India Trip Continues…
After reaching Jaipur, everybody began to disperse their own ways the next morning. Both didis and Neeraj’s bade bhaiya & family went back to Hindaun. Neeraj’s middle sister went to her sasural (in-laws) the same day. Neeraj’s parents were going to reach the next day to Jaipur, as we were going to leave for Delhi that night (8th March). On 9th March, they had their US Visa interview at the Delhi embassy.
The 8th was a busy day, with us asked to come to lunch at Neeraj’s middle sister’s sasural around noon, and before that we had to get our train tickets online for that evening to go to Delhi with Neeraj’s parents. Unfortunately nothing worked out our way because you aren’t able to get tickets online for the same day after a certain amount of time has passed. 
Then we had a hard time trying to find Neeraj’s sister’s sasural which then took away so much time. By the time we were done with lunch and reached back to Neeraj’s brother’s place (where we were staying), Neeraj’s parents came just a few minutes after us. Then we had to go to get their US visa photos taken because they hadn’t taken it properly previously. We went to two different photo labs (Kala and Goyal Photo Labs) and asked them how long it would take to get the photos for both parents. Now just think about it - all we needed was them to take the photo, make it US visa size, and then print it out, how long do you think it should take? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? Both labs said that it would take atleast two hours! 
Now that is the problem with India. 
It is a simple task, but they make it complex. AND they do it on purpose - which makes me angry. If we would have gotten the same photo done in US at a photo lab do you know how long it would have taken? 5 minutes! No one cares for customer service in India when it comes to things like these which makes it irritating. I wanted to go into the photo lab area and print the photo myself. After much requesting, they said that they would do it for us in one hour (we had to catch the train immediately after that which is why we needed it in a hurry). Neeraj and I watched the photo lab people - they wasted the first 50 minutes, and in the last 10 minutes they completed our task. Wouldn’t you be irritated?????
Alvida. Jai Mata Di.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Ohhh sorry to know about your bad exp with photo labs here..I mean in Jaipur…But, then Poonam…things are not that bad…cuz usually they give you the photos in 5/10 mins…its their selling point…a better idea would have been to get the photos taken in Delhi…cuz all the shops there know the exact size of the pics for the Visa..with a white bg…but then anyways…you got the work done…thats good….
btw, this small a post….WE want more…:)
tc.
April 29th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
This is a problem in India that I have seen, and possibly it is due to the low class thinking of such people who run shops like Kala Color Lab and Goyal Photo Lab, that they could careless of their customer’s issue. We had explained to both places that we had a train to catch, of which we haven’t even bought our tickets, so we had to reach the station early, so if you could please assist in getting these photos done sooner, then we would appreciate it. Of course we offered them more money too in order to get it done, but what type of response did we get? Well, the idiot that was running Kala Color Lab that day refused to take our business when his employees were sitting sipping their afternoon chai. Goyal Photo Lab’s frowned secretary of a lady said that the fastest she could have someone do it was an hour.
When really how long did they spend making the two set of photos? 10 MINUTES! 
Do you think we will go back to provide them more business? Not in this lifetime. And that’s what irritating that in many places within India we are moving forward, but the minds of the people, especially who have these choti moti dukaans, is still only that — choti moti.
They need to go and take some Customer Service traning courses:!: 
April 29th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
I agree with you Poonam on the customer service part….We need to learn alot in that aspect esp the small biz owners in tier II cities.