Star

Converse is a brand I respect immensely as it gives me a feel of being different from the rest. The best thing about these shoes is that they are very versatile and redefine style its in own sweet manner. They look amazing with their aggressive, playful, yet classy appeal. I remember buying these shoes off a hi end shopping mall some 7 years back and instantly fell in love with the brand. I have been a devoted converse fan ever since and own 4 pairs of shoes from the them.

Converse- All Star was first produced in 1917 as ‘Chuck Taylor All Stars’ which targeted the basketball shoe segment. It has evolved into a cult product and has carved a niche for itself with the masses. The brand recall is immense and its almost at par with other major brands like Nike, Reebok and Adidas.

Converse was not particularly popular until basketball player Chuck Taylor adopted them as his preferred shoe. He was so impressed with the design that he became the shoe's leading salesman. After proposing a few changes to the shoe, the shoe got its current name and Chuck Taylor's signature on its ankle patch.

The likes of Chuck Taylor, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Avril Lavigne and many such celebs, be it in the field of music, sports, acting or politics…have really given this a cult status and people perceive this brand as something they can identify with. Its much more than ownership…its more of a sense of belonging to the same league as those who really influence them.

The designs of the shoes that they came out with were very simple yet very different from conventional designs. They were one of the first ones to come out with different materials and design for the shoes. Materials such as canvas (mainly used as a tent material), leather, suede, vinyl, denim, and hemp etc are used for the material of the shoes.

Consumers demanded more variety from these shoes - particularly with respect to colours in order to match basketball teams - so coloured and patterned shoelaces became popular to complement the two colours, black and white, available before 1966. Afterwards, more colours and styles became available. Low-top or "Oxford", high-top, and later knee-high, versions were produced. Some versions of the shoe were offered without laces, held up instead by elastic. When Converse was bought by Nike and operations were moved from the United States to overseas, the design saw a few alterations. The fabric is no longer 2-ply cotton canvas but 1-ply "textile" and many wearers have noticed different patterns of wear.

The company really didn't brainstorm much to come out with different fits and designs for the different age groups, sex or professions of the customers, but followed a unique format where the shoes were unisex which could be custom designed and modified, just like a high end auto mobile.

The star logo inscribed into a circle and the ‘all-star’ brand name written at the heel of the shoe is really fascinating and appeals to the crowd. Youngsters have welcomed this brand with all their faith and they love the brand with all their heart. It's becoming a challenge to find musicians who don't own a pair of converse all-star!

I am a big fan of this brand and have been using it for at least 6-7 years. The brand has now catapulted into other merchandise as well such as bags, caps, apparels etc. it is very price friendly and at the same time gives us the sense of individuality. The brand owners have already become a club like a fraternity club, where they feel that the converse wearers belong to the same league.