May 27, '05

Taken for Granted - An oft used phrase by many of us in various circumstances. One of the most common cribs of any foreign returned folk apart from the weather and hygiene, is the poor customer service in India. One of the inexcusable maladies in the Indian society.

Yesterday we had been to watch the much hyped movie, Chandramukhi. I am not going to review the movie as I will start berating my friend, Filbert for giving so much hoopla to the movie.

Well, the "taken for granted" attitude began from the time I boarded the auto from office, to make it to the movie on time. The autowala without any conscience demanded 90 bucks for a 8 km travel. The callous attitude of the autowalas in Chennai is known world wide. But to remain silent inspite of knowing that we have been made a bhakra, pains a lot.

Next, the theatre representatives has increased the minimum cost of the ticket. The autowala was commenting that he saw the movie only once in the theatre but could not make a revisit as he cannot afford to spend 50 bucks everytime. When everyone has the mindset to exploit, I feel even the theatre owners should not lament so much for the mushrooming of VCD shops. I am not trying to justify the usage of CDs but want to drive the nail, that it is better to clean our dirt before blaming others.

Next comes the canker in almost all theatres, however good they are. It is the switching of air condition in the theatres in these movies. It is really disgusting to note that the customer service is of lowest priority in this case. With Chennai's summer at its zenith and people thronged in a cinema hall where not even a seat is vacant, the theatre authorities switching off the ACs. oh God!! where to go and vent the letdowns.

Things did not end with it, the most user "unfriendliness" attitude of all those bike stand inchargees. Why this cold stare and acerbic words for no fault of the bike users?

People never gauge the depth of the causticity of words. When a passenger requests for the return of 50np, the bus conductors' trigger the negative energy by bad mouthing. As stated in physics, this energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be changed to another form only when we feel someting postive happens like the cherubic smile of a child, sweet fragrance of a flower, the warm hug/pat from the mom.

Why don't people realise that being good to others or giving a warm friendly smile, will lit up the world. A word of thanks from an unknown person, makes up the day and gives the sense of satisfaction for the day. I don't claim that I do all these hings. I know "Rome was not built in a day" but there is no harm in taking a baby step towards it !!!