of men and their demeanor...

You are always presented with at least two choices every time...

1. Be normal = compassionate, sensitive, sensible etc
2. Be a jackass = ruthless, arrogant, prickly demeanor etc

How you choose to behave is directly representative of the amount of self-respect you possess!

of governments and government employees...

This past week I have been a regular at a number of government offices in Madras...I wont get into the details...not for any other reason but it simply is amazingly boring just to even begin typing what I've managed to get done here...!! No no...its all relevant to the scheme of things but just an endless list of "to-dos"!! B.O.R.I.N.G!

I think its fantastic that most every employee there knows all that rules and regulations like the back of their hands -> Well, knowing what to do usually means half the job done...right? WRONG! here knowing what to do means they are 100% committed to not doing their jobs and have actual rules to support that..!! :D

I mean a request as simple as expanding my intials was made to sound as if I was asking for a complete change in the customs rules for procuring weapons grade plutonium or something else equally abominable! Ofcourse -> the fault was all mine -> I didnt "route" the request through the "proper" channel with a few hundred rupees additional special service levy!! :)

of customers and customer service...

Well...sure when you pay for a product/service...you obviously deserve delivery of that product/service within the committed/agreed time frame...

It is extremely important to realize that everyone is always attempting to deliver their end of the bargain...I mean the day all of us stop believing in that there would be a total global spiritual meltdown!

What would be left after establishing such total 'dis-belief' or 'mistrust' would be just endless negotiations...and non-performance penalty clauses...and subsequently no delivery...!!

But I think it is extremely important to still treat everyone with respect and not believe you have reasons to take away anyone's respect just because you went to him and not his competition...

I can tell you nearly all of us would agree that only the product/service was offered as part of the sale package and not the individual's respect!

This entry in here comes after being witness to some absolutely ludicrous behavior from a particularly well educated gentleman while this friend of mine was having lunch with me on a Sunday afternoon!! It is unfortunate that some of us still believe for a few hundred rupees we have the right to take away someone's time and respect anytime of the day/week/month/year!!

Changing times...

First things first - the Pune era is coming to an end.

Last 48 hours or so here...good city...wide roads...reasonable people...plenty of good restaurants...and...and...and...I know this is never ever going to happen again in my working life -> work was exactly 6 minutes away from home! :)

But heres something really interesting - the internet and phone was down for the last three or four days and honestly I couldn't care less. Parents were extremely angry about it and I am going "good lord...whats happening here?!?!" I am extremely happy about the fact that both of them are net savvy, it is a relief actually especially when you are constantly travelling and there are times when internet is more 'available' than a public phone...but I think being upset about not being able to logon to facebook is a little amusing if not worrying...