Tuesday 20 August 2013

Fooled again..!!









I think this is the hundredth time that I must have been fooled.. I once went to the vegetable market after having a very busy and tiring day.. When I reached, I somehow managed to get some vegetables and the last being the tomatoes, I rushed to collect the fresh ones, put them in the basket and asked  " Bhaiyya.. Kitne ka hai?? Ek kilo de dena..!! "


 As soon as he told the price I looked at the purse and tried to find the necessary amount of money.. Here as I was fidgeting with my purse the bhaiyya droped some tomatoes out of the basket and gave me a few less tomatoes.. I noticed it.. And I couldnt believe he did it.. I wonder why does this only happen in my country..??


I did not bargain that day.. I was going to give him the exact money and still he found a shortcut.. So how much do we really need to be vigilant after a tiring day..?? I asked him to weigh the tomatoes again... (Yes.. I had to do it.. If I want a free India.. ) 


So he measured it again.. Made some excuses.. And then put the few tomatoes back without accepting  his mistake and said they just tripped off and that he was about to put them in my packet.. Phew..!!! My tiring day ended.. But can I forget this incident..??  No never..!! Because these kind of things  keep on repeating and I had to be vigilant each time..


The other day I told my maid to clean up the closet.. I went to another room to have a look at the old almirah which needed to be cleaned up.. When I returned back, she was looking outside the balcony .. Ofcourse she hadn't finished the chores but she insisted she had cleaned it already.. And she smartly managed to move on to another chore..


 I mean why can't one do a task given to you sincerely?? Why?? Later then I never had faith in her to give her more tasks requiring sincerity and so I decided to do it myself.. But what about sincerity.. ?? What about the responsibility with which she accepted the task?? Why can't they complete it in time..??


I am tired of looking up for things in the market and tired to look again and again..I keep checking if I have got the right thing.. I keep checking if I got the damaged piece.. Now that requires a lot of patience.. Oh yes.. !! But can I not be assured of the quality of my product when I am buying it and paying so much for it.. I have to still check for expiry dates on cosmetic products and dairy products.. Oh yes..!!  I have to do it.. Because some shopkeepers are smart at doing that.. They will quietly manage to give you the wrong product..and still get the price they smartly decide for the particular thing.. 


Also if you go to the sabji wala with your four wheeler he will just change the price.. A simple 20 rupees costing substance will be given to you at rupees hundred.. Now is that something worth tolerating.. ?? Should not the price be equal for everybody.. Also he told the other person who managed to come on a bicycle to buy the vegetables from somewhere else because he wouldn't be able to afford the other ones in his shop.. Now who is he to decide who should buy what and where?




 And now this ones really shocking.. I do not aim to jeopardise any particular companies name.. But yes..!! I was a fan of this so called delivery services.. I never thought something like this could come to India and so sincerely deliver products to our homes without any damage and at an affordable price.. I was recommended to try their service by a very senior practitioner.. And so I decided first to order some products.. Yes.. It was flipkart..



 I am glad to tell that of my 15- 20 orders on flipkart I received, all of them were delivered safely.. I was really content with the service.. I got all my cosmetic products, home appliances all well packed and delivered safely at a much lesser price and free of delivery charges.. I couldn't believe this was happening.. I was extremely satisfied..  Until one fine day when I had ordered two shampoos and a conditioner.


 When I opened it.. The bottle was half empty .. The shampoo was oozing out of it, the shampoo was completely damaging the book and  was lying in the same packet as that of the other products.. And the other cosmetic product bottle was half empty, contents of which were not even oozing out.. They had simply vanished..


I was astonished .. I never believed flipkart could do this to me.. I had so much faith in their delivery system.. I never wanted to complain but I couldn't just believe this happened to me.. I needed to complain.. So I called the customor service because already the product had reached me 15 days late.. 



 But I wonder what could have happened?? Is it that the delivery boy could have tried to mess with it or is it that during the transport it must have got damaged?? I somehow realised that each time I got an order separate things were packed in separate packets.. I couldn't believe that all of the three had been delivered to me in one packet.. But I did complain.. (Because I had to because tolerating it meant being given the same kind of thing again and again.)


But never since that day I dared to order it from the same company.. I really had lost faith.. I know such mistakes do happen.. But why do they happen in our country only???


And for the last one.. (for which I am suffering even now..) My hubby and I ordered pani puri at home.. He is not a huge fan of pani puri.. But still on that day he insisted we try this new person in town who delivers pani puri at home for only 150 bucks.. I was somewhat reluctant.. I like the bhelpuri chaats at my favourite stall in the neighbouring colony.. But then I changed my mind and we ordered it.. 


The pani puri came in sealed packet, in a box three times larger than a medium pizza box.. Everything in it was sealed.. The pani puri water was kept in a pepsi sized bottle.. All well packed.. It had well packed boiled potatoes, some 50 puris.. And not to forget some chutneys.. I was happy with packaging , the taste and everything.. But what happens next .. We both start to vomit after one hour of consumption..

 

My hubby managed to escape the ordeal and had only mild symptoms like nausea and mild headache.. But I did not sleep that night.. As it had to be, I had to go so many times to the loo.. And each time I really desperately wanted to find new adjectives for this new delivery person in town.. I didn't know what to do .. I was down with dehydration, loose motions and what not.. But I was helpless.. What could have been done..? I really don't know what he had delivered to us? But most importantly can we trust these people? Can such people be trusted in India ??? Next time a pizza or some chinese gets deliverd at your doorstep can they be trusted for good quality products?? Really can we trust them??



 

Sunday 11 August 2013

Should ragging laws be made stricter?




I remember my old college days when I was so freaked out to enter college just because of the fear of ragging. Everyone knows how tough ragging is in medical school. I was glad I was not a hostelier. But still I heard that it was rare for anyone to escape.


The first day was good. Nothing really happened. But the next day we were all scared as the seniors approached. I was happy that the ragging law had just been passed and anti-ragging posters were everywhere on the walls of the college. Still a few of us were ragged. Some tortured mentally. Also there were some cheap comments in medical language made over some girls. I really don't know about the boys. Never even heard their tales. I Only saw on tv how brutally boys are beaten and even made to do unnecessary things. The worst I heard was that boys were made to drink their own urine.


It's really disheartening to see so many students die of  ragging in India.  So many tv programmes showcase why ragging should be banned. But each time we hear of similar cases. Why is all this still happening..?  Every time I see a student die of ragging my heart aches. Ragging has ruined countless innocent lives and careers. In order to eradicate it, Hon’ble Supreme Court passed a law in Civil Appeal No. 887 of 2009. Still we hear of similar cases.


Recently, on 7th august 2013, a Bhopal girl student of pharmacy allegedly committed suicide after being ragged by her senior and a faculty member. The suicide note mentions the names of the students, all four of them being girls.. But what can be done..? A very precious child has been lost. The family is mourning and their loss cannot be compensated by anything on this earth. So why does a senior have to torture or harass a junior so much so that they are forced to commit suicide. 




Ragging according to wikipedia which occurs only in India is a "Damaging form of interaction of the seniors in college or school with the juniors, newcomers or first years."

A junior enters college with new dreams and new hopes. And his dreams and desires are at their highest peak in the first year.. He yearns for new friendships.. New endeavours.. New beginnings.. And then suddenly some stranger.. The so called ' senior ' comes in the scene to crush his aspirations. What happens..? It's a real feeling of disgust really when one is ragged. It's difficult to remain silent when some notorious senior makes a cheap comment on a girl student in your class. But you cannot do anything. Why? Just Because they are seniors.. ?



I have heard of tales in my city itself where a junior girl was made to stay in the mortuary all night long.. You can imagine what the outcome was.. Yes.. She became a psychiatric patient life long instead of becoming a doctor and treating other patients. 


Nagedra AV, 25, was found dead in Chandigarh's prestigious Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research on 19 April,2010. The doctor had joined this post-graduate institution just two months ago. The police said he jumped to death from the hostel building, his father said he had been pushed. His father said a day ago he had said he was finding it difficult to continue there due to ragging.


Sinmoi Debroy, 21, was found hanging from the ceiling fan, dead, in his hostel room in Chennai. It was a private hostel shared by students of various colleges. Most of the 42 SMS's in the Assamese engineering student's mobile phone were threats and abuses from seniors, who also demanded money.


A student in AIIMS, the only child to his parents, committed suicide in the first year itself because he complained to the dean about how one of his friend was ragged by seniors and who in return was beaten and tortured which finally made him give up inspite of the complaints to college authorities..


I was lucky I escaped. I was lucky I did not have to face a similar ordeal. But why all these things are still happening.. ? Why a precious life is lost each time due to ragging..? Do we need stricter laws..? Or do we need to become better seniors..? Can we stop this thing called ragging which exists only in India and its subcontinents ? Can we save these precious lives who succumb due to undue pressures put on them? Can we really stop RAGGING..???




http://youtu.be/-P8DsViZKS4