Just had a chance encounter with one of India's greatest vices.."the corrupt babu"!! Thing is, we'd requested for a new caller id phone in exchange of our trusty old P&T coz you know, change is always good.Add to that a hoard of crank calls and you have a sound reason to get CLIP for your phone.
So anyway,its been 2 weeks since we applied for the new set.Normally it ought to have taken not more than 6 days for the gentlemen from BSNL to come down and replace our existing set. So I finally go and meet the SDO of the local exchange office in this regard.Apparently the phone's been sanctioned for quite a while but they were too busy to replace it.Nevertheless,I requested them to take some action.The SDO asked me to get a copy of the last bill and the old set itself and only then would I be given the new phone.Seemed redundant,but I agreed anyway to again come back.
The the gentleman lays out his alternate plan..."Kya dobara aayiyega,babuji,yehin chai paani ka intezaam kar dijiye aur phone le jaiye.Aapko naya phone bhi mil jayega,daudna bhi nahi padega aur set bhi rakh lijiye.Aayiye baithiye"
And all this after I had agreed to get the original bill and set and settle this legally.I know it sounds cliched and all, but what's appalling is the sheer shamelessness of the officer in question in asking for a bribe openly.That too when BSNL has taken significant steps in being transparent in its processes.Ultimately,I guess its technology can only do so much.The system is only good as its people,I for one have no more respect for an institution that s seemingly on a "modernisation" phase.
Peace (sigh!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment