Vijay Basrur

Verification Call

So I get nagged by a sales rep to sign me up for a new credit card disguised as a loyalty card. I give in thinking of the poor guy’s daily targets.

A few days later I get a “verification call”. Here goes the conversation
Agent (A): Good Evening Mr. Vijay
Me (M): Good Evening
A: I am calling from **** Bank. This is further to your application for a credit card
M: Yes I know. Go ahead
A: This is a verification call. Can I go ahead?
M: Yes
A: Is your name Vijay Basrur?
M: Yes
A: Is your DOB **/**/1972?
M: Yes
A: Is your residential address *********?
M: Yes
A: Is your residence phone number *******?
M: Yes
A: Is your office address ******?
M: Yes
A: Is your office phone number *****?
M: Yes
A: Have you been working here for the past ** months?
M: Yes
A: Do you want the billing address to be residence or office?
M: Residence
A: Thank You Sir. Have a good day
M: Are you sure this was a verification call? Because all I said was Yes and nothing else.
A: Umm Yes Sir
M: Shouldn’t you have asked me the information and cross checked it with your records?
A: But that is the process Sir.
M: Thanks
A: Welcome Sir

I rest my case for this supremely stupid process.

One Year

Usually when you look back upon a year after any important event, you always try and recollect the year gone by in a compressed format with memories just whizzing past. At the end of it you can’t believe that its’ been a year since then!

This time it isn’t any different but the importance of it is significant.

Our daughter completed 1 year about 10 days back and looks like we graduated to the next phase of being parents. It has been wonderful too see her grow up and even though there have been tough times, somehow in the memories that come back, all of it is fun!

I think watching a child grow forces you to notice the small things in life. The first time she sits up, the first time she ate on her own, the first time she had ice cream and all such. This is a very important learning. The more you start enjoying the smaller pleasures of life, the more enjoyable life turns out to be.

Another huge learning has been experiencing selfless service to my daughter. She doesn’t expect you to change her nappy. You want to do it for her. But when she is not in a mood to change and you want her to, so that you can get on to the next task, you must realize that it is a lost battle. When it comes to my daughter, she is the BOSS (which is our paediatrician favourite punch line) If you have to change her nappy don’t always expect a co-operating daughter. Having no expectations really helps in being happy at whatever life throws at you.

I recently came across a wonderful article on parenting a daughter. Please do read it. The article is called What I have learned raising a daughter (Thus far)

We are sure in the times ahead, we will experience even more joy in our efforts of bringing up Mansi. We hope we can give it our best shot. Keep watching this space.

PS: We celebrated a few days back since we spotted Mansi’s first tooth

Passport Verification

We got lucky that we could complete the passport verification for Snehal yesterday. It saved me the trouble of taking half the day off. You pretty much need that half day since you need to make at least 2 to 3 visits before you can complete the task. When I went for the first time, I was asked to furnish copies of some of the documents which I had not carried along. The second time around I was asked to give a copy of Snehal’s old passport (of which there was no mention in the first meeting). So back I went & returned with the copy.

That was the final call and I though’t I’d be done with it. But heck no! There was the customary kharcha paani before I was assured that the task was done.

But I was relieved at the end of it and I am hoping the passports come in soon.

Roadside Mehndi

Roadside Mehndi

Originally uploaded by Vijay Basrur

Never seen this around. Especially kids getting it done. Seems quite popular at this street corner in Andheri West

Financial Management update

So its been over a month since we promised ourselves that we would track our expenses. And lo and behold! we have been successful.

Ofcourse you may argue that its been just a month and that its no big deal. Well we think its a small step indeed but a big reason enough to celebrate! We are actually feeling happy about having been successful at being disciplined about something, albeit a small thing.

So have there been any learnings? Well not something we didn’t know. We seem to be buying groceries more regularly than we could imagine. I think there is scope for some planning to make the buying process more efficient, if not the expenses.

The satisfaction of seeing a detail expense sheet at the end of the month is indeed priceless. We hope this will continue and I’ll try and update the status in a few months with learnings, if any.

PS: Thanks Dada for pushing us into this.

Makeshift transportation device at polling booth

Makeshift transportation device at polling booth

Originally uploaded by Vijay Basrur

Guess this is for senior citizens. God save the ones who opt for this.

Retail Tactics

Our shopping happens usually only on a few days of the month. One of the places we frequent is a small store called Spinach in Mulund East since its close to my Mom’s place.We also frequent Mulund (E) to buy veggies & fruits since they are much fresher than anywhere close to our place. Spinach is where we buy other groceries since they accept Sodexho.

At Spinach 2 weeks back, I picked up chicken salami (from Prabhat Poultry) as there was an offer going on (6 bucks off on every packet, which is like 15%).

When we stopped by yesterday the offer was still on and I picked 2 packets this time but I casually glanced at the billing screen while the guy was billing the items. Turns out the 6 bucks was not being deducted. When I questioned him, I was told that the offer is not valid. I was like huh? You have a huge signboard which talks about the 6 bucks off. If the offer has expired, you should not have that board! He sheepishly agreed to do so.

What I have realised and I think we need to be more careful these days, especially in large self service stores, that if there is something you buy because of an ongoing offer, you better cross check it during check out. I am sure atleast 50% people don’t bother. Even I don’t bother sometimes. And that’s the margin that the retailer pockets because you fell for the discount trap!

So next time you pick a deal, make sure you check the bill.