CS Foundation : English and Business Communication - June 2004

You have purchased an air–conditioner of a reputed brand from a nearby authorised dealer of a company. However, the air–conditioner is not functioning properly and the local dealer is not providing you the desired after–sales service. Write a letter to the company conveying the problems being faced by you.

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi wants to dispose off 147 manual typewriters on ’as is where is basis’. Sealed tenders to be deposited in the box kept for the purpose near the Reception, Gate No.l;
Issue of tender forms : Room No. 15, DAC, Krishi Bhawan,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road, New Delhi.
Time of deposit : by 3.00 p.m. on 8th June, 2004;
will be opened at 3.15 p.m. on 8th June, 2004.

Another convocation, another invocation. At the 34lh Convocation of the IIT Delhi, 1,200–odd students were awarded their passport to the good life and addressed by the Vice–President Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The students themselves might have preferred to hear Bill Gates or Larry Ellison, or even Sabeer Bhatia or Vinod Khosla – in short, someone they could easily relate to – rather than a representative of political India. Especially since Shri Shekhawat once again trotted out that old cliche about ’brain drain’. The Vice–President did concede that India had failed to create a suitable environment and infrastructure for these world–class achievers, leaving them little option but to head abroad. But there was an element of regret in this observation, and an undertone of accusation against the bright students who migrate. Never mind that their remittances are helping keep the domestic economy afloat. Never mind that they have formed a powerful lobby group which pushes India’s interests in the international capitals and conference rooms. This is not so much brain drain as brain gain. But our politicians still insist on placing a burden of guilt on the soldiers of the Indian Diaspora.

Thankfully, it is a burden the middle –class now refuses to accept. Because years of navigating through the hazards of the obstacle–ridden Indian system have imbued it with a clear vision that can easily see through humbug and hypocrisy. The middle class knows that while our politicians constantly deride those who go abroad as unpatriotic, many of their own children have not only studied overseas but have also settled down to lucrative careers there. It knows that our netas will exhort the janta to learn Hindi or local languages, but will make sure to send their own children to the best English–medium schools. Thankfully, most Indian parents were intelligent enough not to get taken in by language chauvinists or else the outsourcing booms may never have occurred. Today, there are laments about the ’secession of the successful’ and this phrase is unquestionably accepted by the media and academicians. But perhaps its time to ask, have the successful failed Indian system, or is it the other way around ? The State can’t provide most citizens with basic facilities like power, water and security – all of which are plentifully available in ’VIP’ areas. So why blame citizens if they refuse to accept these double standards and get on with improving their own lives ? If they don’t, who will ? Certainly not the government, which specialises in double talk, not action.