In the Linux world, it is a fad to write HowTo(s) for everything. Since I am one of the ever so many people wanting to belong to the Linux community, I have titled of this post as what it is instead of "How not to get conned at a Petrol Bunk".
The modus operandi of cheating an unsuspecting customer at a Petrol Bunk is an example of customer service going overboard. Three or four of the attendents will decend on their "victim" at once to distract the customer's attention and in the cycle-gap(see Vivek comedies in Tamil movies for the exact meaning of this term) deprive them of few litres of petrol . Recently I was at the receiving end of such a dastardly act at one of the Indian Oil Corporation Petrol Bunks in Whitefield near ITPL. It was on a Sunday evening (11th May 2008) two weeks ago when I visited this Petrol Bunk to fill petrol. Being that time of the week, when there is almost no traffic to this area of the city, compared to the traffic that heads towards it during the weekdays, I was the only other customer at the Petrol Bunk. I was directed to a petrol filling machine (you know what I mean) where a person on his motorcycle had just finished filling up his tank. After I went and parked being this person, I rolled downed my car windows and was about to get down, when one of the attendent came near the window and asked me for how much I wanted to fill petrol. I told him for Rs.500/- and got down from the car, after unlocking the petrol tank lid. As I was going to the other side of the car, another attendent approached me and asked me whether I would be paying by cash or by card. I told him that I would be paying by cash and turned to the attendent who was actually filling petrol into my car. By then, this guy had already started filling petrol without showing me that the counter was at 000.00. And the petrol counter was already showing around 2 litres. Thats when I realized that I was falling prey to this masterly co-ordinated petrol robbery. I immediately raised this issue with the attendent, for which he told me that the counter will automatically become 000.00 the moment he puts the petrol gun into its holder and takes it back. But I doubted whether he put the petrol gun in the first place after filling petrol for the two-wheeler guy in front of me. I was sure I was being conned, but I had little evidence to prove it. When I asked for a bill, I was given a hand-written one and not a computer generated one (from the petrol filling machine itself). Also the fuel tank indicator of my car is an analogue one, so I couldnt tell how many litres had exactly been filled. So having no other choice, other than to pick up a physical fight (which I didnt want to do, as my wife was with me and I didnt want to get bashed in front of her), I left the petrol bunk feeling quite helpless and angry with myself for having let them get the better of me.
But what I did do was to go visit the Indian Oil Corporation website (www.iocl.com) that night and lodged a complain with their vigilance department (under the section "WRITE TO US"->"Vigilance Queries") and narrated the entire episode. I wasnt expecting any immediate action on their part. But I wanted to bring this incident to their notice, so that in the event of it not being an isolated incident, they can take corrective actions to protect their brand image.
On 22nd May 2008, while I was having lunch in my office, I got a call on my mobile. This person introduced himself as the owner of the petrol bunk where the above incident had happened. I was very suprised indeed. This was heights of customer service and something that I wasnt expecting to be happen at all. The people at Indian Oil Corporation had taken notice of my email and hence this call. The petrol bunk, manager was telling me that he had fired that attendent and that if I visited his petrol bunk again he would fill petrol worth Rs. 500/- for free. He even wanted me to make a note of his mobile number and call him directly in case of any problems in the future at his bunk. I was so pleasantly shocked that all I could say (that too in Kannada, yeah yeah the whole conversation with the manager was in kannada) was "Thank You" and that I will visit his petrol bunk over the weekend.
I am yet to meet this petrol bunk manager (at the time of this writing). I must say I am tempted to take the offer of filling petrol for the whole of Rs.500/- that was offered to me as a token of repentence. But I know it is not right. For one, I feel that I have been deprived of atmost 2 litres of petrol only, so it isnt ethically right for me to get petrol for Rs.500/- again. Secondly, I think that this kind of gift of repentences, which is totally acceptable in countries like U.S of A, would eventually increase the costs of everything as the society becomes more and more ligitative. In my completely subjective view thats one of the reasons why health-care is so exhorbitant in probably the richest, most advanced country in the world. Its ironical that a so called developed and progressive society cant provide health-care to its citizens at a reasonable price.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Thursday, March 29, 2007
One Square Meal
In the hierarchy of needs of a human being, as put forward by Maslow, one square meal a day is one of our most basic needs (lowest level). I wanted to provide myself one square meal, so on wednesday (28th March 2007) I started out to prepare dinner for myself.
I had bought with me a new cute contraption from Chennai during my last visit. It is the Anantha pressure cooker with 1.5 litre capacity. If you use this, be sure to use low flame on a small burner. All credits goes to my amma for arming me with this weapon to make a single person cooking lot more easier. I wanted to make Chappathi and dhal. Why chappathi? Since I am a novice in making chappathi, I thought this is the closest I could get to making myself a "square" meal. This way I can pass off my lack of accomplishment at making perfectly round chappathi as an glorified goal to achieve.
I took two handful of "thuvaram paruppu" and pressure cooked it along with "urulaikarangu". While my dhal was getting cooked I prepared the flour for chappathi. Once that was kneaded patiently and diligently by me, I took the cooked dhal out and mixed it with fried onions and added "kara podi" and "garam masala", the authentic Indian tastemakers and finished off my dhal with some corriander seasoning with a dash of lemon.
Then came the turn to make chappathis. I had to use my soft skills in rolling out "round" shaped chappathis. That was a big challenge in itself. As you can see though I didnt really succeed, I was still successful in making a square meal for myself.
In my pursuit of catering to my basic need I had created a big mess. But thankful I was self-actuated (highest level in Maslows hierarchy) enough to clean of the mess that I had created.
I had bought with me a new cute contraption from Chennai during my last visit. It is the Anantha pressure cooker with 1.5 litre capacity. If you use this, be sure to use low flame on a small burner. All credits goes to my amma for arming me with this weapon to make a single person cooking lot more easier. I wanted to make Chappathi and dhal. Why chappathi? Since I am a novice in making chappathi, I thought this is the closest I could get to making myself a "square" meal. This way I can pass off my lack of accomplishment at making perfectly round chappathi as an glorified goal to achieve.
I took two handful of "thuvaram paruppu" and pressure cooked it along with "urulaikarangu". While my dhal was getting cooked I prepared the flour for chappathi. Once that was kneaded patiently and diligently by me, I took the cooked dhal out and mixed it with fried onions and added "kara podi" and "garam masala", the authentic Indian tastemakers and finished off my dhal with some corriander seasoning with a dash of lemon.
Then came the turn to make chappathis. I had to use my soft skills in rolling out "round" shaped chappathis. That was a big challenge in itself. As you can see though I didnt really succeed, I was still successful in making a square meal for myself.
In my pursuit of catering to my basic need I had created a big mess. But thankful I was self-actuated (highest level in Maslows hierarchy) enough to clean of the mess that I had created.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Indoor Skydiving
I came to know indoor skydiving through a program on Las Vegas in Travel and Living channel. The timing was perfect as I was going to Las Vegas for the ICCE 2007 conference. Flyaway is the name of the place that was offering this sport and it is situated on the Convention Drive, Las Vegas. It is at a walkable distance from the Convention Centre. On Wednesday, 10th January 2007 is when I went to this place to try my hand at Skydiving. The charges were $70 for the first jump of the day and $35 for successive jumps on the same day. And another $25 to shoot the whole experience. I was in a group of 4. I was probably the second oldest in the group and all of us were rookies. Kim was the instructor on our maiden flight. She took us through the initial procedures and briefing. Then came the scary part of signing the release bond. Just reading it made you want to go not to undertake the activity. It talked about all the possible gruesome things that can happen and that was pretty scary. Luckily I was braver than I thought as I went ahead and signed the document and jumped into my skydiving suit. After that we went out into the hole and our flight began. First we were asked to lie down on the trampauling net and then the fans were switched on. After that we were asked to jump straight into the air column. In all my flight last for about 4 minutes. After that I tipped Kim and left. Half way through I turned back as I wanted to do it again. This time I wanted my experience to be shot. You can see it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v_8Rj4Ikh8. Josh was my instructor and he asked me for my flight number referring to the number of times I had done skydiving. I didnt get it immediately but later I got the hang of it. So if you are near Las Vegas, then dont forget to get your share of adrelein rush by trying out indoor skydiving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v_8Rj4Ikh8. Josh was my instructor and he asked me for my flight number referring to the number of times I had done skydiving. I didnt get it immediately but later I got the hang of it. So if you are near Las Vegas, then dont forget to get your share of adrelein rush by trying out indoor skydiving.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Tour de Mysore
I wrote this article in 2005 for my company magazine.
My birthday this year was a very special one. It marked my permanent exit from the twenty-something club to the thirty plus crowd. It meant my automatic promotion to the under-40 from the under-30 category during the annual Philips Sports Day. And worse, I began to dread the day when my younger colleagues start addressing me with my first name suffixed with an affectionate “mama” (uncle). It made me remember my taunts of colleagues who were in a similar position. And every recollection sent a shiver down the spine. That’s what motivated me to join my colleague on one of his cycling trips.
Krishnaprasad S., popularly known as “KP”, is well known for his antics as well as for his atheletism. He is very passionate about cycling. In December 2004, he had cycled from Pune to Kanyakumari, a distance of 1800 kilometres in about 17 days. So, when he asked me to join him, half-jokingly, on a trip to his hometown Mysore, I held onto it like a flotsam. KP is a nice person and a lot of fun to work with. But when it comes to his passion, cycling, he is a man possessed by the spirits of Lance Armstrong. He appointed himself as my cycling coach and took interest in my preparation. I was prescribed a training schedule and a diet to build stamina for long distance cycling. He helped customize my bicycle to suit my anatomy. The couple of weeks before the trip were very intense. I got up at 4:30am every day and cycled 30 kms on an average. I did “Suryanamaskaram” for my stretching routines before and after cycling, which I learnt from another colleague (Hemakumar Kasala, who has been practising it for the past eight years).
The trip was planned on 13th August 2005, which was a Saturday. I left my home in Indira Nagar at 5am on my Hercules Top-Gear to Banashankari Temple on Kanakapura Road where I was joined by KP. In order to avoid traffic and the hustle bustle on the Mysore Road, we decided to take the Kanakapura-Malavalli-Bannur route to Mysore. This route, though longer, was much calmer and had far less traffic. The condition of the road was good but for a few stretches where development activities were still underway. Even though Bangalore is at a higher altitude than Mysore, the towns enroute lie at a lower altitude than both Bangalore and Mysore. As a result, one loses altitude during the first part of the journey and gains it towards the end. We covered good grounds and were averaging 20 km / hr. We reached Kanakapura around 8:30am and stopped there for our breakfast. From here we headed out to Malavalli, which was 40 kms away. We had smeared ourselves with sun-screen lotion to protect from getting sun-burnt. As we passed through different “hallis” (villages) we invoked the curiosities of the on-lookers. From our perch atop the bicycle we had to answer questions like “Yellinda?”, “Yelli?” and “Yaake?” (roughly translated to “Where from?”, “Where to?” and “Why?”). To this our standard replies while undertaking the gruelling task of cycling were mono-syllabic and precise. “Bangalore”, “Mysore” and “Summane” (just like that). As we passed through the open classrooms being conducted under banyan trees, children who were having their breaks found it amusing to run along with us, waving small Indian flags. These moments were surreal and created an illusion of us competing in Tour de France with many Indian supporters encouraging us.
We stopped 15 kms after Malavalli for lunch. We had covered about 115 kms and we were 41 kms from Mysore. KP’s sister, Priya had prepared delicious “chappathis” with an assortment of fillings. We started after lunch break at about 2pm. As I had explained early the last 41 kms was entirely uphill and we made slow progress. We reached the outskirts of Mysore at about 4:30pm. As we approached the city, suddenly dark rain bearing clouds gathered above us and there was a cloudburst. It was a surrogate reception accorded by the Maharaja of Mysore to two emissaries from the kingdom of Kempegowda. We reached KP’s home in Mysore at about 5:30pm after having travelled a distance of 160 kms in about 12 hours and 30 minutes at an average speed of 16.2 km/hr. I was glad I could make the trip without any mishap. It was possible because I had a firm belief that I could do it.
Lots of things have changed since the cycling trip. My younger colleagues have realised that at thirty I am still as young as them. They look up to me for inspiration and encouragement. And now they call me “anna” (elder brother). But that’s still better than “mama”, I guess. As for me, I have realised that cycling in India is as much fun and safe as elsewhere in the world. And KP and I have already started making plans for a holiday on wheels, come this December.
My birthday this year was a very special one. It marked my permanent exit from the twenty-something club to the thirty plus crowd. It meant my automatic promotion to the under-40 from the under-30 category during the annual Philips Sports Day. And worse, I began to dread the day when my younger colleagues start addressing me with my first name suffixed with an affectionate “mama” (uncle). It made me remember my taunts of colleagues who were in a similar position. And every recollection sent a shiver down the spine. That’s what motivated me to join my colleague on one of his cycling trips.
Krishnaprasad S., popularly known as “KP”, is well known for his antics as well as for his atheletism. He is very passionate about cycling. In December 2004, he had cycled from Pune to Kanyakumari, a distance of 1800 kilometres in about 17 days. So, when he asked me to join him, half-jokingly, on a trip to his hometown Mysore, I held onto it like a flotsam. KP is a nice person and a lot of fun to work with. But when it comes to his passion, cycling, he is a man possessed by the spirits of Lance Armstrong. He appointed himself as my cycling coach and took interest in my preparation. I was prescribed a training schedule and a diet to build stamina for long distance cycling. He helped customize my bicycle to suit my anatomy. The couple of weeks before the trip were very intense. I got up at 4:30am every day and cycled 30 kms on an average. I did “Suryanamaskaram” for my stretching routines before and after cycling, which I learnt from another colleague (Hemakumar Kasala, who has been practising it for the past eight years).
The trip was planned on 13th August 2005, which was a Saturday. I left my home in Indira Nagar at 5am on my Hercules Top-Gear to Banashankari Temple on Kanakapura Road where I was joined by KP. In order to avoid traffic and the hustle bustle on the Mysore Road, we decided to take the Kanakapura-Malavalli-Bannur route to Mysore. This route, though longer, was much calmer and had far less traffic. The condition of the road was good but for a few stretches where development activities were still underway. Even though Bangalore is at a higher altitude than Mysore, the towns enroute lie at a lower altitude than both Bangalore and Mysore. As a result, one loses altitude during the first part of the journey and gains it towards the end. We covered good grounds and were averaging 20 km / hr. We reached Kanakapura around 8:30am and stopped there for our breakfast. From here we headed out to Malavalli, which was 40 kms away. We had smeared ourselves with sun-screen lotion to protect from getting sun-burnt. As we passed through different “hallis” (villages) we invoked the curiosities of the on-lookers. From our perch atop the bicycle we had to answer questions like “Yellinda?”, “Yelli?” and “Yaake?” (roughly translated to “Where from?”, “Where to?” and “Why?”). To this our standard replies while undertaking the gruelling task of cycling were mono-syllabic and precise. “Bangalore”, “Mysore” and “Summane” (just like that). As we passed through the open classrooms being conducted under banyan trees, children who were having their breaks found it amusing to run along with us, waving small Indian flags. These moments were surreal and created an illusion of us competing in Tour de France with many Indian supporters encouraging us.
We stopped 15 kms after Malavalli for lunch. We had covered about 115 kms and we were 41 kms from Mysore. KP’s sister, Priya had prepared delicious “chappathis” with an assortment of fillings. We started after lunch break at about 2pm. As I had explained early the last 41 kms was entirely uphill and we made slow progress. We reached the outskirts of Mysore at about 4:30pm. As we approached the city, suddenly dark rain bearing clouds gathered above us and there was a cloudburst. It was a surrogate reception accorded by the Maharaja of Mysore to two emissaries from the kingdom of Kempegowda. We reached KP’s home in Mysore at about 5:30pm after having travelled a distance of 160 kms in about 12 hours and 30 minutes at an average speed of 16.2 km/hr. I was glad I could make the trip without any mishap. It was possible because I had a firm belief that I could do it.
Lots of things have changed since the cycling trip. My younger colleagues have realised that at thirty I am still as young as them. They look up to me for inspiration and encouragement. And now they call me “anna” (elder brother). But that’s still better than “mama”, I guess. As for me, I have realised that cycling in India is as much fun and safe as elsewhere in the world. And KP and I have already started making plans for a holiday on wheels, come this December.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Welcome to "Hyperhidrosis-pattinam"
Homeostasis is the process of maintaining the internal body temperature in a steady state. A very common manifestation of this phenomenon is hidrosis. I call this biological word-fair. Enuf!! You may think this blog stinks if you sweat a lot and it stinks horribly. But I need to talk about sweating!!!!! It is such a natural involuntary human reaction to increase in internal body temperature. No one has really studied the side-effects of sweating so far (apart from the spraying deodrants and room freshners all over). The secretion of salts in the sweat deprives a part of the brain of its stabilizers and this makes people to start cribbing!!!!! How they crib when they start sweating!!! Esp. those people who visit Chennai. All they talk about after that is how much they sweat-ed. And the worst part is I am always within ear-shot and it makes me good bersek. So as a service to humanity I am hearby (officially) renaming Chennai to "Hyperhidrosis-pattinam". This will make it abyndantly clear to everyone visiting "Hyperhidrosis-pattinam" (erstwhile Chennai) that all that they can and will do is SWEAT. This will definitely keep away all those sissy, sweaty and probably lazy people who come to (erstwhile) Chennai expecting the weather to be like Bangalore (How bangalorean!!). I fail to understand, why people should make so much fuss!!! Why cant they see the benefical side of sweating. Why cant they even imagine that it could be a fashionable festish. And why for God's sake should they come to me and complain. I just have one great tip for them. "hyperhidrosis-pattinam" is blessed with a long and a beautiful coastline. So if you are finding it too hot, please dont hestitate to choose your private place and jump into Bay of Bengal. The bottom of the sea will definitely cool you and your sweat sweeter!!!
- Kailash Swaminathan
- Kailash Swaminathan
Friday, August 27, 2004
Thanks spotblog!!!!
I was fearing that my blogspot would have been reclaimed by blogspot as I havent been posting at all. But luckily I am still able to post so here I am bloggin once again. I am not the greatest blogger I ust admit. I guess it requires a kind of discipline to put all your thoughts into words. Anyway, let me try this once again and see how regular I am. But people, if you really come across something that interests you here, please do drop in a word to me as it would immensely encourage me. Tot volgende keer.
Monday, November 03, 2003
For instant email access
This site Malinator provides instant email access to anyone. This can come handy esp. if you are visiting PONDIcherry. :-)
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