Desperate Measures

I come from a conservative background that is very much a part of life in a small town where mostly people mean what they say. I am still learning not to take people on their face value especially where commercial interest is involved directly or indirectly. But to doubt the intention of institutions like banks, hospitals, or those in the field of education has been really tough. So I often forget to check the transactions in my bank account if I don't use it regularly. I would like to believe that one can absolutely trust them though some of the recent experiences have taught me otherwise. I have an account in HSBC bank since 2000. Recently I had to go to the branch to get it reactivated as there was no transaction for more than a year. Yesterday I suddenly decided to check the account and to my surprise there were two deductions; one for Rs.168 and another for Rs.800. The first one was system generated (when they themselves don't know what it is) and another was owing to lack of minimum balance. Today I visited the branch to find out the reasons for the sudden deductions. I was told that the first one is for debit card and the second one is for not maintaining average quarterly balance (AQB). As per guidelines banks have to publish their service charges under various categories on their website. I had checked that the charges for ATM is nil and for AQB it is Rs.750 (quite an amount). I pointed out that I have been maintaining the same balance for close to two years now and how this deduction was made only now. The service executive immediately came out with the reply that so far they were being kind to me taking into consideration my long relationship with the bank. I was impressed by her presence of mind. In today's world you are smart if you are able to fool someone at the first given opportunity. Then I pointed out to her the real reason was the fact that I had a fixed deposit with the bank which was more than the required AQB of Rs.25000. I must admit she was quick to agree and told me that the same would be reversed on submission of an application. However, she didn't agree to reverse the other charge which she said was owing to the new debit card. I have write to them and follow up to correct the unfairness inflicted by the system. But the larger issue is whether these banks have become desperate and debiting customer account on one pretext or other. Desperate situations may demand desperate measures but often desperate measures may lead to desperate situations or worsen the existing ones.

How can a child be illegitimate?

I used to see a lot of Hindi movies and even today I do that once in a while. Illegitimate child as an expression is very widely used in the film industry and perhaps the ground realities are also no different. Every child is created, nurtured in its mother's womb where it remains safe and protected before it is time to come out. No child has the flexibility of choosing its parents as decreed by the nature. It comes into the world without exercising any choice. So how can some be labelled illegitimate when they don't even know its meaning? As such legitimacy of a child is a purely social norm and has nothing to do with the natural phenomenon that doesn't differentiate between a legitimate child and a illegitimate child. Can a social norm take precedence over a natural phenomenon especially when the child concerned hasn't exercised any choice in the matter. Even if there is something wrong or some differentiation is necessary the parents should be held accountable. The current practice is perhaps a reflection of the fact that the rich and powerful can pass on the blame to the less fortunate or vulnerable people and get away with almost anything. The society as a whole seems to support them rather than the poor and the helpless. Else how can a child become labelled as illegitimate even before it is born? So instead of saying an illegitimate child perhaps it is time we said child of illegitimate parents. If someone has to take responsibility, let it be the one who is aware and who exercises his/her choice in the matter. Incidentally Leonardo da Vinci who is considered to be the most most diversely talented person was illegtimate.