As I spent one hour at IOB's Mahalingapuram branch in Chennai for a 'Anywhere Banking' money transfer transaction that normally takes just 5 minutes, I pondered about the following:

• Customer Servicing: This seems an individual rather than an organisational concept in India. One guy working at the bank had the gall to tell me that he had more important work (his very words!) than attending to my transaction. He said the bank's system might hang if he tried to find out if the money transfer went through, so he would do it at 2.00 p.m in the afternoon.

  I barely controlled my anger, said it was important to know if the transfer went through as my car loan account in Delhi was due for payment today. I also demanded to know what would happen if the transfer didn't happen. He said it would go 'as usual', meaning the next working day. Brilliant, don't you think?