Red tape, garbology and all that jazz

As everyone who survives in our country knows, Red tape= Government offices.Yes, when people get recruited into government jobs, they dont get an appointment letter.They get a lifetime supply of best quality , crimson tape.Their promotions depend on who can tangle it the best.I swear this is true. How else can you explain the magnificent amount of it that gets under your feet each day?

The privilege of being a student in a Government college, and working in a Government hospital(the greatest place to know life, well, thats a whole new blog) comes with the pain of having a Government office to deal with. The people who work there(I use the term loosely) have one great philosophy, a corollary of Murphy's law.If there is anyway to avoid work,Avaaaid like there is no tomorrow. I had applied for the usual certificates one has to take after graduation.That was two months ago.Fifteen days after I applied , I got to know I had some more to apply for(all the gyaan I got was thru the grapevine, the notice board only informs people willing to time travel to 2003)Ok, did the applying, getting multiple signatures on the applications, attaching all required documents etc etc. Was told to come in ten days time to collect the documents."Not bad " I thought because there were quite a few things I had asked for. I came back after the aforesaid ten days."No madam, your documents have just gone to get typed"said the gargyole who is in charge.Ok, I reflect, I will come tomorrow.Its just typing. I returned on the morrow to find that the typist is refusing to work because there is no assigned table for her to work on(beat that excuse, come on , I dare you..The whole office was almost empty!!) What does one do in these situations?I lost it, took my anger out on brave souls who call themselves my friends.Promptly lost those few I can cling to. Having learnt my lesson, I decided to preserve my sanity and make an exit.Well, slowly, unwillingly,I got the documents like a trickle from the corporation tap.

My unasked-for-advice to people who have to go through this crap.Never have expectations from the officials.If you do, you are screwed or you will have to part with cash, lots of it.Apply months in advance, sit back, let nature take its course.They like their 'in' trays to be cleaned up once a year.After all, they are also almost human.

On a more optimistic note (or atleast a note that has less resemblance to a horror story), discovered this site called Wordsmith.org.Has this feature called A-Word-a -Day.Excellent. I not only got some weird words to give my friends an inferiority complex with, I also got new concepts.Two of the more interesting-
1. Garbology- Study of culture of a race by making a study of their garbage!!! I'm not kidding, its actually a course offered in Arizona University! Well, these smart guys have extended the concept and apparently these days, garbology is used in Espionage..WOAH!

2.Erythrophobia-I quote from the site.." Pick up just about anything under the sun and, if you look long enough, you'll find someone who dreads it."
This,in addition to being the term for the fear of the colour red, apparently is fear of blushing too! Ok, what do you do when you get scared you will blush? become more self-conscious, leading to more blushing and then get scared of that also..viscious cycle, anyone?

Had the best weekend possible.Went to this place called Somanathapura on the banks of river Kaveri. Beautiful. Look out for the pics in the next blog.