The One Year With Agatha Christie- My Adventures with Hercule Poirot!

I have always wanted to read the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie for as long as I could remember. I couldn't because well given the restless and compulsive reader I always have been, I wouldn't have exercised self-control (as there are around 40 books in the series- novels, not including the short stories), I made a deliberate decision to forgo the series back in the days when I was in school.

So, in September, 2014- I bought a Kindle. I have already written about it once before how I enjoyed reading on my Kindle, so I will not gush about the pros and my Kindle experience again. So having bought a Kindle, and having literally the world for an oyster, I vowed in 2014 that I would read the entire series and make up for the lost time.

The year is over, and I am so happy that I am finished with the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of going through each book. Agatha Christie is truly a literary genius. Good authors have this annoying habit of often repeating themselves, but not Christie. She will give you the slip at any point you feel cocky and try to get ahead of yourself.

The best thing about reading Agatha Christie is how Hercule Poirot would say, “It's all about the victim, and the psychology”.

The characters and the intricate plot is always so believable. Christie in all her novels has always based the motive on the Seven Cardinal Sins. The motive is always simple, the characters not so much. They all exhibit shades of grey.

Much like the criminals, even Hercule Poirot himself is not spared from the fallacies of the human nature. In One, Two, Buckle my Shoes he is shown to be someone who takes the high moral ground by preserving the sanctity of life by putting behind the bars a man on whom the entire stability of a nation depends- a man who professes to kill not for himself, but for what he believes is patriotism. But in the Murder of Orient Express, he lets go of the killer(s). Oops! Spoiler over there! :)

Hercule Poirot like his namesake- the Greek hero, is proud, vain and patronizing. But he is acutely aware of his personality and disposition which he himself reflects upon from time to time, providing comic relief- along with Capt. Hastings, his valet, and Poirot's own reflections on his socially awkward secretary.

Ideally, a review of the entire series is supposed to follow. However, yours truly has grown a lazy streak over the past year. I feel lazy when it comes to writing, and honestly a lack of enthusiasm as well. But given the stupendous effort which went behind this particular blog entry, I will however list the absolute must reads from the series in chronological order.

• Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• Lord Edgware Dies
• Murder on the Orient Express
• Three Act Tragedy
• Murder in Mesopotamia
• Cards on the Table
• Dumb Witness
• Sad Cypress
• One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
• Evil Under the Sun
• Five Little Pigs
• Taken at the Flood
• Mrs McGinty's Dead
• After the Funeral
• The Clocks
• Elephants Can Remember

I hope anyone who reads this write-up is inspired to take up the series. I believe people immortalize themselves when they publish a book in ink. However, very few of them are able to make a mark as strong as Agatha Christie. The books are to survive any generation- of that I am sure.

Happy Reading!

Gorilla Glass- explained

Every time someone buys a touchscreen smart-phone, often one of the specifications which contributes as deal breaker is if the phone has gorilla glass protection or not. That advertisement will more often than not be followed by a usual battery of selling gimmicks- drop tests, scratch test, pretend hammering a nail right into the screen to show toughness...oooh that's so badass! Eh?

What exactly is gorilla glass?

I will not get into the technical specifics for simply one reason- I don't want to. I will however, get into the details which are not advertised. Read on…

So, what do they not tell you?

Things such as:

• Gorilla Glass (insert X, where X is integer) does not guarantee durability. It is by no means a measure of toughness. It simply means it passed some tests which were performed in a controlled environment which resemble actual usage.
• Gorilla Glass does not mean that it will not break, it most definitely will irrespective of the height from which the phone has fallen. If it does not, count it as your luck. Also, a shout out to all the people who are clumsy and review their phones on Flipkart and Amazon as if they are pros- please do not write how your phone broke just after it fell from a height of less than 1 feet, 2 feet, 3 feet etc. It's a fragile piece of tech, handle with care. Height doesn't matter, the angle at which the phone hits the floor does.
• Screens when they break will cost an exorbitant amount of money to replace. Here's a simple explanation. It's not just a piece of glass, it has both components- the touch digitiser and the integrated display. So, you can not replace one without the other. So, expect costs between a fourth and half of the actual phone cost.
• Gorilla Glass is supposed to be scratch proof. It is not. The statement implies scratch resistance. Please use a screen guard, and then use a phone cover- Silicone/PU based, always. Why? Well, because both Silicone and PU absorb shock. Please refrain from using good for nothing snazzy covers/back covers/flip covers. These don't provide any protection to the phone on direct impact.

It is essential to understand that touch devices are fragile. They are not made to measure up to military standards (some of them are- Moto Droid Turbo). Cracked screens are often the most common reason for dissatisfaction with the device, and also the reason to change to a new one. Hope this was helpful.

A Tryst With the Customer Care

I am a sucker for services. I don't buy stuff if it doesn't absolutely guarantees services in India in places which are accessible to me. One of the perks of living in Delhi, despite the traffic and cultural degradation is, it is a hub for all major brands (mostly concentrated in Nehru Place and Okhla for electronics, and offices and call centers for other services distributed throughout the city).

I have encountered the following Customer Service Centers personally:

1) Reliance Customer Care: Absolute morons and cheats. Go to any forum on internet, and you will find people who would be ready to rip the customer care executive apart limb by limb to vent out their frustration on their stupidity.

2) Tata Photon: If ever I called someone “thieving bastard”, it has to be these guys. They changed internal policies. Deliberately messed up my connection- pretended that it was a technical fault which would take up to a month to fix and still had the audacity to send me a bill for the entire month during which my connection didn't work.

3) Samsung Customer Care: Organised. Have proper systems in place, but sometimes behave as total morons. I actually had to prove that they were wrong by sending an email to VP, Customer Satisfaction South East Asia and argue with them that their Service Center was wrong on a point of technicality. Would never recommend Samsung. Though my second experience was quite smooth.

4) Vodafone: Thorough professionals, listen carefully and chances are you will never have to call them.

5) Flipkart: Just my luck. Only had to call them once for some order assistance. Customer reviews on website says otherwise.

6) Ebay: They take customers seriously, very seriously.

And of course I had to save the best for last.

7) Amazon: Where do I even begin? They are what you say, the ray of light, the place with eternal sunshine. Have encountered them twice. The first being, when I was considering buying a used Kindle Paperwhite device- I called up the customer care executive and requested them to help me with the process to ensure that the device I was buying was fully functional and not stolen. They could not have been more sweet, and helpful. I didn't buy the used device, but then I ended up buying a brand new one. People often remark, that Kindle has one fault, that you are forever tied to their app store, and can not move your stuff around with you. Even though I strongly agree with the statement, my sentiments are otherwise- why move when you already have the best?

My second encounter being, when the courier misplaced the delivery package which a friend of mine had ordered. Now, we shot a mail to the customer care requesting expedited delivery for the goods. Now to my surprise, the reply was kind and understanding, I was really left speechless. Yours truly in his entire lifetime has never been so dumbfounded by a reply from a customer care. They were so apologetic and understanding, I was humbled.

Customer Care are installed to help people. When executives don't do their jobs properly, because they are lazy, and because they get directives from their managers to log as few complaints as possible- complaints which they then try to dispose of on flimsy grounds, they put at stake the reputation of the company.

To my best knowledge, no company wants to tarnish their image. No company would like to just sell something and forget about it.

Companies like Samsung, exist because they are proof, and are living embodiment of the technological prowess that engineering and science have made. We are the at the cusp of what is a turning point in the history. And to throw it all away just because one manufacturing fault/ technical fault would set them back by a couple of hundred bucks is foolish.

Customer Care Centers often forget what they are there to do- represent the customers. They are the ones who give feedback to the company as to the functioning of a product and the feedback on the faults. If companies cheap out here, they can never stay in the market.

So many companies have the reputation, take HTC for instance, they were once a market leader when it came to selling high end luxurious mobile phones. But the continuous dip in their services made clients go back to the store demanding a refund from the store. Store owners often had to acquiesce to the demands to maintain their goodwill in the market which led to loss. When situations worsened, the brick and mortar stores collectively decided to boycott HTC, and they put up fliers warning customers that any HTC phone will not be returned to them and services are not not guaranteed. The drastic dip in the sales has literally kicked HTC in the balls, and they are on the verge of bankruptcy.

My point being, anyone can sell a product, what counts is the after sales service.