Fake vs Original.

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.

- Salvador Dali

We come across a lot of things that fascinates our eyes. Some of those things, we fall for. And no matter what we want those things. Either it is a Smartphone, tablet, purse, Clothes; everything as a matter of fact. Everything looks eye-candy. Look at myself for instance. From Sneakers to the High-end-Laptop. Everything is in the check list. But I don't have all of them. There is this money factor. So, I don't get to stock up my room with all the latest gadgets, shoes, etc etc things. 

If I am not wrong there are a lot of people just like me. But they always think ten times before buying because of the price. So, what do some people do? They make the replica of those things with another name which sounds near to original. From iPhones to Shoes, everything has a replica. So, when people can't afford to buy an original Mobile, they go for a China Piece which they think is more affordable. And later after a month or so, they curse the phone for working properly. And it is easy money for the dealers. But there are a lot of drawbacks of using a fake product. 

Is it just the products? NO. Everything is being duplicated these days. The Piracy DVD's of the movies causing a huge loss to the director & producer of the movie. The content in the blogs/ newpapers / articles /every single thing. The Photographs taken by some photographer is copied without prior reference or permission. There is loss of originality. As I say, I remember the following quote. 

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original.

- C.S. Lewis

So, Why People opt for a non-original(fake) product(s)? 

We love sneakers, iPhones, RayBan, Gucci, etc. But the problem? The Cost is too high. And that becomes the most obvious reason. Products being over ten folds cheaper, makes people thinking into buying. And most people end up with RayBay (Ray Ban), Cuggi (Gucci) or an Arwani (Armani) product. Not only these, there are a train of products. 

What People don't try to understand? 

Though the price may be too less, but the Quality of the product isn't that good. The durability is very less. And though people know most of these things some people still prefer Fake-Branded Products. Well, it is the so-called fashion these days. And the problem with the mobile phones is that they emit radiations for starters which is not present in most standard mobiles and the cell reception isn't quite that good. You would find people shouting, Hello as loudly as they can but still the person on the other end won't hear a word. 

What contributes to the high price of most products? 

The products are carefully designed to increase customer satisfaction and avoid any problems to the users. These are thoroughly tested before being sold, a case absent in fake products. The raw materials that are used for making a product are standard approved products which are qualified by the manufacturing company, another case absent in the fake products where cheap non standardized raw materials are used. And all the original products use patented designs and equipment to maintain a certain standard for the product. 

Why am I ranting about this ? 

A recent Indiblogger meet comprised a seminar about the use of original HP cartridges. #OriginalCopy

The Original IndiBlogger Meet with HP #OriginalCopy

The Meet was Sheer Awesomeness and Original indeed conducted at Fortune JP Celestial Hotel by IndiBlogger. During this meet was a Seminar by conducted by HP Category Manager For HP Printers. He mentioned about the use of original products stating the advantages.

Source

He spoke about the HP Printers cartridges where people tend to refill them with INK which causes serious problem to the printer and the printing quality is also not upto the mark. Let me summarize it : 

The Cost?

It is known fact that earlier the Cartridges were a little more priced and it was equivalent to buying another printer. But these days, a Cartridge is available for Rs. 449/-. If you still think it is better to go for refilling it rather than spending money, let me tell you something on it. The refilling may be cheap but the quality of the Print is not as appealing as it should be and sometimes there is only half-print - making you print more copies. Secondly, the printer's durability & performance is reduced due to the continuous use of refiled cartridges ending up damaging the printer on the whole. 

Why should you prefer HP inks? 

First of all, they are eco-friendly. Secondly, you get the finest of the prints with HP inks. And thirdly, you get the maximum number of prints, may be double the prints than you might get by refilling. 

And Why Not HP Inks? 

These days people are so dissolved in the technology that people don't wish to step outside their home. Everything is done through the internet. So, keeping the busy people in mind, HP has introduced Dial-a-Cartridge (1800 425 4999) in which you get the Cartridge at the luxury of your home. And if someone is too lazy to pick up a phone, one can order online as well.

How to identify a Genuine Product? 

With increasing duplicity and faking of products, it sometimes becomes hard to identify the original product from that of a fake one. So, the HP Inks comes with a QR code. The application is available on various mobile platforms which anyone can download and check the originality of the product. Else you can type the Serial number and check whether it is a Genuine product or not. The online validation can be done from here - Online Validation. If on scanning using the QR code or through Online Validation, the result shows OK, then it is an Original Product.  There are other ways like the hologram effect which should like this : 

1. The "OK" and "✔" move in OPPOSITE directions when the box is tilted front to back.
2. The "OK" and "✔" move in the SAME direction when the box is tilted right to left

Conclusion.

Source 

You can find more details at the HP Portal. For any further information regarding identifying the Genuine Printer Inks (Cartridges) , you can get the information from here - How to identify a genuine HP cartridge.

Say no to FAKE. Buy Original - Be ORIGINAL. 

____________________

Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.

- John Stuart Mill

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And Lastly, A Special Thanks to IndiBlogger for Conducting the Bloggers Meet, to HP for Sponsoring and making us aware of the use of original cartridges. 

A Original IndiBlogger Meet with HP #OriginalCopy, indeed. 

- Ajay Kontham

The IndiBlogger Meet.

I don't usually wake up early, especially on Sundays. Come on, who does ? Well, Not me. But I had to wake up anyway because the newspaper guy wanted me  to pay the monthly bill. So, I woke up and what came first to my mind the next moment- The (Original) IndiBlogger Meet. Yeah, I was excited. 

So, the Meeting was scheduled at 1330 hours. So, I had to make a time frame. I made the mental calculation with all the mathematical expressions flying around and calculating the time taking various factors like the distance I have to walk, the distance the bus has to travel and the speed, the traffic - feeling like a math-genius. All was set and the result came out that it would take me at least over two hours. So, on the safe side I added 30 minutes to it. So, I had to start at 1100 hours. And I did exactly that but 30 minutes earlier. Yeah, to be much more safer side. By the way, if you must know, I like to be punctual. The aftermath was that I reached in one and a half hour. I patted myself for the awesome calculation (Sarcastically). Well, may be thats' why I couldn't crack that CAT exam. It took me another ten minutes to find the Fortune Hotel. But I thought it would be really weird to go in around one and a half hour earlier. So, I scoured the surroundings and ended up finding nothing. No malls, no CCD (Cafe Coffee Day), no Burger joints, No Pizza Huts. It was practically a tightly packed road with flyovers and uncountable vehicles hovering around. So, for the next hour I was just roaming around & window shopping (Looking through the window) since the shops were closed. I strolled up and down and the time wasn't moving at all. Finally, I decided to go in, whatever! 

I entered and found out that the meeting was on the second floor. By then I was thirty minutes before the scheduled time. I was told to wait in the waiting area in the first floor since I was a little early. So, Punctuality is not always good. It makes us wait. Lesson learnt - Lesson Forgot. 

The HP IndiBlogger Meet

The registrations were done. Time was around 1400 hours , but people still came until 1430. And then there was the first event after a brilliant song and some awesome music- 30 seconds of fame. People were sharing about their blog and telling a little bit about themselves enacting their favorite character in books/television/movies/anything and some others sang. And Anoop Zombie who happens to be an IndiBlogger was giving away freebies for some of the good introductions while in the middle there were some free distributions such as like when someone got a book for having an exam the next day, for having less hair on the head, for having a broken wrist, for tweeting about coughing, for being scolded by their Mom, etc etc. Well, I was just sitting and wondering how to get a freebie as like most others. The first freebie that I got was a book, for having no Stripes shirt at the round table of an odd six people. The goodies were so handy to get, I mean to be given away, I felt. I was sitting there wondering how many were there? I thought there couldn't be that many to accommodate a near to 150 people, if I am not wrong. 

Then there was a seminar by the HP guy about the use of #Original products. At the start of the meet, I met up with a guy who asked me what does that hashtag saying #OriginalCopy mean? I thought,  "Isn't it obvious?" That to be Original & maintain originality. But I wasn't sure to what it was actually related to exactly. At the end of the seminar, there was something to learn and something to share, which I would be doing. 

And it was time for a High Tea. There were a lot of items and I tried almost everything, not that I was hungry. Just tasted all, and they were quite nice. Then there was this photo session and the best photo wins a HP Printer. Yeah, So, Photo? I am a little bit good at taking pictures but not at all good at getting clicked. Not a photogenic face, you see. So, I didn't opt for that, but anyway some of the guys I met walked me to it. And the photo was quite literally awkward. The other guys had no idea how to pose, neither did I, but I didn't overdo. Anyway, the photo was clicked and its on FB now uploaded by IndiBlogger.

The miming was a fun part. We, a team of 15 members were to do Harry Potter . I mean come on, its as simple as that. But we had to do something different - A Quidditch game. All was set. It was supposed to look awesome with Voldemort fighting the Harry Potter. We even made a mark on one of the guys. The stage was too small for all the 15 people to fly around on their brooms and playing the game. As I was enacting, I saw the people watching us confused. But the end when Voldemort used his wand made it much easy for the other people to guess it easily. We got second for miming and the prize - A book and a Pen Drive. Pretty cool. :)

And the meeting ended up with discussing some seven odd and random questions and the most brilliant answer which was applauded by all was for the question - "Why this Kolavari Di ?" The answer to which was given by Mr. Balasubramaniam - "After 12 years of marriage, that is the only question I can ask my wife". And that won him a HP printer. 

The Meet was simply awesome and as it was my first, it was a great experience where I met with a lot of famous bloggers and had a chance to see the faces behind the blogs that I follow. And the IndiBlogger team seriously needs a hats off for conducting such meets and organizing it so well. And I would like to go to almost every other meet that is possible without fail.

#IndiBlogger [ Indian by Birth, Blogger by Choice ]
#HP #OriginalCopy

- Ajay Kontham