have you had the misfortune of sampling the actve services on tatasky? especially the actve stories or wizkids..extremely primitive and lame animation, which are, in most cases, nothing more than static jpegs with some music and voiceover thrown in for measure. given the advancements in animation globally, and the rising appetite of indians for better quality products, how can tatasky continue to dish out such a pathetic product? sample these 4 images, which were telling a story to us about three blind mice…extremely poorly executed. i could have browsed through a PPT rather than getting my kid and myself listening to it!

“Subscribe for Traffic Updates during peak hours from Monday to Saturday on your mobile phone through SMS @ Rs 99/month.”
Why would i do that? Still trying to figure out why we need this service in the first place…a number of reasons for my dilemma:
1. i am expected to pay 100 bucks a month to keep getting SMSes which tell me traffic is heavy in these 10 areas of delhi…and i may have no plans to go to those 10 areas. what if i want to go to a 11th area not covered?
2. like most people, i pretty much know where i need to go on a particular day, and as long as i’m traveling most days on my route, i know what to expect at what time
3. how do i know information being provided is accurate enough? if the sms says traffic is heavy at 11 am, how do i know if it will be heavy at 11.30 am too?
4. do we really have so many alternate routes in delhi, to avoid taking the one which is forecasted as heavy traffic?

here’s another one just uncovered from the mother’s pride site
visit the site yourself, and see for yourself how desperate they are getting to enroll kids…thru the promise of a brand ambassador route…multi level marketing comes calling to play school admissions….god bless the kids and the parents who end up getting associated with mother’s pride…

We got our daughter to take part in her first baby show, the much marketed and “acclaimed’ Mother’s Pride baby show, held on 22nd March, 2009. We went to the Galleria branch (Gurgaon). What a load of crap! Mother’s Pride has completely lost it. They don’t even have any regrets of chasing money like crazy, at the cost of little babies…here are my 2 cents of how bad Mother’s Pride Baby Show is, and how they are taking unaware parents for a ride..
- The contact numbers so wonderfully advertised in all leading publications were never reachable hence the only option was to visit the premises and register for the show
- Once at the venue, everyone was stuffed in a basement hall and kids made to dance with some prizes being given…imagine how comfortable kids will be with 50 kids and 30 mothers all present on a small stage trying to dance
- This was followed by an “evaluation” round which took place on the 2nd floor. A 10 question list was to decide the most aware parents. I still do not know if 20 parents got the same max marks, then how will they decide?
- There were enough hints being given throughout the ordeal that parents should meet their counselors of mother’s pride to know about the registration formalities
- The “doctor” checkup followed, and the medico only asked 4 questions to the parents, without really bothering to look at the kid even once. weird.
- Now comes the killer. The evaluation, which was supposed to determine the following: most active baby, sunniest smile, sparkling eyes, friendliest baby, most attractive baby, healthiest baby was all over in 15 seconds. A 20 something teacher, wearing 1 kilo of makeup, getting my child to play with blocks for 10 seconds, decides all of these categories? Give me a break, Mother’s Pride.
- When i called up the next day to know the results, i was not surprised that my kid had not won in any category. Had read earlier too that those who register on the day are the ones who win the prizes. MP is taking everyone else for a ride. And one more thing, when i asked for the evaluation criteria, i was told by the attendant that “councilor” was one of the criteria!!
- Of the total 1.5 hours i wasted at mothers pride, 45 minutes were spent in the councilor room. Being shown an album which is a collection of 50 photos accumulated throughout the 1 year stay of the child. And guess how much they charge the parents for that? 7500/-
- I would have heard the councilor say at least 5 times that they are giving me a discount of 7000 bucks valid only if i register today at the show. And many do get fooled by this. The marketing hype they have created has resulted in many many gullible parents being fooled into submission, thinking that they are getting the best for their babies. But i beg to differ, mother’s pride. You are simply a money minting machine, and you do not care about babies at all. There’s a nice post here if you want to read more about how they are taking everyone for a ride.

I do not know how well India is going to take to IPL. I do not know how much sustained interest viewers will show, for 44 days. I do not know how the rampant commercialization of IPL will affect the cricket lovers/experts. I do not know whether all the hype and hoopla is warranted or not. I do not know whether IPL will be a superhit, or a superflop.