Monday, October 16, 2006

In the past: At a Post Office

Remember the days when there were no Emails, no Internet, no Couriers. Post Offices were the life lines of written communication. (And STD Booths for voice ofcourse)?

So, there used to be serpentine queues, rude clerks and bad service - trademark of a monopolized, public sector service.

And its no wonder this happened at a the Post Office:

Main Characters
A Student (at least looked like one.. probably applying for admission to some college).
Letter Registration Clerk (regaling in too much attention, and perhaps troubled by it too).

At the Letter Registration Counter
Student (forwarding a letter): This is for registration.
Clerk (after weighing the letter): Postage is not enough.
Student (immediately affixes additional postage): Here it is.
Clerk: Is this how you affix postage.
Student: But this is ok.
Clerk: Do you know better than me?
Student: OK, i will affix again.
Clerk: Then why do you argue.
Student: I am not, i am correcting it.
Clerk: Don't act smart. Do you know what i can do?
Student: What?
Clerk(threatens): You leave your letter and go. Nobody will ever find out what happened to the letter.
Student: What? This is very important registry.
Clerk(mocking): Oh Really?
Student(either realizes the futility of argument OR is afraid of the letter going missing): OK, Please do the registry, i will take care of affixing stamps better next time.
Clerk: Now you get it.

***
Was this rude threatening behavior result of Monopoly?

Do you remember the days when: You had to wait for months for things like a Gas Connection, Telephone Line, a ordinary Scooter, Ration Card, Cement etc.? Usually the only faster way available to get these was the corrupt one, because legitimate ones were either too slow or just not working.

ALL of the these constraints and lack of choices were created ARTIFICIALLY by Politicians and Babu's of the day. In reality it was the very cause of rampant Poverty and Corruption.

Opposing SEZ just because it is fashionable in Socialistic Lingo, is not good. SEZs mean industrialization, job-creation, and exports. By all means protect agricultural land, but do it meaningfully. Ms Medha Patker are you listening?

2 Comments:

At 5:33 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

A nice aticle. You are right that constraints and lack of choices are created artificially by Politicians and Babu's of the day. In reality it is the very cause of rampant Poverty and Corruption.

Unfortunately no body has learnt any lessons and the movement is till on.

 
At 12:10 PM, Blogger Ashish Agarwal said...

I remember the time when we booked a Bajaj cub and calculated that we would get it in 5 years; a phone was easy if you were working for the Govt, but not otherwise.
You bring in competition, and things mostly improve for the better.

 

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