The News - The Hindu

I just noticed today, The Hindu, the first one that I know made it difficult for me to find an entertainment news(?) on its web homepage! I had visited NDTV, CNNIBN and TOI ...etc but in all of them you are easily distracted by this so called entertainment especially bollywood news!

Do i mean entertainment news isnt a news at all? I personally would answer YES! Entertainment news is actually just entertainment and no way its a news! it just feeds your senses and not intelligence/knowledge.

I recently started reading more of The Hindu after subscribing to it in FB and G+. It recently had come to IPad as well. waiting eagerly for an android app.

Hats Off to "The Hindu!"

Impulsive? Online payments

To my memory it is the third time i did a payment in a hurry and regretted later that i shouldnt have, especially when there wasnt any real need of it. First was when i paid 10k to Airtel for my postpaid connection monthly bill, 10 times the original. Got the money later by DD though contacting cust care.  Happened years back, guess they luckily have the cap on payment these days. Second i remember was 6 months back, i bought a wrong  air ticket on my mobile. Had to cancel it with a penalty of 2.5 k. Third one happened today when i bought an online subscription on Vikatan, this i actually wanted a subscription that will let me read it through tablet/browser both but instead chose the one which will let me read through the browser only! :(. Have contacted the vikatan cust care to change the subscription, hope they would help.

Looking back, one thing common in all the instances is that, i had been kind of pre-occupied  mentally in all of them. Also, whenever it comes to online  payment, a sense of urgency gets unconsciously triggered in mind as i know that the payment window has session expiry. This sense of urgency or the impulsive behavior does not stop here with online payments for me, its a very natural thing for me and it takes control of me whenever am not in control ;-)

Online Shopping

All I could remember is, it was a digital camera that i bought online was the first through ebay. Slowly got the feel of online shopping more with Amazon. With Amazon, its the best you can ask for, you would be tempted to buy as much as you can afford. All my amazon experience was all when i was in Chicago. Did try other sites to buy too and especially I remember using them max before my every vacation to india. Was very much impressed with the ease of it. Especially when it is electronics, it is best and easy to shop online. You can easily compare the price and specifications of anything you buy with Google and other comparison sites. But when you need them in hand immediately, you have to got to store, just like my Canon DSLR and Nexus S.
I personally feel that the technology is at its peak now at US, online shopping now includes shopping on mobile as well. A shopping site is not complete without its IOS and android app.
But its all in the budding stages in India and thats what is more exciting to me. I was surprised when a colleague of mine told me that he is comfortable buying with only the 'cash on delivery' option, he doesnt want to pay online before receiving the product in hand. How can a software guy distrust online payment while shopping, this eludes to get digested by my brain. To add I also know of people who dont even prefer to use a debit card and instead go to bank in person for transactions!
How is it possible for anyone to keep getting stuck to ground, when u can actually afford to fly? Worried about the crashes in mid air? come on you can get hit on ground as well when time isnt yours!
I happened to experience indian online shopping sites when i had to buy something for home that will reach quickly and i wouldnt be needed from chicago to carry it. Some electronics, gifts..were all possible, but i had to search a lot initially and i remember 'infibeam' , the first one i tried and tested and kind of got comfortable to continue ordering for more. Flipkart, i rarely noticed as it had only been selling books that i never cared, then i noticed them adding mobiles and i did browse to look for a mobile for my mom as well once. Then it was only infibeam to my knowledge had great inventory in lots of categories. It still looks good but i switched to flipkart these days :D.
I also get my air/bus/rail tickets onlline addition to pizzas and movie tickets, in fact on my mobile!
In the recent year or two, its like too many sites budding here in India and some are doing gud too. I did try jabong very recently and it was a pleasant experience too. Am eagerly looking for a very positive and beautiful growth in the online shopping experience in india as well. I keep hearing it as well from other sources. I would love to get there where we will just buy anything sitting at home with all the comfort, ease and trust !