My spat with the ICICI Bank, now rated as the worst bank in India, has delayed my overall programme and also my blogging. I have been sitting for hours in the bank, trying to solve this enormous problem.
I was able to quote the Rs. 50 lakh fine slapped onto their Delhi Branch by the Delhi Consumer Commission as an example of how bad a bank they really are.
This is a comment from my Facebook page:
The Delhi Consumer Commission fined ICICI Bank a whopping fine of Rs 50 lakh for employing "goons" to recover a loan and deplored the practice of banks intimidating consumers to pay installments.
The Branch Manager kept trying to tell me that this was a one off case. I assured her it certainly was not as from the correspondence and Facebook comments I have been receiving ever since the story hit my blog, I know differently.
Yesterday, I spent more than a hour and a half with the Branch Manager of the Pragati Vihar Branch giving her a bit of my mind, which was not for very long, as I am a man of few words, but then waiting over 40 minutes just to get a cheque book to make one payment.
The new password given to me failed to function yet again.
This exercise was done in the bank in the presence of the Bank Manager.
Now they are trying to get me another password - another month down the tube?
I think ICICI should give up trying to be a online bank. They are clueless on how such a system should operate and they have no idea how to solve the problems of online banking. The use big words as back end, etc., but they have not got their front ends or their back sides, which needs a kick in the pants, working!
Of course, their normal banking operations are also in a mess if it takes 40 minutes to get hold of a cheque book!
To them, the time of the banker is important, forgetting that chaos they cause in the lives of their customers because of their incompetence and inefficiency.
Absolutely no prizes for guessing whether I have changed my mind.
Sunday was a great day as we had been invited by my niece, Shilpa Pookkatt (née Eapen, daughter of Mammen Eapen, aka Kunjumonchayan), to a party at the Indian International Centre Annexe. She had said she was just calling a few friends over for lunch.
We were, of course, among the first to arrive with our Finnish Time Module, where only an old-school ICS Officer and his wife being there before us. We were greeted by Shilpa and Joseph and the co-hosts, his partner in the law business and his wife. I still did not guess the reason for the event, but I recognised that this was no small event.
My computer throws up the birthdays of all my main friends and relatives on the morning of the day. It was no wonder I did not recognise it was Joseph's birthday, as it was being celebrated a day ahead of schedule.
A young man of 40, and now with a fabulous reputation as a Supreme Court lawyer, his wife, Shilpa (also a very competent lawyer but now spending time bringing up her children), had called his many friends in the legal profession and also many from the colony where they live, for this occasion. A large cake with 40 candles, the singing of Happy Birthday, and a fantastic spread of food, personally chosen by Shilpa, was the order of the afternoon.
Both Annikki and I had a whale of a time, meeting many old friends like former Indian Ambassador to Finland, K. P. Fabian and his wife and their most interesting son, who is now working for the UN and settling down in Bangalore!?! We met several senior retired IAS and IFS Officers and even an ICS Officer, plus many lawyers and their wives, which made for a great deal of fun and discussion on topics which we have been writing about.
We did not find a single soul who disagreed with us on all the topics we have touched upon: the demise of Bangalore, the lack of civic sense among Indian citizens, the hypocrisy of the Indian top leaders starting with the President and Prime Minister of India, the absurdity of the planning of cities, and also the rating of ICICI as the worst bank in India. (So it was not only the common man who holds this opinion, as we had thought earlier.)
Shilpa was gracious and her two children are adorable.
I recalled my close association with Shilpa's dad, who was in fact my closest cousin for the formative days of my life in Banaglore when he was virtually my next door neighbour.
We spent the evening with another niece, Ayesha. She is the daughter of my cousin from my father's side, Arun Matthan, and his wife, Yasmin, who hails fronm Hyderabad. Sadly, we had not been able to meet Yasmin during our visit to Bangalore, so Ayesha updated us on the family as we enjoyed a nice Thai meal at Khan Market in a restaurant called The Kitchen.
She had not slept for three nights as she had been completing her assignments. Yet she looked so radiant and so full of confidfence. Great spirit. We were greatly honoured that she came to meet us despite her schedule.
Ayesha is a graceful young lady and with a great brain. She has one important characteristic - she thinks before speaking. In my humble opinion, she is one of my nieces who is going to make it big in the world that lies ahead of her. She only needs to focus on what she really wants to achieve and it will be there for her taking.
She has the talent and drive of her maternal grandfather (and also her mother), whom I had known during his career in Vazir Sultan of which he became Finance Director, and is still doing well at the age of 91 in Hyderabad.
On the whole it was a delightful Sunday, only overshadowed by my depressing banking problems!
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