I've just got in from the sunny climes of Goa. Where the beer is cheap and chilled, the beaches filled with broiled Russian tourists and the shacks redolent with the aroma of succulent prawn curry rice and fish balchao. u00a0 In Goa, everything moves languidly. The coconut palms sway gentler in the gale.u00a0u00a0 And the only things that scurry by are the crabs on the beach. 
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SERVICES APART! Unlike in Bangalore, everyone keeps smiling in Goa. The waiters smile. The shopkeepers smile. FILE PICu00a0</td></tr></tbody></table>Service over there only comes with a smile. The drivers smile (and even if the odd one is ripping you off, at least he's conning you with a pleasant insouciant grin, while he calls you "Friend" unlike our Bangalorean auto drivers who rip you apart with an unpleasant aggro fetid air around them). The waiters smile. The shopkeepers smile, even when you rudely put them down. After all, there are things more important than making money like afternoon siestas and feni with friends. The contrast can't be more stark in our very own Bengalooru. The moment you step out of the spanking new airport, you're greeted by queues for the airport cabs - and shady men who want you to bypass the official cabs, and psst! to you under their breath "Taxi saar!"u00a0You look at them and wonder how any person worth his brain would trust himself to a one hour ride with these dodgy characters. Talking about service, my credit card company takes the entire cake. Not to mention names, but the bank is a four-letter acronym (and not the same four-letter word I use every time one of their reps have just put their phone down on me!). There is a fine difference between telemarketing and downright harassment not that these guys would know about anything fine. On one certain day I counted thirty-seven calls from them. "Saar, you want to upgrade to a platinum card?" "Saar, you want an upgrade in credit limit?" One of them even had the cheek to tell me she wanted to listen to my caller tune. The next time I get a call from them, I've decided to go to consumer court, because the harassment continues, even though I've signed up on the HSB -oops, did I let out the bank's name - site for a Do Not Call policy.u00a0u00a0 At the Windsor Manor, the other day, the food came as slow as Goa. But with the exorbitant rates, the lack of smile on the waiter's faces, and decidedly less salubrious surroundings than the Indian Ocean, the hotel pretended like they were doing us a favour allowing us to dine there. Well, this is definitely one customer who's not renewing his Sheraton Card.u00a0u00a0 Sigh! Why can't the sunny bit of Goa rub off on this part of the Mutalik-infested country too? Error in picture In Indira Chowdhury's column, 'Bhai' and Bhabha', dated February 16, Homi Bhabha was missing in the photo. The inadvertent error is regretted. Editor

I've just got in from the sunny climes of Goa

Service with a smile

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Service with a smile

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