Monday, October 30, 2006
Perseverance wins over perils …3 recent personal stories
Friday, the 13th just passed by. Unlucky for some, lucky for others. This special day has not been bad for me….thus far….
This narrative is about releases from small, some petty injustices (but one can extrapolate)….Here are 3 stories – one of a lost iPOD and the saga to find it, another about a refund of accident damages and third one regarding return of cash taken for a promised job.
Few weeks ago (Oct 12th to be precise), we finally got back a lost iPOD. It ended the saga that went on for about 2 weeks. We had taken a bunch of kids, Maya’s friends, out to dinner one night (in celebration of Maya’s 13th birthday), to a restaurant on Church Street, parallel to MG Road. Since we wanted to fit everyone in one car and avoid the hassles of parking and driving ourselves on Bangalore roads in the heart of the city on a weekend, we rented a van. We got the Toyota Qualis from the usual place where we’ve had many good experiences renting.
It was a nice evening, expensive but fun for the kids. Few of the kids brought their iPODs along (yes, it’s quite common place to see a section of kids with this sleek device in our neck of the woods – big win for Apple!) to play games and listen to songs while 91.9 FM “Radio Indigo” was not playing on the car radio!! I totally agree that kids should interact more and peer less into these devices, but that’s not how it is, these days, unfortunately! [I’m reminded of that eons old quote ….. “Our earth is degenerate in these latter days; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; and the end of the world is evidently approaching” – Assyrian clay tablet 2800 BC -- yes that’s from Before Christ!]
Well, we came back home after dinner. The kids stayed back for a “sleep over”. In the morning, we got a call. It was from the driver of the car we rode the previous evening, asking us if we were missing a camera or something. My first reaction was that we left our digital camera in the van. I thought, we “did it again”. I had lost one digital camera in an auto last year around this time. Fortunately, we looked around and our camera was very much home.
A relief, but it turned out that the driver had found an iPod in the van. It belonged to one of Maya’s friends. Immediately we called the driver and asked him to come drop it off that morning. We would reward him, we thought. But, he was in a nearly town, Kolar, he said and was not going to come to Bangalore that day. We talked and he agreed to drop it off the next day, early in the morning……. But, that never happened!
Once they figured out that it was an iPod worth about Rs 20K, they stopped responding to our phone calls and were un-reachable via cell-phone (the very number we had called earlier). The driver called with good intentions. Then what happened? Temptation had won over? He seemed to have connected up with his agency and they must have convinced him and ordered him perhaps, to hand over the iPod to the car rental place owner. And he did that obediently I suppose. There were E-mails and phone calls back and forth between us and the parents of Maya’s friend who lost the iPOD. One week passed and then the second. We persisted and continued to call through the agency we had hired the car from. It turns out that he in turn rented from this other un-trustworthy place. Finally, we got the location (not full address but an approx area) where this other agency was. Our friend went to pick up their lost property, one fine morning. The place was “shady” they said and we wondered why our agency was even doing business with these folks. They wanted Rs. 2K to hand over our own equipment to us! The friend gave Rs. 500 and bolted out of there, iPOD in hand. The “good” driver continues to work for these un-ethical folks – he needs a job too….Our persistence paid off and after all the hassles we recovered the lost property. It should not be so difficult, but it just is, in this day and age.
It’s worth pondering, why give expensive stuff to kids, how to teach them to be careful with their belongings ….that’s lesson #1 learnt. And then, how to avoid dealing with these bad people and not giving any opportunity for temptation, how to reform our peoples, to be trustworthy and true…..
…..
Few weeks back my husband’s br-in-law was involved in a car accident. He and another br-in-law and sister were on their way from Bangalore to Pondicherry. Just an hour or so into the journey, their car was hit on the highway, close to Hosur not too far from Bangalore. An old ambassador car from the opposite side collided head on into a small Maruti car. The driver of the Maruti, a young IT professional from a reputed company, veered his way, struck our relatives’ car, damaged it a lot, before both cars could stop. Our larger car protected the much smaller Maruti. The driver of our car was very experienced and stayed composed through the entire collision, we were told. The couple in that car would have had serious injuries but for our Toyota Qualis. One would think they would be grateful to us, but the exact opposite is what it turned out to be. The accident caused much trials and a Rs. 7K in damages to our car. The old ambassador car that caused the problem in the first place was totaled and that driver begged to be let off as he did not have anything to give. He asked them to take the car (now a lump of metal I suppose) if they so desired. He had nothing else, no money to give or pay for damages. And they let him go!
What follows is a whole lot of unpleasantaries - detail of the hassles we had to go through before we got back the money from the person who damagaed our relatives’ car. At the accident spot, this IT fellow was very co-operative. He provided his phone number and home address and signed the document stating he would pay damages to our car. He was hurt and his arm was bleeding. Our relatives were very considerate and helpful to him. He mentioned that his wife was pregnant too (a lie it turned out, to gain sympathy?). Our car actually protected them, else they could have been in critical condition. They got an estimate of Rs. 7000 from a nearby car repair place for our car and this guy agreed to pay that service agency the amount. Insurance claims are few and far between – matters are settled by individuals on mutual agreement basis. So, this agreement was not un-common.
The driver of our Qualis said that he knew of a better car repair shop so they took the car there instead of this unknown place on the highway. Our br-in-law called the IT fellow promptly and informed him that they were taking the car to another shop and that he should send payment to us rather than the highway repairman. He agreed to courier the check (of some Rs. 5-7K).
Days passed and the check never came. When we called back, he said he has already paid the repairman on the highway. We asked him to go collect the money back and give it to us. He was rude and mean and asked us to go get it back ourselves. He gave us a run-around, the home address he gave us was wrong.
He had even taken the car repairman for a ride. He got his car repaired from them and did not pay him either but ran away with the car (posing to test drive). We had to bull-doze our way to get Rs. 5K back from our IT fellow. It was hard but persistence helped. The cell phone # was correct and he kept talking.
The car repairman got his correct home address from the Airtel, the phone company. Our br-in-law and the car repairman went to his house, demanded and got the cash. The car-repairman resorted to “Dada giri” (being rough and tough – using harshness and violence to some extent – in words). “Gandhi giri” (being nice, soft spoken and non-violent) was not seeming to work at all. The car-repairman pulled the car apart and demanded his dues in order to re-assemble the vehicle. Thus he got his Rs. 70K back. Sometimes, the only resort is to take the law into your own hands.
Aside: A recent Tamil movie I saw, “Anniyan”, is based on this theme.
Looks (and apparent “status/class” in society) are certainly deceptive. Turned out the roadside car repairman was honest, fair and truthful. The IT employee rude, mean, malicious and a crook.
…….
A few months ago, Renganathan’s nephew paid Rs. 14K to someone who promised to get him an IT job. This nephew has a Bachelors degree in Engineering with specialization in IT. But he was finding it extremely hard to get a first job in Chennai. It was almost a year since he graduated and he was getting anxious. He got in touch with these folks through someone known remotely. Somehow, the method in which this “HR firm” or perhaps I should called it “informal group” were running the operation seemed “shady”. They took the money in cash, and “posed” as if it were to seriously look for a job for him through their “connections”. At one point they even sent him a letter of appointment via E-mail – from IBM I think it was. But, really no job in site. I’m sure there are many such “agencies” trying to make a fast bug, ripping off innocent gullible people. After much shouting and many hassles, we were able to get back the money from these folks who may or may not be getting the jobs/placements for anyone after all. It might all be a sham, who knows? The thought about reporting these people crossed our minds, but we just let it pass, happy with the refund of the Rs. 14K. The nephew is now settled in a job at a SW company in Bangalore (got through some sincere referral for no charge!) and seems to enjoy his work.
……
There have been other losses, large and small. We were taken for a ride by a real-estate agent who said he would find us a home of our liking in a less than a month. He took Rs. 8,000 in cash from us in advance (don’t know how we readily parted with that kind of cash, went to an ATM, drew the money and handed to him before he showed us even one house – how gullible we were!!). We were extremely dissatisfied with his service, he took us for a ride and we just lost that bulk of money!
Another loss was even bigger!! We lost Rs. 50K – yes that was 50 thousand rupees (!!) to the giant Brigade group (ironically, we now live in a rented flat built by these people). We had booked a flat to own and cancelled the booking just days later (approach roads are pathetic and dismal; construction is severely lacking). This was almost a year ago. They charged us Rs. 50K in penalty in this hot real estate market! It was so ridiculous but we could do zilch. So, rip offs are bigger when you deal with bigger people!! (Remember the Enron scandal and the huge number of un-suspecting sincere workers losing their lives retirement savings?)
…..
Yet another rip-off was a $700 loss for furniture ordered in Mysore which never reached our friends in Portland. We visited the shop, argued a lot with many people in the supply chain but of no avail.
…..
Once I got conned into giving Rs. 500 to a family that posed as if they were stranded in a big city after losing their entire luggage. Well dressed and clean, they asked for money to head back to their village – about Rs. 500 it would cost for tickets to get to their village in Maharashtra from Bangalore, they said. And I bought their story and handed them the cash. We would not hand out so much money to a beggar on the street but these are con artists who hypnotize you perhaps? And those of us who are waiting to reach out and wanting an opportunity to serve, get bought into these types of unrealistic stories.
….
Losses galore - tangible losses in financial terms – some small and some significant…are behind us now. New ones may surface but we are wiser. It’s been frustrating. These experiences and a bulk load of others have led to plenty of gains – in lives’ lessons. We’ve learnt to continue to fight. We need to keep on keeping on. Everything leads to success, ultimately. “Success is a journey, not a determination”
Coming back to Friday the 13th that just passed by. It was my birthday that day! I have seen many moons :). I count my blessings and am grateful for all I have - family, friends and all life has offered thus far. It has been a great journey ….There are ups and downs and trials small and large. Sometimes (Often? Always?) we have to fight back. “Persist and thou shall win”, and I am prepared…are you?
-Sri
This narrative is about releases from small, some petty injustices (but one can extrapolate)….Here are 3 stories – one of a lost iPOD and the saga to find it, another about a refund of accident damages and third one regarding return of cash taken for a promised job.
Few weeks ago (Oct 12th to be precise), we finally got back a lost iPOD. It ended the saga that went on for about 2 weeks. We had taken a bunch of kids, Maya’s friends, out to dinner one night (in celebration of Maya’s 13th birthday), to a restaurant on Church Street, parallel to MG Road. Since we wanted to fit everyone in one car and avoid the hassles of parking and driving ourselves on Bangalore roads in the heart of the city on a weekend, we rented a van. We got the Toyota Qualis from the usual place where we’ve had many good experiences renting.
It was a nice evening, expensive but fun for the kids. Few of the kids brought their iPODs along (yes, it’s quite common place to see a section of kids with this sleek device in our neck of the woods – big win for Apple!) to play games and listen to songs while 91.9 FM “Radio Indigo” was not playing on the car radio!! I totally agree that kids should interact more and peer less into these devices, but that’s not how it is, these days, unfortunately! [I’m reminded of that eons old quote ….. “Our earth is degenerate in these latter days; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; and the end of the world is evidently approaching” – Assyrian clay tablet 2800 BC -- yes that’s from Before Christ!]
Well, we came back home after dinner. The kids stayed back for a “sleep over”. In the morning, we got a call. It was from the driver of the car we rode the previous evening, asking us if we were missing a camera or something. My first reaction was that we left our digital camera in the van. I thought, we “did it again”. I had lost one digital camera in an auto last year around this time. Fortunately, we looked around and our camera was very much home.
A relief, but it turned out that the driver had found an iPod in the van. It belonged to one of Maya’s friends. Immediately we called the driver and asked him to come drop it off that morning. We would reward him, we thought. But, he was in a nearly town, Kolar, he said and was not going to come to Bangalore that day. We talked and he agreed to drop it off the next day, early in the morning……. But, that never happened!
Once they figured out that it was an iPod worth about Rs 20K, they stopped responding to our phone calls and were un-reachable via cell-phone (the very number we had called earlier). The driver called with good intentions. Then what happened? Temptation had won over? He seemed to have connected up with his agency and they must have convinced him and ordered him perhaps, to hand over the iPod to the car rental place owner. And he did that obediently I suppose. There were E-mails and phone calls back and forth between us and the parents of Maya’s friend who lost the iPOD. One week passed and then the second. We persisted and continued to call through the agency we had hired the car from. It turns out that he in turn rented from this other un-trustworthy place. Finally, we got the location (not full address but an approx area) where this other agency was. Our friend went to pick up their lost property, one fine morning. The place was “shady” they said and we wondered why our agency was even doing business with these folks. They wanted Rs. 2K to hand over our own equipment to us! The friend gave Rs. 500 and bolted out of there, iPOD in hand. The “good” driver continues to work for these un-ethical folks – he needs a job too….Our persistence paid off and after all the hassles we recovered the lost property. It should not be so difficult, but it just is, in this day and age.
It’s worth pondering, why give expensive stuff to kids, how to teach them to be careful with their belongings ….that’s lesson #1 learnt. And then, how to avoid dealing with these bad people and not giving any opportunity for temptation, how to reform our peoples, to be trustworthy and true…..
…..
Few weeks back my husband’s br-in-law was involved in a car accident. He and another br-in-law and sister were on their way from Bangalore to Pondicherry. Just an hour or so into the journey, their car was hit on the highway, close to Hosur not too far from Bangalore. An old ambassador car from the opposite side collided head on into a small Maruti car. The driver of the Maruti, a young IT professional from a reputed company, veered his way, struck our relatives’ car, damaged it a lot, before both cars could stop. Our larger car protected the much smaller Maruti. The driver of our car was very experienced and stayed composed through the entire collision, we were told. The couple in that car would have had serious injuries but for our Toyota Qualis. One would think they would be grateful to us, but the exact opposite is what it turned out to be. The accident caused much trials and a Rs. 7K in damages to our car. The old ambassador car that caused the problem in the first place was totaled and that driver begged to be let off as he did not have anything to give. He asked them to take the car (now a lump of metal I suppose) if they so desired. He had nothing else, no money to give or pay for damages. And they let him go!
What follows is a whole lot of unpleasantaries - detail of the hassles we had to go through before we got back the money from the person who damagaed our relatives’ car. At the accident spot, this IT fellow was very co-operative. He provided his phone number and home address and signed the document stating he would pay damages to our car. He was hurt and his arm was bleeding. Our relatives were very considerate and helpful to him. He mentioned that his wife was pregnant too (a lie it turned out, to gain sympathy?). Our car actually protected them, else they could have been in critical condition. They got an estimate of Rs. 7000 from a nearby car repair place for our car and this guy agreed to pay that service agency the amount. Insurance claims are few and far between – matters are settled by individuals on mutual agreement basis. So, this agreement was not un-common.
The driver of our Qualis said that he knew of a better car repair shop so they took the car there instead of this unknown place on the highway. Our br-in-law called the IT fellow promptly and informed him that they were taking the car to another shop and that he should send payment to us rather than the highway repairman. He agreed to courier the check (of some Rs. 5-7K).
Days passed and the check never came. When we called back, he said he has already paid the repairman on the highway. We asked him to go collect the money back and give it to us. He was rude and mean and asked us to go get it back ourselves. He gave us a run-around, the home address he gave us was wrong.
He had even taken the car repairman for a ride. He got his car repaired from them and did not pay him either but ran away with the car (posing to test drive). We had to bull-doze our way to get Rs. 5K back from our IT fellow. It was hard but persistence helped. The cell phone # was correct and he kept talking.
The car repairman got his correct home address from the Airtel, the phone company. Our br-in-law and the car repairman went to his house, demanded and got the cash. The car-repairman resorted to “Dada giri” (being rough and tough – using harshness and violence to some extent – in words). “Gandhi giri” (being nice, soft spoken and non-violent) was not seeming to work at all. The car-repairman pulled the car apart and demanded his dues in order to re-assemble the vehicle. Thus he got his Rs. 70K back. Sometimes, the only resort is to take the law into your own hands.
Aside: A recent Tamil movie I saw, “Anniyan”, is based on this theme.
Looks (and apparent “status/class” in society) are certainly deceptive. Turned out the roadside car repairman was honest, fair and truthful. The IT employee rude, mean, malicious and a crook.
…….
A few months ago, Renganathan’s nephew paid Rs. 14K to someone who promised to get him an IT job. This nephew has a Bachelors degree in Engineering with specialization in IT. But he was finding it extremely hard to get a first job in Chennai. It was almost a year since he graduated and he was getting anxious. He got in touch with these folks through someone known remotely. Somehow, the method in which this “HR firm” or perhaps I should called it “informal group” were running the operation seemed “shady”. They took the money in cash, and “posed” as if it were to seriously look for a job for him through their “connections”. At one point they even sent him a letter of appointment via E-mail – from IBM I think it was. But, really no job in site. I’m sure there are many such “agencies” trying to make a fast bug, ripping off innocent gullible people. After much shouting and many hassles, we were able to get back the money from these folks who may or may not be getting the jobs/placements for anyone after all. It might all be a sham, who knows? The thought about reporting these people crossed our minds, but we just let it pass, happy with the refund of the Rs. 14K. The nephew is now settled in a job at a SW company in Bangalore (got through some sincere referral for no charge!) and seems to enjoy his work.
……
There have been other losses, large and small. We were taken for a ride by a real-estate agent who said he would find us a home of our liking in a less than a month. He took Rs. 8,000 in cash from us in advance (don’t know how we readily parted with that kind of cash, went to an ATM, drew the money and handed to him before he showed us even one house – how gullible we were!!). We were extremely dissatisfied with his service, he took us for a ride and we just lost that bulk of money!
Another loss was even bigger!! We lost Rs. 50K – yes that was 50 thousand rupees (!!) to the giant Brigade group (ironically, we now live in a rented flat built by these people). We had booked a flat to own and cancelled the booking just days later (approach roads are pathetic and dismal; construction is severely lacking). This was almost a year ago. They charged us Rs. 50K in penalty in this hot real estate market! It was so ridiculous but we could do zilch. So, rip offs are bigger when you deal with bigger people!! (Remember the Enron scandal and the huge number of un-suspecting sincere workers losing their lives retirement savings?)
…..
Yet another rip-off was a $700 loss for furniture ordered in Mysore which never reached our friends in Portland. We visited the shop, argued a lot with many people in the supply chain but of no avail.
…..
Once I got conned into giving Rs. 500 to a family that posed as if they were stranded in a big city after losing their entire luggage. Well dressed and clean, they asked for money to head back to their village – about Rs. 500 it would cost for tickets to get to their village in Maharashtra from Bangalore, they said. And I bought their story and handed them the cash. We would not hand out so much money to a beggar on the street but these are con artists who hypnotize you perhaps? And those of us who are waiting to reach out and wanting an opportunity to serve, get bought into these types of unrealistic stories.
….
Losses galore - tangible losses in financial terms – some small and some significant…are behind us now. New ones may surface but we are wiser. It’s been frustrating. These experiences and a bulk load of others have led to plenty of gains – in lives’ lessons. We’ve learnt to continue to fight. We need to keep on keeping on. Everything leads to success, ultimately. “Success is a journey, not a determination”
Coming back to Friday the 13th that just passed by. It was my birthday that day! I have seen many moons :). I count my blessings and am grateful for all I have - family, friends and all life has offered thus far. It has been a great journey ….There are ups and downs and trials small and large. Sometimes (Often? Always?) we have to fight back. “Persist and thou shall win”, and I am prepared…are you?
-Sri
# posted by Sri Renganathan @ 11:58 PM 
Comments:
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Hi,
I came across your blog while trying to search for information about Brigade school. Since you have your daughter studying there, I would like to know if the school is good. People seem to say that it is not a good choice after the PSBB-Brigade break. We are planning to enroll our little one in the Brigade school, could you please give us more info on your view about the school.
Vani
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I came across your blog while trying to search for information about Brigade school. Since you have your daughter studying there, I would like to know if the school is good. People seem to say that it is not a good choice after the PSBB-Brigade break. We are planning to enroll our little one in the Brigade school, could you please give us more info on your view about the school.
Vani
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