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DC EDIT Page Saturday 2 March 2013
1976: My friend was invited to a conference in Eastern Europe. I accompanied him from KGP to Cal to book his flight tickets. We went to the swank Air India outlet in Calcutta manned by a swarm of sari-clad beauties at whose sight I shriveled. They said Romania being under the Soviet thumb, all routes to it go through Moscow and that we should go and contact the Aeroflot office. That outlet was homely like our own IIT KGP. The stern gent there gave us the relevant flight numbers and asked us to get back to the Air India office for ticketing since it is a GoI sponsored affair. Back at Air India. They said they would give the tickets from Delhi to Moscow and onward to Bucharest but we should go to the Indian Airlines office for the ticket from Cal to Delhi. On to the IA office at the other end of Cal. The office there was like our Old Building and the ma'am to whom we reported was as grumpy as gps. And she sent us back to the Air India office saying that since it was a through-ticket it was the AI's responsibility for the entire bookings...they know the timings of Aeroflot. Back to the AI office which was closed since it was 5 minutes past 5 already...
2010: My wife and I wanted to fly to Calcutta on our way to KGP. From our home in Hyderabad my son did all the bookings on the net and paid just Rs 10,000 for both our tickets to and fro by IndiGo. And he left for the US. All we old couple had to do was to hire a cab to the swank greenfield airport on the outskirts of Hyderabad. We had a swell time...the pilots were not singing that their air hostesses were like their aunties...
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2000: I wanted to buy a cheap Maruti car for reasons to do with ego satisfaction. Since I didn't know a damn thing about it, I requested my friend to do the needful. After a series of phone calls to the Maruti outlet at Calcutta from KGP, my friend was asked to bring ourselves with just a check for Rs 2 lakhs. Which we did. On arriving there we found a small waiting line and we were asked to sit down and wait. Which we did for 3 hours. My friend lost his patience and asked the lovely lady at the reception to hasten our deal. She was kind enough to scan through our papers and flung our check into the drawer and asked me for my identity proof. I fished out my laminated IIT KGP ID card and gave it to her. She asked me what this IIT meant. We explained to her that it is an Institute of National Importance founded by the late Jawaharlal Nehru with his own hands. She didn't seem convinced and asked me for my Voter ID card. My friend lost his patience and demanded to know why she didn't specify it on phone the other day. She shrugged her comely shoulders. We had to go out and find a public telephone booth and ask my wife at KGP to fish the damn card out from our almirah, take it to the only fax machine in the market, and arrange to send the thing over to the Maruti outlet. The lady asked us to wait. At 5 PM my friend threatened the lady that he was going to meet her Biggest Boss then and there and complain. And also hurled his brahminical curse that within a couple of years their monopoly would evaporate like a snowflake in the sun. She got up quickly and asked us to wait since our lovely new car had gone to the Registration Office for temporary registration. It came back at 7 PM by when we were swamped by half a dozen 'technicians' for mamool. And as we hit the road to KGP, we found the ride as bumpy as a propeller flight through an air pocket. We reached KGP at 2 AM, and next morning we found that the tires were inflated to 70 psi instead of the regulation 26.
2011: My son wanted to buy an air-conditioned sedan. And he browsed the net. And was spoilt for choice. There were a couple of dozen and more models to choose from. After a couple of days he and his wife settled on the latest Tata Indigo. All he had to do was to make a phone call. The gent who lifted the phone arranged the finance, booked the vehicle from Pune, got it delivered in 2 days flat along with garlands, ribbons, chocolates, coconuts, camphor and group photos...
http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2011/04/car-puja.html
That is what a booming economy does to you...it spoils you.
So I pine for my good old socialistic days when our country was growing at the Hindu Growth Rate of 1%...sheer nostalgia...
My wish is about to be fulfilled...
I am told that the economy is now in the reverse gear like those tanks with 1 forward and 3 reverse gears...
9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0....whoosh!!!
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...Somewhat kindly, David Owen avoided likening (Pakistan's) defence strategy to the Egyptian tank designed for use in the Arab-Israeli war. It was said to have three reverse gears and one forward gear...
DC EDIT Page Saturday 2 March 2013
1976: My friend was invited to a conference in Eastern Europe. I accompanied him from KGP to Cal to book his flight tickets. We went to the swank Air India outlet in Calcutta manned by a swarm of sari-clad beauties at whose sight I shriveled. They said Romania being under the Soviet thumb, all routes to it go through Moscow and that we should go and contact the Aeroflot office. That outlet was homely like our own IIT KGP. The stern gent there gave us the relevant flight numbers and asked us to get back to the Air India office for ticketing since it is a GoI sponsored affair. Back at Air India. They said they would give the tickets from Delhi to Moscow and onward to Bucharest but we should go to the Indian Airlines office for the ticket from Cal to Delhi. On to the IA office at the other end of Cal. The office there was like our Old Building and the ma'am to whom we reported was as grumpy as gps. And she sent us back to the Air India office saying that since it was a through-ticket it was the AI's responsibility for the entire bookings...they know the timings of Aeroflot. Back to the AI office which was closed since it was 5 minutes past 5 already...
2010: My wife and I wanted to fly to Calcutta on our way to KGP. From our home in Hyderabad my son did all the bookings on the net and paid just Rs 10,000 for both our tickets to and fro by IndiGo. And he left for the US. All we old couple had to do was to hire a cab to the swank greenfield airport on the outskirts of Hyderabad. We had a swell time...the pilots were not singing that their air hostesses were like their aunties...
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
2000: I wanted to buy a cheap Maruti car for reasons to do with ego satisfaction. Since I didn't know a damn thing about it, I requested my friend to do the needful. After a series of phone calls to the Maruti outlet at Calcutta from KGP, my friend was asked to bring ourselves with just a check for Rs 2 lakhs. Which we did. On arriving there we found a small waiting line and we were asked to sit down and wait. Which we did for 3 hours. My friend lost his patience and asked the lovely lady at the reception to hasten our deal. She was kind enough to scan through our papers and flung our check into the drawer and asked me for my identity proof. I fished out my laminated IIT KGP ID card and gave it to her. She asked me what this IIT meant. We explained to her that it is an Institute of National Importance founded by the late Jawaharlal Nehru with his own hands. She didn't seem convinced and asked me for my Voter ID card. My friend lost his patience and demanded to know why she didn't specify it on phone the other day. She shrugged her comely shoulders. We had to go out and find a public telephone booth and ask my wife at KGP to fish the damn card out from our almirah, take it to the only fax machine in the market, and arrange to send the thing over to the Maruti outlet. The lady asked us to wait. At 5 PM my friend threatened the lady that he was going to meet her Biggest Boss then and there and complain. And also hurled his brahminical curse that within a couple of years their monopoly would evaporate like a snowflake in the sun. She got up quickly and asked us to wait since our lovely new car had gone to the Registration Office for temporary registration. It came back at 7 PM by when we were swamped by half a dozen 'technicians' for mamool. And as we hit the road to KGP, we found the ride as bumpy as a propeller flight through an air pocket. We reached KGP at 2 AM, and next morning we found that the tires were inflated to 70 psi instead of the regulation 26.
2011: My son wanted to buy an air-conditioned sedan. And he browsed the net. And was spoilt for choice. There were a couple of dozen and more models to choose from. After a couple of days he and his wife settled on the latest Tata Indigo. All he had to do was to make a phone call. The gent who lifted the phone arranged the finance, booked the vehicle from Pune, got it delivered in 2 days flat along with garlands, ribbons, chocolates, coconuts, camphor and group photos...
http://gpsastry.blogspot.in/2011/04/car-puja.html
That is what a booming economy does to you...it spoils you.
So I pine for my good old socialistic days when our country was growing at the Hindu Growth Rate of 1%...sheer nostalgia...
My wish is about to be fulfilled...
I am told that the economy is now in the reverse gear like those tanks with 1 forward and 3 reverse gears...
9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0....whoosh!!!
...Posted by Ishani
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