Tips, I had always understood, were tokens of more-than-formal appreciation of service rendered. However, if it were not forthcoming, the service provider only needed to scratch and bend his head and say, inaam for chaipani and the recipient would plunge into his pocket; and lo, out came sundry coins which were slapped into the hands of the beseecher. This was straight forward. But now, service providers have differing modus operandi.
What do you say of the policeman who wheedles a “a fee” for preliminary enquiry for passport issue; what do you make of the gas-cylinder boy who demands “extra” for carrying weight, what about the tax collector who, after collecting “facilitating” money, contemptuously says he would not like to be in my runa (indebtedness). But nobody can beat the lineman from BSNL. The first time, after installation of the land-line, a grateful me parted with a crisp hundred rupee note. He looked at it as if it were a used bus ticket. He pocketed another crisp hundred rupee note, not before uttering, “Actually, I could have demanded 500, but didn’t because it is not dharma.”
The second time, while we were shifting to the ground floor, all he had done was unplugging and plugging in the set. Like a goon from the Bombay underworld, he extorted Rs 350!
It rankled; and when BSNL conferred on us a free second connection, I determined to teach this lineman a lesson. I would threaten him, even. I keyed myself up. The lineman delivered the instrument ceremoniously and resolutely marched out. The next day he promptly commissioned it. I waited patiently for him to give me a chance to unleash the vitriol I had prepared.
Soon, he picked up his bag, said namaste and left; in fact, left me speechless and numbed. Ere long, there was this call from the lineman, to enquire if the new instrument was okay. Despite assurances he insisted on a personal visit to check up; and he did turn up. With a customer-friendly smile, he was gracious enough to accept what he was pleased to call a “small loan” of “about” a hundred rupees.I am now resigned to it all. Well, tips are here to stay, I say.
