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Tuesday, September 30, 2003 Credit HistoryFew weeks ago, I applied for a new credit card with one MBNA Bank. Not that I badly need one, but their offer of a FREE compact camera drew me there. Yesterday, I got a mail saying that my application is being rejected coz of my poor credit history. Coincidentally, one another financial source called up to inform me that my credit history is not in order. Wondering whether not borrowing anything from anyone or paying up the credit card bills in full would result in bad rating, I called up Equifax - the independent credit report agency for my credit file (had to pay £8.25 for that), which mentioned that my outstanding credits amounted to about 15 times my actual. Aghast, I went on to investigate further. Few phone calls later I discovered that it is my bank who were responsible for the mess. They were promptly informing the credit report agency whenever I owe them any payment, but they didn't bother to update them when I clear those. Thus, the outstanding kept accumulating. For a moment I thought of accusing the bank of unprofessional service, holding them responsible for the blot in my credit history and milk out some freebies – may be have my credit limit increased (which is of no great use to me), have the interest waived for few months (anyway I prefer to clear the bills immediately) or have them pay for my credit file (at least, this would have made some sense. I would have got the £8.25 back). But the fact is, I found it hard to understand the accent of the call centre operator at the other end. Probably, she too had problem understanding mine. Don’t know whose fault it is, I had a tough time to get her sort out the issue that I didn't have any energy to carry over to the accusation round. Posted at 9/30/2003 11:33:03 AM Link Negotiations I was made to realise once again that I am very, very, very poor in negotiations. Unless I improve that skill, I am not going to get the pay packet I deserve. There is no point in having the book 'Negotiating Skills for Managers' in your bookshelf. It must be read and put to use. Posted at 9/30/2003 11:30:55 AM Link Friday, September 26, 2003 ASDA, Wal-Mart's UK arm has recently started a section in its Bournemouth store selling Indian groceries. This is not a news of any significance to the people living in London or any other city in UK with some sizeable Indian presence. But for Indians living in Bournemouth, its a sort of boon as otherwise, we have to travel all the way up to London (2.5 hours drive) or get them at a Pakistani owned shop in place called Charminster near B'mouth at about three times the normal price.Happy that ASDA has recognised the Indian presence in the town, a small crowd though! Posted at 9/26/2003 11:12:09 AM Link Wednesday, September 24, 2003 The Ugly face of MomtazOn Sunday evening, five of us (4 adults & a kid) went to an Indian (Bangladeshi) restaurant 'Momtaz' in Bournemouth. Bangladeshis/Pakistanis in UK who run the Tandoori restaurants call them as 'Indian Restaurants' despite the acrimony back home. In some cases, the waiters/chef used to be the guys straight from the sub-continent and at times it would appear that they would need some training on language, etiquettes & behaviour (I mean no offence to the waiters back home. What I mean to say is the people who come to work here would be better off if they learn a bit more about the European culture). It was obvious that the waiter who was about to serve us would fit in the above category. It was not a busy day for them as there were only two other small groups of people apart from us. We had three glasses of Orange juice and Poppadams (our good, old Appalam) as starters while flipping through the six-page menu. Despite the face that it is an Indian restaurant, as vegetarians, we had very little to choose from. As we were placing our order, the waiter informed us of the never-heard policy of a minimum order of £9.99 per person. He further went on to say that we have to order a minimum of 3 main course thalis and they don’t consider ‘Naan’ as a main course. I told him that I am a regular customer to that restaurant and have never heard about this before. He bluntly told, “No! That is the policy”. We thought that this is utterly ridiculous, as we would have to eat something, which we didn’t want to comply with the rule. I asked the waiter to bring the bill for the starters and also wanted to talk with the manager. My intention of talking to the manager was to give him a constructive feedback that it would make good business sense if he relaxed the rule. Although, we decided to move, even in our case, he would be making business worth at least £35, which is a good sum particularly on a lean day. The manager, whom I think is also the owner of the restaurant, came all the way and when told about the incident, simply said, “That’s the rule”. We told him politely that it would have saved our time and embarrassment had this rule been more explicit. Not sure what he thought about, he started yelling at us at the top of his voice and showed the menu where there was a mention about the minimum amount of £9.99 in small print. However, the policy regarding the main course et al. were nowhere to be seen. I was totally taken aback by his unprofessional behaviour that led other customers staring at us and we felt very embarrassed. My friend told him that if he was so rigid about this kind of rule, he could do well to put up a notice in front of the restaurant. He took us outside the restaurant, where they have put up the same menu, inside a small display unit. One would really need a magnifying lens to read that rule. He further abused us with the four-lettered “F” word and added, “I don’t want people like you in my restaurant” (This could very well be taken as a racist remark in UK). We were presented with a bill of £7.90 for which the break up read was £1.10 for Poppadams, £4.50 for the Orange juice and £2.30 for the pickle. We settled the bill and were keen to get away from that sucker and in the process failed to point out that we never asked for pickle and it is served along with poppadams. As if he was doing us a favour he mentioned “I let you off from service charges”. Little did he realise that the restaurants do not levy the service charges (read, tips) but were the prerogative of the customer. Thinking about the incident after cooling our heels, I don’t see anything wrong with this kind of rules that takes the customers away from the business. If the owner of the business is not interested in developing it, why should we bother about that? On a different note, if I had called up the restaurant from home, ordered the same food and had them delivered at home, would they ask me “How many people would be eating this food?” Their menu card says that they would do a free door delivery service for orders more than £10. But the incident sure brought up several questions in my mind. >> What made him behave in such an unprofessional and highly undignified manner? >> Sometimes, people have to be tough to deal with drunken nuts. But, we went there with our families who were startled on hearing him shout at us. >> Would he have got the guts to say the same thing if a non-Asian had been in our place. >> Did he behave in such a manner just on knowing that we are Indians or would it be the same treatment for his countrymen as well? >> What makes him treat us like dirt? After all, I am not eating out of his benevolence. >> Why? Why this arrogance when he too like me have come to this country for earning his daily bread. >> How should I deal with this kind of guys when I encounter a similar situation next time? Obviously, I wouldn’t step into that restaurant again in my life. But I am just thinking of ways to make him remember that Sunday evening. Posted at 9/24/2003 11:29:24 AM Link Tuesday, September 23, 2003 Back to work after an extended weekend!My friend Renga & his family were at our place over the weekend and it was all fun. The weather was bad on Sunday with lot of mist & very poor visibility but that didn’t deter us from going to the beach and help Varsha – Renga’s 3-year-old cutie realise her dream of building a sand castle. Couldn’t help thinking “Those days…” hmmm! Late on Sunday evening, we went to a Bangla - Indian restaurant only to return home in few minutes and have yummy curd rice. The incident there warrants a separate post. I need to make some very important decisions very soon (few years down the line, I might call this as a turning point in my life or something of that sort) and quite obviously my mind was/is preoccupied with those thoughts. Nothing personal about it though.. will certainly post about those as and when something tangible happens. The weekend was not without problems. Someone at office mistook my laptop for his/hers (I hope someone has taken it away only by mistake. Would know that in a day or two) and deprived me of online connectivity for the last three days, which is why the world missed my rants. Posted at 9/23/2003 11:50:19 AM Link Friday, September 19, 2003 Every penny helps..It is sad when people who are so young suffer from chronic health problems and their suffering becomes even more painful when their finances let them down too. There is one 26-year-old Prabhakaran in Chennai - a friend of my friend, who is suffering from heart related problems and needs help in the form of cash to the tune of Rs. 27,500 to undergo an essential surgery. Click here if you want to see the doctor’s version of his illness. If you would like to chip in with your mite, please drop me a mail at sam_chakra@yahoo.com. I shall tell you the best way to reach him. Your help would be very much appreciated. Thanks. Posted at 9/19/2003 11:19:49 AM Link Thursday, September 18, 2003 Indica as City RoverFor long, I was proud of India’s first indigenous car – Tata Indica. I was doubly happy yesterday when I saw BBC reporting from Tata’s manufacturing unit at Pune in India that MG Rover’s new model City Rover to be rolled out in UK shortly is based on Indica’s design with some changes to suit the European taste. (I know that this is an old news..) Apart from the benefit of reduced costs to MG Rover & other commercial aspects, the recognition of Tata’s expertise is important for the country as well. This could make the world turn towards India as a ‘manufacturing’ destination apart from software & services giving the much needed fillip to the most under performing sector of the Indian economy. Coming months would indicate which way we are headed. Posted at 9/18/2003 10:39:27 AM Link Morning walk After our unsuccessful attempts to go for a walk regularly in the evenings, we have embarked upon the idea of rising early and go for a jog along the beach. The first day plans were executed to perfection as we started out at 5:30 in the morning and returned an hour later. Unlike our good old Marina in Chennai, I could hardly spot anyone walking/jogging here at Bournemouth. Perhaps, people don’t find beach as an ideal place for these activities. I have the knack of planning everything systematically to finer details and shamelessly blowing it away. Let me see how long this circus lasts. Posted at 9/18/2003 10:35:02 AM Link Wednesday, September 17, 2003 Racism??As I was walking towards the office this morning, a car that was passing on the road honked and I turned around to see the driver gesture something at me. Normally people don’t honk here unless or otherwise it is absolutely necessary. There was no one around me at that point to whom he could have waved/gestured. Anyway, since I didn’t recognise the guy in the car and also because the car sped by, I didn’t care a damn. On reaching the office, one of my colleague who was following me at a distance came up to ask whether I am okay. He thinks that the guy in the car was making some obscene gestures at me and might be a racist. It is his just his thought and he could possibly be right. In the 3.5 years I have lived in UK so far, I have never faced any racial overtures. I am not going to let this one isolated incident change the perception about this country in me. Nevertheless, I need to exercise caution. Posted at 9/17/2003 10:32:59 AM Link Tuesday, September 16, 2003 The washing machine in our house has gone for a toss and the landlord is all set to replace it. Since he is not in station, I presume that it would take at least a week to get a new one. Meanwhile, as the used clothes started piling up, my wife embarked on the arduous task of manual washing. Like the Tamil movie cops who arrive at the scene after everything is over, I chipped in at the last minute and offered to help, hoping her to say that she has completed all the work.Not one to miss an opportunity, she grabbed it with glee and asked me to rinse them all. It was not a very tough job all right and I have done that before during my bachelor days in the mansions of Chennai, where Sundays used to be dedicated for washing. But having got used to the luxury of automated comfort in the recent years, I found it hard & boring to do the same manually. Made me realise what a slave we have become to these automatic monsters. Things that were considered luxuries years ago are considered absolute necessities now. No doubt, we should salute the spirit and energy levels of prior generations who went on to do their daily chores without these washing machines and other gizmos. Posted at 9/16/2003 10:18:18 AM Link Monday, September 15, 2003 LibraryOn the other day when I went to our local library, I was told that I wouldn’t be issued any books unless I returned the two tour guides on France that were already several weeks overdue. I told the burly librarian that I got a reminder mail the previous day but I remember returning the books earlier and also that it was a busy Saturday morning when I came there to return the book. I shouldn't have vehemently argued about the return of the books, but unfortunately I did as I had just searched my house for the same. On returning home, as I ran through the suitcase we carried to Paris, the two books winked at me. To avoid the embarrassment of facing that lady again, I returned the books at another library near my office (thank goodness, the libraries are linked here) paying a fine of £4.90. Somehow, I felt what I did was wrong that I called her up a while ago and apologised. Feels good now! Posted at 9/15/2003 02:38:59 PM Link Sunday, September 14, 2003 DurhamI was in Durham yesterday to attend the seminar at the B-School. Durham (pronounced as "dur-hum") is a nice, hilly town in North England with lot of greeneries, fields, pubs and whatever else a typical English countryside could boast of. Its my second time there and no wonder why people around the world fall easily for the esoteric appeal of the countryside. People could be very rarely spotted in the town and looks like a group of 5-6 would easily be referred as a ‘big crowd’. The B-School itself is located in a sprawling campus, which reminded me of IIT, Madras (Well.. But for the short walk we used to take in the afternoons while working at Ramco, Chennai, I have no association with IITM.. I am not made of such stuff to be academically associated with institutions like IIT... just in case you are wondering! :-), also has a private lake, botanical gardens et al. The food was great and so were the infrastructure as every brick sparkled with money.. Since I have run out of holidays and also coz my wife was frightened about staying alone in the house, I had to return to B’mouth the same day. However, it was a great day meeting so many ppl of various different nationalities. The only thing that fell in the other side is the time spent on travel.. started from home at 2:30 in the morning and returned at midnight, which meant that I spent about 12 hours on the road. Made good with a sound sleep last night. PS: I am putting up lengthy posts of late, right ?? Posted at 9/14/2003 02:32:51 PM Link Friday, September 12, 2003 PunctualityI have heard lot about the punctuality of the Europeans. Before I started to UK, I was briefed by whoever mattered in our company about the above and the need to keep time particularly while dealing with foreigners. Time keeping is indeed good and I have seen how people in Swiss can rely on the trains & buses that would arrive dot on time. In my experience so far, English people doesn't seem to be that punctual. Someone promised to meet me this morning only to call up an hour after the agreed time apologising for not turning up. This led me to make a quick analysis of numerous appointments I had with people both on & off the work in the last few weeks, which revealed that more than 60% of the appointments weren't kept. Doesn't give a very nice picture, right? Posted at 9/12/2003 11:59:30 AM Link Thursday, September 11, 2003 Hit SessionsThis strange thing was happening quite regularly for weeks until about a month back. I used to get hurt at least once every day however careful I was. My head would bang on something; there would be a sharp nail teething from nowhere – just waiting for me; something would accidentally fall on my toe; and the list is not an exhaustive one. There wasn’t a single day during that period, where I wouldn’t yell with pain. After a brief lull for about a month or so, this hit session seems to have resumed. Day before yesterday, my toe hit a chair inside my house early in the morning and before the pain could subside, yesterday my right elbow hit a huge concrete block. Minutes back, when I opened up the draw at my office, probably I pulled it a bit fast – that damned wooden block hit my leg at such a speed causing excruciating pain and am limping now. Earlier, I used to be like “Oh! No.”, but things have come to such a pass these days that I am anticipating this sort of hits to happen just as I am unintentionally discovering new ways of getting hurt despite taking enough care. The observant in me hasn’t failed to notice an interesting but highly superstitious & stupid coincidence – whenever I get hurt in the forenoon, the day turns out to be simply great! :-) Posted at 9/11/2003 11:43:52 AM Link Thanks! Well... the comments for my blog entry Networking made me realise that I had actually got pissed off when someone avoided me and also that there is nothing wrong with them behaving that way as each one has a different personality. It was sheer stupidity on my part to have expected them to behave in the same was as I wish. Thank you guys, for politely teaching this lesson. Indeed, it was a good learning experience! Posted at 9/11/2003 11:43:17 AM Link Wednesday, September 10, 2003 Multimedia openings are there at Omnex, India (Chennai). Those with Photoshop skills/3D Studio Max could send their resume to skumar@omnex.com.Posted at 9/10/2003 11:32:56 AM Link Tuesday, September 09, 2003 NetworkingLiving in a town with very little Indian presence, I would constantly look forward to get introduced to any of our countrymen here. With the only known Indian family having left the country for good, I was glad to spot few Indians at a supermarket last week. The men in the group were of my age and they had come there with their families as I had. It appeared to me that they glanced us but even as we were walking towards them, they just moved away to a far off corner and we had to return home without having a chance of speaking to them. Two days later, I met the same group in a shopping centre but this time around, I met them at very close quarters. I immediately said “hello” and extended my hand. The guy in the front gave a light “finger shake”, feebly returned my “hello” and led the group to a different direction – definitely not the one where they intended to go before bumping on me. It was quite clear that they are avoiding me (us) for some reason. May be that they don’t want to get introduced to any stranger. I tried to place myself in their shoes and think about the incident. Until about a year back, I was precisely in their position. I was with a gang of several people from our organisation and most of the time we travelled, shopped, played together that we never felt the need for getting introduced with a stranger. However, if and when I see any Indian (there were thousands at Hounslow in London – where I lived for two years) somewhere, I used to feel elated and never missed a networking opportunity. And, whenever someone approached us, we have always taken him on board and tried to make him comfortable in our company. Never before I have seen anyone among my friends shy away from strangers or pretend looking at a different direction. Well, I understand one can’t expect the same wavelength & attitude with everyone we come across. Also, I do not know whether my attitude is right or wrong and it is irrational to expect similar behaviour from others. While this incident did amuse me, I am not unduly perturbed. When I started typing this piece, I thought about writing on ethics, moral values, culture degradation et al blowing out into an in-depth social behaviour analysis. As thoughts churned inside my head, I decided against that coz this little thing shouldn’t dictate more than what it deserved. Posted at 9/9/2003 12:57:18 PM Link Monday, September 08, 2003 OK!The incident I mentioned in my previous entry made me remember a similar one my friend encountered few years ago. He was handling a training session for senior executives of a very big & famous company in India, explaining them the usage of his company's software product. At one point he said, "Say OK to the message you get and this would lead you to the next screen". The next moment he saw many among the audience staring at the monitor saying, "OK". The funniest part in this is that he initially thought those gentlemen are relaxing a bit and making fun, but it was not to be. I am not mocking at their ignorance, as I would look a moron when I interact with a specialist from some other industry. Just wanted to share that there are ‘interesting’ incidents like these at work! Posted at 9/8/2003 11:23:58 AM Link Friday, September 05, 2003 Its different!It requires lot of patience to explain a technical thing to a non-technical person without hurting his/her ego. It becomes a bit more complex when the person whom you are explaining happens to be your customer. I had such an experience yesterday when a customer was insisting that he has cleared the cache in his PC as I have said but still he couldn't get the problem resolved. After numerous calls, I discovered something and it took a lot of effort to control my laughter while explaining that what he did was just empty his 'Recycle Bin' and clearing the cache is something different. Posted at 9/5/2003 11:05:03 AM Link Wednesday, September 03, 2003 RSS AggregatorYesterday, for the first time, I had the first hand feel of what a RSS Aggregator could do. I downloaded one Amphetadesk aggregator, checked out few blogs (Kumaraguru, Jag, Mahesh to name a few) to realise its great & cool. Though I didn't do much groundwork in selecting an aggregator, I just settled down for Amphetadesk coz most of the others that I came across required .NET framework in my machine. I don't have it at the moment but planning to install the entire .NET platform shortly. Any suggestions for a much better, no nonsense and no frills attached RSS aggregator? Thanks to Kumaraguru's strong recco & Jag's backing, I have decided to jump into MT bandwagon. Well, the site redesign tops the 'To-Do' list though! Posted at 9/3/2003 10:59:51 AM Link Monday, September 01, 2003 I am not exactly busy now. But there are some important things that keep my mind preoccupied these days that I am unable to think about anything else, which is why my blog hasn't got updated as regularly as it was earlier and even if it does presents a nonchalant look. I would continue to blog but once the monkey is off my back, I would try to present myself better.I have been missing lot of deadlines off late. The most recent one is the one I set for myself - the release of redesigned version of this website. I have set a new deadline for that with the hope that I won’t postpone it again. Posted at 9/1/2003 12:24:25 PM Link |
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