Saiprasad's Journal

I stumbled upon the BBC’s new (beta!) home page and my immediate reaction was to look up into heavens and shout “Why? Why? Why?”

BBC website is known for it’s great design. This new avatar – in my opinion – is definitely a step (or two) backwards. People look up to BBC for setting new standards – and BBC is trying to mimic thousands of other such Web 2.0 designs out there. This is just so lame. The rounded corners. The ‘BETA’ tag alongside the logo. The flashy bright colours. The huge typefaces. The gradients. I’m not sure if I understand how it’s all relevant. And lastly, can sometime tell me what’s that clock doing there on the top right? For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why.

There’s an entry in their blog’s section on the new design. Frankly, I’m surprised to see so many positive comments. Maybe I’m wrong in my initial judgment but something tells me it’ll be a sad day when they finally make the switchover.

To be honest, for me the most important aspect of any news related websites is how much of news can I scan through quickly just by giving a glance on the home page. Just compare their regular and beta sites and you’ll know what I mean. There’s hardly anything to read on their beta page.

Maybe BBC can learn a thing or two from the New York Times.

I’m SO glad 2007 is over. Happy 2008 everyone.

Sand is overrated. It’s just tiny, little rocks.
- Joel Barish, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

One of the most adorable movies ever made. And as time went by, surpassed Vanilla Sky to become my all-time favorite.

This happened almost six weeks ago. Thought writing about it back then but somehow it skipped my mind. Anyway, here it is.

I decided to catch up a movie at the PVR Cinemas at the Metropolitan Mall in Gurgaon. So my friend and I bought the tickets and headed for the entrance as it was just about five minutes for the movie to start. At the entrance, the omnipresent security personnel stopped me for a check. After the usual screening, one of the guards spotted my bag and asked “What’s inside it?”

Generally – almost 95% of the time – I carry my backpack along. It’s mainly to carry my DSLR camera (and some additional lenses depending on the situation/mood). Also, tons of other ‘essential’ things like a small notepad, contact lens kit, a mini-tripod, my laptop, an iPod, id proofs and the list goes on. Yes, I do consider that entire stuff essential – although my friends insist that it’s a total annoying thing altogether.

Coming back to the night at the PVR, I just had my camera with me – as it was a casual evening walk that I set out for in the first place. So when the guard asked what’s in my bag, I replied “I have my camera with me” and took it out in case he wanted to inspect it personally. The guard immediately says “You can’t carry it in there. Please deposit your bag at the package section on the ground floor (which was actually the floor of the parking basement). WTF moment # 1. I felt a bit irritated because of two things. First, why didn’t the guy issuing the tickets (at the ground floor) mention it in the first place? Second, the cinema halls were on the fourth floor and now I had to go all the way down to deposit my stuff and the movie was about to start barely in a minute or two. After convincing myself that I should have been early and that it’s not entirely management’s fault, I walked down to the baggage section.

The guy at the baggage section looks at my backpack and asks, “What’s in it?” I reply saying that I have my camera in it. The guy immediately says, “I’m sorry, we can’t keep that stuff here. Please take it with you!”. WTF moment#2. Then I explain the situation and mention that I’m not being allowed inside the theater because I can’t carry the camera along with me. The guy refuses to budge. Seeing that I was getting pretty annoyed at the whole thing, the guy adds “You can talk to the management. They’ll help you out.” Seeing no other option, I head back to level 4 with my camera still with me.

I go back and explain to the security guards what just happened at the baggage counter. The guard then says “Ok. Keep it in your car then”. I tell him that I don’t have one and my friend (who’s painfully watching the proceeding all this while) only had his bike with him. He replies without even looking at me, “Just hang the camera on your bike! No one will take it.” WTF Moment #3. With all due respect to the his security concerns, hanging an expensive camera on a bike for two and half hours – assuming it’s going to be “safe” – was something more than what I could digest. This is where my yelling starts and I insist on seeing the manager. When the guard looked reluctant, “NOW!” I protested.

The manager arrived. I repeat the whole story. The manager says “I’m sorry sir. The instructions are clearly written on the back of the tickets saying that we can’t allow any electronic items except a mobile phone inside the auditorium. We can’t allow you in until you deposit your camera somewhere.” After giving it a thought and having already missed first ten minutes of the movie, I decided to junk the whole idea of the movie. I said, “That’s fine. I’ll watch the movie some other day. I want to return the tickets for a refund”. “No, we don’t have a return ticket policy”, pat came the reply from the manager. WTF moment #4.

So there it was. An awkward situation of the highest order. I was holding movie tickets in my hand but I can’t get inside the hall. There was a baggage section down there but I couldn’t deposit my bag. I wanted to return the tickets but I couldn’t get a refund. I wanted to sell the tickets to some other people in line but there was no line! I had ruined the evening of my poor friend who was patiently waiting for the mess to get cleared so that he could go watch the movie. And to top it all, I didn’t know what to do next.

“I’m going to write to the Press and report about this!” I told the manager out of desperation. I continued “A – You don’t inform customers upfront about these restrictions. B – You print the instructions at the back of the ticket in fine print, which the customers will see only ‘after’ they have bought the tickets. C – You have a baggage counter which won’t accept the baggage with the very items you prohibit from taking inside. D – You refuse to give a refund when I accept your security terms and wish to go home.”

The manager after giving it a thought pointed me to a small room nearby and said, “Please go to the ’security room’ and deposit your camera there. You can collect it after the show”. WTF moment#5. Whoa Mr. Einstein, where did that intelligence go all this while? Had he suggested it earlier, I wouldn’t have missed twenty minutes of the movie.

I finally deposit my camera and enter the theater to watch the movie.

At the end of show when exiting the movie hall, I was thinking to myself “Maybe it’s partially my fault too. Security concerns are everywhere now. Maybe I myself should have enquired upfront if there were any restrictions. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at the guards and the manager (I generally don’t). Maybe I should mention a polite ‘thank you’ to the manager on my way back.” Thinking all that, I headed to the security room to collect my camera. When the guard handed me my camera, I could immediately see that someone had “played” with it. The camera was on, the dials were turned, settings changed, some pictures taken, etc. WTF moment #6. Too tired to argue, I just took it and headed to manager room for a ‘thank you’. As I was approaching his room, I could immediately notice two people arguing with him over something. A guy over his iPod and a girl over her laptop – both of them being denied to enter the hall for the next show. WTF moment #7.

‘Thank you’ my ass. I skipped the manager room and went straight home.

P.S: The entire incident was completely overshadowed/forgotten – thanks to ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’. Really, what a fantastic movie!

…in Hyderabad. An iPhone!

And that means:
1. I sucked into the temptation.
2. I’m back home. And it feels darn good.

P.S: All comments screened on this post by default.