Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Courier Woes

I have no doubts about the fact that at one point or another all of us have had to rely upon the dismal (dis)services of private courier companies...
My experience with courierwalas dates to the time when I was still in the dating stages of my romance-filled journey through life...
My then boyfriend was a GC (arey Genteleman Cadet...{dekhiye tabhi se gentleman hain humare woh}) in IMA (arey Indian Medical Association nahi Indian Military Academy) Dehradun. That was the first time I became aware of the disadvantages of living in the central part of the country...I goaded him with gifts of all conceivable shapes sizes and weights...and its only now that I realise how difficult(read impossible) it must have been for the poor guy to carry all of those crazy things so far...
I am not going to belittle the postal department's contribution towards aiding me and my bf to weather out that period of separation...(we could well have been mistaken for conjoined twins or hauled up by moral police for PDA...public display of affection..)
We wrote an average of 4 letters a week...not 7 because he was so busy being rodgered at the Academy...and I was too busy trying to get to hear his voice...(mobiles were not an epidemic till then...and STD PCOs had rates determined by time slabs)
Letters were routine, as were cards...so in one of my solo brainstorming sessions I decided to do something really special for my bf.
I racked my brains till it fell numb and then an idea struck me...
I decided to bake coconut cookies for him and COURIER them to him...
I was too naive to realise that it was going to turn out to be the first in a series of (dis)services that the courierwalas were to render to me...
I still remember distinctly…it was pouring cats and dogs…and soaked to the skin on my way back from my ordeal (read classes) at the Univ…I stopped by at a rather lecherous looking grocer to buy the necessary ingredients. Reached home and started what was my clandestine operation…(I hadn’t announced my bf to my parents till then)
The cookies were all baked and ready to be sent…but how??
No courier service providers seemed ready to deliver a parcel carrying perishables to Dehradun. Desperate as I was, I deviated (for the first time and never after then) from my firm resolve of not bribing any individual for a personal gain!!
I paid the guy precious 100 bucks saved from my already meager pocket money to accept the parcel and deliver it to my love…(as if he would have famished to death without the coconut cookies)
To cut a long and agonizing wait of hearing/reading that the cookies had been received and relished…my bf wrote note: Thanx dear for the coconut powder you sent…sweet of you to remember I really like it!! The cookies had been crumbled to powder! All thanx to the courier service, I had baked coconut cookies and sent the same…!! I wrote back.
My next stint with the courier companies came when I had already married the receiver of my coconut powder. (yes he still married me!!) On a trip back home I happened to accompany a friend to her aunt’s place who was into the crafts. (No ideas please, I didn’t need the intervention of witchcraft till then) I saw this amazing glass corner table made in keeping with the then fad of fusion furniture, I totally fell for it and decided to acquire the art of making this myself…This happened at a time when my husband was posted in the far-flung north east. The table was made and well appreciated by one and all…now the question of transporting it to the location of my husband’s posting arose. My loving father decided to use the services of the renowned Gati couriers to accomplish the task.
I was packed off to my house and the table was to follow suit…After a period of 22 days (as against the promise of 10) the table reached a station that was 8 hrs away from my place of residence. Incidently hubby dear heard of someone who was to return from there. He was contacted and requested to carry my rather heavy parcel. The parcel arrived…in countless pieces of shiny glass…Gati couriers ne meri table ki durgati kar di hi…
And I couldn’t even sue them or claim damages as it was not their responsibility as at the the time of receipt the person in question had not examined it and intimated them about the breakage…
Years went by and I abstained from employing the services of any courier company as I mistrusted them all equally…
A very dear friend turned 30 this year…inspite of my best efforts I couldn’t be there to give her solace…(solace as she had nightmares about “turning 30” and I had promised to be there to help her cope with the “Shit man I’m 30 now” syndrome) Now my absence merited a gift in the least. My bf turned hubby was of the opinion that it would have been more worthwhile to spend the same time and energy for finding her an ideal match rather than an ideal gift, I turned a deaf ear and with great results. So just before I went berserk, I finally decided on an ideal gift for her, a silhouette of a beautiful damsel with big fashionable curls at the end of her long tresses crafted in 92.5% silver into a bookmark. I thought this was the ideal embodiment of forever youth for her…Courier was my only mode of having it delivered to her in the state where she lives. A 100 gm parcel packed well and couriered with the promise of a 48 hour express delivery…I have a feeling both me and my friend must have spent enough for a on way ticket to her city of residence on phone trying to track that courier enroute …She received the same when I had given up hope…she saw the bookmark and loved it 15 days after I had seen it last!!
A dear friend of mine mentioned that he had to courier some official documents of an urgent nature to UK and told me that it would cost a bomb…2000 bucks…I couldn’t help but suggest: Send it through air mail and it is likely to reah sooner…he laughed it off!!
I just got a call from him saying he wished he had listened to me…a week had passed and the ‘urgent’ documents were still awaited by his UK counterparts!!
I smiled to myself and decided not to give in to the temptation of the “I told you so” syndrome…and expressed my not-heartfelt sympathies at the plight that the delayed courier had caused him!!

1 comment:

Richa said...

Hey... Let the courierwala be! It's probably the only source left that brings in a sense of mystery and anticipation in life!! 'What did I get?', 'Who sent it?', 'Will I get it exactly the way it was sent... ;)' I love it all!
Btw people, the gift was for me and i loved it the more when it came late; so don't let the delay stop you - keep sending me lovely stuff :)

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