What I did two weeks back -
In Chennai, India where I am currently living, we keep garbage outside our house. A corporation employee, lets call him Mr. X, comes on a tricycle and collects the garbage every morning and throws it in the bigger thrash bins. Mr. X has a bad habit, every time he sees one small extra bag, he starts asking for more money. This happened 2-3 mornings. One morning he did the same, and my father-in-law had a fight with him. Mr. X then decided not to pick garbage from our house and he did not pick up for 3-4 days.
Then one day my mother-in-law dumped garbage in the boot of the car and took it to nearer trash bins and dumped it there. I was uncomfortable with that. I decided to call the Chennai Corporation office and log a complaint against Mr. X. So I went to http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/ and called Asst. Commissioner's office. They gave me another no. - Health Department's and asked me to call there. I called up Health Department and they asked me to call Solid Waste Management. I then called Solid Waste Management, they asked me my address and located that we reside in Zone 9. So then they gave me Zonal 9 Officer's number and asked me to call there. Zonal Officer did not reply my call, so I call back Solid Waste Management and then they give my Asst. Zonal Officer's number. At last some one answered my call and took my complaint and told me that someone will collect the garbage that day and he also mentioned that they would warn Mr. X and if he continues to ask money they will fire him. I was happy that I could accomplish this. But then was not sure if anyone would really come to collect the garbage.
I told about this to my father-in-law - his reaction - "you should have asked me before doing this. The system here is not of complaints. I had spoken to our neighbor and told him to make Mr. X understand. Now he will not pick our garbage at all. They system here is to talk nicely and give some extra cash and get the work done." And I was like what the hell did I do wrong?? I decided not to interfere in any matter hence forth - why? because if what my father-in-law said was true, then it will affect everyone in house. If I am the only one affected, I can take care of it. But no, not everyone should be affected with my actions. So, I spent some time cursing myself. The garbage was also not collected that day.
But next day morning, I get a call at 8 am. Some one starts speaking in Tamil and I say "Wrong number" and hung up knowing later that the call was from Corporation. After 5 mins, there are two men at our door saying -"Did you complain about garbage?" One of them was an officer and the other one was garbage collector. Mr Officer was very furious that I hung up on him. The garbage was taken that day and every following day till today. Mr. X never asked for more money till date.
I am happy that I logged that complaint and also satisfied that the Chennai Corporation took it seriously and helped us. But I am not sure if I will do this again. One thing I wanted to know before making the call was, does the corporation even listens to the complaints - and I got my answer. It might not be true for everyone, may be just a matter of luck?
In Chennai, India where I am currently living, we keep garbage outside our house. A corporation employee, lets call him Mr. X, comes on a tricycle and collects the garbage every morning and throws it in the bigger thrash bins. Mr. X has a bad habit, every time he sees one small extra bag, he starts asking for more money. This happened 2-3 mornings. One morning he did the same, and my father-in-law had a fight with him. Mr. X then decided not to pick garbage from our house and he did not pick up for 3-4 days.
Then one day my mother-in-law dumped garbage in the boot of the car and took it to nearer trash bins and dumped it there. I was uncomfortable with that. I decided to call the Chennai Corporation office and log a complaint against Mr. X. So I went to http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/ and called Asst. Commissioner's office. They gave me another no. - Health Department's and asked me to call there. I called up Health Department and they asked me to call Solid Waste Management. I then called Solid Waste Management, they asked me my address and located that we reside in Zone 9. So then they gave me Zonal 9 Officer's number and asked me to call there. Zonal Officer did not reply my call, so I call back Solid Waste Management and then they give my Asst. Zonal Officer's number. At last some one answered my call and took my complaint and told me that someone will collect the garbage that day and he also mentioned that they would warn Mr. X and if he continues to ask money they will fire him. I was happy that I could accomplish this. But then was not sure if anyone would really come to collect the garbage.
I told about this to my father-in-law - his reaction - "you should have asked me before doing this. The system here is not of complaints. I had spoken to our neighbor and told him to make Mr. X understand. Now he will not pick our garbage at all. They system here is to talk nicely and give some extra cash and get the work done." And I was like what the hell did I do wrong?? I decided not to interfere in any matter hence forth - why? because if what my father-in-law said was true, then it will affect everyone in house. If I am the only one affected, I can take care of it. But no, not everyone should be affected with my actions. So, I spent some time cursing myself. The garbage was also not collected that day.
But next day morning, I get a call at 8 am. Some one starts speaking in Tamil and I say "Wrong number" and hung up knowing later that the call was from Corporation. After 5 mins, there are two men at our door saying -"Did you complain about garbage?" One of them was an officer and the other one was garbage collector. Mr Officer was very furious that I hung up on him. The garbage was taken that day and every following day till today. Mr. X never asked for more money till date.
I am happy that I logged that complaint and also satisfied that the Chennai Corporation took it seriously and helped us. But I am not sure if I will do this again. One thing I wanted to know before making the call was, does the corporation even listens to the complaints - and I got my answer. It might not be true for everyone, may be just a matter of luck?
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing, Poonam - it's funny that there are so many small cultural things that one takes for granted if one is used to it, and seem confusing when one is not.
Sometimes I wonder if it is possible to straddle two different cultures, but sometimes I think it's not - as soon as I get used to and begin understanding one culture, I start forgetting the other one.
Indeed Timsy. I am also torn between the two cultures I have experienced.
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