Confessions of an Online Shopper

Lets get one thing very clear - I don’t like to leave the comfort of my work desk. I hate going to shopping malls and stores until and unless its a matter of life & death or something as irresistible as the annual Landmark Sale or The Strand Book Sale.

Reason#1 – I dislike going through shelves after shelves looking for the title I want to buy (because while doing so I always end up buying a lot of titles/things, I was actually not looking for).

Reason#2 – Crowd… I always stay away from it.

Sadly I had to put through this nonsense (read Physical stores) till the mid 2000s, thanks to the super expensive shipping costs levied by websites like Amazon (I still ended up ordering some DVDs from amazon every now and then) or real bad online Indian shopping services like – Rediff (they once sent me a crushed mp3 player in 2004 and never bothered to replace or apologize for it).

Things changed with the advent of Flipkart.com, and I just loved it. Now I could order any book as and when it was released. Discounted price and service as good as any international online shopping website - Flipkart became my favorite-st online shopping joint (I didn't visit Landmark Store for almost 6 months after discovering Flipkart). The best thing about them was – They had an amazing – amazing collection of Graphic Novels, something that we all used to crave for. Today as proudly I flaunt my library these days, I also look at the hole in my pocket and blame Flipkart for it. Their service is still impeccable and at times I feel they’ve got aliens working for them ALA the post office sequence in MIB II. I mean how can you explain a neatly packed book (with a bookmark inside) reaching you within less than 24 hours of ordering.

Flipkart is like one of those super tidy girls in your class, who were always prompt with their projects and assignments and just too good to spoiling all the fun for an average joe like you (in this case for all the other online stores) by being Ohh-So-Perfect…. PFFFBBBT!!Huh!
Thanks for spoiling us with your brilliant service Flipkart, this made other online sellers had to pull up their socks. BRAVO!

But when there is competition this tough, other players also have some superb tricks up their sleeves. The next player in the game was Infibeam.com. In the days when Flipkart was just selling books, we could order DVDs and other Merchandise from infibeam. Also the books were/are available here at better discounts as compared to Flipkart, most of the times. Once, I was overcharged (Almost 50% more as compared to its price on Infibeam) for an ‘Art Of’ book on Flipkart. One phone call (comparing their price with infibeam) later, the good people at Flipkart credited my Flipkart account with the difference. Now I check and compare the prices before I order anything from Flipkart. Though their service is good, but it comes at a price that’s most of the times higher than Infibeam. Second reason to chose infibeam is – Their great collection of out of print books. Most of the time you can get these books from the resellers at a much cheaper price on infibeam – I have ordered C.C.Tsai’s Sunzi Speaks (that has been out of print since 1994) and many other rare to find titles from Infibeam and have got some brilliant discounts on all of them.

Next website, that I tried was Indiaplaza.in, and that was just because they were selling Sandman TPBs for almost 50% off the market price. The service was decent till I got a few books in such a mutilated condition that even my friendly neighborhood raddiwallah will think twice before showing them to me. Anyway, a few phone calls later Indiaplaza replaced the books, but that was it. I recently ordered one more book from them (just to use the discount coupon I had), and their service this time was decent enough to give them another shot. Have ordered one more book (that’s unavailable everywhere else), lets see how they perform this time.

While Flipkart and Infibeam have become my one stop destination for ordering books, DVDs etc. Landmark’s online portal Landmarkonthenet.com has also been one of the best sites for online shopping. Its just that most of the time discounts here are almost nonexistent as long as they are not having some Superb Online Sale going on. Their Graphic Novel Sale was really out of the world, where else can you get absolute editions at 65% off?. Great service, wish the prices were a little competitive, but definitely worth giving a shot.

Now, lets come to the most interesting website of them all – shopyourworld.com. It was as good as having an amazon.com in India, you can order anything from amazon.com using this website and the prices were always reasonable. I have been ordering action figures and other collectibles from amazon, using shopyourworld gateway, for more than two years now. Even though they constantly miss their delivery deadlines, the products always reached me in pristine condition, and I owe a big chunk of my action figure collection and international DVDs to this website. Then there was a hiccup. I had ordered a Tintin figure (The movie merchandise, not Herge’s Tintin) on 20^th December 2011, and when it didn’t arrive after almost a month, I decided to get in touch with them. I was shocked to see not only I was unable to get in touch with their customer care execs. but the company had already deleted their twitter account and their facebook page – It was alarming. Online forums were filled with hundreds of complains from the paranoid customers, calling the site a scam and how they had been duped. I was pretty scared too, it was my hard earned money and despite trying to get in touch with SYW I wasn’t able to speak with anyone who could assure me. The phone no. provided on the website would keep playing the IVR saying – All our customer care executives are busy… in loop for several minutes but will never connect you to the exec. I ended up shooting a worried mail to them and one fine day (almost a week after sending the mail), I got an apologetic call from the website stating some logistical problems that they were facing with a promise to fulfill my order by March 13^th they also offered me a small discount token on my next purchase. Though the forums are still buzzing with complains, not only Shop Your World fulfilled their promise by sending me the courier before 13^th of March but I also got a call from one of their developers Rahil Shah this morning reaffirming that their site is back on track.  

Though I feel, they shouldn’t have avoided the confrontation with the customers by deleting their FB/Twitter accounts, this harms a company’s reputation beyond repair, but as long as they are willing to serve us better I don't mind giving them a second chance. just ordered this one from SYW -

Another new entry in this field is junglee.com powered by amazon.com. Though we all were really excited to have amazon entering Indian market, the junglee.com initiative is as good as ordering stuff from amazon, because you still have to pay the exorbitant shipping and duties on your orders, haven’t tried them because of the same reason.

 Let me know about your favorite online shopping portals and do share your good/bad online shopping experiences.

Yayawari, Comic Books & lots more...

There was so much to say and so little time that I had to write and delete several posts before I realized its more than a month since I updated my blog.

Anyway, without wasting words and time anymore, I think I should say what I wanted to say. I wanted to talk a lot about the journeys we made in last one month (a little more than a month, to be precise) and the fun we had. But as its already over and most of the journey stories will sound stale, I think I should save those stories for some other time.

Har safar Ek Nayi Shuruaat

Without Neeshank none of these stories would've been as interesting and fun filled as they are. Neeshank was the 'driving force' behind all the fun we had in Delhi and otherwise too...

SP and his tactics to safeguard the luggage was another funny addition during our South India visit.
I can't thank Amrit & Amol enough for making our Delhi visit one of the most memorable experience. With all the Hawabaaziyaan we did there (check out the size of Mango Shake), we almost forgot that Delhi isn't our hometown and we are actually out of home.

Bangalore Trip was more like a deja vu. Having spent a considerable time in Bangalore (back then it was called Bangalore), it was nothing new for SP or Me. Besides we were roommates for such a longtime that throughout on our way from Station to Mayunk n Abha's, we felt like we are going back from some friends place to Mrs.Pinto's at Brigade Road. Bengaluroo trip became zimbly subaarb, all thanks to Mayunk & Abha ki Mehmaannawazi. I so wanted to steal Mayunk's treasure of old comic books but before I could do that, Mayunk booked our return tickets and we had to leave Bangalore..oops...Namma Bengaluroo. But on our way we raided Blossoms and bought some superb comic books from there.

Neeshank & Me

Our trip from Bangalore to Chennai was really eventful. In true Indiana Jones fashion, we fought rogues (in this case the rowdy travel agents), deciphered codes to unearth a mysterious platform (no. 14 B) made by some mysterious civilization at Kempegowda Bus Terminus, just to get a Bus (which plays some trashy 1980s Kannada Movie on its way which none of the passengers wanna see, on its way) to Chennai.

On our way to Kempegowda Bus Terminus

SP & Neeshank, Chennai ki Or...

Poochho Na Kaise Maine Rain Bitayee

Chennai was pure awesomeness. Spent the night on the floors of a friend's office, which was a true 'Kasam Se Mazaa Aa Gaya' Experience. The next morning after having a delightful brunch at Sarvana Bhawan, T Nagar, we met some real cool people and after buying dozens of DVDs from Burma Bazaar, we returned back to Pune the same day. Our journey back home could've been a disaster, if we wouldn't have met this awesome TC, who 'helped' us out and we got an 'upgradation' to 2 Tier AC wunnly for wunn naayiitt!

Other trips and meets were awesome too, but I think Sabka mention kiye bina kaam chal sakta hai...so what I will mention here is THE GIFTS!
Somebody (I would love to mention the person's name, once I am allowed to do that) gifted me 200+ Indrajal Comics.
All the publishers I met gifted me massive bunches of comic books. My greed made me buy another bunch of comic books from all of them and every time I returned home from any trip, I had another carton full of comic books with me.
Bunty sent me his collection of Comic Books (easily 500+). I was going through the comic books last night and was getting all nostalgic about the years when I used to run a Lending Library with Bunty, where we used to share even an athanni and our fights on these comic books, almost every book has a personal memory attached to it. I can't thank him enough for this.

I am yet to start reading the comic books and books I have acquired in last one month.

To Err is...??

I also wanted to write something on some silly mistakes I noticed, while I was travelling -

Number 1 is the trailer of Kambakht Ishq: where they play the Mantra - "Mangalam Bhagwan Vishnu, Mangalam Garudadhwaja, Mangalam Pundrikakshah Mangalaya Tanoh Hari" along with the text on the screen... I was shocked to see 'Mangalam Pundrikakshah' wrongly written 'Mangalam Kundrikakshah' going on air unnoticed by so many people. This one mistake changes the meaning of the Mantra and nobody was actually bothered about bringing this to the Director's/Producer's/Media's notice. STRANGE!!!

Second is a DVD released by Shemaroo: How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, which is based on the very popular book by the same name by Stan Lee & John Buscema. It was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon this DVD at a Planet M outlet in Mumbai. But I was shocked to see DC's Superman on the cover of the DVD which will teach you How To Draw Comics 'The Marvel' Way. I would love to see Stan 'The Man' Lee's reaction on this cover. I think, we need a serious 'Comic book Education' in India. Nevertheless, despite the blasphemous cover, the DVD is an awesome product and a must have for every comic book lover/creator/'self proclaimed' creator. Check out the videos on youtube here.

Contemplations Aur Do June Ki Roti

After working round the clock for more than a month (without a single day break), life has started settling down.

May of the new year is almost half over and before we know it will be June.

June means- I'll be completing my one year with BIG Animation, one year in Pune, one year of many new things. Anyway, I'll be taking a month long (unpaid) sabbatical from work this June.

Have lots of unfinished stuff to work on and hazaar other things to do in June. I have been postponing almost anything and everything to June. Things are getting added almost everyday to the to do list, which means June is going to be a little tighter month for me.

Have loads to read & write. Unable to decide from where to start. I hope by god's grace I'll be able to sit back and plan things properly before June. Contemplations...Contemplations...

Meanwhile:
Finished reading first two chapters (Dormant Beast & December 32) of Enki Bilal's Beast Trilogy.
Bilal is a master of sci-fi fantasy graphic stories, all his stories have a very strong emotional central thread which makes them stand apart from other sci-fis.
This trilogy was later converted into Beast Tetralogy with the release of fourth installment in 2007. The two chapters I got to read were collected in Bilal Library imprint of DC. I am desperately looking for next two stories as the story was getting interesting when the book ended with a cliffhanger climax!
I was looking for more of Bilal and finally downloaded Bilal's movie Immortel (Ad Vitam) based on his 1980 Graphic Novel The Carnival of Immortals. (Disclaimer : I don't download a movie till it's available, but Immortel is almost impossible to get anywhere). I have heard a lot of good and some not so good things about the film. I am yet to see the film so I'll keep my mouth shut till I see it.

Other books I am reading are:
Ashwin Sanghi's The Rozabal Line. If you are a sucker for conspiracy theories, ancient cultures & civilizations with a lot of factual information hidden in fiction, this is the book for you. I am loving the research which went behind the book more than the story of the book.

Gotham By Gaslight : Batman - 3 Part Miniseries by Mike Mignola.

Just saw Disney's Jungle Book (which is apparently the last movie supervised and produced by Uncle Walt). I liked it in bits & pieces. Disney's Animation is always of superb quality, but I wasn't very happy with the way Disney took liberty with Kipling's classic story.

After too much of naatakbaazi, which includes rubbing toothpaste on the scratched DVD, I got to see The Lion King on my Laptop & I immensly loved the movie, some of the sequences are simply mindblowing! This movie (and all the naatak, that went into getting and seeing it) deserves another post!

Things To Do :

• Start finishing the work piling on my desk.
• A back to back run of STAR WARS original trilogy on my khatara DVD player this weekend. IMHO the original trilogy rocks, I am simply blown with the narrative structure of it. It's like a text book for anybody who wants to write stories...
• Read all twelve 100 Bullets TPBs in one go. Then there are other books too DKR, HUSH, SCALPED, Fables.
• & then there are other DVDs too...

Ahhh so much to do...so little time...

PS. Planning to get enrolled for Symbiosis' Diploma in Creative Writing in English course. Let's see...

Came across this wonderful blog on Golden Age Comic Books with a lot of Frazetta Art!

Ooh Aah Ouch!!....My Wallet!!

Despite my vow that I won’t be spending any money on DVDs/Books this month thanks to the bloody recession and some unexpected kharchas, I couldn’t stop myself when I saw the Wall-E Special Edition 2 Disc Set released by Excel Home Videos. Loaded with tons of extra features and Leslie Iwerks’ award winning Documentary The Pixar Story, it becomes a must have for any animation/Pixar Fan/Enthusiast/Professional.

Another irresistible blow came in the form of Kung Fu Panda 2 Disc –Kung fu Master Special Edition DVD. Though this one is also released as a single DVD set and I think one should go for the single disc edition only, 2^nd disc mostly contains promotional stuff which in my opinion most of the people won’t be interested in. Anyway it was heartbreaking to see they released it in India without the short film– Secrets Of The Furious Five, which was specially created for the DVD set called Pandamonium Set. Why they are always biased about releasing such cool stuff in India.

There was this DVD Sale going on in Mumbai and I ended up buying 5 more DVD Titles – A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo (have lost my 2 DVD Edition), Miller’s Crossing, Thelma and Louise and Little Miss Sunshine. I decided- No more DVDs for this month, and this is when I realized they have released The Dark Knight Special Edition 2 Disc Set too. Guys it's again a must have for everybody who loved this Masterpiece by Chris Nolan, one of the smartest film of this year. The extra DVD is loaded with many Extra Features, and its coming in a beautiful Bag with a free Tee and a sexy black Dark Knight Pen.

Well I promised myself I’ll save the money next month for sure and bought this one too (this is the same promise I make and break every month when I see a new DVD). Went to Landmark yesterday and was surprized to see they’ve got The Art Of Wall-E in their books section….The book I have been drooling for almost 6 months and more recently was contemplating if I should order it from amazon, how could I ignore this irresistable beauty giving me that come hither look from that book shelf? I am not heartless…but yup after spending so much I am penniless right now!!

I have been/or atleast tried to be a good boy the whole year, anybody wanna play Santa???

My chhoti si wish list – The Art Of Kung Fu Panda, Hans Bacher’s Dream Worlds, The Visual Story 2^nd Edition by Bruce Block. The Lion King (Disney Special Platinum Edition) DVD.

Edit: By the way in case if you are interested in the art of script writing and screenplays, Warner Bros. have uploaded The Dark Knight Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan on their website. Click here for the PDF Version of Actual Shooting Script.

Disney has also put up the Wall-E screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon. Click here to read one of the best Screenplays written for an Animation Film.