Friday, December 3, 2010

My Massage Experience

My friend in a PR agency told me about his client DealsandYou.com, the incredible offers that they make. So I picked up vouchers for a massage at TT footcare for my family and myself. I chose the cash on delivery options for the vouchers which were to be delivered to me in 3 working days but it took dealsandyou and Aramex about 5 days to deliver. Since they were plain printouts and no special voucher I wondered (being an operations guy always focusing customer centric approach) why they didn’t let me pick up from their office, never wanted to wait for 3 days of delivery time

A couple of personal life problems didn’t allow me to use them; out of the fear of vouchers getting expired I pushed my family to use it. They came home pretty satisfied and relaxed with the experience and all gaga about the no oil, no mess and lots of stretching during their massage time. With my raised expectations I booked myself for a 7:30 pm massage on Dec 1, just a day before the voucher expired. Since I already knew that there would be no oil which meant no stripping down to that ultra undie, I went in my track pants and a workout T-shirt

So I arrived on time at the TT footcare’s Gurgaon centre, gave the coupon to the lady at frontdesk, took off my shoes and started browsing through Asian Spa magazine. I must have just flipped 10 pages when I was greeted by a north eastern girl, who was there to do the service. Lot of thoughts crossed my mind, thanks to the stories I have heard about massage parlors. Let me tell I am a person who prefers a male masseuse to female, not comfortable with certain things in life, You See!

So the massage started, me on lying on my stomach and the lady pressing the acupressure points in my feet. It felt good at the start as the driving in Delhi traffic is so nice that at night your feet actually ache of the A-B-C of driving. (Constantly of Accelerator + Brake + Clutch).I loved the lower body relaxation that came after the acupressure & massaging of feet and legs with lower body stretches. Now I was expecting since 45 minutes of 90 has been spent on my lower body, it should feel good after the second half of massage time is spent on the upper. So the lady started with the acupressure points around the spine, in my head I was like god I should have been a king with a masseuse to my disposal every night, to relax my muscle and let me slip in my dream sleep. The thought ran out as soon as the back stretch started and I was back in the massage room. The lady tried her best to stretch and hear the cracking sound of stress in m back going away, but she didn’t know that my everyday morning stretch routine is a step further. The second half passed by quickly and by the end of it I wasn’t too sure or satisfied if I got what I expected. I was relaxed yes but not really. Even before I was out of the massage room and putting on my shoes, I had started comparing my massage experience at Shangri La, Delhi  and Leela, Gurgaon to the one I really missed the right pressure that the lady applied to relax my muscles of all the stress that my desk job leaves me with. So I lit a cigarette, so that I could convince me to drive 5 kms to home. My family was waiting for me at the dinner table and I did gobble a lot that night. The massage was nice and definitely value for money. I guess I may go back, since I really want a cheaper option for massage. Leela, Shangri La or any other 5 star spas will have to wait for the special occasions in life

Thursday, October 14, 2010

8 Useful Twitter Tips: My Micro Blog Experience

So here I am sitting at my office desk writing my next blog entry “My Micro Blog Experience called Twitter”. My reason to write this is not another blog post but to help all those who are new to twitter and striving to get in the grove and flaunt the followers count. In the post I shall also share 8 tips which could be of use to anyone, trying their hand at the micro blog. This is basis my experience of 2121 tweets over a long period of time.

My reason for starting the account was plain and simple, Can I have followers? Over time the reason has evolved from ‘as many’ to ‘lets build relations’. To an extent I have been successful, remember each one of you reading this would define the word differently. My definition: The following and follower ration to day stands at 1.69.

Twitter helped me make some friends and it isn’t that I have no friends in real life these are some friends that I made
@ccitsme -
Bio: Sinner not a Saint! And lot of naughty stuff gets twitted by her, often indirectly and not always her fault, I like it that way
@jjenpenwen –
Bio: Sign Language Interpreter on a VSO placement in New Delhi. Geek-in-training, potential tree-hugger, a bit opinionated.
@lassyvee
Bio: Chocoholic, Apple 'freak. Enjoys her wine. Loves good conversation .Needs retail therapy. A foodie. Thrives on music. Ex-cosmo gal, loves all things pink. Needs a book by nite.
@hardeepkrai
Bio: Social Media Analyst, Community Manager. Chief qT at 2020social. Writer. Blogger. Dreamer. Creative person.

The friendship is like mutually benefitting one wherein you seek and you give out. There have been times when I found a business opportunity for my budding PR Company too. At other times twitter has kept entertained when I was getting bored. The experience has been a mixed one, there was a time when I did not login at all for weeks, and sometimes just logged in for the sake of it and then I started getting a hang of things.

So let me share few things that I picked up as I walked the line, read on, they may help.

  • Don’t be the one who blows their own trumpet: How many times have you seen a celebrity, a chef, a restaurant or our ministers telling you why they are the best and ask you to follow them. Be subtle about it if need be.
  • Tweet with each breath: There is limit to everything, people will follow you initially but if you are bombing their timeline like you are on a warfront, firing rapidly. Sorry mate, it does not work here. Respect each one’s timeline ( or space).
  • Don’t weave a hash tag garland in a tweet: Using Hash tag in your tweet is good but I suggest keep it to a maximum of 2 per tweet. More than that it seems like you desperate to get noticed and get followers. Law of nature “More desperate you are for something and farther it goes from you”. Its better to put sensible tweets there followers should follow.
  • Mixed Tweets: A mix of links, videos, pictures and Information/text works. If you only tweet pictures or links, people who don find them interesting will just click “Unfollow”. Engage your followers with everything and not just one.
  • Don’t just Direct Message everything: Twitter gives you the option of sending a direct message for saying what you wouldn’t want everyone to know. Don’t use to flirt or being a pervert, use DM for what it is meant to be.
  • Retweet: That’s a great option to let your followers know what you found interesting. Retweeting everything means that you don’t have a taste, you just retweet. Retweet when its important, useful, or has a value. 
  • Profile Information: Use a twitter name that you relate with, you always have a choice but more importantly make sure you pack information into your Bio section intelligently. I followed someone because I liked the profile and the user followed back. Reason: User like my interesting bio and tweeted about following me because of interesting bio. People follow you for what you are or tweet about. 
  • Display Picture: Choose a display picture that you think would help a prospective follower relate with and try to sync up with your bio. A picture may tell a story that words can not. Choose what you feel like, Don’t be a Pervert or a Porn star.
  • Sharing Videos and Pictures: One can choose to share videos and picture through different ways. Two simple ways can be posting the video or picture on the Facebook or Google+  page and sharing the  link, or one can use the different apps available like instagram or yfrog to share them.

While the tips may be endless, given my twitter experience these 8 tips are helpful. So go on and enrich your twitter experience and let me know if you found them useful too, use the comment section below.

Delhi Metro's website: www.delhimetrorail.com/

Catch me at twitter: http://twitter.com/AntzonBike

Thursday, July 8, 2010

My First Delhi Metro Ride

It’s been almost two years since I had written my first blog about my cycling experience in Delhi, a ride with the Delhi cycling club and Delhi cycling google group. The ride was slow and I never went back to cycle again. The club had a different agenda than my own. Past is past and each one of us has to move on because life goes on.

My recent ride in the Delhi metro from Gurgaon to my office in Sultanpur was full of mixed feelings.

My experience started with the five minute walk from my home to the bus stop and lucky enough to get into the bus without a wait. The bus ticket of INR 3/- to the metro station was seemingly cheap. The first impression of the metro M.G. road station in Gurgaon was “It’s definitely clean”. The fares for metro are definitely cheaper than a bus or your car. Buying the ticket to Qutab station (INR 16) in Delhi, getting through the security, waiting for the metro at the platform and getting in, was all good in the morning. The unavailability of any feeder service at Sultanpur station in Delhi rather no availability was a completely dampener. The 3 km walk to my office was really long not because I have problem walking; it was long because when I reached worked I was sweating like a pig. I am sure no one likes to be drenched in sweat while they start their day.
My walk in the evening was actually fine, I enjoyed it but the attitude of the guy at the Sultanpur station’s ticket counter was not called for. I tendered a 100 rupee note and promptly he said “No change”, a little shouting and his cash till had all the change. Gosh, why do people just act difficult and don’t want to learn anything about customer service. What irritated me was not the statement but the way it was said. It’s always about “How you say and not what you say.”
The auto ride from M.G Road to home was really funny especially because I was sitting in the back of the auto facing the traffic behind it. People in their cars just stare at you as if you are a clown or something.
Hope Metro team introduces the feeder service soon, till then I guess it is my dear car.

Cost of driving everyday: INR 300
Cost of Travelling in Metro: INR 50
Experience: My first
Would I travel again: May Be?
Will you?

You can visit the Delhi Metro website at:  www.delhimetrorail.com

Leave me your comments, I will appreciate the feedback