Good morning Sir(Mr. Thakkar). Mr. Bhalla, good morning. How is your wife and son? They are all fine sir. What wrong can happen to them till you are my boss sir. Haaaaaaaa. Hooooooooooo. Mr. Bhalla , you are too much. Go get some cigarett for me. Sure sir, but public is making noise outside sir. There is nobody to accept the complaints on the
counter sir. Mr. Bhalla, "public ko to kuch bolte rahne ki aadat hai(The general public has nothing better to do than making noise)".
Kindly go get some cigarett. Oh bye the way, my wife has headech. Kindly bring some medicine for her in the evening. Sure sir. After 10 minutes............ Sir, here is your cigerett. Good job Mr. Bhalla. Sir, I have to take my son to zoo today. Do you think I can leave early? Bhalla, marwayega kya tu mere ko(Don''t put me in trouble)? Dekhta nahin public bahar halla kar rahi hai(Can''t your the public uproar outside)? Hehehehe(laugh). Sir, aapke rahte kya problem hoga( What wrong can happen till you are the boss here sir)? Thik hai Bhalla tu ja, main Mukherjee ko bol deta hun(Alright Mr. Bhalla, you can leave. I will see if Mr. Mukherjee can fill in for you). Tringggggggggggggggggggg(Buzzer.....) Yes sir, what can I do? Mr. Mukherjee, could you please handle the crowd outside? I am sorry sir, but my plate is full. Mr. Mukherjee, you are disobeying me. You could be in trouble. Sir, I can''t help it. My plate is full. Mr. Mukherjee, don''t act smart just because you know Mr. Chakroborty(The senior to the boss-Mr. Thakkar). Well, I am sorry sir, but I got to go. I have some pending work. Mr. Mukherjee
walks out of the building to the nearest tea stall and starts gossiping. With heavy foot, Mr. Thakkar walks to the counter. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have internal strik today. The
office is closed. Please come tomorrow. Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu(uproar and hooting from the background). Mr. Thakkar moves to the other counter. The customers are not in queue. They are jumping over one another with applications and files in their hands. There is no administrative personnel to help them stand in a queue. They all seem to be some kind of hurry. They are in some kind of huddle. They don''t know who is ahead of who. They all have the urge to insert their hands inside a small hole through which the files can be passed on the babus(counter clerks). There are some other customers who are using backdoor entry. They know the officers and clerks very well to be able to beat the queue. The security personnel who is paid a decent salary for maintaing a civilized contact point for customers and office personnels is smoking leisurely and carelessly at a distance. In other words it is a complete chaos. Mr. Thakkar goes to the counter, repeats his memorized excuse and slams the counter door on the face of the customers. He goes back to the chair and starts making a call to his friend. Hey Verma, how are man? What''s up, calling in office hours. Oh I am tired. These customers cannot understand our work pressure man. Bye the way did I tell you we are going on strike from coming Tuesday. Why? We need raise man raise. Didn''t you get the raise six months back. Com''on Verma. Look at the price index. It is sky rocketing. We have to go on strike. Blah Blah Blah........ Mrs. Briganza is walking in a grocery store. Bhaia do kilo palak, do killo kheera, aadha kilo pyaz aur dhai sau gram bhind tol dena( Kindly weigh two kg of Spinach, two kg of cucumber, half a kg of onion and quater kg of lady finger). Yeh lo bahan ji(Here you go).
Receipt please. No receipt Mam. What? I need the receipt. What will you do with the receipt? That''s not your problem. I need the receipt. I am sorry but I can''t make any receipt availabe for you. If you don''t want the vegetables, give it back to me. You can go anywhere in the market, no one will offer you a receipt. Gussa kyon hote ho bhai, lao sabzi do(Don''t get angry, kindly give me the vegetable). Mrs. Briganza walks out of the walks enters a
Post Office of a metro and walks to one of the counters. I need to send a registered letter. I am in a kinna hurry. I need to get back to work. The stationer shop nearby is closed. I was hoping to get some envelops from the shop. I also need to send a small parcel. I wanted to buy a small packaging materrial as well. Do you think you can help? Sorry Mam, but we don''t have packaging supplies for you. Bhai, agar hai to kindly help kar do, bahut urgent letter or parcel bhejne ka hai(Kindly help, I really need to send the parcel and letter urgently). I am afraid, but I can''t help. Mrs. Aiyer walks out of the Post Office and waves her hands to a passing Taxi(cab). Taxi stops near her. Nearest post office please. The Taxi moves forward after she boards. These are the examples of everyday life in India for a common man. What changes can we propose? Here are some thoughts.
More summaries about the "Babu Culture in India" - The legacy of slavery, Infrastructure problems