Why Airtel DTH is Better Than Tata Play

 

Last year, I was forced to switch to Airtel DTH and give up my Tata Play connection. I was quite happy with my Tata Play (earlier, Tata Sky) connection and used to consider myself their loyal customer. I kept delaying switching to Airtel for more than a year and when I switched to it, I did not hope for any better service. But I was shocked to find Airtel much better than Tata Play!

The very first thing I noticed with Airtel DTH’s set up box was that if I switched off my TV/DTH, or if power cut happens, and DTH is back after a while, the TV started from the channel I was watching last! It was a great convenience and I liked it. It was only the beginning.

I noticed that the picture quality was much better on Airtel as compared to Tata DTH, although I discounted this by thinking perhaps because its machine was new for my TV.

The next great, or perhaps the greatest advantage I found with Airtel DTH was that it did not charge “extra” fee for HD channels. Tata Play/Sky used to charge a fixed monthly fee (perhaps Rs 150) just to watch any HD channel, even if only one. HD channels are costlier than SD channels anyway, and I did not understand why they needed to charge fixed monthly fee merely to enable HD quality. Airtel does not charge anything extra, and I am free to choose any number of HD channels along with other SD channels. The price difference between SD and HD channels is also very low, mostly Rs 5, for each channel. And this has enabled me to subscribe to many HD channels in my ala-carte list, and it greatly enhanced my TV viewing experience.

To summarize, I like Airtel DTH much more than my previous Tata Play DTH and I recommend Airtel DTH highly to everyone.

- Rahul

The Subversive User: How to Leverage a Social Media Platform While Actively Devaluing Its Influence

 

People often experience a dilemma regarding social media engagement. While they may harbour an aversion to social media platforms and acknowledge the documented negative impact on mental well-being, they remain reliant on them to access essential or unique content. Simultaneously, a strong desire exists to disrupt or fundamentally change the pervasive influence of social media. This article explores strategies to navigate this conflicted landscape, examining methods for utilizing platforms selectively while actively working to undermine their detrimental effects. We will present actionable insights to guide this approach.

Based on the information about how social media platforms generate revenue, you can choose to take actions that are within the bounds of a normal user's rights and the platform's standard functionality that would naturally reduce the value you bring to the platform's business model.

The social media platform's primary sources of revenue and value are:

1.  Advertising: Which depends on user engagement, viewable content, and ad clicks.

2.  Data Licensing: Which depends on the volume and quality of user-generated content (posts, likes, etc.).

3.  Subscriptions (Premium level/Badges): Which depends on paying users.

If your goal is to reduce your contribution to its resources or value, you could consider the following steps, which are simply ways to disengage or reduce your activity:

1. Reduce Ad Revenue Impact

a) Log out or use the platform less frequently: This directly reduces the number of ads you are exposed to and the ad impressions the social media platform can report.

b) Avoid clicking on any advertisements: Ad revenue is generated primarily when users engage with the ads.

c) Do not use the platform to follow links to other websites: The platform tracks which links drive traffic from their platform, which is a valuable metric for advertisers.

d) Use an ad-blocker (if your browser allows): This prevents ads from loading, reducing the platform's ability to show you advertisements.

2. Reduce Data and Content Value 

a) Stop posting new content: Posts, images, and videos are the "data" that social media platform licenses to researchers and businesses for trend analysis and AI training. Stopping your posts ends this contribution.

b) Delete your old posts/content: A social media platform’s content moderation and data licensing efforts may involve processing this older content. Deleting it removes that data.

c) Disable data sharing for AI: Go into your account settings and look for options related to sharing your data, especially for AI or machine learning purposes. Disabling this setting removes your content from use in training the social media platform's AI models.

d) Stop engaging with others' content: Liking, reposting, and replying are all "signals" that feed the platform's algorithm and provide valuable data on user interests and network connections. Stop using these features.

3. Consider Account Deactivation

The most definitive way to eliminate your drain on resources (i.e., server costs for your data/account) and your value to the company is to deactivate your account.

a) This removes your past and future content from the active data pool (though it usually takes about 30 days for full deactivation).

b) It eliminates you from their active user metrics, which are a critical measure of the platform's health for advertisers and investors.

Ultimately, a company's overall profitability is driven by its large user base, advertisers, and data consumers. An individual user's actions will only affect the profitability of the company in a negligible way, but consistently choosing non-engagement methods is the only way for you to ensure that your own presence on the platform does not contribute to its success.

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Disclosure: This article was developed with the assistance of an AI model.

 

The Not-So-Secret Sadness of Times of India

 

I happened to catch up with Times of India print newspaper on Diwali day. I thought to give its edit page a full read, since I was at leisure. I was shocked to see a disturbing pattern on its edit page. I shall describe why I say this.

The first piece of editorial on the left was titled “For A Happier Diwali”, giving away hint as if Diwali was not already happy enough. Its subtitle said, “Tinkering with IT and GST rates is paying off, but won’t push GDP into higher orbit without deeper reforms”. Fair enough. But why call the income tax and GST “reforms” as mere “tinkering”? And what an occasion to worry about GDP growth: Diwali? It is a known fact that the festive season gives big boost to the nation’s GDP! The following paragraphs did not point at any direction but just filled up the lines, and it ended with, “…needs doing to make next Diwali even brighter and happier.” Once again, the piece gave the feeling as if “this Diwali” is not bright and happy enough.

The second edit was titled, “Burning Question” (again a negative one) and talked about the incident in a pub in Bangalore where a woman suffered burn injury from a drink set on fire by a staff for amusement. The edit piece said that “hospitals in India are equipped to handle burn cases because of high incidents of bride burning”; how sick and twisted is the editor of Times of India!

The last piece, which is supposed to be a funny one, was written by a man with last name “Abraham” who made fun of Diwali sweets, calling India a diabetes capital of the world and discouraging people from eating sweets on Diwali and other festivals around this time of the year! What a “funny” occasion to bring such a piece on print: Diwali day.

The top most article by a guest, which is supposed to be most intellectual and best feature on the page, was titled, “Mumbai and Secret Sadness of Diwali”. Sadness of Diwali? The article basically said that Diwali in a big city like Mumbai has become defunct. This was clearly part of the “pattern”.

Second article in the middle basically asserted that Malayalam Film Industry was much better than Hindi Film Industry Bollywood. Again a “negative theme”, but at least it did not take direct potshots at Diwali.

Below that, the page brought “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon, showing a “car accident”. Ok.

The bottom piece was under section “The Speaking Tree” and I had high hopes that at least this piece on spiritualism would speak something positive about Diwali. But the article started with a quote from “Jalaluddin Rumi”, a Muslim mystic, and second para spoke about “Shakeel Badayuni”. Third paragraph started with “Urdu poet Niyaz Sherwani”. Fourth paragraph spoke about “There is a beautiful word for Deepawali in Persian”. The fourth paragraph started with line saying, “No festival is Hindu, Christian or Muslim.”. What? Next line said, “The festive spirit and ethos can never be confined to the narrow walls of religion”. I could not tolerate this nonsense any longer.

I am not a regular reader of ‘Times of India’ newspaper, and I wonder what sickness its editor is suffering from! On the day of Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival of a year, why is TOI edit page full of negative, sarcastic, defamatory and dehumanising content?

What do you think?

- Rahul

The hills that we climb (and do not realise)

When I was working at Infosys, there was a mountain (hill, to be precise) right beside the office campus. In fact, this whole area is hilly, and approx. half of the campus was clearly right up the hill. While catching office buses from the bus bay (during initial days I used to take bus for many months), we could be standing right at the bottom of the hill. The hill changed colour across the seasons. It turned green in rainy season, brown in the summer, and at one time, perhaps in autumn they used to burn down all the grass in a controlled manner and I could see the whole mountain burning right in front of my eyes. All these things I never imagined in my childhood that I would see, since I was born and brought up in the Himalayan plains where mountains were not always visible (except some rainy mornings, when we could see the Himalayas due to perfect air quality).

In my current job at another IT company, we have a cafeteria which has sitting arrangement in the open on the second floor, with a clear view of a big mountain. I guess the mountain is at only 3-4 kilometres from our office. While having coffee this morning in the cafeteria, I could see lot of birds in the sky, but those were coming from the direction of the mountain towards our office building or general population. There are lot of trees in the area, perhaps those birds had gone towards the mountain for gathering food during the day, and in the evening, they were all returning to the trees near the human habitat.

While having breakfast in the open cafeteria, sparrows and crows regularly visit and eat poha and other food items leftover either on the tables or from the discarded plates kept near the bin. I remember, even at Infosys, we used to have sparrows frequently running in the foot courts, having easy food. No need to go to the fields to collect grains or worms; just have cooked delicious (and cholesterol filled) food right from humans’ plates.

I also noticed that most of the birds which were returning from the mountains, were couples. We all know how birds live together as a couple all the time. It must be in their genes.

Finally, this evening, I realized that I have been living near the hills and the mountains for so many years now. If I go just half an hour from home, I can see big mountains, along with springs and rivers. In childhood we used to make drawings of mountains, rivers and springs. Especially those who live on the plains, we do not see mountains that often.

One interesting thing about life is that we forget what we got while we keep chasing what we want. Life is a mirage, and I remind myself very often not to chase it and not be part of the rat race.

It is much better to be content inside than flashy outside.

I wonder how the birds feel while they are flying in the sky or having food from humans’ plates in the food court, or while returning from the mountains along with their spouse, or while sitting idle on a tree. Is it a mix of happiness, thrill, fear, insecurity, boredom, like humans do, or is it something which humans have no idea about.

That, perhaps, I shall never come to know. But I shall try.

- Rahul

  

Depiction of Mob Violence in Media

 

Lack of sensitiveness in media is going from bad to worse. With CCTV cameras installed everywhere these days, there has been an explosion in availability of crime and accident videos. Such videos started filling social media first, then digital news, and finally TV news. These media houses do not even blur the images most of the time and do not even post a trigger warning – they just show the accident or crime video as if they are helping the humanity by their insensitive act.

Yesterday, a politician was attacked in Bengal and TV media kept showing his videos with huge amount of blood dripping from his face. Another poor man was lynched by a mob in UP and the internet and TV media showed his face at the crime scene. As I saw his face in picture, I became affected by it, with heart filled with pain and grief. Should I blame myself or the insensitive media for it?

The closest I have witnessed a mob action is when I saw a huge gathering near our village chowk where people were beating up a man. I asked what that was about and got to know that the man was caught red-handed stealing a “bicycle” and hence people were beating him up. I saw the man and he clearly looked drunk. People were hitting his head with their hands, boys were laughing and taking turns hitting him with fists, their faces beaming with pride, as if they were earning some kind of punya. Is that how it feels: beat up a weak unarmed man and feel you are the saviour of humanity? The scene was sickening. I remember the drunk man was neither crying nor shouting for help, but just moved in slow motion, as if in a hangover. Next day, there was no such news in any newspaper, which meant the man had survived the assault.

On one hand, our society is filled with blood thirsty parasitic mobs and on the other hand we have this media which has become their ‘cheerleader’ by showing their action in pictures and videos. No one cares anything about being sensible and caring about how some people can get affected by their content.

At its best, the society is becoming more like a fool’s paradise. In a fool’s world, perhaps we need to be a fool too, to thrive. Or may be a little drunk, like the guy who allegedly stole a bicycle from the roadside.

- Rahul

Nature: Up and Down

 

The Innocence and Sadness of Being Salman Khan

 

Most Hindi movie channels on TV show dubbed language films from the Southern states, filled all through with mindless violence, which make no sense. And then a few other TV channels show old Hindi movies which again makes little sense. I don’t know what will it take for the TV channels to realize that people would like to watch films of the current time, made in the same language, because otherwise how would one ‘connect’ with a film? But these TV channels are run part of bigger organizations and each need to have a movie channel, a news channel, a general entertainment channel, and so on. Therefore, there is little focus on quality, and customers are left to fend for themselves – meaning, keep browsing channels till a tolerable show can be found.

I happened to land on a movie channel which was showing an old movie of Salman Khan from the year 1990, meaning Salman Khan was 25 at that time. I watch him on the Bigg Boss show these days and hence am aware of how he is now. I was shocked to find how he was at the age of 25 in this old movie. 

In this old movie from 1990, his name was “Sajan”. In the film, he spoke so innocently, with such softness, that it is difficult to believe he was the same person that he is now. He was young, thin, with sensitive eyes and a soft voice. Nothing in the texture of his voice matched his current voice. No facial expression, nothing from his personality from that time matches his current self, as seen in Bigg Boss show on TV. Is this what ageing is – it makes the same person so “different”?

In the film, Salman Khan’s character falls in love with a girl, who again was young. I read now that it was her first film. Like Salman Khan, her expressions were also so pure in the film. There was not an iota of artificialness of acting. Salman Khan talked to her in the film in such a gentle manner. In the first scene when he sees her, he just stares at her for several minutes, as if the world had stopped. There is so much innocence in his face, which is remarkable.

At the same time, when I look at him in the reality show on TV now a day, he appears mostly bitter all the time. When he has to congratulate any participant, he gives an expression which is borderline hatred, and rest a mix of apathy, indifference, and bitterness. There is clear artificialness in his behaviour now. His bitterness seems like just an outward expression of sadness he feels inside. Otherwise, what else could explain it?

I am of course not in a position to judge his life situations or his journey, but I am just wondering based on what I see on screen and read in newspapers. It was a disaster that he did not marry. Looking at how he treated the actress in this film from 1990, it is clear that he was a good person and would have made a good ‘family man’. I am inclined to put lot of blame on his family for not getting him married at the right age, due to which he came to the situation where he did not want to marry at all. At the same time, from media reports, it seems he decided not to marry because the women he loved declined to marry him. Due to such things, I detest this whole business of falling in love. Falling in love is good only if the two get married. The one-sided love, or rejection in love, can harm a person’s psychology, like perhaps it did to Salman Khan.

I am still in shock to see no resemblance between Salman Khan of 1990 with his current self. His innocence replaced by sadness expressed in bitterness, I don’t know if it was worth it all for him. But I know, in the end, only we are the best judges of our lives, and no one else can take into account all the things we underwent, in order to be able to judge us. Therefore, I would definitely give him a benefit of doubt. And I shall keep wondering about the complexities of human life.

- Rahul

Threat of the Internet: Smartphone Zombies and Need for Digital Minimalism

 

Recently, actor Akshay Kumar shared an incident where his little daughter came across an objectionable content while playing an online game. The news was covered extensively in the media as a case for cyber awareness and cybercrime. But everyone knows that merely “awareness” is not enough, and the situation is only going to be worse with time.

Long ago, when I started using the internet, I came to understand that the internet was an ideal platform for people not accepted by the society. People looking for nudity, selling illegal drugs, defaming religions and insulting gods and revered figures, bullying, all which they could not do in real life, they were able to do so on the internet-based platforms. We come across so much negativity on the internet and we cannot just ignore everything saying, “it is only virtual”. Internet is not safe, and no one is doing enough to make it so.

The primary role of keeping the internet safe is on the internet-based platforms. Unfortunately, all sort of recklessness from these platforms is excused in the name of calling such companies “tech startups”. It is high time government should make it mandatory for all companies running these platforms to be registered and being under regulation for their practices and systems. It will benefit everyone in the tech ecosystem too.

The second role is with the government. They must stop seeing internet as a “virtual” media but need to regulate every aspect of the online world in the same manner as the physical businesses are regulated. Without government playing its role honestly, nothing can be achieved.

If we look at common worker class people like taxi and auto drivers, security guards, labourers, carpenters, etc, they spend most of their idle time at their work watching small videos on their smartphones. They are not even paying attention to what they are watching but are just glued to the screen as if they are worshipping God or meditating. Very often we see pedestrians and people on the roads, totally lost in their smartphone screens, as if they are all in meditation. The situation is only going worse with time.

I believe one thing fuelling the online world is “cheap data”. Telecoms have come up with around Rs 250 per month recharge and give users enough data to waste whole day, along with limitless phone calls which has made all taxi drivers become ‘phone-zombies’. The world is increasingly resembling a scene from some science fiction film, because of such robotic, zombie like people lost in their phones due to cheap data.

I was thinking if there were ways to change this situation. One theoretical idea was to make the telecoms increase the data prices, so that the monthly recharges needed for limitless data increases to a limit which starts pinching people. Higher cost will reduce demand, and people will start spending more time in real life. But, as individual customers, we are not empowered enough to influence the telecoms into raising prices. Government can certainly do that, but I am not sure if they are interested.

At the same time, there is need for public awareness campaigns about “digital minimalism” and for promoting offline alternatives like books, and community events.

Given the present situation in our country, where government is promoting digitization instead of discouraging it, the road towards my ideal world is yet to take shape. Perhaps the developed Western countries can take a lead in encouraging digital minimalism and maximizing real world social interactions, to show the world a way forward.

- Rahul

We can understand from Mridul Tiwari how Youtube is winning and Bollywood is losing

 

This year too, Bigg Boss 19 on Colors TV has an interesting cast. We can notice an increasing trend of bringing in Youtubers and Social Media influencers as participants on TV screen, perhaps in the expectation that each one of them would help promote the TV show on their digital channels, giving the show easy and free publicity. It is not a bad strategy. But where this strategy fails is when most of these social media influencers turn out to be introverts and not much happening, unlike how they appear in their online content. In the current season of Bigg Boss, we can see how Awez Darbar, Mridul Tiwari and Praneet More are not impressing the host Salman who criticizes them every weekend.

I heard in the show that Mridul Tiwari is a very popular Youtuber. But on the TV show, he just plays the “gentleman”, keeps silent amidst chaos, just tries to be friends with everyone, has been more comfortable with a set of people who have taken dominant role themselves leaving him in a hopeless situation where he faces threat of elimination any weekend, just like Awez.

I searched for his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheMriDul and found that he has nearly 2 million subscribers! I watched a couple of his videos, including one on Raksha Bandhan and other about Exams, and eureka moment! I loved his content!

I noticed that Mridul’s youtube videos perfectly capture the nerve of common man’s life in India. The content is funny, acting by all actors/actresses in his videos is excellent, camera work, background sound, direction, everything is perfect. Then instantly it came to my mind why Bollywood is missing to earn money these days, ever since they upped their “premium game” by showing mostly Westernized lifestyle and ignoring the real life in India. Mridul’s youtube videos show how Youtube is winning and Bollywood is losing in India.

So far I was skeptical about Youtubers whom I thought were overhyped, but after seeing the content created by Mridul, which are btw of about 30 minutes length each, which is the time of a typical episode of a TV series too, I am tending to change my opinion. All these actors who act in Mridul’s videos are extremely talented and deserve accolades just like regular TV and film artists get. Given the lack of resources they have and still the mind-blowing creativity they unleash, they are as big artists in their own world, as are the best actors, writers and directors in the film industry.

It is high time Bollywood and Indian film industry should stop aping Western films and put their feet on the ground, showing content rooted in the real life of real people in our country. When they do that, there won’t be any complaints about lower footfalls and fading movie businesses. They need to realize the fact that Youtube is the biggest competitor of Bollywood now. 

- Rahul

Travelogue: Bike Trip Around Pune Lonavala