My Musings

When we shifted to Karpagam Avenue six years ago in August 2005, i opened/transferred a PO account to Raja Annamalaipuram. From then on, for the past six years, myself and Vijaya used to visit this Post Office every month without fail. The post office was very near to our house,just 10-12 minutes walk. Even when we shifted to Besantnagar and then to Kalakshetra Avenue, we continued visiting the PO every month. I paid my telephone bills every month at this PO. Though the PO was a not a modern structure, its staff were efficient ( i have written a couple of blog-posts on this) and i got my jobs done very quickly. Yesterday i pre-closed the account (their interest rate is too low) and today i collected the cheque. Our association with Raja Annamalaipuram PO has thus come to an end after 6 years. We came out of the PO today with a heavy heart . Thank you all the staff at the PO. rajappa 12:50 noon 12-10-2011

Six years ago this day, I opened a Monthly Interest Scheme account at Kilpauk Post office. Since that day in Nov 2004, Vijaya and I used to visit the PO in the first week of every month religiously and fill, sign, and submit the necessary form and collect the monthly interest in cash. Later when I shifted to Raja Annamalaipuram, we got the account transferred to the local PO. This office was quite nearby, unlike Kilpauk. However, we didn't transfer it to Besantnagar when we shifted here. We used to go Mandaveli by bus to do this monthly chore for the past one year. Yesterday (03rd) i closed the account (matured after 6 years) but we plan to open a fresh a/c at the same RA Puram office. Did you know that one can now deposit 4.5 lakhs in this a/c (9 lakhs for a joint account)? Rajappa 10:15 AM 4 Nov 2010

Five years ago, i opened a SCSS (Sr Citzn Savgs Scheme) account at a local PO. They pay the interest every 3 months. I draw this intr thru cheque and deposit in another bank. This went on for years. My next chq is due on 4th Oct. Yesterday (22nd Sep) Vijaya and I went to that HPO to update the passbooks. The decision to go was intuitive and not pre-planned. The special counter (for updation) at the PO was facing some problem; so i decided to go to the Cash counter and draw some cash, so that the clerk has to update !! This decision was another un-planned move. The clerk duly updated the book and told there was a decent balance in the a/c. i was surprised and drew that amount also, leaving just the minm balance. My curiosity was aroused - how come this much of balance could be in my a/c ? not possible - i was perplexed. So i took the third un-planned decision of going to the SCSS counter to get the book updated there. The lady there made a cursory look at the book, asked me ...

* Hail Indian Postal Dept Since I moved to Raja Annamalaipuram in Sept 2005, I pay my monthly landline tel bills at the RA Puram postoffice. The PO building must be of pre-Independence vintage, dilapidated, dingy, and dark. A narrow passage_way doubles as the customers' place. Adnan Sami would easily be stuck up here. Five counters serve the customers, comprising mostly Post office Monthly Income Scheme (watch out for a seperate blog on this POMIS shortly) account holders.Counter No 3 is for Tel Bills and Money Orders. In good old days (read a couple of years ago), the clerk had to write the details (both for TBs and MOs) on the receipts (with a carbon copy). This obviously took 5-6 minutes per customer. But, in RA Puram PO, the clerk sits in front of a console, keys in the details, press the PRINT button - and the self-adhesive label-type receipt pops out of the DMP. How convenient! This month (Jan 2006) when I presented my bill for payment, surprise, surprise, the clerk took out ...