Coincidentally, I have had the opportunity to interact with Dr. Gogia directly as well, so I am including my impression as well after Prabhakaran’s.

Here’s what Prabhakaran had to say about Dr. Gogia:

• very good experience so far.
• really good with children.
• does not give unnecessary medication.
• responds to your questions very promptly.

Now for my impression of Dr. Gogia. First of all, I have to agree with Prabhakaran overall. Below is our experience with Dr. Siddhartha Gogia, who we met after my wife delivered a baby at Max hospital last week. He was the attending pediatrician during the delivery.

Our daughter ‘Aanya’ was born with a slight case of fluid in her lungs which caused her to grunt while breathing. This can happen, and usually clears out on its own. Dr. Gogia was very patient in answering all my questions, and thanks to his calm manner, I felt myself not getting overly worried. This is important because a lot of times doctors tend to act self important and not explain properly what the issue is.

To monitor Aanya, they kept her in the NICU for one day. Dr. Gogia visited her regularly and kept us updated on her status. What I liked was his continuous attitude towards not doing unnecessary tests or giving not required medication. They just kept her under observation.

At this stage, it is very safe for me to say that he looks like a competent pediatrician, and I have decided to continue with him for the follow up sessions for Aanya. Let’s see if he turns out to be as good as the initial impression in the long run.

Here’s some more information about Dr. Gogia:

• he practices out of Max Hospital and his private clinic in DLF Phase IV.
• his contact details are: 9971799012 and gogiasiddhartha@gmail.com.
• he has a website at http://childspecialist.wordpress.com/ – this website contains a collection of articles about various topics related to parenting and child care. On first look, all these articles seem to be copied from various places on the Internet – so these are not his own publication; however, it is still a good place to go to find all this information in one place.

Has anyone consulted with Dr. Gogia – please mention your experiences (good and bad) in the comments.

The Sawasdee Thai Spa is located in Ambience mall on the second floor (just below Rockman’s Beer Island). You can walk in to a nice snug reception and the folks behind the reception desk are very friendly and helpful. There is a menu of treatments and massages that you can choose from, and I chose to have something called the Lotus Signature Massage (it wasn’t really called this, but something similar) – this massage was a combination of Swedish style and hot compresses – it sounded good.

You have a choice of a male or a female therapist, with your choice not necessarily always available (a busy place this is). I waited for about 10-15 minutes while they prepared the room. In the meantime, they brought me a glass of water – this is important. Before any massage, you should drink water because a massage releases toxins into the blood stream, and if there is not enough water in your body to dilute and ‘wash-out’ the toxins, then you will end up with a headache after the massage (as the toxins hit your brain). It is very important to have water before and after your massage. And since I didn’t ask for the water, it shows that they know their business (not every spa I have been to does this).

Before you are led to your room, they get you to change into soft slippers (you leave your shoes at the reception where they are placed securely in a shoe rack behind the counter). The room was very nice – clean, softly lit, with a built-in shower area. The masseuse that was assigned to me was really strong. She gave my body a very nice workout and squeezed weeks worth of stress out of my body. I have to mention the quality of the place a little more in terms of cleanliness – I have visited other spas in Gurgaon (such as Body Spa) and sometimes felt very dissatisfied with the cleanliness of towels and sheets for the massage table. But this place I had no concerns (by the way, its new, so let’s see if they keep their quality up).

I felt very good after the massage, and I got the impression that the masseuse was a qualified professional who knew what she was doing. There was hot tea offered post massage, which is a great alternative to water for hydrating your body. I felt so relaxed that I started walking out without my shoes and would have if the receptionist hadn’t called out after me to remind me. Another point I noticed is that there was no external noise in the massage room. This is something that is good. I think its very important for the mind to relax as the body is being worked upon, and there should be no intrusion on your mind during this period. I often fall asleep during a good massage, and the same thing happened here.

Obviously, I recommend this place highly.

Now for the cost – this 90 minute massage cost me almost Rs. 3500 (they have an introductory discount going on). Needless to say, it is not cheap. However, if you compare this to places such as Body Spa (which cost almost as much and doesn’t provide a fraction of the quality that this place offers) and also the fact that it is situated in one of the best malls in Gurgaon, the price is reasonable.

Another thing to notice is that you might want to call up in advance to book an appointment. While I was waiting for my room to be prepared I saw a number of people who came and left disappointed because there was no open slot available. Their website is still under construction, but it tells you the number to call: +91 124 466 5454.

Have you visited Sawasdee? If yes, please leave your impression in the comments.

Almost all malls in Gurgaon have a salon – a lot have more than one. The mall that I most visit is Ambience Mall on NH8, and the salon present in this mall is called Hair n Shanti. I am a regular at this place, as is my wife, and this blog post is a quick review of our experience with Hair n Shanti.

If you are in a hurry, here’s the quick review: generally, you will be pleased with the outcome of your visit. There are no red flags in terms of services provided and the quality of service. So, I recommend this salon.

However, if you need a little more detail, read on.

The place is usually crowded, so either take an appointment, or be prepared to wait a little while you are adjusted in between appointments. I normally just walk in there the moment I enter the mall to see when the next slot is, and then adjust my other activities in the mall accordingly.

The services offered to the ladies are fairly good (as witnessed by my wife – she has never complained once, so it must be good).

For myself, I can vouch for the haircut and head massage which are always excellent. I have been nicked a couple of times while getting a shave, so I generally avoid that (but I think that is pretty much the norm anywhere). My wife forced me into getting a manicure once, but I didn’t like what they did and nor did she. However, there are always plenty of men getting a variety of face and hair treatments, so overall it should be good.

Most people seem to be regulars (as evidenced by the familiarity between the service providers and the customers). What this says is that they are happy with what they get and that is why they return.

The guy who I normally get catered by is named Sahil, and he is fairly good. You can ask for him by name.

Now the main negative – the place is expensive. A men’s haircut costs Rs. 400. So you can scale the other things accordingly. I guess that is the price you pay for the location and the convenience. But if that doesn’t bother you, this place is certainly recommended.

Have you had experiences at Hair n Shanti? Please leave comments.

Two incidents happened which has almost ensured that I am never going back to Artemis.

They don’t care about the customer’s time

I have been having a pretty severe pain in my wrist and needed to visit an Orthopedic. I went to Artemis and sat at their OPD registration desk. They told me that Dr. Hegde is on call, and I can have an appointment with him. I said, that is fine. Then as he tried to book the appointment, he told me that Dr. Hegde will only be available after one hour, and so I had to wait. Since I didn’t have the time I told him not to bother and I will come back another day (as I can’t wait for an hour). Then he told me to wait while he got on the phone. Then he said, a doctor will see me now. He said another doctor who is an associate of Dr. Hegde’s will be able to see me. Since, I was only there for a preliminary diagnosis, I didn’t care and told him that it is alright. Incidentally, this doctor wasn’t even listed in their doctors’ database, and the appointment was made in the name of Dr. Hegde.

Never mind, I said to myself; I made the payment and off I went to look for this doctor. Now here’s the kicker. I still had to wait in this doctor’s office (there were no other patients) FOR ONE HOUR. This is after I told them that I had more important things to do and I can not wait for an hour. It all went downhill from there. I couldn’t leave as I had paid already and every visit to the registration desk yielded a he’s-just-coming response. I would have expected that after waiting for an hour, Dr. Hegde will show up; but no, it was his ‘associate’. If ever, a doctor has not looked like a doctor, it was this time. In any case, all this guy did was hold my wrists for a minute or two, move it around, and then told me to go get an MRI.

That’s it.

Getting an MRI and how incompetent these people are

I went back to the OPD to see if I could get an MRI right then (I was already late), but I guess I was overly optimistic. There was no chance of that, so I left thinking that I will take an appointment and then come.

Well, a couple of days later when I did have the time, I called them up for an appointment. I asked and they gave me an appointment for the same day, and asked me to come sharply at the appointment time. Well, good I thought. Since that would mean I wouldn’t have to waste my time.

I got to the hospital almost on time, and went to their diagnostics desk. For almost 10 minutes, nothing happened. This is a private hospital, they charge a lot of money for their services, and they are still understaffed? The guy who was holding the prescription just didn’t do anything about it for 10 minutes. He just kept yapping on one phone call after another.

In any case, when I got a little pissed, he started looking for my appointment details, and then told me that I don’t have an appointment. I said that’s impossible, since I had confirmed the appointment on phone. He then looked and found out that I had been given an appointment for the next day. Once again, this was a sheer waste of my time.

I told him to cancel my appointment for the next day and left. Of course, I still haven’t got an MRI done on my wrist, as it seems that there are not enough MRI machines in Gurgaon and too many people need to get an MRI done, so there’s always a queue.

Somehow, they managed to get hold of our phone number and called us with their offer. Their sales pitch was good, and so we were interested. Here is what they offered:

They would take Rs. 500 and provide 15 free service calls where they will send an electrician or a plumber (based on what you need) throughout the year. There is no labor charge for these services, and you will only have to pay the charges for actual material used.

In addition they will also do 2 free services for the air conditioners.

And they promised a visit in the next 24 hours.

Well, this was the pitch. And we liked it. So, what went wrong? Everything.

After we signed the contract and made a measly payment of Rs. 500, these guys disappeared. Let me put it this way, they were calling us up everyday before we made the purchase, and afterwards, we just couldn’t reach them at most times.

We needed a plumber to visit and do some jobs at home. We called them on the first time and asked for a visit. We were told that a plumber will be available the next day. Can you guess when the plumber showed up? Not for a week. And during this week, we tried several times to call up and ask for a status. But no-one answered their lines most of the time.

And incidentally, when the person did show up, he didn’t look like a trained professional. He spilled a bottle of glass cleaner in the bed room, and our bed room still stinks of the smell.

So, if you are receiving this sales pitch from Pentacle Service, I suggest that you tell them to get lost, and rely on your neighborhood electricians and plumbers.