We are getting constant power cuts here and to add to my woes yesterday, TATA (the supplier of my mobile phone SIM and my mobile modem) had signal problems and my phone stopped working for most of the day and all night and my modem also went on strike. I'm getting used to the power cuts and always make sure I carry a torch but phone and modem both packing up was somewhat frustrating. It also made me question the wisdom of having both modem and phone supplied by the same company. I topped up the credit on my phone in the afternoon with my last Rs 1000/- only to find that I can't withdraw any money from my UK bank at the ATMs here despite me having plenty of funds in there. I'm now wishing I hadn't bothered to top up the phone, food is preferable to a phone sometimes. I'm told I should be OK to withdraw tomorrow.
I went to the Andhra Bank on Thursday, complete with my NGO minder / motor bike chauffeur, passport, copies of passport and visa, letter from my NGO confirming I am working for them as a volunteer, a letter from VSO confirming my volunteer status, 2 passport photos and a copy of my VSO job description which included the living allowance I'm paid each month (or will be when I finally get an Indian account). The manager scrutinised every word of all the documents and spent about 10 minutes paging through my passport, checking all the details in all the visas in there. There were reams of forms to fill in and being a mere woman, had to give full name and occupation of the man in my life as apparently women can't open an account without providing such information (I had to bite my tongue when I got to that section or I would probably have been thrown out of the building as an undesirable). About two hours and many forrms later I handed over Rs 1000/- to open the account and was told to return to collect my passbook and ATM card - guess when - tomorrow. Well, today is now tomorrow (does that make sense?). Off to the bank again - to find it locked up due to a strike. So maybe today is not really tomorrow.
I also went to the potential toilet paper supplier in town. The man behind the counter looked at me oddly when I asked if they had toilet tissue (the Indian term for such products) and just said no, no toilet tissue here. Margaret, my housemate and fellow pursuer of toilet paper supplies got a different answer. Tomorrow.
Will somebody please give me a definition of tomorrow?
Posts
3 months ago
tomorrow (oxford dictionary) -
ReplyDelete1. the day after today
2. the near future.
as i have learnt here, tomorrow never comes. but your toilet tissue will. i'm positive about that.
len
Oh dear, I have an interesting time awaiting me as a manless woman!
ReplyDeletere the ATM with a UK card - was this just your bank being funny or a more general problem? How much cash did oy take to India to see you through until first allowance? Could you use the ATMs in delhi?
Now did Margaret go after you? If so, the lesson to be learnt, if you want anything, go separately, The canny business man will realise ah ah that's now two people asking for this, I have a new business opportunity here, and will order some.
Always interested in these anecdotes, from here they are really funny, but there I am sure they are frustrating. Keep up the good humour.
If there is no husband (note husband not partner) then father's occupation has to be reported. Dear or alive.
ReplyDeleteDelhi ATMs fine, no problems. Margaret managed to get cash out of ATM on Friday. I have yet to try again. Maybe tomorrow?
tomorrow: day porch gets tiled
ReplyDelete