I have had the content for this post in my head for couple of months now. Somebody moved back to India and shipped their luggage through a shiment company. The shipment duly arrived at Chennai and the guy responsible calls up and says that the owner of the shipment should come over to Chennai with original passport and sign some documents for customs clearance and it was a half days job... He also mentioned that if the owner is not in a position to travel anyone can come over there with an affidavit and the owners passport. Now there is a lot of thinking and voicing of opinions after the phone call.... one thinks that it is a total lie and that the person would launder money in some form or other... another thinks that this was not mentioned by the shipping agency earlier so you can trust the guy.... and they dont see why that guy would needed the passport... so it was decided that nobody would go to chennai for clearing the customs and people start trying out different ways to get the shipment to home..
I was silenced when i tried to tell that it is the actual procedure and volunteered to got o chennai.....
A series of angry emails are sent to the shipping agency after which the agency tells that the guy who called is giving us the actual procedure. Now there is another guy who talks about knowing people everywhere and who could get it out of customs just like that... eventually that guy backs out giving a stupid reason....
Now the shipment is still in the chennai port,after couple of weeks the guy who called initially calls again and volunteers to do everything by himself. Now the people who initally voiced opinions are not around and there was no other go so the owner of the shipment finally agreed and that guy got the shipment home as promised within couple of days.... BUT
The cost of the flight tickets for that guy Rs 12,000
The customs duty for the shipment Rs 4,000
The rent paid for keeping the shipment in the port Rs 10,000
Miscellaneous expenses Rs 4,000
The lesson learnt for being ignorant and not trusting the right person ...... Absolutely PRICELESS !!!
I was silenced when i tried to tell that it is the actual procedure and volunteered to got o chennai.....
A series of angry emails are sent to the shipping agency after which the agency tells that the guy who called is giving us the actual procedure. Now there is another guy who talks about knowing people everywhere and who could get it out of customs just like that... eventually that guy backs out giving a stupid reason....
Now the shipment is still in the chennai port,after couple of weeks the guy who called initially calls again and volunteers to do everything by himself. Now the people who initally voiced opinions are not around and there was no other go so the owner of the shipment finally agreed and that guy got the shipment home as promised within couple of days.... BUT
The cost of the flight tickets for that guy Rs 12,000
The customs duty for the shipment Rs 4,000
The rent paid for keeping the shipment in the port Rs 10,000
Miscellaneous expenses Rs 4,000
The lesson learnt for being ignorant and not trusting the right person ...... Absolutely PRICELESS !!!
The red tape bureaucracy runs so deep in our bloods that though we hear the right thing, we question it many times, until it becomes a doubt of sorts.
ReplyDeleteIt's a learning in process i guess to deprogram ourselves and do what is needed than concocting alternate ways.
The Indian system would be the greatest system of socio-economic management IF ONLY WE WOULD DEVELOP WITHIN EACH INDIVIDUAL THE CONCIOUSNESS TO BE SINCERE.
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