Many times, I had found my lessons in life in the most unexpected times and places. And these lessons always lasted longer than the ones that I was “well-prepared” for.

I was the least prepared for some interesting lesson as I boarded my train a couple of days back. I was irritated by the unexpected mid-summer downpour, the notorious traffic of Bangalore, my “un-confirmed” train ticket to Hyderabad … As I settled down in my seat my wife quipped ” I wish I would travel with you in peace – someday”.

As the train moved on, the two gentlemen opposite to us started their small talk on office politics, the young sardarji started flipping a magazine and the old lady started showing signs of boredom. The plump middle aged man with a blue shirt started playing a game on his mobile – with an annoying decibel level. All set for a typical train journey – I thought.

As the train halted in the last station of the city, an elderly gentleman with two old-fashioned suitcases entered the coach. He was moderately built, had a bald head and a calm face.

Apparently bored of playing, the plump middle-aged man dialed a number from his mobile and started a conversation – in a loud/annoying tone. In the course of the call, one could understand that he is trying to chide a subordinate for not complying with some routine procedures. The call went on and seemed to last till eternity – with the other side apparently trying to defend him/her-self.

Thanks to the poor network coverage in the city outskirts, the call ended and he started eating his dinner. The elderly gentleman looked curious to know more about the call. He prodded gently – “So, you work for which company?” The blue shirt was very happy to answer “I take care of the entire southern sales for XXXX- a popular FMCG brand”. To which the old man said “Is this your employee that you are chiding?”. “Kind of” answered the blue shirt. I whispered into my wife’s ear “Typical case of expecting super performance from an incompetent employee. Recruiting mistakes end up like this”.

The old man continued “You see! many times we expect superior performance from people who are not made for the task”. My wife smiled at me – she was short of saying “ha- what a coincidence of thoughts”. The blue shirt gave a blank stare – he did not seem to like that. The old man went on “If someone is not doing his job to the level that he is expected to, then its time to examine ourselves too. May be our expectations and his capabilities don’t match”.

The blue shirt was apparently a self-made man who started his career as an auto-driving sales man and knew how to handle these issues. After all, he knew what grassroots mean and work like. The conversation lead to the topic of motivation with the old man saying that motivation is much more than prodding people. The blue shirt questioned this text-book like wisdom. To him, apparently, an occasional dry washing to people 2-3 levels below him makes them feel important and improves their productivity. “It’s after all a feedback to improve. No one cares for them. Since I came from grassroots, I care for them. You know, I promoted 315 such candidates in my career – till date”

That was a perfect setting for me to enjoy – after all, post-prandial naps need some stimulus. What more to ask for in a moving train than a popular management topic.

I had to go to the coach manager and by the time I am back, the conversation seemed to have ended. I asked the elderly gentleman “So uncle! What did you conclude?” What followed is a rhythm of sentences that probably is one of the most emphatic extempores that I would have heard on motivation, till date.

“You see! Motivation has something to do with trust. What makes your subordinate to believe in you? Why should he work hard towards your vision when he knows that there are no guaranteed returns?” To which I said, it probably has something to do with the personalities of the leader and the follower as well. He chose to define motivation “Motivation is something that makes the other person do what you would have done under similar circumstances”.

“You got to be genuine you see! You can’t keep fooling people with sweet talk. Be genuine in your relationship with them. Be there for them. Earn their trust and people would listen to you. After all, the world has lot of opportunities today- no one needs to stick to you”. This was something new to me. I had always thought that motivation is more to do with the personality. I never looked at it from a relationship perspective.

The blue shirt intervened “That’s what I am telling you saar! Lot of opportunities around. Situation changed today. All that you are saying is changed. I respect Gandhi – but can he survive today?”

The old man did not react. The blue shirt almost felt victorious. He climbed up to his berth and started making his bed.

The old man said to me “See! all of us know a bit of truth – remember the story of blindfolded men trying to describe an elephant? We need to be inclusive and open. Only then we can aggregate the bits and come somewhere closer to the absolute truth. I sincerely believe that human beings are the same- even today. They have not changed. All the visible change is external and ornamental.”

I nodded. I know this much at least – there is no argument to beat the passion of a staunch believer.

He continued “Your relationship with your employees (to motivate) is like that of parents with children. Give them love – they will return the favor in your old age. Give them abundant money and comforts and expect them to return love in your old age it simply does not happen. They might get you admitted in the best of hospitals-but might be ‘ busy’ to pay a visit when you are sick”.

The blue shirt was ready to hit the sack. He said from his upper berth “Sir! Today how can you retain people with motivation? Market value of a person changes often and if its not money, your employee does not stay with you”

The old man almost concluded making his bed “Go by the intrinsic value of a person. If someone is leaving for a better market price, so be it. Pay people well and don’t stop there – if only you expect a motivated lot. Being genuine and measuring people by their intrinsic value (not by their CTC) is the premium that you should pay to have a motivated lot. After all, we all get what we pay for”.

I got my lesson “To build a top-class organization you need not have top-class people. All you need are motivated individuals-Motivated because they trust in your vision. Motivation is not an excuse to pay less – It is a premium to pay to realize your vision”

As the dawn broke, I thanked him for his wonderful thoughts and could not help but admire the simplicity with which he put them across.

The train reached Hyderabad. We shook hands and he vanished into the crowd slowly.

“You could have taken his contact details” – my wife prodded. “Authors do not matter as much as lessons do” – I said musingly. I did not understand what motivated her to giggle to my reply.

Back in my management classes, we were given the definitions of efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency, apparently is doing things right, while effectiveness is doing the right things. If I were to borrow them here, communication effectiveness and communications efficiency are critical for any manager, nay for every one who is at tier+1 in their organization. Communication is saying right things and saying them right.

It might be very simple and intuitive – but it is frustrating to see the consistency with which miscommunication happens. Communication efficiency is suboptimal even in the case of experienced professionals perching on the top. It’s probably due to the fact that non-verbal and indirect communications are given relatively less importance. Reason, we see subordinates scrutinizing the discordance between the words and actions of managers, critically analyzing the differences between the “feel” that a manager generates and the “words” that he speaks.

To me, communication is more to do with conveying what you are than what you want to be perceived as. Communication is much more than talking well (in fact, the best of communications happen in silence).The reason for my belief is simple – façades are tough to put up and cracking them is not a rocket science! If you want to be a leader, you better not put up facades. They do you the best disservice possible than any other folly.

Sweet and thoughtful talk is fine. But, seldom do we realize that actions speak louder than words. Any inconsistency between these two is considered as a pretense. The world might pardon the bad but not the pretentious. Agreed, everyone cannot be 100% transparent types – but does that necessarily boil down putting up a veneer?

What do you vote for – Impression management or communication?

Some of my recent experiences (on the receiving end) helped me understand a bit more about customer service.

Customer service is a direct outcome of value that your company brings to the table. Value, as the definition goes, is always seen through the eyes of the customer. Come to think of restaurants that want to get famous for their “ample paring space” while caring the least about food and service. What about the “No. 1 Restaurant” in your locality which has lousy front office staff that considers their chores more important than attending you!

Customer service spans beyond the frontline. Customer service should percolate deeper into the organizational activities that have little or no customer touch point. Your demand generation chain is thoroughly and veritably impoverished if customer service is limited to the front line activity. If mere warm smiles and good handshakes delight customers, organizations need not list it as a core value or a source of competitive advantage. How many times have you not seen ‘friendly’ salesmen vanishing into the thin air after having got your signature on the dotted line? How many times have you not felt like giving a mouthful when the same company contacts you again for business? Instead, if your company is thinking of the customer while warehouse procurement strategy is being charted, be sure that it has something to say about customer service.

Customer service needs a different approach – not an alternate process. Great many times, your process can create/sustain this value. For the past few months, I have been trying to do a simple banking transaction. My bank has all the fancy customer service points like websites, telephone banking etc. But all that I wanted to talk to some physical entity – which I felt is essential for the transaction. To my utter dismay I realized that this is a luxury to ask for. Needless to say, I was taken through the technology enabled loops that kept adding to my frustration levels. I was denied the simple pleasure of talking to a frontline exec that could have given me a solution in less than a minute. If the process is designed to be a self-serve model to ensure scalability – what about the efficiency? And the woes of a hapless customer like me? If you are neither approachable nor have an easy /reliable technological alternative, why tout your customer service in the media?

Customer service is not just another advertisement theme. Until sometime back my telephone service provider had an option to speak to a customer service representative in the telephonic customer service menu. Recently, the option was removed – meaning you dissuade me from talking to you (may be it is unprofitable/inefficient). Guess what his tagline is? – “barriers vanish if we talk”!

Since every element of service happens at the cost of your resources (people in majority of the cases) incentives are essential. Basic human psychology tells us that “Incentives drive behavior and unrewarded behavioral patterns are no repeated”. The best designed customer service strategy collapses if you don’t reward the delivery agents amply and appropriately. After all, not all follow customer service as a religion.

Customer service is no more a loyalty building exercise. It is an exercise for existence in the over cluttered new-age market place.

Few days back a bunch of bright students came to meet us. They were from a reputed national institute and are pursuing their masters in technology. Reason for their arrival ? We were looking to outsource a chunk of our work to meet our aggressive deadlines.

We spent the entire morning explaining the project so that they understand what they would be getting into (if they were selected). They were pretty confident on their capability and said they could meet the deadline. But, we had our doubts.

After having given the macro picture we requested our in-house technical manager to assess their skill-set. He interviewed a couple of them and came back to us with concerns over the incompatibility of their skill set with our requirement. Our General Manager wanted to stop the whole process and see them off so that we don’t end up wasting each other’s time.

To that, I hesitated. I did not want them to feel dejected – it was undoubtedly a great project for any student. I told my GM “Lets complete the interviews and see them off. And, may be in a couple of days inform their professor about this and close the issue”. Our GM is seasoned professional and said he would handle the issue.

We went to them and my GM started explaining them in detail as to how critical this project is to our company and how their skill sets were not in line with that we needed. Surprisingly, none of them showed any signs of frustation. They thanked us for being frank and spending time with them to explain as to where the incompatibility lied.

Compare this with something that one of my friends underwent.

The employer is a world renowned “local bank”. They had carved out a separate unit last year, into which they recruited a bunch of people. The profile was good and the future career prospects were bright.

For a couple of months there has been a talk of the business being “closed” for reasons best known to their senior management. Here is a funny situation. They did not want to reveal this to their employees in advance. Nor did they create positions that are at par with their existing level/grade. They simply wanted to close the issue by shifting them to low-key profiles in another division. And, to add to that, they started packaging the deal as “an opportunity exclusively for them”. There was coaxing and prodding all through and none of the affected wanted to take the ” entrance test” that the low-key job needed.

My friend summed up his feelings ” I would have been lot more happier if I was given a pink slip”. Apparently, the organization cannot risk their reputation. Why give pink slip to the Analysts when they can do data entry jobs – after all its a great opportunity for them to be associated with our esteemed organization?

Do you think they can safeguard their so-called reputation? Do you think the affected would trust the company any more?

And, do you see candor working?

#1 To dream of success you don’t need to sit on past successes. You could dream even if you, pardon the phrase, are in deep shit.

# 2 When life offers silver, demand for diamonds. You do not need to be content with what life offers to you.

#3. The best way to beat adversity is through passion, perseverance and being enthusiastic about future.

#4 Cynics carp. The best way to deal with them is through your actions. When you celebrate your hard-earned success, they vanish surprisingly

#5 Enthusiasm is contagious. People might not acknowledge it – but definitely are more comfortable being lead by you, if you keep up enthusiasm.

And the bonus

#6 Be reliable – reliable friend, manager and leader. People and businesses need reliable ones desperately.

I don’t know whether I can capture his story in these 6 dimensions. But ‘am sure he would add more dimensions than I could write, in future.

We embrace an ideology at the doors of our youth. We work, think, ponder, transform. We realize that its time to change. We put all the efforts to take a U-turn. Life accosts ” Go back to roots!”. Change the course?

We are born with spontaneity. We struggle to give it up ( in that process lost all the beauty in action). We become calculative for varied reasons. Life asks ” get spontaneous dude!”. Take a turn?

We love chaos in the beginning. It was great – God like! We hated order. We hated to work for it. Things changed when we realized that orderliness matters. Life admonishes ” Go back to chaos!”

We never planned so much. No 5 year goals.. No long-term goals.. No becoming CEO at the age of 36.2. Organized world demanded a different approach. We started learning strategy, goal setting and building things brick-by-brick only after thorough planning. Life’s judgment – ” Take things as they come!”

We change gears, mend our ways,take U turns, rewrite things on our walls….

Life comes back and says – “Reformat”.

People call it “being Balanced” – Treading the thin line between the opposites. The thin white line between yin and yang.
People, apparently found peace there – despite the difficulty and the imposing complexity.

Getting a dejavoo? Feel like a football being kicked between goal posts? Well, if you don’t love Oxymoron you will never get to see the “life in management”.

As a science graduate I hated managers. I loathed the hollowness of my MBA pals. To me, discovery mattered. Being inventive, knowing the complexities of systems gave sufficient stimuli to give more than the modicum of hard-work necessary to get along.

Probably, life has a way of getting you where you should, irrespective of your opinions.I ended up being a manager, right after my “management hating” post-graduation days. And, the doors for a new paradigm were opened wide. ” Understanding systems” to “making them work” is a phenomenal change.

Management taught me to be adaptive. I started appreciating the constancy of change. There were no more “canons” as my Physics textbooks propounded.

Management helped me to have a 360 degree view of things ( We do 2-pie and n-pie calculations in Physics, but seldom get to see the practicality of them). Opinions stopped bothering me – for I was trying to re-construct an average of what each one thinks “the best”. Hail Teamwork! It works!

Management curtailed my aggression – from ” If it is good, let do it” to ” Let us deliberate on when and how to embrace the good things”.

Management taught me alignment – more than the optics gadgetry in my labs. What you think is the best to do is not always the right choice for the system. To have a successful system needs alignment- not just the best individual elements.

Management kicked my ego to a distance. And, from a distance I find it real BIG indeed. Ego did not work as much as occasional gulping down did.

Management showed me that understanding the system is only half the story. Making it work despite its inherent composition to achieve goals is the other half. And, there is no end to learning about both.

Needless to say, pink slips are the dreadful duo of words. But then, what is the way out for a corporation in economically tough times? While I do not refute the logic behind the lay-offs ( capitalism hurts now!), I am wary of companies botching it up big-time. For, it speaks volumes about their “real-self”(Who says what media and PR agencies says is always right?)

The employer in discussion is a world renowned banking corporation – rated high for its HR practices in the industry. As usual, the employees were promised moon while they joined, and were requested to cooperate during the loss-making time, cajoled to work harder during the times of high work-load… but…but…were treated like contracted laborers while they were to be shown the door. The letter of termination sums up the attitude of this “World’s local bank” towards its employees – and mind you, we are asked by the media to look up to them for HR practices.

The letter went something like this ” We refer to so and so clause in your appointment letters whereby we could terminate the relationship with one month notice or paying the equal amount of money blah..blah… we regret to inform you that we are invoking that clause and are terminating your services. Please comply with the following formalities…”

How inhuman one can get! I am yet to come across an employee who does not take the relationship withe his workplace seriously. I am yet to see some one who is unwilling to empathize with the business realities when communicated properly. And, I am absolutely aghast by the way this company terminated – curt and rude, lacking an iota of sensitivity towards the employees. Worst, neither the so-called termination letter nor the discussion with the so-called “senior managers” sent the message across that the employees they were indeed valuable, but the business realities forced the organization to do the hardest thing.

I am of the firm opinion that employee-employer relationships go far beyond the legal ambit and appointment contracts. Every corporation / organization MUST acknowledge the fact that they owe their existence to the innumerable valuable contributions made by PEOPLE that worked hard, silently behind the screens – probably sacrificing their personal lives to a great extent. If an organization believes that all the wealth created was due to its process/product excellence, it is thoroughly mistaken. After all, “Men (mankind) are more valuable than all the wealth of the world” because its them who create the wealth.

One can sure, invoke legal contracts – does that need to stop you from being a human? If organization is merely an entity, why talk of motivation, relationships etc in the workplace?

If anyone thinks otherwise, read what Jerry Yang had to say to his colleagues at Yahoo:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Youll_be_missed_Yang_to_sacked_staff/rssarticleshow/3824155.cms

Do you still believe in businesses being “entities” ?

• My old posts appeared pedagogic. I hate my style!
• I have no time to blog.
• Why should someone read and why should I post?
• It is getting difficult to sit down and write paragraphs while new age micro-blogging platforms like twitter are redefining the rules of blogging.
• In the end, what will I achieve?

At 0306 PM I decided to take a detour and start afresh. Reason?

• I want to change my style and start afresh
• I don’t have time. Yet, I can’t withhold the streak of thought that would metamorphose into a blog post.
• Why do I care if people do not read? I want to write….it’s my keyboard after all.
• Twitter is to blogging what calculator is to computer. I have my tweets in place too, of course.
• Wait till the end, you will know

Above all why should I miss a wonderful chance to be more hands on with web2.0 and 3.0?
Yes, I will blog again.

PS: Nomads do not stick to a place/idea/ …

As I opened my mail box early in the morning, I get this mail from IRCTC

“Dear Customer, Thank you for using IRCTC’s online rail ticket booking services. From 1st April?08 Railway has revised the passenger fares. As you have booked tickets prior to 1st-April?08 an amount of Rs.XX towards the difference of fare for the ticket booked vide PNR No XXXXXXX has been issued to electronic payment gateway on 22-May-2009 . Same shall appear in your account within three to four working days. You are requested to please check with concerned bank regarding the same. We regret the delay if any, in crediting back the refunds. We solicit your continued patronage to our services, Warm Regards, care@irctc “

How wonderful! For a change, government-run organizations are getting better at customer service – I thought! By the same evening, the status of the opinion changed from a “ its happening” to a“ hasty generalization”.

I was to travel to Bangalore the same evening. I booked a round-trip ticket on Garuda so that I could return the very next evening. The bus was to start at 7 PM from MGBS Hyderabad.

I was counting minutes and seconds as I was delayed. Reason- my auto rickshaw driver was not in a mood to catch up with the fast moving world. Hyderabad traffic made things worse. Somehow, I reached the station, just short of 5 min and was patting my back for making it (not that I was not sure of the punctuality with whichthese Bus services run!)

My bus (service number 1336) did not seem to be arriving even after 15 minutes of wait ( that’s my usual patience level – I start getting edgy after that). I ran to the enquiry counter keeping one eye on my platform. The clerk nonchalantly said “Wait…it will come”. The second time he just nodded horizontally, meaning the same. The third time he gave me a stare (whatever it might mean). Before I could snatch some words from him, other passengers pushed me aside – after all he is a busy man and every passenger tries to get a few minutes of his time.

After a while, when my patience was totally tested to the last bit, I went to see the station manager. Here is his nameplate (PRK Reddy and JM Raj) Hey, was I doing some investigative journalism there! He administered the usual dose of patience for the first time – and disappeared from the seat, by the time I went again.

I wanted to record this in the compliant book. But another official sitting there sweetly replied that only the station manager (SM) would give the book. Imagine! With an eye on the platform (lest I miss my bus) and another on my baggage ( there are thieves everywhere (Hello Mr.Security! whats up with you?), I was struggling to record a complaint. Yet, I was not allowed to do so because the book was with SM and he was not there in the seat.

What happened next was even more interesting!!! “Our bus has arrived” said a fellow passenger enthusiastically. By then it was 50 minutes late and so, I was eager to jump in rather than pursue the SM – only to find that I entered a dilapidated bus ,which by no remote sense of wildest imagination resembled the kind of bus I was promised for taking me to Bangalore.

I booked a Garuda ticket and this bus has Garuda title on the body – that’s all the resemblance. The interior sucked big time. The seats were hopeless, the curtains were lousy. The lighting inside was almost non-existent. The conductor was struggling to check the tickets in the minimal lighting that the interior had – adding to the delay. If any of the APSRTC bosses are checking this, the bus number is AP11Z4200.

APSRTC website says:

” These buses are provided with air suspension, 2×2 pull/push back (115 degrees) seats having a capacity of 45 seats, individual reading lamps to each seat besides audio and video entertainment. Interior panel is made up of soft carpet for roof, ribbed carpet for side panels, single glazing light, tinted glass windows, flooring with vinyl, over chequered plywood and large luggage space (9 Cu.Mts.) in 3 compartments. The Garuda buses can be operated with maximum speed of 115 KMPH and giving luxurious comfort to the customers. The following facilities were provided to the traveling public.

• Mineral water bottle free of cost ( Yes – Warm water in summer is really refreshing!)
• Blanket (for usage in journey and to return) free of cost ( A rug sack of sorts – I felt like a mendicant)
• News paper and magazines (for free Circulation in the buses) ( Where are they?
• Snacks & Cool drinks on payment basis.( No drinks – some junk called snacks)
• Cell phone facility on payment basis.( God knows !)
• Powerful air-suspension, no noise, no dust, no vibrations, no jerks.( This is a JOKE)
• Digital audio-video, attendant on board ( Neither Audio nor video. Attendant exists – what for?)
• High Speed vehicle with reduction in Journey time.( Wow! Another Joke)
• Space for commercial luggage of 6.5 Cu.mts. (Yes, this did exist, after all money is important to APSRTC) ”

After an hour of delay, the bus started like an old elephant struggling to walk (Garuda is the king of birds FYI – this seemed to be a senile Garuda) The conductor sheepishly said “Hope it does not rain – we would get drenched” – Apparently the bus is not rain proof too. He also added “Please bear with the noise – this bus is a replacement – the original bus has a failure from this morning”. While I was struggling to push-back my seat to recline and adjust with the dirty rug they gave me to cover up, I realized that the bus was traveling slower than my walking pace.

The story does not end here. I traveled back the next day to Hyderabad and the same bus was posted (service number 1339). I lost my patiencee -time and asked the conductor (by then he identified me as the unlucky round-trip passenger) for any contact number. He was reluctant to give initially and at last gave one number of Mr.Basha. at Bangalore. Mr.Basha started telling sorrys and stories but would not give me a chance to talk – as I called him. He was disowning the act of recklessness. Apparently the luxury bus failed again and this is a replacement (Whom are you trying to fool?). I asked for the numbers of his superiors or pals at Hyderabad Depot – but got nothing from him. It was a big effort to get the complaints book from the driver and lodge one (leaflet number 366850). Another wonderful fact is that this bus would not take passengers till the last destination (BHEL) because they were supposed to stop near KPHB (The driver says, their bus usually goes to KPHB. Even if he is substituting another service he would drive only till KPHB!!!, WOW!!)

So, I wrote a complaint and tried to sleep. Tried because I could not. I could not because the bus was making a hammering noise on my head (I have recorded the noise for a minute in my mobile (these mobiles are handy you see!). I wish I could have posted it here.

As I reached MGBS in the morning at 0730 AM, I went straight to the station manager ( the person on duty was Mr.Ayyappa) who tried his best to appease my anger and of course did not let me write anything in his complaint book. Reason – I was supposed to talk to the depot manager by name Mr. Suresh of Hyderabad-1 depot (Mobile 9959226248) after 3 hours to settle the matter. His highness would be available only after 10 AM.

So, I left the station leaving behind a very lousy experience with APSRTC. I wanted to pursue the matter with higher-ups, if only my motivation did not wane. I was also not sure whether the cost of persuasion is worth the returns, if any.

Observations:

1. APSRTC has no motivation to serve the customers (I am in losses, Private operators are eating into my profits – but I will not serve my customers better!)

2. APSRTC does not empower the frontline – The conductor/driver was so scared of giving the contact details of his boss (as if he is going to kill him if he did). He tells me “My superiors washed off their hands and now I need to face all of you”.

3. APSRTC does not want me to complain. Both the station manager as well as the driver were reluctant to give me the compliant book ( I was successful only with the driver, that too after a lot of argument)

4. APSRTC cares two hoots about ethics. Why the hell I should pay Garuda charges when I traveled in a dilapidated bus painted “Garuda” on its exterior. Did I not pay for Garuda comfort?

5. APSRTC is manned by a lousy bunch of reckless officials who neither can run buses in time, nor can manage the crowd, nor keep the stations clean. Forget they are not present when required and act like monarchs of the area ruling over the hapless passengers.

6. APSRTC thinks that a person, after reaching the destination, loses fire to complain or pursue the matter, because it is not worth the fight. The cost of persuasion is more than the reimbursement and so passengers are lame ducks.

Questions

1. Why can’t there be a simple grievance redressal mechanism? Why cant there is a helpline whom we can talk to in such events? Or a kiosk of sorts where people can write/type complaints into a computer or a mailbox of sorts?

2. Why can’t these Ayyappas and PRK Reddys and JM Raj s of APSRTC are more accessible and serve customers better? What prevented all these officials from coming into the bus and saying a simple “Sorry”

3. What prevented APSRTC to reimburse at least a part of my money proactively along with a sorry? Why can’t it take a leaf or two from IRCTC?

4. Why can’t there be one (at least one) spare Garuda in good condition?

5. Why can’t the mistake be corrected in the return-trip at least( so, you think no fool would travel back and forth in a day between Hyderabad-Bangalore, and the odds of getting caught on the mistake are low, right?)

6. How much time do you need to fix a failed bus? Is 36 hours not sufficient to either fix or find an alternative?)

7. And lastly, why can’t APSRTC learn from their Kannadiga pals (the KSRTC) who are faster, cleaner and more responsive? I admire the way KSRTC drivers improve occupancy by collecting passengers at the terminals.

To hell with you APSRTC. I hate to travel with you! You certainly deserve death in this competitive world, if your staff continue to be like this.