It has been 2 1/2 years in India and it is time that I had my first brush with corruption, if you ignore a minor funny traffic incident. I had to take two laptops with me to the US for a business trip. On my way out, the customs officer refused to record the fact that I was carrying two because I didn't have a letter from my company to that effect. After I reached the US, I arranged for such a letter to be sent to me and was armed with the said letter when I returned to Hyderabad.
When they scanned my carry-on bags at customs and found the 2 laptops, they duly sent me to a customs officer. I told him about why I couldn't get the export certificate on my way out and I produced the letter from my company. But that doesn't help now, the officer pointed out, I should have had the letter with me on my way out and got the export certificate then. After a few minutes of arguing I gave up and asked him what the duty was. He arrived at a depreciated value and assessed 30% duty on it and arrived at Rs. 7000. I didn't have that much cash on me and I asked him whether I could pay in some other way.
"How much do you have?"
"Rs. 3500"
"Okay, leave that here", pointing to the desk. Only then I realized what was happening, and I put the money on the desk. At that point, he became a little nervous and walked off the desk as if fleeing the crime scene. I was tired and sleepy and left in a huff, *&^?ed with the whole thing, wishing I had had the money and paid the whole sum to the govt instead of the guy. I also realized I didn't have a single rupee on me as I got into the cab to get home.
I am sorry to hear that you had to go through this experience, the kind of which is sure to leave an extremely bad taste in the mouth. On the other hand, if this is your first brush with corruption in 2.5 years, maybe things are better now! Speaking of which, is it 2.5 years already? Wow.
ReplyDeleteKeep those blog posts coming, I really enjoy them.
Siva
Thanks Siva. This was technically the 2nd. The first was on Vijayadasami, when a traffic cop pulled me over for beating red (or yellow?) only to let me go after a demand for Pooja Inaam. ("Saar, festival saar...")
ReplyDelete'wishing I had had the money and paid the whole sum to the govt instead of the guy.' - I have felt the same n tried a couple of times to be a dutiful citizen and pay the Government rather than grease an official's hands. But to my shock, I was given a receipt written without a Carbon sheet on the ledger(a convenient way to write down a much smaller amount than collected from me on the records). I have also seen, Rs.500 over-written as 200, once the victim moves!
ReplyDelete-Thambu