as I see it

Some of you would already be aware that I signed up with Uber as a commuter few days back.

#Delhi, meet some of your new Uber Commuters: @DeepakAbbot, @VineetKaul, @quickdraw_46 and @KhuranaPrateek. #UberON https://t.co/IUSx4puXkL

— Uber Delhi (@Uber_Delhi) May 2, 2016

And that I completed my first ride just 3 days after that.

Have been wanting to share my experience but waited to complete a few more rides, which eventually I didn't because of reasons mentioned in the second half of the post. And so I thought, I might as well pen down the experience from that one single ride for now. Before I do so, want to specify that my motivation to sign up for this was purely curiosity and definitely not money. Also maybe the thought that more people can move around using the same amount of fuel which I am consuming by traveling alone.

Just finished my first @Uber_Delhi ride as a driver (commute). Man was it tough! All coz of my #firstworldproblems! pic.twitter.com/E7XfROUWif
— Prateek (@KhuranaPrateek) May 5, 2016

I commute from Delhi (home) to Gurgaon (work) and back every day and I logged on to the Uber Partner app, ready to go "Online".

Few things about the app:

It shows the map with an overlay of random geometrical shapes in different colours that indicate surge values in the entire area (zoom out to get the surge view of the entire city).
There is an option to enter the destination in the app (after I slide a button to go 'Online') and Uber's algorithm then pushes only those pickup requests which are on my way. Not sure if the same option is available with regular GOs and Xs.

What could be a good indicator of demand for rides even with surge pricing is that even in the few seconds lag between me going online and entering my destination, I got 2 pickup requests which I had to ignore (there is no option to reject). Whenever you get a pickup request you see a pin on the map indicating the pickup location along with the address, estimated time to reach there, rating of the rider and type of car requested (GO, Pool, X, etc). So after ignoring these 2 requests (I think driver is given around 10 seconds to either accept the request after which it disappears from his screen and perhaps goes to the next driver). Those 10 seconds were way too less to comprehend the amount of information on the screen (I did want to be sure of the rider rating and had made up my mind to ignore any request with rating less than 4.5), especially when the request comes in while you are driving.

So, once I managed to enter my destination and started from office towards home, I got a pickup request from somewhere close by in less than km of me starting from my origin. I was crawling in the heavy traffic when I got a call. As soon as I received it and before I could say 'hello', I heard "Bhaiya, booking aayi hogi XXX ke naam se". I spoke to the rider and told them about my location and estimated time before I reach.

I took around twice the estimated time that was shown to me because of heavy traffic. The rider sat in and surprisingly knew about Uber Commute. I learnt about the destination and sighed as it was Dwarka, which was off my route as I could no longer take the highway (a problem that occurs even when I choose UberPOOL as a rider myself) but still pepped myself up for this new experience and began driving. Little did I know how tough would the next 45 minutes be. Before I explain 'tough', few things about me and my usual driving behavior.

MBTI pesonality test indicates my type as ENTP.
I like listening to loud music or at least FM with volume levels anywhere between 15-25. Music/mood also at times dictates how I drive.
I do fiddle with my phone occasionally when the car is idle (in jam or a signal) to check notifications, traffic situation on maps, etc.
I turn off the engine on signals longer than 40 seconds or when traffic doesn't seem to move at all (habit I have ever since I started driving as it helps save fuel, lesser pollution)

Now in the approximate ride duration of 45 minutes, the rider barely spoke. If I remember correctly it was once at the start of the trip when I was told there is a route from the other side which could help avoid traffic, 2-3 reminders of right/left turns and then once at the end of the trip to stop. Also, to avoid imposing my music (and high volume) preferences, I turned off the music player as well.

I am type ENTP! Though the 'E' here stands for 'extroversion' and not 'extrovert' still this video (at 00:31) perfectly describes how I usually feel - "Insaan kaha hain?"

And here I was sitting next to an insaan for 45 minutes but that insaan barely spoke! Plus no music not even the virtual insaan in form of the RJ on FM (which I eventually couldn't bear and turned on some music, albeit at volume level ONE). And I wasn't even fiddling with my phone because that's most likely to give the impression of being distracted as a driver and that's the last thing even I would want as a rider.

To top it up further, I was driving cautiously, conscious of the fact that I will be rated perhaps (eventually got 5 star)? Heavy traffic and the knowledge that this trip means I would take more than twice the time I usually take to reach home didn't help either. And my OCD of turning off the engine while idle was being challenged in name of the summer heat that would cause discomfort to the rider if I turned the AC off.

Alas, the 45 minutes got over sooner than I expected and as soon as I heard "yaha left pe rok do", a picture of only a few hundred rupee notes in my wallet flashed in my head and the thought of further activity just in case this is a Cash trip added to my already eventful experience. When I confirmed if I should end the trip, I was glad to hear, "Yes, thanks.. and the ride will be paid through PayTM" #win.

With my car still stationed in one corner of the road, I immediately increased the volume of the music player, reached out to my phone and returned a call which I had to disconnect because I was on trip.

I thought about whether I should stay online or go offline and head home and did the latter because I had been driving in heavy traffic.

Talking about payouts, like has been confirmed by another Uber Commute Driver, the surge amount was passed on to me and Uber charges a 20% commission on ride + surge charges.

Post that first ride, few factors have played on my mind that have prompted me to not go for another trip. And no, my own preferences with regards to music, phone, talking, etc are not responsible for this.

What if the next trip is to Dwarka again? That's off my route!
Extra ride time. I seldom enjoy driving in heavy traffic. Doing that towards the end of the day post office leading to extra commute time is not very enjoyable an idea. I don't do trips in the morning because I may get late for work.

I've given it a try once while returning from Gurgaon on a Saturday and I did get a trip but it was again Dwarka so I had to call and refuse which I didn't like at all.

If you look at the larger picture, Uber's intent is simple - more people in fewer cars which according to me is a great initiative. What will really help me particularly and other commute drivers as well is if Uber can display the destination of the rider for commute rides (that's the whole purpose for commute right?). That way I can avoid Dwarka trips and wait for other ones. Today, I just don't log on because I only get to know the destination when the rider tells me and then refusing isn't the best thing to happen.

Having said that, I'll still give it a few more tries on other non-work travel routes as well (like I just did an hour back though I didn't get any ride requests). As far as my personal preferences while driving are concerned, if not anything, I think such experiences are lessons on patience :)

I’ll start with saying I am slightly tensed. I don’t know if it’s actually fair calling it tensed but I am certainly not feeling relaxed. There is certain degree of uneasiness that I am experiencing since last night and it is only increasing. The reason of course is the big clash tonight. Even though it’s T20, which many cricket pundits don’t consider as ‘real cricket’ but nevertheless, it is a match on one of the finest cricket grounds in the world, in the biggest T20 tournament and it’s India vs Pakistan in a (sort of) must win situation for India for more than one reasons (present situation and past history).

This is surely not the first time India is playing against Pakistan and this is not the first time I will be watching this contest. In fact, the last time they played in WCT20 in Sri Lanka, I was there at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo watching it with a few Pakistani supporters by my side who I met earlier in the day in Colombo itself. The cover image used on this post was in fact clicked on that day (September 30, 2012). But still, I have experienced something different this time. That is the role of the Internet and all things digital.

Exposure to comments of R.Ashwin comparing this match to “border rivalry” and Waqar Younis suggesting that history can be rewritten and that having lost the first match despite being the pre-tournament favourites, it’s India who would be under pressure was almost instant and recurring every since the comments were made thanks to News websites and their apps and the social media. There is nothing new with pre-match comments from players, ex-cricketers and coaches indulging in mind games but what is definitely relatively newer is fans and supporters indulging in this directly.

I really appreciated the punctuality of #PakvsInd trending on Twitter as soon as clock struck 00:00 hrs last night. It’s a different story that it changed to #IndvsPak when I woke up today morning but I was amazed to see SIX of the Top Ten trends on twitter in Pakistan being directly related to this match. India has just one #IndvsPak which emulates the Worldwide trends tally. Is it fair to assume then that the Pakistani fans are feeling much more pressure than their Indian counterparts? And I would like to believe that it has more to do with the history of Pakistan not having won even a single match against India in a World Cup that is making them restless, uneasy and abusive too.

There was a hashtag #IndiaRonaNahi trending for a brief period last night and as you might have guessed the tweets on this hashtag were aggressive in nature, some abusive, few trolling and I spotted 3 tweets (from Pakistan twitterati) condemning the use of this hashtag and accusing it of spreading negativity.

Move away from these hashtags and my timeline is flooded with memories/rituals/predictions/analysis of the match. Similar but much subdued is the case on Facebook.

There was also a fake scorecard doing the rounds (of course by the Pakistani twitterati) suggesting a thrashing defeat for India. A closer look at the scorecard and you see that despite receiving flak for his comment of being loved more in India than Pakistan, despite innumerable failures, despite being mocked at for multiple occasions of announcing and coming out of retirement, they see Shahid Afridi as their brightest jewel, the one they believe would create the turning point today. That, honestly, gives me a lot of confidence and also relieves me of a bit of the unnatural, unnecessary pressure I am subjecting myself to just by exposing myself to these digital imprints.

I can’t help but compare this with the good old days when the discussions would largely be in the classroom, school bus, playgrounds or in cases where you hear people discussing it in the market or discussions between relatives, etc. The exposure was so limited and consequently the scope of the discussion and the limited perspectives. And that what the Pakistani fans would be upto in the run up to the event was something that crossed my head rarely and even if it did my canvas of imagination was pretty limited too. But now, the only choice I have to keep myself out of all this exposure (which honestly I don’t want to) is to lock myself in a room with no TV or Internet access. I can only imagine what The XI would go through with the media, Internet, people around, hotel staff, groundsmen and many others all staring at them like those villagers with eyes full of hope looking at Bhuvan! The villagers would’ve had to pay huge sums of money had they lost but what we, the fans and supporters, have here is nothing more than pride and ego at stake and that being amplified to infinity thanks to digital mediums that allow us to have face-offs, emulate sledging and troll countrymen and supporters of the two teams directly, in real-time with just a small handheld device.

Nevertheless, I’ve bookmarked a few tweets which I hope I would get a chance to reply to towards midnight today. Feel free to assist me on framing befitting replies to any or all of these and let’s hope Dhoni & Co. give us the opportunity to be able to post them :)

This is a follow up of post on my quest to find the best Butter Chicken in Delhi. I wrote about this here and to summarise, these were the restaurants in the consideration set

- Minar, Connaught Place
- Moti Mahal, Daryaganj
- Kake Da Hotel, Connaught Place
- Kwality, Connaught Place

Apart from these I had personally tried

- Invitation, Ashok Vihar
- Galena, Gole Market

After I published my last post, I got 2 more recommendations

- Gulati, Pandara Road
- Rajinder Da Dhaba, Safdarjung

Additionally, I also tried a new place

- Above and Beyond, Kirti Nagar

And the top two places to savour sumptous Butter Chicken are

1. Invitation, Ashok Vihar
2. Above and Beyond, Kirti Nagar

Galena would have been third but has unfortunately shut down.

All others except Gulati (which is average) are a waste. The dish they serve in the name of Butter Chicken is anything but Butter Chicken.

One more place I have heard about is Havmore, Pandara Road (next to Gulati's). I sincerely hope it takes the number 3 spot. Would update once I try!

[UPDATE Apr 16, 2017] - Late in updating but I tried Havmore, Pandara Road and Moti Mahal (Mahipalpur). While Havemore did not make the cut, I was pleasantly surprised with Moti Mahal (Mahipalpur). Was overwhelmed to an extent that I think I'll try all top 3 again to reshuffle ratings - Yes, was that good!

Image source: Gail (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gail_thepinkpeppercorn/3240490130)

Talvar is based on the infamous 2008 Arushi Talwar murder case (though the name of the movie is not explicitly based on the name of the family involved). A content-driven, reel representation of what happened (and could have happened) in real life, Talvar, is a fast-paced movie that ensures that you don’t skip a scene or a dialog.

It is the distant cousin of the Japanese film Rashomon in trying to portray different versions of the same incident. For all those who have followed the case in media, this will be like a recap with an added layer of turn of events that was perhaps hidden from public view or is purely a work of fiction, nonetheless, fitting the story perfectly well and making it for an interesting watch.

With the major exception of names being changed (but easy to relate to), you get a feeling of knowing the story beforehand and just then it blends perfectly well with details you were not exposed to (or the work of fiction as mentioned above). The film highlights the shoddy first investigation which had worked against the investigation officers in constructing evidences to firmly establish the motive of the murder and zero down on the killer. This is followed by a reel life portrayal of the investigation being handed over to CBI (CDI in the movie) and subsequently to a different CDI team.

Call it fiction or depiction of ‘true rumors’, the movie touches upon the influence of bureaucracy, corruption and self-interests in the judicial system which force truth to take a back seat with selfish interests steering the turn of events. If into the movie you tend to believe that the incidents presented are indeed reality, you can’t help but chuckle at a lot of small actions, their interpretations and then their presentation as evidence and consequently going by the initial assumption, also pity the ordeal that the family went through.

Meghna Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj have weaved the story with extreme intricacy and it has been equally supported with some excellent performances by Irrfan Khan, Konkana Sen Sharma and Neeraj Kabi who ensure that you continue to discover suspense in a story you have read, heard and seen over and over again.

Watch the trailer here

And a few days have passed since I started using the OnePlus One. Quite a few people asked me to tell them how is the phone before perhaps they buy a lesser known Chinese brand phone, so here I pen down my views.

I'll start with positives and will start with the design. Its beautiful. The "Sandstone" back and the metallic bezel around the screen make it look awesome. And its not because I am biased, its indeed a very good design.

Hardware - Super fast, snappy. There are of course no problems usually in a new device with monstrous specs. This one is no exception. Its super fast.

User Experience - This one comes with a custom ROM - CyanogenMod which is essentially Stock Android modified a bit to add some useful tweaks that make life simpler. For those who do not know about Custom ROM, it is Android, so no worries.

CM (CyanogenMod) has provided 3 profiles to manage battery - Power Save, Balanced and Performance. I've definitely observed minor lags in "Power Save" mode and that's quite expected.

There is also a "known issue" with multi touch while typing, which effectively annoys the hell out of someone who is pretty used to typing on a phone with two hands and with decent enough speed. So what actually happens is that if I type with my usual typing speed, it tends to miss a few characters every few characters. There are workarounds, but at the moment they are just workarounds. Good thing is that its a "known issue" and a fix has been promised (because its been identified as a glitch which can be fixed via a software update).

Screen - Beautiful, wonderful, its a treat to watch videos on this.

Size - Its a big phone. I have big hands. Its not that easy to use. So keep that in mind. It took me time to get used to the size but still its not as convenient to use as was my Nexus 4. This is something I already knew, hence not complaining. One good thing that they've done with the design, however, is the placement of the power and volume buttons. Both are on each side of the device and placed in the lower half of the upper half of the phone. That makes it slightly better because it doesn't require you to stretch your hands all the way to click a button.

Battery Life - The next revolution in smartphones should ideally be the one which can promise a week's battery life (or at least 2-3 days). That, however, seems like a dream. OnePlus One does phenomenally well on this front. Attached are the pictures of my phone with yesterday's usage. With my Nexus 4 it would have meant charging it more than 2 times for the same usage. Bottomline - I don't carry my charger with me. And I don't remember where I kept my power bank. B-)

Its hard to buy One - All of you who are interested in buying this must be aware that it's not available over the shelf. They are following an invite-only system which honestly was irritating. Even after buying this phone, I haven't received any invites which I can use to share with others (which was ideally supposed to happen as mentioned on various forums). I have read that they would be moving to a "pre-order" mode of sale starting next month. No confirmation on dates, however, we can wait and watch.

Summary - Its an A+ or rather One+. Worth buying if you can. Alternatively, you could wait for the iAnnouncement tonight and pay double/triple the price for specs am pretty confident would fall short of beating the OnePlus One. The other big announcement is likely next month and that's the Nexus 6 (if at all). That I do think would have similar or better specs but getting your hands on that would at least take 4-5 months from now.

And without making any comparisons to any other device, just remember, its a big phone. If you are fine with it, get it else look for other options. As far as the multi-touch glitch is concerned, I am confident it'll be fixed before you could buy one.

as I see it

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