Poor Customer Service? We are like this wonly!

July 26th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

Poor customer service

Poor customer service

Do you remember when I said I rued the day I decided to go down the Overseas Citizen of India route? Truer words have never been spoken.
I decided to apply for my ‘Surrender Certificate’, to prove I have actually cancelled my Indian passport, via post. Had I bitten the bullet and travelled to London, I would have saved myself a whole lot of grief. Well, lesson learned!
For the past two weeks, my life has been one long drawn out misery. From 9.00 AM, I dial and re-dial the number for the person who can tell me what happened to my renunciation of Indian citizenship process. Between 9.00 AM and 9.30 AM, the line will go through and the phone will ring out. After 9.30 AM, I will be greeted with a busy tone, followed by the message “The person at extension 3116 is not available at the moment. Please try again later.”
I have heard that message so many times that I hear it in my sleep.
In the past two weeks, I have been lucky twice to actually get a living, talking human being on the other line. On week 1, which was 14 days after I sent in my application, this lady answered that due to a postal strike the process got stalled and was being re-started that very day and I will hear from them in a week’s time.
Did I hear from them in a week’s time? Did I heck.
I got through once again on 22 July and this time a male voice answered that there has been a further delay because the lady who’s job it was to process these applications went off on holiday and I will positively hear from them in less than a week. “Take my word, madam, one week”, the voice said.
Of course, he was smart enough to hang up before I could get his name and hold him accountable for further delay.
I have been trying since 9.00 AM this morning. I am convinced that those that are allegedly working, have just taken the phone off the hook. I finally tried the High Commission’s operator again, knowing it was a lost cause. The cool lady who answered at the 32nd ring said it might take around 6 weeks. When I went “6 weeks? I was told 7 days and it has been a month already?”, she coolly responded “one month is nothing!”
Nothing? A delay of a month, without a word regarding the status of your application is nothing? Being fed excuses week after week while you are desperately awaiting your Surrender Certificate is nothing?
Coming from India, I know that sub-standard service, especially in government sector, is the norm. But this kind of apathy one wouldn’t expect even in India. What amazes me is that we live in places where you are assured of quality service everywhere right from your corner shop. When day after day, you are on the receiving end of decent customer service, how can you mete out the opposite thing?
Even iconic organisations such as the national airlines aren’t exempt from this. I personally know of people who have advised me against travelling by that airline because the service on board and at the airports is well below par. In fact, those that had no option but to go with this provider always took enough food to sustain them for  at least two days.
What prompts us to treat our fellow brethren in this shoddy manner? Even if one doesn’t subscribe to the “all Indians are my brothers and sisters” tenet, the quality of service meted out by other Indians in the service sector is beyond appalling. What must be done to change the status quo? Or am I being over-confident in trusting that it could be changed?
Share your horror stories with me.

Becoming A Naturalised British Citizen

July 14th, 2010 § 8 comments § permalink

This is a tale in two parts – the first part was painless and easy. The second made me rue the day I decided to embark on this journey. But such is life and I hope my experiences make your journeys somewhat easier.

This is the story of my family and I becoming British citizens and then trying to remain Overseas Citizens of India, as well.

After pondering for more than 4 years, my husband and I decided to change our citizenship last year. It wasn’t easy, deciding to give up our Indian citizenship but we finally thought that we will become Brits, considering England has been our home for almost all of our adult and married lives. Our children were born here and the younger one was already a British citizen as she was born when our visa status was akin to permanent residentship, while England was all the older one knew, after living here and going to school here for 8 years.

A simple perusal of the UK Border Agency‘s website was all that was needed to equip us with the necessary knowledge on how to become British citizens. As we had been living in England for over 9 years, and in possession of the “Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK” visa for over 5 years, we knew we fulfilled the standard requirements for naturalisation.

The only thing we had to do prior to sending in our applications was to pass a test entitled “Life in the UK”, where we would be tested on everyday British living as well as on British history. It was really quite simple and once we passed that hurdle, we set about becoming naturalised citizens.

Accordingly, we downloaded the necessary forms (Form AN for adults and MN1 for children) and filled them out. We didn’t need much else – all we needed were one photo identity document, the Life in the UK pass certificate and our current passport with the relevant visa. The detailed guides (available for download in the PDF form) made it very easy to complete the form.

The form had to be counter-signed by two British-passport holders who are professionals in their own right and as the husband’s colleagues fit the bill, those that knew us well were quite happy to sign our photos and attest that we were who we were claiming to be.

As we didn’t want to be without our travel documents, we used the National Checking Service (NCS). As the NCS is run by the local authorities, the appointment was procured quite easily at a venue quite close to us and with the staff quite happy to accommodate your requests, we got to see someone the week after. On the scheduled day and for a nominal fee, our documents were given a careful perusal and all the necessary supporting documents were photocopied and attested by the Checking officer and our passports returned to us straightaway.

Barely two weeks after that, we got the confirmation that our naturalisation has been approved and can we please make an appointment by calling the number given so we can be sworn in as British citizens. Ringing the number procured us a date a week away and so, in short order, we found ourselves in Chelmsford, listening to this fantastically-livered chap tell us about the part Essex played in the history of England and then bidding us to go forth and do no harm as poms.

Applying for a passport was a doddle – the forms were given to us along with our naturalisation certificate and were quite straightforward. (You can also get it from your post office, request for one here or even apply online.) So it was just a case of fill it out, send it out, make an appointment to prove that we are who we claim to be (as it was for our first passports) and then three days later, we got our shiny, red passports.

From start to finish, the whole procedure took less than three months. Everything went off like clockwork, following standardised procedures and when we got stuck, the guides and websites proved ample information. If that wasn’t sufficient, the helplines were available to point us towards the right direction. If you still aren’t sure, services like the post office’s ‘Check and Send’ service serve as excellent check points, enabling you to fill your forms and send them after having them checked thoroughly, saving valuable time and money. Doing so made it possible for my husband to change the photo he had attached to the form as it didn’t fit the guidelines.

Even as my husband and I marvelled at how easy the whole process turned out to be, we had more than an inkling that the sister process to retain a toe-hold on to our Indian citizenship would be diametrically different and we weren’t wrong!

Child Safety Oversights – Calling All Imperfect Parents

July 12th, 2010 § 5 comments § permalink

The next person to take up my guest author request is the blogger behind Baby Loves Books, mum of one and one of my oldest friends, Rupa Raman. Here she is, asking you what’s the worst parenting faux pas you have ever committed.

When Lavz asked me to post on the topic of ‘child safety’, the voice in my head went,”You’ve.got.to.be.kidding me!” and I have no idea why I agreed. Here’s the thing: Not only am I not qualified to write on child safety or anything remotely close, I am, in fact, on the verge of being included in the Clumsy New Mom’s Safety Handbook, under the section titled How to Keep Baby Safe – When Mom is Around.

Hmm…child safety. Child friendly. Where should I begin?
* How about the time I accidentally locked myself out of the car, leaving my 8-month old strapped to her car seat, inside, alone? Boy, did I spend the longest 15 minutes of my life waiting for the locksmith to arrive!
* Or the time when my 6-month old had her immunization shots and, eager to relieve her discomfort I gave her an overdose of infant fever medicine. (Although the nurse later assured me that the quantity I had given was well within the safety limits – not really an overdose)
* Need I even tell you about my first attempt at helping my daughter wear her bicycle helmet, when I nicked her neck while tightening the strap?

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for parents taking full responsibility for their children. I assure you I am one of those parents despite what I’ve just shared. But, truth be told, keeping a child safe is no easy task these days with or without a parent to watch over.

Step into a mall and you never know when a lunatic will decide to unleash fire arms. Send kids to daycare and Junior’s best buddy is likely to share everything with her, including the latest exotic virus doing the rounds. With roller coasters falling off their tracks at amusement parks and sharks attacking swimmers at the beach, where on the planet can you take your kids so they can be safe and happy at the same time? Let’s say you decide to keep them home. Voila! A sea of plastic toys, (who knows how many contaminated with ‘toxic lead paint’), welcomes them. Plug in the television, DVDs or video games and you get an earful about how screen time impairs their development. Take them out to eat and you risk turning them into obese tweens.

So, you see, although I’m not particularly proud of some of the times I inadvertently put my daughter’s safety at risk and granted. But whilst I may not be the most eligible candidate to write about child safety, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

I challenge you to show me a parent who has never accidentally bumped her baby’s head against a wall, given her a lead-painted toy to chew on or one who has never left his baby unattended on the bed just for a teeny bit (and it’s very likely that the baby who hadn’t as much as tried to lift a toe until that point somehow decided to roll over for the first time and crashed head first onto the floor at that precise moment.)

So, if you’re a parent reading this – out with it! What is the most embarrassing/worst parenting faux pas you dare to own up to? Do share so we know we aren’t the only ones guilty of parenting oversights and parent-induced boo-boos. And hopefully we can learn from each other’s experience.

As for me, in the 3 years and 11 months that I’ve spent learning the ropes of parenting, I’ve discovered that no matter what the safety ratings on a product says and no matter how big a fortune you spend on baby-proofing your house, there really is no such thing as 100% baby safe. And I now know why they say keeping kids safe has less to do with intelligently designed products and a whole lot more to do with mom’s instincts…even if she’s a little absent-minded.

Article by Rupa Raman

The author in NYC with her daughter M

The author in NYC with her daughter M

A voracious reader herself, Rupa Raman believes that reading to children regularly enriches their lives, expands horizons and changes attitudes. In her blog, she writes about everything from Karadi Tales to her love of picture books. Visit her blog at Baby Loves Books today!

Health & Safety: Non-existent in the Indian setting

July 7th, 2010 § 6 comments § permalink

Kiran Manral’s guest post brought up the oft-raised in an Indian context – that of Health & Safety. There have been various incidents in the past decade alone that have result in the needless loss of innocent lives, lives that may well have been spared if a few precautions have been taken beforehand.

Tragedies like the Kumbakonam School fire, the Garuda Mall mishap and of course, the recent accident of Aditya Dube, to name a few, may well be averted had basic Health & Safety procedures in place. A fire drill at the school, with a set procedure to be followed in event of a fire, could have prepared the staff and students at the Kumbakonam schools for the actuality of a fire. They could have merely followed procedure and assembled at a pre-agreed assembly point (as they do in the West), instead of running pell-mell and adding to the chaos.

Similarly, if the malls and restaurants had rigorous Health & Safety guidelines that they HAD to adhere to in order to remain open and strict building regulations that they had to follow to ensure the safety of their patrons, the tragedies that followed may well could have been prevented.

Whilst it is ultimately the responsibility of the parents’ to keep their youngsters in check, it is the duty of the owners of an establishment to make sure their mall / restaurant / cinema hall etc is safe enough for their patrons to visit without losing an arm or a leg or their lives. We go to a restaurant to have enjoy a meal and deserve to do so without wondering if we will fall a few floors to our death if we step on a tile.

Accidents like these focus on how little regulation is there to ensure the safety of our lives in everyday India. How easy it is to grease palms and speed things along, instead of worrying if a building will pass muster with the officials regarding its construction, design etc. How there are no standardised methodologies in place to ensure the safety of the users.

I wonder when the powers that be will sit up, take notice and take issues such as Health & Safety seriously. What needs to happen to bring that about?

Wanted: A Child-friendly Indian Restaurant

July 6th, 2010 § 27 comments § permalink

As promised, here’s my first guest blogger, uber writer Kiran Manral, with a plea to the Indian restaurants to up their child-friendliness stakes.

Hotel Ramee Guestline, Juhu

Hotel Ramee Guestline, Juhu

When Lavanya invited me to be a guest blogger on her newly revamped blog, the theme she told me, was “child friendly”. Write on anything child friendly, she said. Yars, yars, I nodded sagely, and scampered to googlebaba to figure out what I could write about that was child friendly related and something parents across the globe could identify with.

And then this happened over the weekend. Friends of a friend lost their son when he fell to death from the sixth floor of a restaurant. While the parents were dining with friends.

What is scary is that the parents didnt think of looking for their son until they had finished their meal. When I read of such incidents, I think that I err on the side of paranoia, and that is a good thing to be these days. I have the deepest sympathies for the parents, but this incident is a symptom of the malaise that affects parents in restaurants here in India. Let the kids wander off once they’re done with their meal so that the parents can eat in peace.

Which also comes about because of the total dearth of restaurants with child friendly facilities here in India. For a family with small children here, the only dining options are fast food places like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, or Papa John’s. Or else restaurants like the ones with a wild dining or a theme like a Village Festival etc, to keep the kids entertained and busy.

No restaurant, except for Mall playzone/food court combos, have spaces within the restaurant premises which have supervised playing facilities, adaptations of the main courses to fit children’s appetites and discerning palates. High chairs for infants and toddlers, children’s toilet seats are something most restaurants already have in place. Basically, restaurants are telling us dont bring your kids along. Which is why the maids are dragged to restaurants to wait uncomfortably out in lobby areas, walking and entertaining the small babies. Something that gets my goat, but well, to each his own.

What we need here are child friendly restaurants which welcome kids, have a dedicated employee or two to supervise the children in a safe hygienic section of the restaurant, with adequate toys, games etc to keep the children busy.

Apart from this, a child friendly restaurant will offer colouring kits, jigsaw puzzles, toys, and such like to keep children occupied. And will even have a designated supervised spot on the premises with a small play area, with a play pen, rubber flooring, slides and the like to let the parents drop their kids off, and eat a meal unhurriedly. If only restaurants in India understood that the demise of the joint family does mean that many young parents forgo dining out because of the difficulty in keeping young children entertained and out of the plates of the other diners in the restaurant.

And the attitude of the staff! At a lunch with friends at Moti Mahal, in Bandra, the staff and the maitre d’ made it very clear to us that we were obliged to finish our meal quickly and leave the premises because of the rather vociferous fun our two boys were upto, albeit confined to our table. Needless to say, I have never gone back since. On the other hand, when the child was bored at a family lunch at Mainland China, the waiters were quick to engage him in a quick chat, and the maitre d dug out a random toy to keep him busy and entertained. Guess where we have returned umpteen times?

Are any restauranteers reading this want to try this concept? I guarantee the restaurant will be double booked from day one.

Article by Kiran Manral

Kiran Manral

Uber writer Kiran Manral

Mom, freelance writer, India Helps charity founder, blogger, voracious reader and a “good egg”, has been writing since she could hold her pencil on her own. She has over 20 years of experience writing for some of the top Indian publications.
Kiran blogs at Thirty Six & Counting and Karmic Kids.

Question: Want to see how you look in two decades?

July 1st, 2010 § 3 comments § permalink

Katie Holmes 20 years from now

Answer: WHY?

If Katie Holmes herself, as buffed and polished as they come, looks like Hollywood’s version of a hag, what chance do us mere mortals have? And more to the point, why ever would we want to know how we look when we are OLDER? Isn’t this a case of ridiculous marketing? Or, by making sure it grabbed my attention, they have proved their strategy? Go figure.

I am still not sold on the service, btw!

Some Explanation is Necessary…

July 1st, 2010 § 15 comments § permalink

Writer's Block

..as to why this blog went all quiet for a while. Right? Well, the usual thing happened – I lost my writing mojo. I hit a blank wall and just couldn’t get over it. Writing anything became a huge drag. There were so many things in my head that I wanted to put down on paper but somehow my voice was gone. And I didn’t know how to get it back.

So I just wallowed. A lot. And then some.

But I missed the joy I got out of writing. I was desperate to get it back but I was clueless how. The more I didn’t write, the more scared I got – that I can’t write anymore, that I had never written well enough anyway to make a fuss now etc.

So I started reading – reading blogs on writing, on copywriting, on blogging, on Social Media. Oh and I also got into Julia Quinn in a big way. A friend convinced me that her Regency romances are quite good and since I am a sucker for period English, I borrowed the books from the library. That led to some interesting confusion, considering I live in England – I used to get so immersed in the book and then there will be a reference to a spot I know well. And I’ll go “oh I was there last week!” Interesting times!

I also participated in a Tweetchat with Beth Schillaci about becoming a better blogger and using blogs more effectively. One of my queries was regarding niches, to which Beth replied “A niche allows you to focus your blog more easily. For business blog, stick with your business niche…. People with tighter niches tend to do better with attracting audience and advertisers.”

That was one of my problems. I had varied interests and had them all under one roof. Well they were under different roofs but I brought them under one to have better control over them. But they were counter-productive as I lost my focus. So the first thing I did that evening was to split my site into my regular blog and a separate food blog.

But this still didn’t end my writing block.

And then I came across this – and the penny dropped. So I started writing. Just writing. Most of it was plain rubbish but at least I was writing. As I wrote more and more, I felt I was climbing back from the void. There is still a’ways to go but I feel like I have crossed the main part.

Now that I have spun off my food blog, I am going to be making more of a focussed approach to this one too. Being a parent colours my thinking a lot. So I decided to play to my strengths and decided to go with introducing a “child-friendly / child-safe” theme to my blog. To that effect, I have also asked some of the better mommy bloggers out there to guest post here.

So starting with Monday, you will find some exciting things happening here. Kiran Manral, the fantastic writer behind Karmic Kids and the brain of the charity organisation India Helps, is kicking things off here. I shall sign off here today, adding a huge thank you to my loyal readers. You rock!

Restaurant Review: Wagamama, Lakeside

June 29th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

Yakai Katsu Curry
Image courtesy Mars of Epicurean Age

Last Saturday, after dropping my son off at his Cub Scouts sleepover venue, the Spouse and I set off with the Child in search of a restaurant. For some reason, he was keen on Wagamama. I wasn’t because I wasn’t too sure that there would be many vegetarian options on offer. But nothing ventured, nothing gained so we set off to  our closest restaurant at the Lakeside Shopping Mall in Thurrock.

It proved to be a sound decision for the meal was really good! The waitress was nice and smiley without being patronising, the food arrived on time, piping hot and it tasted rather nice too.

I plumped for the two vegetarian options, going for the Yakai Gyoza or the steamed, grilled dumplings, served with a sweet ginger dipping sauce. I am a huge fan of Chinese dim-sums and was quite keen to find out how these fared in comparison with those. These weren’t so light and airy as the Chinese variety but nonetheless, were quite tasty. The portion size was decent and it arrived hot and smelling faintly of coconut oil! Even my daughter tried a couple and enjoyed them thoroughly.

For my main, I had the Yasai Katsu curry, which was sweet potato, butternut squash and aubergine patty coated in breadcrumbs and fried and served with a curry sauce and sticky white rice. There was also a side salad with some red pickle. I have to say – this tasted simply superb. I was a bit worried about the patty being fried but as I did not want noodles, I didn’t have very many options. Ultimately I was glad I went with this because the curry gravy was mildly spicy which was a very pleasant taste. Minty tried the patties with some rice and she really enjoyed these.

The Spouse, being a meat-eater, went for non-veg options for both starter and mains. He went for dumplings too, choosing the plain Gyasa, which were chicken and vegetable dumplings. For main, he had the Chicken Tama Rice, which was grilled chicken breast, stir fried with courgettes, mushrooms, red onions and spring onions in an oyster-wine sauce. This too was served with sticky rice. He thoroughly enjoyed them both and was thoroughly satisfied.

As we were quite full at the end of our main course, we both declined pudding. While my waist and hips thanked this decision, I was sorely tempted as there were some real corkers on offer – cheesecakes, chocolate fudge cakes and ice creams. The family in the adjoining table had the coconut ice cream and I could hear their delight with it.

Overall, I would class our dinner a success. The restaurant ticked all the boxes – we were seated quickly and efficiently and there was no delay in procuring a child seat for Minty. Our waitress arrived straightaway with our menus and gave us enough time to peruse it and place our orders. She engaged with Minty and put her at ease right off the bat. She didn’t bat an eyelid when I said I will share my food with my daughter but just brought her a plate and some special wooden training chop sticks for Minty to try!

My requests for regular cutlery were entertained quickly and I didn’t feel like a mug for not being able to work wonders with the chop sticks. The food arrived promptly and our table was cleared quietly and efficiently the minute we finished a course. The bill was brought in unobtrusively and we paid up and were out mere minutes after finishing our meal.

So, Wagamama Lakeside gets a big thumbs up from me. It is a place you can easily take your child to and the whole family can have  a good time.

Best Gift for Mother's Day

May 5th, 2010 § 3 comments § permalink

Mother's day at Indus Ladies

Before I go any further, let me plug the lovely e-book the ladies at Indusladies.com are bringing out to mark the occasion. The e-book is supposed to be an, I quote, “elegant list of all Indian Mommy Bloggers”, that will be sent to all the members of Indusladies.com as well as their Facebook & Twitter followers. What a lovely idea, ladies!

So, dear reader, please link up, join in and spread the word.

And so, to Mother’s Day. There’s something I would like to discuss with you, my readers, on the subject of Mother’s Day and in particular, what makes a perfect gift. It is usual for mums to get flowers, chocolates and the like as loving tokens of appreciation from their children and their father, to mark this special day. In the UK, after Valentine’s Day, it is the busiest day in a restaurant’s calendar. So the eateries around the town go all out to make sure it is their restaurant that is chosen as the ideal place to treat your mom to lunch on Mother’s Day.

My son gave me a lovely gift for Mother’s Day this year – all the more special because the thought was 100% his and so was most of the execution. He decided that he will get me breakfast in bed! So well before the day, he got my “breakfast order” from me and wrote it on the kitchen calendar so he wouldn’t forget it! It was so lovely to see him buzzing around, determined to make it special. He plans to do the same for his dad, for Father’s Day too!

Speaking from personal experience, no mum can hold out against that kind of an experience. So if any one out there hasn’t got a clue what to get for their mums for this Mother’s Day, take a leaf out of my son’s book and wow her! Satisfaction guaranteed!

Beyond all this, the teddy bears and chocolates and flowers and meals in or out, I tell you what a mother would really appreciate. Time. For herself. Time when she can concentrate on herself. Time when she can BE herself. This can take the form of a salon coupon for a pampering day out for your mum. Or simply, some time to call her own, when she doesn’t have to pick up after the children or rush around doing chores. No answering the telephone, no “Mum, where’s the juice?”, just some peace and quiet. Not much to ask for, right?

In fact, you can run with that thought and make a simple, handmade ‘coupon’ booklet she can cash in during the year to get some “me time”. Each voucher can have different time values – from 15 minutes to a day / weekend off to do non-mum things that she wants. And, by making sure it is valid for a year, you are telling your mum that she is special not just on Mother’s Day but the rest of the year too! Won’t she be tickled?

So go on, give your mum the best gift ever this Mother’s Day – the gift of time!

The weekend that was…

April 18th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

… quite a good one, thanks very much!

Why? Mainly because it was spent lazing at home, my favourite way to spend a weekend. Oh and proof of how desperately I need to get out more? The abundant 17 degree sunshine made me giddy with happiness – cos I could now hang my washing out to dry! No more slowly drying, mouldy smelling smalls and bigs scattered all over the house! No more laundry baskets in perpetual stage of fullness. Wa-hey!
Repeat after me: I need to get out more!
Rest of the weekend was spent in making yummy food – one-pot delish of sambhar sadam with mixed veg coupled with cuke raita on Saturday and rotis with dal fry and mushroom and pea curry on Sunday. YUMMO, if I say so myself!
The best part of the weekend? Microwavable quick eats in the form of carrot halwa on Saturday night. It took a grand total of 15 minutes from grating to ending up as glistening morsels of scrumptiousness on my plate and if that didn’t make it sweet, nothing else will.
Icing on the cake was the super match played by the Chennai Super Kings. All the way to the semi-final now, baby!
Wasn’t that a good weekend? Hmm?

« Older Entries

Newer Entries »