Can there be music in any heart when my city has been ripped apart? My heart sank the moment I returned from the gym around 10:15 PM on Wednesday evening. No sooner had I settled myself in my bedroom, I received an SMS from another MouthShut employee informing me of "...some blast at the Taj".

Our company was preparing to host a delegation of twenty-five American educationists and they were to stay at the Taj from Saturday, November 29. To finalize all arrangements for the delegation one of my staff and I were to meet a Sr. Manager at Taj over dinner at 9:30 PM. Due to a personal issue (read below) the meeting was postponed for the next morning.

Then reports started pouring in about gun-fires and blasts from across the city. The brazen attack at CST (Formerly VT station) convinced me that what was unfolding is a systematic and barbaric terror attack on my beloved city.

I then called up my wife (who was recuperating in a hospital in Bandra) and asked her to follow the news.

I will post more thoughts and personal opinions in separate posts, but one immediate thought that has been hounding me was the need for our government to equip our police and other forces with modern weapons, sophisticated life-protection gear and better training to deal with challenges that are destroying our cities.

I hope and pray that we all join the efforts in defeating these terrorists in our own little ways.

With prayers and deep sorrow,

--Faisal

It seems like just yesterday. Like I clearly remember when I held him for the first time in the hospital ward when he was born. My little baby boy Shiraz sent me an email. His first email. The moment I read his email, I knew he has become a big boy.

Checkout his email to me. It reflects the innocence of his mind. And the spirit of sharing with his baby brothers.

Give me your thoughts? How did you first react when you discovered your baby has grown...and how would you react if you found that a baby is now a big boy?

Click here to view a snapshot of the original email which Shiraz sent me.

Verbatim, it said:
" Salaams daddy. daddy bring me any game u want. And for kashif,basit. "

(notice the absent space after the comma for kashif)

I'm sure you've all noticed the huge amount of coverage MouthShut.com receives from the media. Almost every week, some newspaper, magazine or TV channel features your favorite--MouthShut.com

While I get to take all the credit, I know in reality, the credit belongs to you- my dear members who love MouthShut.com and who refer it to friends and family.

Two such coverages I thought were noteworthy.
1. I wrote a column for Moneylife magazine. You can read the article here:
mouthshut
.com/help/pres-11sept-08.php>
2. Yours truly was featured on the cover page of the June 2008 issue of Winning Edge Magazine.
This article can be found here

The reason, I'm personally asking you to check our media coverage is simple. I want all of you to take pride in the fact that MouthShut.com has YOU reflected in some form or other.

You are mouthshut.com

Love,
--Faisal

PS- I would love to hear from you- send me an M2M

If you're a regular on MouthShut.com I'm sure you caught the surprise festive discount that we introduced for two days, from Sept.2 thru Sept 4, 2008. During this period, prices for many gift items that you were always dreaming to buy but could not afford, were reduced. Infact many items were being sold at more than 70% discount
(check http://www.mouthshut.com/diary
/jhcgnspu/Ganesh-Chaturthi-Disc
ount)

Some of you have voiced your concerns at the recent increase in the prices of few items. Yes, we're aware of that and we're trying our best to control it. Remember, inflation is also a product of demand greater than available supply. If too many people want the same gift, prices may go up. We need to diversify our purchases. You too can help control inflation by purchasing items that are not bought by many.

In the meanwhile, MouthShut.com's Gift team and I are working hard to reduce some of the prices.

The response to our 2 day festive discount was exciting. Many airplanes and beach villas were bought. We're thrilled that you are enjoying them. Keep your eyes and ears open for more discounts in the future. You never know when the next discount scheme starts again.

As always, it pays to be alert on mouthshut.com

Love you all,

--Faisal

Earlier this year we decided to explore potential partnership opportunities with some of India's major Internet players including Google.

Saif Hasan, our Director of Communications Extraordinaire, was assigned the task of initiating contact with these companies. Things started to move forward with several within a matter of days. “What’s the status with Google?” I asked. Saif scratched his head and said "Trying to locate a contact there."

A few weeks later and we were ready to ink partnership agreement with seveal of these companies including one which has an exclamation mark in its name. At every juncture I would inquire: “What’s the status with Google?” Saif’s frustrating response reminded me of Birbal’s khichri: "Still trying to locate a contact there, Sir."

When two full months had passed and Saif was still trying to locate the right person at Google, I decided to take the matter into my own hands. Saif revealed that the contact numbers on Google’s website were wrong. When he did uncover a number, receptionists who answered had no clue as to who was in charge of what. The irony that the company that catalogs the World’s Information was clueless about its own body parts was not lost on me.

With a little hesitation I decided I would call Shailesh Rao, head of Google India. I had met Shailesh at an event a few months prior. In addition to exploring the partnership, I thought I would also bring to his attention the chaos any caller into Google India office faces. I doubt it is intended to be that way. It was entirely possible that the big chiefs were so busy solving the big problems that no one bothered to attend to the “simple and obvious” issues.

I started with Google India’s Mumbai office and asked to be connected to Mr. Shailesh Rao. The gentleman who answered spoke only Hindi (kaun mangta hai aap ko?). Sadly, I do not know the Hindi terms for a lot of business departments such as Business Development so I struggled. He ordered me to call Google Hyderabad office. I informed him that the Hyderabad office numbers are wrong on their website. After several frustrating attempts with the Mumbai office, I was finally able to obtain the (correct!) numbers to the Hyderabad office.

That’s when things got really frustrating.

On my eighth attempt a human voice answered the phone. Greeting me with a hurried “hello”, she put me on an indefinite hold. When she did finally return I had finished several lengthy tasks and consumed several cups of tea. I politely asked her to connect me to “Mr. Shailesh Rao, Managing Director, Google India”. “Wait, wait, wait, that’s too fast” her tone implied. “Can you repeat the name?” I did…four more times. Then she informed me she had what amounted to good news-bad news for me.

Running a search that took a lot longer than Google’s Search Engine would ever take, she found the name Shailesh Rao in her directory. That was the good news. The bad news was: “ Now, which Shailesh Rao do you want?” Obviously, there’s more than one person with the same name. I was tired. Very tired. Which Shailesh Rao? “The Big Boss, the Sensei, the Sultan, the Chief, the Don” I wanted to scream out. “Head of Google India” I managed to say. "Please call the Gurgaon India office ," she said and gave me their "Gurgaon number." Except, the number had a Delhi area code!

To make a long, tiring story short, I finally reached Google’s Gurgaon office. The phone was answered by a security guard. Look, is there a trend I am missing? Did the phone receptionist and security guard roles merge while I was busy doing other things? If so, will someone attend to cross-training security guards to have the skills of answering calls? Obviously, security guards spend time in the gym building muscles, not polishing their greeting skills.

Anyway, since Shailesh (the right Shailesh) was busy, I spoke with his executive assistant Aditi Dhingra. She was kind and patient as she heard me out.

I get very nervous when I have such experiences. Chaos of this variety is RARELY benign. It is often the signature of bigger problems inside. I am shocked that a company like Google which has executed flawlessly on some of technology's most difficult problems is struggling with such basic issues here in India. Yes, I am daring to criticize Google's Interface today - not the Web interface, the more critical interface it has with us here in India. Wrong phone numbers published on their website? Missing/untrained receptionists? Stone age employee directories? Yeh kya ho raha hai???

A highly successful CEO and a mentor once told me: “Your company’s phone number is like the front of your house. Pay attention to details because people will judge you by their experience at your doorsteps.” I hope Shailesh Rao gets the same message – no, not THAT Shailesh Rao, the other one, the one.

Last night Aabeda had arranged for tickets to that Aamir Khan - nephew - movie...hmmm, what was it? Jaaney tu something. I agreed to endure the 3 hours on the condition that I will walk out if it's boring.

Oh darn, I found it tad slow pace but she was loving it. And to emphasize her liking for the movie, during the interval she pulled out her mobile. She typed a review of the movie, by starting MS and then the review. Boom her SMS review was posted on mouthshut homepage.

That was a good way to score a brownie point. I was like "Ok , sure, now that you've posted an SMS review of the movie, I will watch it till the end".

Did you post your SMS review of jaaney tu? or whatever that was.

a. Type MS
b. Now type your review (less than 160 chars)
c. Send to 56767

Trust me it's addictive (sms reviews, not that movie.) I want to read your reviews. YOUR reviews, from wherever you are.

Oh Aabeda's review of jaaney tu is here: http://mouthshut.com/mobilerev
iew/mobilesms.php?smsid=530

--Faisal

PS- The SMS service is to help you post reviews from wherever you are. MouthShut does not make ANY money from this service.

It's time for renewal of our commitment to you my dear dear members.
Commitment for a change. A change for the better.

You'll recall my post about a month ago where I promised that we'll make
MouthShut better, very soon.

I'm copy pasting from my post of April 23, 2008:
-------------------------------
------------------
" a. We're working overtime to re-organize the website. You'll see a new homepage and layout very shortly. Trust me it's very different but will be extremely easy to use and more appealing to the eyes. "

All of us are excited. It's a remarkable change. My team here is really really working overtime to launch the new design. We're all gonna be up all night tonite.

Yes, the time has come. We'll unveil the new design to the world at 3:00 AM IST Friday, May 30, 2008.

As for the changes, I'll let you do the talking upon seeing. Until then, mouthshut.

--Faisal

In my last post, I talked about how at mouthshut.com office I am surrounded by some of the best people in India. I enjoy working with this extraordinary team. And they're a big factor in our success story.

MouthShut.com is thriving because we have members who love us and recommend us to others and we have people here in our office, who're just sooo good at whatever they do.
We're growing and we need more people. Bright, talented men and women. We are hiring across all departments.

We want excellent software engineers (.Net-sql, php-mysql, java)
We want graphics designers who love usability, computer interface and navigation
We require sales folks who can help us grow our growing revenue
We require marketing gurus who can dream the next big thing after our super-successful autorickshaw idea
We want people who're good at customer support (we call it member support)
We want product managers who can dream new features everyday
We want YOU.

We have positions across ALL DEPARTMENTS. If you love MouthShut.com then come work for us. If you have suggestions for us, rather than talking, come work for us

Email your resume WITH A COVER LETTER to jobs@mouthshut.com
Even if you don't know what position you'd like, email your resume and we'll probably find a position for you.

We love our members. I love you my dear members. Come help us become bigger. APPLY NOW  

Oh yes, just another tiring day at work and home. Home's always fun and work can be fun when surrounded by wonderful people. At MouthShut.com, I have the good fortune of being around some of the most talented, smart and fun-loving people in this country.

When I reached office, everybody's big smile caught me by surprise. Folks had taken pains to decorate my cabin- thank you everybody at 7PV (our office).

Thanks to all the MouthShut members who sent wonderful real and loads of virtual gifts. Thank you Madhurie for your special diary post...you sure know how to reciprocate the star writer status:-)

Shiraz gave me a cute card with a handwritten note. Ah so lovely.

Before I close this post, wanted to thank all of you again with a bit of what's happening behind the scenes.

a. We're working overtime to re-organize the website. You'll see a new homepage and layout very shortly. Trust me it's very different but will be extremely easy to use and more appealing to the eyes.

b. Suggestions are included: More than 137 suggestions from members via M2M, emails to support and diary posts, have been incorporated in the new designs. Thank you and let those suggestions keep flowing. I promise, we read all of them.

c. More products, more categories to review

d. One-click way to write reviews

e. Better search

f. More social networking options

I can only make these small announcements. The fun's in waiting for the launch. It'll happen soon.

Again, happy birthday to everybody out there who's a Taurean born on April 23.

--Faisal

We all love to shop (except your's truly). Oh, there may be many more who are like me. Shopping and I don't go well. But Aabeda does make up for it. She compensates for all the time I stay away from malls, stores and shops, by shopping till you have the proverbial shop-till-you-drop achieved.
 
But of late I have developed a new interest in shopping -- virtual shopping on MouthShut.com. And I'd like to pamper myself by shopping for myself.
 
Yes,  folks, I can shop for myself on MouthShut.com now. I just gifted myself a Game Console for 1000 MS Points. I think it's well spent.
 
I'm off to enjoying the console. You go ahead and shop for yourself!

--Faisal