Nilkamal Chairs whose Legs Break - Part 1

This is the first in possibly a series of posts on my experience with Nilkamal chairs whose legs mysteriously break. Nilkamal is apparently the best - it's a well known brand I have used their chairs for years. However, their chairs from a newly opened Bangalore manufacturing facility in Bangalore seems to be having problems. Wait for further updates on this thread while this unfolds.

The following is the complaint letter I sent to Nilkamal today:

Dear Sir:

I had purchased 6 Nilkamal chairs (Model CHR2060E Beige Color) from Casio Supermarket in New Thippasandra on 17th January 209 bill dated 347492.

Yesterday evening, while my 77 year old father was sitting on one of the chairs, the right back leg suddenly broke and he fell down hurting his head and right hand. I thought this was a one-off case and still trusting the Nilkamal brand offered him another chair. Unfortunately, within two hours the second chair also broke: the same right back leg. My father hurt his head again on the wall and sprained his neck and back. He is currently under medical treatment for the injuries.

I am attaching photographs of the broken chairs on page 2.

I am expecting you to do the following:

1. Investigate the root causes and systemic issues if any in the manufacture and inventory of the chairs from your factory to the retail outlet.
2. Take back all the six chairs I had purchased and issue me refund for the same.
3. Keep me updated about the results of your investigation.
4. After completing your investigation, recall the batches which are suspected to be of poor quality.
5. Improve your quality processes so that Nilkamal retains the trust amongst its loyal customers like me it has built over the years.

Yours sincerely

Map of Mumbai Terror Attack - 26th November, 2008

Here's a map of locations in Mumbai attacked by terrorists on 26th and 27th November, 2008. Note that some are localities (Mazagaon and Vile Parle - the exact locations of the attack are not available through new sites at present) and the others are land marks (Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, Oberoi/Trident and Leopold's Cafe).


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Baggage Inspection by TSA

When I returned from US last time I found that the lock on my checked-in suitcase was missing. It was clear that the suitcase was inspected at some point. But what surprised me was the following note from the Transportation Security Administration found inside the suitcase.


The note said that TSA was not liable for the damage to the locks and for packing tips I should visit their web site. When I browsed around the TSA web site I found the following page on locks: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/locks.shtm . To quote a section:

TSA has worked with several companies to develop locks that can be opened by security officers using universal "master" keys so that the locks may not have to be cut. These locks are available at airports and travel stores nationwide. The packaging on the locks indicates whether they can be opened by TSA.

And the TSA had also provided for the "convenience" of the public without endorsement links to two products as well. The typical price range was $10 to $15: perhaps ideal for the frequent traveler. I for one am happy with the sub-$1 chinese lock available at the local stores.

Google Books API

Google published an embedded viewer API for book search. I thought of testing it out by embedding a link to a book I read recently: Randy Pausch's book titled "The Last Lecture."




Pausch talks about achieving one's childhood dreams. Very inspiring book.

Update: It seems there is no preview available for this book yet.

Google trends for IPL finalists

How did the four Indian Premier League (wiki) finalists fare in Google searches?



I am not sure whether anybody searched for the teams beyond May 27 or the trends data is unavailable. CSK searches peaked when they played KKR on May 18. RR peaked on May 11 when they played DD. I am also not sure what search terms were popular for the KXI Punjab team: I have used the term "kings xi" in the trends data which seemed to show some amount of searches.

You can run the search by using this URL.

A visit to the new Bangalore International Airport (BIAL Airport)

The BIAL Airport is opening on May 23, 2008. I made a visit to the airport this afternoon (Sunday, May 18). It took me about an hour to reach the airport from Manipal Center at the beginning of Cubbon Road. My average speed was 35 km/hr and I hit a max speed of 100 km/hr somewhere on NH 7. I used a Globalsat BT-335 a BlueTooth GPS data logger to log my data.

Shown below is the GPS track using Google maps:


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Oasis Mall

Yet another mall in Bangalore: Oasis on Inner Ring Road (see map below).


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At present it has LifeStyle (G, 1, 2), Spar (4), and a food court (5). LifeStyle and Spar have been around in Bangalore for some time and they are as expected. But the design of the mall building is terrible:

• The entrance to the mall is towards the Sony World junction and the exit away from it adding to the traffic chaos near the junction.
  
• The mall security folks at the gates take law into their own hands and even try to control the traffic near the junction.
• There is no single lift which will take one to all the floors. LifeStyle has a pair which operates on G, 1, and 2 and Spar and the food court share another.
  
• This is the most terrible part: the parking area. The entry and exit ramps seem to have been designed by some incompetent imbecile who has put 180 degree hair-pin bends on every floor. Unless you have a bike or a Maruti 800 you can't turn through these bends in one shot. And to let cars take three point turns on to the ramps, personnel have been posted near every ramp entrance to throttle traffic. Though the turns on the down-ramps are better than the up-ramps, the drive way is still haphazard. The whole parking area design thus seems to have serious safety issues preventing a fast and safe evacuation in the case of an emergency.
  

I guess most of the the mall hungry Bengalurians wouldn't mind these annoyances and Oasis would become yet another crammed shopping place.