Interesting – we once stayed in “The Residency”, Coimbatore. It took them 20-30 minutes to get our room ready, too – and this is a star hotel! But, they were understanding when we needed a little extra time to check out. What really irks me are the clueless morons who take their sweet time to get the room ready, but insist on you checking out exactly on the dot.

In a “Collective” culture such as ours (as opposed to high “Individualist” cultures like the US), rights are not important. Harmony is what is prized. So, yes – on one hand, people don’t know what their rights are. And people don’t care.

This starts a self-reinforcing loop that has led us to precisely this spot. When we don’t know & don’t care what is right for us, how will we know what is right for others? In other words, how will we ever be good in customer service or process adherence?

Increasing awareness on rights will certainly help. Competition helps too – if a hotel/bank is no good, customers can always try other alternatives. Because of globalization, multi-nationals are here – to stay. So local businesses better shape up or go bust.

Very insightful post. I am catching up after 2 weeks and your post is excellent.

As a society, we don’t look too kindly on ‘voicing opinions’. We have been taught that way from early childhood – repeat what the teacher says, do what I tell you to do and don’t ask questions etc. May be, that has made us not realize that we can voice our opinions. I feel that we don’t know in many instances that we can.

I had few such instances on this trip to India – My mom wanted some documents regarding an apartment that she owns. She was asking the apartment secretary for it. The secretary (whom she knows very well) was sounding as though he was doing her a personal favor by giving her copies of the document. My mom was feeling elated after my wife and I got her the copies and she was all praise for the secretary for giving it. I had to explain to her that it’s her right to ask for those documents and it’s the secretary’s responsibility (and not a favor) to give it to her.

Another instance – We were staying in a hotel in Thanjavur – The hotel starts prepping the room only after the customer gets there, but the 24 hour clock starts as soon as the customer gets there. It means you are paying them from your reserved time to get the room ready. We put our foot down and said that’s stupid, to stay the least and they let us stay the full 24 hours. Others are happily accepting this policy from the hotel.

At the airport on the way back, the BA counter doesn’t have a credit card scanning machine for paying for excess baggage. It’s in another building apparently (how intelligent?). According to the CSR, most people pay by cash. I asked them to get the credit card machine from the other building and refused to give the card to an orderly (secure transport!).

Could we be having very little information or awareness about what’s our right and what’s not? Is that why we are having trouble voicing opinions?

I’m very glad that you called Brittania. I’m happier still that they responded to your complaint in a professional manner. I wish more people will assert their rights as a consumer, as you have done.

My grandma used to say – “What your eyes see, Your hands should set right”. Meaning, we should help ourselves without waiting for assistance from others. I fervently wish we’ll internalize that & help our country change.

As you rightly said, each one of us should uphold our rights, till then things won’t change!

/Raj

There are already strict laws against corruption. But, they are very difficult to enforce – especially when it is endemic & pervasive. Its not easy to make our government do anything – mainly because it is so bloated. I’ve been trying to get an email response from the “Grievance Committee for the Disabled” – for the past 18 months! If a grievance committee is so unresponsive, how can we get new laws passed? Ain’t gonna happen easily.

Poor governance? Maybe. But, we as individuals don’t have much control over that. Most positive things that have happened in India over the past 25 years – have happened because of private enterprise & individual initiative. There have been some good leaders like Praful Patel, P.V.Narasimha Rao, Chandrababu Naidu or Vasundara Raje Scindia – I agree. But, most others have been inept & corrupt.

My whole point is, we should try to change what we can. Anger is a good stimulus, provided we do something on our own – however small – about it. The most important thing is to not get bogged down by the enormity of the problem. No one can solve all of them. But each of us can solve a few of them. Together, we can solve a lot of them.

So, don’t buy the colored peas. Write about it. Spread awareness about it. Talk to the company that sells the peas about it. If you deal with decent-sized private companies, you’ll be surprised at the response you get, when you voice your concerns to them. Talk to like-minded people. There are some activists in India’s central ministries & in the judiciary – and you may be able to get in touch with them to enact some changes.