My Old Blog

These are two of my favorite stories about India. India is a strange and beautiful place that contains everything we have to offer, the best and the worst, the highest and the lowest….just not the fastest or most logical. India makes me question whether rationality is just a point of view.

Cows in S. Delhi:

A few months back the government decided there were too many cows in the streets of South Delhi. So the government masterminds came up with a very sound, very Indian policy: Offer a $50 reward for every cow rounded-up in S. Delhi.

Well, 50 bucks is a shitload of money in India where every street is lined with families living in tents….if they even have a tent. Sensing an opportunity to make a small fortune, Indians simply rounded-up cows from N. Delhi, W. Delhi, E. Delhi, the outskirts, and the villages…and brought them all to S. Delhi looking for their $50.

The government realized this and refused to pay unless you could prove that your cow is actually from S. Delhi. Since there is no way to prove it, the people just turned around and went home empty handed….leaving the cows in S. Delhi.

That is about as India as it gets: Create a policy to remove cows and you get a policy that brings in more cows.

Guest of the Week:

At the hotel I have learned there is “Guest of the Week” program. When you are Guest of the Week you have your picture posted in several employee locations, and all staff know who you are. For the entire week the door is opened for you with double the effort and diligence. Special attention is paid to your comings and goings. Your requests are ignored and side stepped with twice the regret as usual.

The only problem is that you, as the Guest of the Week, are completely ignorant of your status. Apparently I have been guest of the week twice and I am told it is a great honor. I wonder if they posted a new picture of me behind the bell desk or if it is the same one from when I checked in?

What kind of guest recognition program does not tell the guest they are being recognized? What good is a guest benefit that has no recognizable benefit for the guest???

Its like being Employee of the Month and not knowing it, not getting anything extra. Its just the same as not being Employee of the Month.

I admit I do not understand why these things happen with such frequency here. I think when I come to understand the mind of India, I will have lost my own.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 6:59 am and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.