Of Indian Police, Humiliation and The Butterfly Effect...

I always recollect how small things can change your perspective of life completely. Though the incident did not change anything for me except it took away my dignity, made me run like a mad guy at 1 am in the Night and made me sit in the police station whole day....and trust me it is not very comforting.
As any place in India, Infosys is a crowded place. 25,000 people working and commuting daily to outskirts of the city working for a single company in fact creates brotherhood.I stay 30 km (around 19 miles) from the place of my work in Hinjewadi. Commuting on daily basis was as hard as the work itself. The unruly traffic, summer heat of 40 °C (104°F) and horrendous carbon soot in the air makes smoking cigarette safer than breathing air . I am sure most of the people spent around 2 hours commuting back and forth to office. That translates to 10 hours of commute per week! You can clearly see the faces of workers marching to their desks, cursing them selves " One more day...and that's it...I am done with this company"


Recently (2007) our company had constructed a huge parking lot called MLPL Most of the people try to save Rs 50 ($1) parking fee by parking their car on the road just outside.
The company watchmen would come out with whistle blowing on top of their lungs "Fhurr..Fhurr"
"Do not park the car here saheb...It is prohibited!". In India is a country of divisions and sub divisions. Divisions are in the form of religions, castes, money, intelligence. A software engineer however worthless he/she may be, He/She is always at a higher strata than the watchman. The Software  Engineer, already frustrated by commuting, retaliates back by shouting "I AM PARKING HERE, DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!" . The poor lower strata watchman watches haplessly.

So my story begins. It was in 2007, I parked my car outside of Infosys. I was "working" late till 9 pm and it was time to retire to home. I packed all my belongings and was ready to go. I then realized my electronic car key was not in my pockets! Damn! I might have lost outside Infosys. Since the place is unsecured I ran to see if my car is still there. With an electronic key it is so easy to locate a car and steal it. I heaved a sigh of relief to see my car still standing there in dark at the corner of the road. 
I had no option other than going back 30kms to home and 30 kms back and get my keys! It was almost about to be 10pm in the night and I had hunger pangs, but I ignored them!

I caught hold of a call center taxi driver and asked whether he can take me back to home and get the key. He demanded a hefty price of Rs. 300. At that time it was a lot of amount but I agreed to that, what option did I have? The driver's mouth was fully red with his 'Gutka' and the taxi's gutkha smell gave me a  nausea. My cell phone battery also started going down. Nokia 3530 was not a very good friend when you needed it!  All things DO come together!

So I took the key from my home and returned back to Infosys at around 1am in the morning. Hunger still in my stomach and a dead battery. While coming back it just came to my mind "what if somebody else found the key and took the car away?" I just laughed off this thought, this can never happen to me! .   

 The driver dropped me on the ill lit road. To my horror THE CAR WASN'T THERE! My nightmares had come true! Somebody had stolen my car...I went up and down the road at in the night like crazy!
For a middle class person like me the car meant a lot! Loosing it was not an option especially when the car was my dad's! I was almost in tears! Damn! I went inside Infosys to see if the car was towed. The security informed me that it was not and you are screwed! I searched everywhere and decided it was time to lodge a police complaint.

I went to Police station at the Hinjewadi corner. It was dimly light by a "zero" bulb. All of the Police were asleep in their  striped under garments, some on the ground, some in chairs.All of them snoring in different frequencies. I went to the one who was on the chair and spoke in Marathi. With sleepy eyes he said "Don't worry,go home, come tomorrow" and slept off. I woke him again and he grew irritated "Go home, your friend must have taken it". I dismissed him and insisted that they lodge a report. Indian police in general are scared of the so called "educated lot" for their good connections. He agreed and started scribbling on a small piece of scrap paper in his pocket. I recounted him everything and wondered if this is how they lodge a report. He said he will inform the control posts and told me to come tomorrow morning and slept off again.

I had no option but to take a cab back to home! It was 3 am in the morning and I was going back to home in tears, thinking of my stupidities! How can I be so careless? The cab driver was consoling me, "It is very common to have cars stolen in these parts...so don't worry...some terrorist must have taken it for a joy ride.."  I just hoped the terrorist was a suicide bomber and not a car bomber.
So after an ordeal of 7 hours, I reached home for the day at 4 am. Facing my parents was hard enough and ended up answering all sorts of nagging questions. Surely they must be thinking I am an ASS. I had my dinner even though my hunger was long gone! I decided to charge my dead cellphone as I continued my dinner. As soon as the cellphone charged I got an SMS sent at 10 pm from my friend in my project "KEY FOUND IN THE CREVICE OF YOUR CHAIR". Damn it! I immediately call him. He told me one of my project-mate had found the key and taken the car to his home! Who the HELL does that!?  All my nightmare happened just because my key slipped from my pocked and fell in my chair's crevice! I don't believe that!  And thus my nightmare ended....Well! Not just yet, I still had 10 more hours to endure the pain.

Next morning, I collected my car from the project mate and went to the police station to tell that everything is good and I got my car back.  He told me to sit in a dirty rickety chair. He refused to believe me. He told me "How can he just take somebody else's  car to his home?" His question was right but I had no answers. He told me to call my project mate to the police station. I didn't, I said it was silly mistake from my side. It soon became a tug-o-war between the police and me. He insisted that I call him and he would interrogate my project mate. Since the project mate was from Bihar  I totally protected him as I felt the police would harass him like shit! The police said that I need to talk to his boss.He kept me waiting for 4 more hours in the station. I saws cases of a drunk woman stabbing her husband, man stabbing his friend , thief getting stabbed by a crowed!  Today everybody was stabbing each other.....
I finally had to call my "connection" to get the things resolved.... I was free by 6pm.
The key in the chair's crevice had caused enough damage to my crevice!

I don't why this episode happened? Was it malice, co-incidence, stupidity or sheer bad luck....
Best of the opinions state that it was combination of all FOUR!



 

 

Freedom to Defame? - Rok Sako toh Rok Lo!

(This article is not meant to be read by anybody and is private!)
In 2005, when I was a naiive kid, I dreamt big. I wanted to be a management guru, have a pony tail of my own. I wanted to get admitted to IIPM for its world class MBA, but all my dreams came crashing down when I was rejected from IIPM, the best B-grade school on earth. I went into depression. Maybe , I was the only candidate in the world to be rejected by IIPM. I would not be able to learn from my guru Mr. Prof. Arindhim Chaudhari.
But my thirst for knowledge did not reduce here. Like Eklavya, I continued to follow my guru whatever he did , right from directing "movies" to running "institutes".

IIPM Ad - Since when did India start having springs?

Recently I saw the NEWS that DOT had blocked 73 links critical of my guru. I feel its totally justified!

What is our country up-to? Can't a "honest-modern day-rich Robinhood"  make his living by fooling rich? There are loopholes in the law which rich and famous take advantage of. Why do you want to be unfair to only him?

What enraged me even more was the way CNN-IBN conducted interview of  my guru.They grilled my guru back and forth! I curse the host of the show!#$%@&!

What right they have to grill the guy black and blue...? Who cares about UGC recognition? Who cares about the jobs? NOT ME!

Sunny paaji pleej,  stop mee!!

Leaving everything aside, I was just going through one of the movie reviews to see what people say about "Rok Sako to Rok Lo", a movie which he directed and claimed that it can never be a flop.
It was his baby - his first movie as a director! And it is one of the greatest movies ever made! (tears rolling down my cheeks)

He even  rightly cursed "Bollywood" for lack of creativity. What has Bollywood produced till now?
 
The advertisements for the movie in the news papers would be large full page. They looked cheap even by 90's standards. The graphics were poor like most of his websites even today (2013). I realized why my guru would make his websites look cheap.Because his target audience is cheap! Great marketing philosophy! He might not have "world class professors" or even qualified professors for that matter but he surely has a team of talented web scouts to search articles about him and IIPM

Lovely nooo.....

I remember having seen this movie in 2004 without much expectations. It shook me mentally. I could not distinguish between effeminate Hero "Yash" and masculine heroine "Manjari" and the dancing dude "phantom" aka Sunny Deol. All the three looked same to me! what a melange! Critics said it was a copy of Amir Khan Movie 'Jo Jita Wohi Sikandar'! What bull crap conspirators!

Imdb in 2011 Snapshot -thanks to waybackmachine!

 I think few months ago (2012) my guru came to know of a website called IMDB, a place where movies are reviewed. His heart broke when he saw people rated his movies 2.7/10! How can a classic movie like Rok sako.... be rated 2.7?  The lowest amongst any movie. This was surely a conspiracy of other directors threatened by my Guru's Genius!

 I would have never in my life thought of it, my guru is so intelligent! He employed the cheapest labor you can get, after family, to take care of this skewed rating, his Students. To pass any exam in IIPM  you need to write a review of this movie in IMDB and give it 10 Stars, it rightfully deserves! 

Here is the link to the reviews: Rok Sako toh Rok Lo Reviews Imdb

I am happy to see that it has reached a rating of 5.7! Way to Go sir! If you do some detective work you can find that any reviewer who have given 10 stars to the move has reviewed only his movies! and there are atleast 100 of them! wow!

Imdb in 2013 Snapshot

If you follow the link you will realize his genius. 
 Imdb Reviewer profile

I am wondering, why all of a sudden my guru woke up after 8 years to do these tricks on imdb?

And where did these students find the copies of the movie - even pirates have not copied it!?
I am sick of searching copies on the internet, even the torrent of the movie is not available. I am sure it will be a cult classic on the lines of Gunda.Mark my words!


My advice to Mr Chaudhari:

1. Continue fooling people because rich people with dumb kids deserve to be fooled.
    If our politicians are doing it , why not you? In fact you should run for elections like your dad!

2. You need more colorful dresses...3-4 colors are just not enough for a "professor".
    Also let me know where you buy your spectacles from?

 Please don't call me ugly.... you Mo#$%r!

3. You need to make taller claims - start a parallel government - Think beyond just thinking!

4. You should starr in "Fair and lovely" commercials - along with SRK.

5. Write more "self-help" books , think beyond "chickens", think bigger , Count your "ostriches" before they hatch.

6. "9 P's" are not enough in this modern world we need more Pees. I think "24 P's" would suffice till  2014.

7 .Register as many domain names as you can. Right form fakeiipm.com, fraudiipm.com to  iipmyousuck.com so that those stupid bloggers cant take advantage of you.

8. Love you voice modulation! I know girly voice is not commanding during speeches !

9. When is 'Rok sako toh rok lo' part deux coming? - Eagerly waiting!

An Year gone By 2012 - No Rollercoaster this year!

At the stroke of Mid-night  of December the thirtyfirst,  when the world is sloshed with alcohol, debauchery, gluttony, I give my thoughts to thee….

New Years are just stupid milestones, everybody above 25 knows they are growing old! People just need reasons to celebrate…

The only thing I can say about this year is the “year that I got settled!”
Compared to last year’s roller-coaster this year was riding on a cushion of air! But what is life if it is monotonous ?

Jan-Feb: This year started with me being in Atlanta GA with my wife. It was not so cold but I knew I had a long journey. I would soon be staying with strangers and sleeping on floors in California.
New Job meant new work , newer friends, newer challenges. Some of them did work out well. “Keeping your head in sand and hoping something good will happen” did work for me.

Mar-Apr: Was a quiet spring time. Loneliness is not my cup of tea but I had to drink it and would continue drinking it….. Having an Apartment for yourself is good but…. After some point you need people.

May-June: There is no joy better than the joy of giving and meeting your loved ones…
Relationships are like weak threads and need to be strengthened ! Ego can make you go down so fast you won’t realize. And also you don’t get any younger, your birthdays are there to make you realize this! 

July-Aug: I realized that I still dream big and at times childish… thank god for that! Riding a motorbike in US was scary in the beginning! Driving on freeways at 90 miles/Hr.( 145km/hr.) is
Confidence comes only by experience. But fear of getting squished is always there.

Sept-Oct: I sometimes wonder how much money is enough money? The answer to this question lies in your mind! Mind it! I sometimes feel planning for the trip is more fun than the trip itself but if you are seeing strange lands it is completely different. This month laid the foundation for our future…at last we will be together.

November: This was the highlight-of-the-year month for me. Four months of meticulous planning unfolded here. So many things crammed in 3 weeks! Damn! I loved it!
Vacations for two people…Paris- my dream destination, Switzerland ,Italy, Diwali, stamping, Pune….Parents.. and above all my best friends…. Loved them all!
You never get bored with your best friends do you? 
I don’t believe that I became a house owner with loan for 15 years on my head! 

December: I felt the cold cloudy Los Angeles winter. Depressing at the best. But drove more than 2000 miles going in snow through 5 states.

Other than the said above:

1. This was the year of Memes!
2. Discovered that Windows Mobiles Suck! And Nokia screwed up and screwed me big time!
3. I would be spending most of my time on Facebook in coming future.
4. Investing in FB was a good decision :D
5. The Painter in me is still alive.
6. My French is not that bad.
7. Staying away from Amazon is not that hard!
8. Unlike last year I did not make any new friends!

Facts and figures for this year:

Places visited:
Mumbai, MH,
Pune, MH,
Seattle, WA,
Los Angeles CA,
San Francisco CA,
Breckenridge CO,
Atlanta GA,
Denver CO*3,
Moab UT,
Las Vegas NV*5,
Paris, il de France,
Milan Lombardy,
Venice,
Zurich,
Lucerne,
Vitznau,
Rigi,
Washington DC,
New York, NY,
Buffalo NY,
Baltimore, MD
New Jersey, NJ,
Philadelphia, PA
Sarasota FL.

Things got: 55” TV, Triumph Bonneville SE, House
Drove total of 60,000 miles in my car!

The End: Standing in Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas! Stomach burning with acidity! People dancing drunk like nuts! Indian single dudes wearing blazers waiting to hook up with some white chicks! I stood there with my wife looking at reflections of fireworks on glass buildings.....It was a good Year!

Flop Show...Flop Show......

Perhaps you know you are growing older  when you see  your “childhood heroes” keep dying on you!

Yesterday was shocking for me to see the NEWS of Mr. Jaspal Bhatti dying in a road accident.

Though he was not my hero but  there is  something about his legacy which struck my heart.

His legacy is nothing but my memories of my childhood.

 

I remember Jaspal Bhatti right from my childhood days. His jokes meant nothing too me , I was too naïve  to understand anything.

I used to see “Ulta-pulta” (upside down- Jaspal Bhattis 2-3 mins satirical comedy skit ) just because in those days you did not have the luxury to change the channel .

By the time I gained my senses “Flop-Show” started airing on DD national. If humor is the indicator of any nations progress, India would probably come in last few ( obviously above middle eastern countries). India would certainly have bottomed the list if it were not for Flop Show.

 

Flop Show was a comedy about day-to-day life of a Bharatvasi. Those were the times of restrictions, nothing was abundant (other than mouths to feed)

We were a socialist country and this was a silent revolution in comedy.

I remember his episodes of “the chief guest” where he arrives to a venue as a chief guest half an hour early and nobody recognizes him.

Chief guests are still expected to be at least 1 hour late to the venue.

The PhD episode, where the guides manipulated the students to do the house work (A story very similar to my Dad’s story- as a PhD student)

Telephone Episode, which reflected poor quality of infrastructure in India pre 1991. Now It’s so amusing to see that it used to take years to install a telephone line.

Now it is done in minutes.I loved the parody of the government officials in which they appoint a parrot which says “Metting bulalo committee bithalo” ( Call meetings and establish a committee to probe the incident). At the end of each episode was the parody of some Hindi song.

 

Though Flop show was for only 13 episodes it left a big impact on me. We recorded all the episodes on a VCR (it was so prestigious to own a VCR!- Our neighbors had a second hand VCP-So embarrassing). Watching prerecorded episodes was  my pass-time for a long time. The Flop show cast was mostly the same with different characters. His real-life wife played his reel life wife. After the success of Flow Show there was obviously a big expectation form Jaspal Bhatti to deliver a better content. Unfortunately this never happened.

But this doesn’t make Flop Show less great. The Theme song sill plays in my head “ Flop show….. Flop Show….” Youtube link below!

 

 

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan......

Today is 15 August 2012, India’s Independence Day. It’s hard to believe that its 66 years that we got our Independence ( for most of the part of those 66 years I was missing)

We are a relatively young country, we are as restless as we could be. Angry with the system, angry with the political class. We want things done quickly.

Unfortunately our political class does not understand the nerve of people.

 

 

Congress:

Lack of alternatives is the problem of our generation. Congress which has ruled our country legally (directly or indirectly) for more than 60 years

and is not only corrupt but has also become arrogant. The tainted ministers don’t step down even when pressurized and proved. Many of the MLA’s

have criminal record right from Rapes to Murder

 

Even though deep-down I believe that Manmohan Singh is not corrupt but obvious evidence is pointing towards him.

Keeping quiet when you see a crime happening is not  honest man’s trait. I don’t believe that he did not know of the scams going on in his own government.

Charisma is something that is lacking form our PM. He is not a good orator, Nor a good leader.(although we had a host of PM’s lacking personality e.g. H.D. Devegowda. He is the worst)

I feel sad that such an intelligent human being is being misused.

I am sure he does not want to continue as PM especially not as puppet PM.

He has not only failed to curb corrupt practices but also ruined the economy. He surely is “under achiever” (Not that we need it pointed by lobbyist) .

 

Politics behind making Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, President of India is obvious.

This is a ploy to clear the way for Mr. Rahul Gandhi to become PM , even though Rahul failed miserably in UP elections.

What gives him a right to become a PM of our country of 1.2 Billion people? Just having diluted genes does not entitle him to be one. 

Worst thing that could happen to us is Mr. R Gandhi becoming a PM, without proving his mettle in anything.

 

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP): It is the only actual alternative to congress at national level. But the party is apparently in shreds.

Elections are close and they do not have enough maturity to portrait a leader!

Narendra Modi is a guy which one cannot ignore. It is really hard to look away from the way he has developed the state of Gujarat.

But personally I am not very comfortable with a guy who has dictatorial attitudes and was involved in communal violence.

(Imagine, how would you feel if your family members were burnt alive in front of you!)

But to be fair, even congress is not impartial from communalism (1984 riots: Sikhs were targeted in Delhi. Media remains mum)

The only reason that they will fail is infighting. This is their best chance to win the elections. Anti-incumbency is in the air and they must take advantage of it.

They should soon come up with a leader.

 

Team Anna (disbanded):  He is  for sure a social worker and now a politician.

I felt the campaign for which he gartered large support mostly came from “educated middle class” like me. I whole heartedly support Anna.

But just being honest is not important. The biggest challenge for Anna is to garner support from masses not just “educated youth” influenced by social media.

The immaturity shown by this team really makes me think are they good enough to run our country? Surely, I don’t doubt their honesty, but calling on and off

hunger strikes at ones need will not help their cause. With Mr. Hazare coming up with a political alternative is probably the best thing to happen to our politics.

in recent times. But will they get the support they need? 2014 is just 2 years away! Time will tell, but most likely they will fail the elections for 2014.

 

Why do we need a change?

The consequences congress coming to power again will be enormous. They will be more arrogant, more corrupt.

I know that BJP is equally corrupt  or perhaps more corrupt. But we need cyclical changes between the governments.

 

 

What do people want?

To live a  life with self-respect and dignity. This can happen only with creation of wealth, Jobs and Education.

Our country was growing at a miraculous pace and I hope it would continue.

I am a firm believer in progress but if a class of people like our farmers, gets left out where is the progress?

We need to learn from our neighborhood giant lot of things, especially social equality . Yes we have progressed but whom do we compare our progress to? Pakistan?

We need to have a holistic approach to progress and not just follow a standard western definition of progress.

We don’t want our governments to run useless behemoths like Air India, but provide us with infrastructure, Healthcare and Law and order. 

We want our government to control inflation. I don’t want to spend more than I earn.

The growth should be inclusive of everyone the disparities should be less. At one end we have Mukesh Ambani living in his $1 Billion Attila and at other

end we have poor farmers who eat mud to fill their stomachs and commit suicide. This is so shameful.  At least we should not feel ashamed to say “ Jai Jawan! Jai Kisan!”

 

Pralaynath GendaSwami is Here!

Original Mr Pralaynath From Tiranga

If you don’t know who is Mr Pralaynath , you obviously live on Mars! Pralaynath is (or rather was, before being killed by Brigadier Suryadev Singh and Inspector Wagle) the iconic villain from the Movie “Tiranga” starring Nana Patekar and Rajkumar.

Now coming to the point - Why is “Pralaynath GendaSwami  here”?

Well, Pralaynath is the name of my new motorcycle. It is the iconic Triumph – Bonneville.  The motorcycle that comes from England with a “Made in England” tag(not UK).

When my wife (who is oblivious to Bollywood except for Mr Shahrukh kan) saw my post on Facebook about Pralaynath, her detective mind couldn’t help but asking me “Who is this pralaynath?”

She was shocked to know that he is the villain in a Movie - Why name your bike after a villain? Don’t you like your bike?

Triumph 2012

Well, I love my bike, that’s why I named it Pralaynath GendaSwami. The name has many literal and figurative meanings. Let’s come to literal meaning. Pralaynath comes from ancient Sanskrit word “Pralay” means destruction, danger, tornados and everything with negative connotation. Genda is the, almost extinct, horny animal, Rhinoceros. And Swami is the name of a boy that used to stay above my house. He used to eat a lot. It’s a tribute to him. And above everything Pralaynath rhymes with Aadinath. Why wouldn’t I name my bike Pralaynath GendaSwami  - PNG for short (should sound cool right- I am in California)? My wife, still not convinced of the explanation, goes on with her life suspecting a massive fraud in naming my bike.

My 2nd Love

 

 

Coming to Specs of the bike:

 

It is just 100 cc lesser than 1 Ltr Coke.

Air cooled or Leg burned engine. My lower half has become dark because of the heat and burns (not that upper half is very fair)

4 gallon gas should take me around 200 miles.

Has around 70 horses, grunting the time u start the bike

Here it is

 

Compare this to Dhanno: Yamaha YBX

Engine is just above 100CC

My baby never burnt me.

It has 12 horses jumping up and down.

 

Dhanno was a nice dame. She never complained except puncturing at every corner in the city of Pune. Initially it was so frequent that I was well known to all puncture guys. I grew up on that bike. I remember I had to fight with my dad to get a Yamaha YBX 125, cause it was YAMAHA (even though it was “Fake” as - only 2-strokes were classic not 4-strokes). My dad was opposed to that because it has higher horse power (12hp) and lower mileage (51km/l) over Hero Honda Splendor (8hp and 67 Km/l). Now he would surely faint at Mr. PNG’s mileage (16 km/l). Dhanno gave me the freedom that I wanted. It was not an object of luxury like PNG but an object of need.

It is what made me spend my pocket money of Rs.500 on ever expensive petrol. It is what made me go Mahabaleshwar in rains (a hill station 150kms north of Pune) bunking my college and even office at times. It shared my joys, my pains, my heart breaks, my crushes, my friends everything.  I still cannot believe that it was (or rather is) with me for last 12 years.

 

 I am sure Dhanno is waiting for me. See you soon……But for Now...

 

Nokia Lumia 900 Review

Nokia Lumia 900 Review: 

Verdict: Buy it if you are medium to simple User, Want to be different and Hate iPhones

Its win for Nokia and loose for Windows!

 

User: I am medium to Complex user. I have shifted from HTC EVO android to Nokia Lumia 900 last month.

 

Design:  The design is no doubt one of the best designs in the market currently. The smooth side edges makes handling it easy for your palms compared to iPhone. It is bit wider for my small hands to hold. There are 3 buttons on the side viz Volume, Camera and Lock-unlock. It’s a simplistic design. There is an audio 3.5mm Jack for headphones at the top and a “mis-placed”  MicroUSB connector. I had huge problems with the same connector for my EVO. It was the single biggest point that made me switch over to realize it had same connector. The screen is protected with Corning® Gorilla® Glass which supposedly makes it tough but there are already scratches on my glass… damn you coins! There is a hidden SIM Card holder at the top. I do not see how we can remove the battery.

Sound is good loud and clear as expected of Nokia , so is the Camera(not a big fan of camera phones). Battery goes on 2 days without charging.

 

OS: The biggest thing which makes it different is the smooth Windows OS. 7.5. The UI is the best ever I have seen.I have used both IOS and Android. It leaves both way behind in coolness factor! It is the way next windows 8 will look like. Its integration of Mail and Facebook is Superb!

 

Now that we are done with Good things time for little eye opening!

Windows 7.5 lacks 1000’s of things which makes me believe were designers high on something before they went ahead and designed it!

For beginning you will notice there is no desktop style front page!

No weather/Time app to clearly display weather/time. This is a real big turnoff. The front page of metro style icons are so big you feel it’s done so for blind people!

 

Though FB integration is good MS should understand that people like to see FB in its original white and blue color!

 

Coming to Maps: MS really thinks it can compete with Google maps with what it has? NO-WAY search is as bad as a Garmin GPS for e.g. if you search “Zenith Insurance California”

It gives you California as an address! I have never seen a dumber application!

Over that you have to buy an app which can be found free on Android!

Though I have to admit that “current location” is more accurate than Google maps

 

Applications: This is no doubt the biggest turnoff! You hardly find any apps in Marketplace.

If you are freeloader like me you will be in for surprise. Most of the free apps are crappy!

The applications come always in the list format not in icon format , Was MS asleep while designing this? 

 This phone is make or break for Nokia. I hope it makes it.