Cheques or Checks are rarely used in India. Most sales are by cash or credit card or debit card. Jim has a Cheque that he wants to deposit in the bank. After verifying with a bank employee that the branch would be open today, we made a stop there to deposit the check. However the bank was closed! Today is M. K. Gandhi's birthday, so it is a holiday, but most stores were open and the bank verified in 2 emails that they would be open. But they were not. So, we will try again tomorrow. We were told that we can simply write our account number on the cheque and deposit it at any of their ATM's, but since we suspect there is more to the endorsement process than this (there is usually more that one is not told), we prefer to go when a person can verify that what we have done will, in fact, get the money deposited into our account. This cheque has an already long history of delays. Here it is. Jim put in an expense account with his employer. After getting the necessary approvals the account was finally approved for payment. Jim actually had paid the corporate credit card company months earlier, so he marked that the payment was to be made to him directly. However, the accounting people went ahead and paid the card company instead. When this error was mentioned to them they said it was too late to change it and it was done because they had no other indication of what to do from Jim! They said we had to wait a "couple" weeks until they were sure that the card company had received payment, THEN submit a request to get a cheque made out to Jim. It is not clear why this could not all be done electronically. After a couple weeks Jim reminded the people that the money was due him and they eventually issued a request to the card company to get a cheque for Jim. They said this takes two days. After five days, we were told it would come the next day, which was a Friday before a holiday weekend. Of course, the cheque did not arrive (no check either). The next Tuesday the cheque finally arrived about 4PM- too late to take to the bank. Due to Work, Jim could not go Wed. or Thurs., but since the bank would be open and Fri. was a holiday, it was a perfect day! Except that the bank is closed! So, 6 weeks after the expense report was submitted, the money is still not in any place where it is accessible. So, we keep taking money from the ATM using our US accounts. It seems quite unreasonable that others would have the money so long. That is "The Cheque"
Jim is dropped off at work each day by our driver. For nearly 11 months Jim has been dropped off at an entry gate to the building parking area. Every day cars and motorbikes drive in and park around the building. Thursday Oct. 1 was no different, Jim is dropped off and walks through the gate as cars and motorbikes are stopped for security check. In the evenings the process is reversed. Jim walks out of the building and then through the gate to be picked up by our driver. However, On Thursday the 1st, Jim walked out of the building to go to the gate (in the rain) only to find that the gate had been closed in by concrete blocks during the day! No warning, just can't go in or out that way any more! There is a second gate on the same side of the building, though it is a little further to walk. This would not be a big problem. However, the second gate is being blocked as well! This means quit a bit longer walk to the opposite side of the set of large buildings in order to be able to leave the office! Not quite so convenient. We do not know why these gates are being closed- certainly not why at this time. It is probably a security concern of some sort, but we may never know! That is "The Wall".
About 9 months ago, Janet bought a clothes dryer. People said, "oh you don't need a dryer, the washing machines practically dry the clothes already". We found this not to be true. The machine was bought from a nationwide chain store, and it was installed soon, which was a good sign. However, it has only 3 of its 4 legs! So, it sits a little cockeyed in its little room off the kitchen balconey. (The room is called the "maid's room" and would probably be a nice room for an awful lot of maids, but it is tiny.) The dryer has generally worked ok, though we had to have the service guy come to fix a switch once. They always say that the 4th leg should be in soon, but we have come to accept that our little machine is "handicapped" and not expect we will ever see it made whole. Recently, the machine simply would not run. It seemed to be a problem with the door interlock switch. Janet called them several times during the week and they said they would come or call back, but, of course they did not. Today she yelled at them on the phone and a guy actually came. Of course, when he came the building electricity was off, so he pointed out that the machine had no power, and thus, should not be expected to run. We explained that it was not working even when the power was on. He seemed a competent guy and waited for the power to come on. The electricity is unreliable in most of India, so businesses and newer buildings have their own backup generators, which REALLY are needed- though the power here in the center of the city is probably more reliable than elsewhere. In any case, it took awhile for the generator to come on- for some unknown reason. The guy quickly decided that the machine thermostat is bad. He said he could get a new one at the shop and it was free because it is covered by warranty, but he would have to charge for a new leg for the machine! We explained that we never received the leg. He seemed to understand, but he said that they do not have them in the shop, so it may take awhile to get one(!) He did not come back today, but maybe Saturday or Monday. He gave us his personal cell phone number to call him next time, which we thought was nice. We'll see! That is "The Dryer".
The variety and quality of textiles in India is remarkable! Over this long weekend- due to M.G.s' birthday- there is a textile fair at "Chitrakala Parishath" here in Bangalore. The place is an arts school which also encourages arts and crafts through frequent exhibitions and sales. They have had shows for all sorts of arts and crafts over the past 11 months. The key difficulty is that it is not so easy to find out when there is a show and what it is about. Often the information can be found in the newspaper, but sometimes not, and their web page seems not to be updated very often. In any case, there is an "exhibition cum sale" going on right now with good quality vendors from various parts of India. It is worth seeing just to get an idea of the variety available. Often the vendors do not have such good judgement about what they will hang on the wall to be seen and mediocre things are visible when they have some fabulous things hidden away on shelves. Most of what they have are "saris" or "sarees". Around 350 million women in India wear a sari, so, it makes sense that there would be a lot of them for sale. We like to look at the materials and think of other uses. It does not take long to realize that most of what makes up a sari is a long piece of fabric that could be made into things rather than just worn as is. So, it is interesting to look at the saris for the amazing variety of colors, materials and workmanship. Of course, there are lots of scarves, shawls and the like too, which can be bought with little need of alteration. Of course we bought a few items. Because this fair is run by the State Handicrafts Council, it is a popular one for people to attend because they have more trust that the materials are authentic. Thus the place is very crowded. That is "The Textile Fair".
One of the fringe benefits of being on assignment here is that we can join on of the local "clubs". This is mostly intended to allow access to swimming pools and exercise equipment and some of the clubs are solely for that. However there are a few that are more social as well. When we chose this apartment to live, we liked its proximity to a club called "The Bangalore Club"- it is less than 10 minute walk away. We thought we'd just sign up and go there because there are coprorate memberships which do not require all of the same recommendations and vetting procedures to decide who is acceptable. After we arrived we were finally told that there were no memberships available! This was disappointing, so Janet, who likes to swim a few times a week if she can, found another club that is a bit far away, but very nice. Through some administrative error we were allowed to use the facilities for about 4 months before anyone realized that it was not being paid for by the corporation. At the time we found out, we learned that a membership at the more local club was opening up. So we said we wanted the spot. However, we were told that entry takes 4-7 months! We never understood why, but we know that the club insists on receiving some sort of auditors report on the corporation (for every one of many members) and this takes some time to get (why?). They then post our names on a board to solicit comments from members about the prospective nominee. There is a formal "interview" as well, and after all is said and done you end up with a card saying you are members. The process did take 7 months! However, we are now members of "The Bangalore Club"- or "The Club" as memebers call it. It is actually quite an honor to be a member these days. Most people are from old Bangalore families- except for a sizable number of corporate members and other temporary members. The Club has a fairly long history as it was started in 1868. Its most famous member was Winston Churchill who was here around 1898 as an army officer. Of course, then it was probably only British Officers who were members. (Remember that Bangalore was and still is a place with many military people around.) Thus for about a week we have had our temporary cards. We have not used The Club much yet. The weather has been cool and rainy the past week, so it is not so great for swimming. They have a library and food service of various kinds in addition to the pool and exercise equipment. So, That is "The Club".
Ziggy and Zoe are well, but seem to have lost interest in writing lately. Maybe they have started another blog somewhere else?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment