Editor,
A customer entered a cozy restaurant which offered enticing food packages. According to the Ads displayed in the Board outside, it says “Come and enjoy mouth-watering delicacies at your own Choice”. After going through the Menu, he found out that the packages offered contained a long list of items along with prices against each one. Further, each package has a price tag ranging from Rs 300 upwards, depending on the quality of the ingredients on offer. However, there were certain items that were not palatable and unthinkable, at least for his personal taste, which were included in a package he would like to settle for. So he approached the Manager sitting at the counter and politely asked whether he could make his own choice and strike out unwanted items. The manager with a smirking look on his face shot back with a stern “No”. The Customer pointed out that according to the displayed Ads it clearly said that he could make his own choice. Interestingly, the manager hesitantly explained that the management had an alternate offer of smaller packages containing exclusively only approved brands; however these packages proved to be so complicated and time-consuming which dampened most of the customers’ keenness. Since there were no other eating places around the vicinity, the customer was left with no other alternative save to take whatever was there on offer. He finally settled for a Rs 500 package and took whatever items caught his eyes leaving the rest untouched. Alas! To the customer’s dismay, he had to shell out Rs 600 for his bill. On enquiring the reason for the extra Rs 70 he had to shell out, he was told that was for Service Charge and GST!!
The customer was aghast to realize that after paying for untouched food again he was fleeced by the system. Had he been allowed to choose according to his taste he would have spent not more than half of the amount!! Again, the customer confronted the manager along with the demand to meet the management concerned. Poor fellow! The answer he received was that it was impossible for him to meet the management as it was based somewhere in mainland India!
To the discerning readers the story above may appear as a ridiculously and foolishly concocted piece of a story or a figment of an imagination of a deranged mind! Well No! Dear readers, for us who took Set Top Box Cable connections and Dish TV networks, we are no more and no less than the above mentioned poor dumb-cluck of an eatery customer! In the guise of Infotainment, we have been duped for several years by the Service Providers in wasting our hard earned money by paying for a number of TV Channels which we never even have a peep at! Presently with the introduction of the new sets of regulations, like it or not, we are being unnecessarily forced to subscribe packages containing unwanted channels. Personally, not being a technology savvy person, I can somehow understand the technical glitches and complications in catering to thousands and thousands of customers’ choices. However, some technological arrangements should have been in place so as to do away with this highly illogical and unacceptable malpractice. In fact, if one calculates the subscription rates (plus GST) of the channels that one regularly watches, the total monthly amount would not even cross an average of three hundred rupees and four hundred rupees for normal/regular and HD channels respectively. Alas! As luck would have it, we are being turned into victims of circumstances!
Is there anybody out there who could offer any remedy? Or are we all so deaf and dumb in being so indifferent for so long? Or are we spineless enough to succumb to a purely illegal practice of camouflaged extortion? Is this not a case worth to be tried as per provisions of the Consumers’ Protection Act? Or is the answer blown away by the wind?
Yours etc.,
P Marbaniang
Shillong -22
Meghalaya is home not just for tribals
Editor,
Salil Gewali in his recent letter to the editor has hardly concealed his over-zealous support for the saffron party and also berated others who he believes are infantile in their approach to politics and we know from his insinuations that he is hinting at Rahul Gandhi. Time and again Gewali has exposed his Hindutva stance by castigating all criticism against Narendra Modi. In a democracy no one questions the personal, political choices of a person but we don’t expect that person to publicly espouse those causes through a letter in a newspaper – a space that is otherwise meant for addressing grievances related to the non-performance of the administration and other governance anomalies. In comparison it is always so delightful to read the letters by Sujit De which are based on human compassion and are philosophically and spiritually grounded without taking any strong religio-political positioning. Those are the kind of letters that will build the minds of young people. Letters like those of Gewali’s will polarise the society and divide it between Hindus on one side who seem to have found their mojo in Narendra Modi and non-Hindus on the other side who he believes are supporting the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi.
For those that believe in a free, secular and democratic country, the BJP is a party that is disruptive and seeks to divide rather than unite. Gewali lives in Meghalaya, a state that has seen deep communal fissures since 1979. Living in such a situation has meant that people have been suppressed from expressing themselves. Many have felt frustrated and now believe that a strong ruler like Narendra Modi will protect them in a manner that past governments have failed here in Meghalaya to give the non-tribal permanent residents their due rights. This, however, gives all if us some food for thought. Any group of people that are suppressed for too long seek to find their voices and Gewali must be just one of those. There may be many others who have no voice or the ability to communicate their thoughts in writing. For a long time the tribals of Meghalaya have believed that they alone have a right to all the resources in the state. No one grudges them their ST status by virtue of which they are exempted from paying income tax and also to have reservations in government services and in education. They should not grudge others their rights too as Indian citizens.
It’s time to realise that Meghalaya cannot be built by the tribals alone but by all those who feel a sense of duty to this state and its includes all – tribals and non-tribals and people of all genders . You cannot build a state and society by putting others on notice all the time. A time has come when all must learn to cooperate in making Meghalaya a progressive state.
Yours etc.,
AK Singh,
Vi a email