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Old 15th June 2008, 08:06   #46
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Discrimination By Law

whats happening is not good or ethical. I for one don't believe in discrimination, but whats making us discriminate against other people?

Our CONSTITUTION & our past history has set so many precedents, our people love to follow it.
  • First it was the British and their "Dogs & Indians" rule. Even then those Indians who were affluent & supported British got to enjoy lot of goodies.
  • Post Independence our constitution allowed the Reservation for certain sect of people. To be treated differently & on priority. Every state, every region, every city has had some kind of reservation or priority for some sect of people.
The difference between the above two is that the first one was imposed on us by our rulers & the second was self imposed by our Govt by choice for their political gain & votes.

While we accept these policies, where is the rationale in arguing about a business enterprise not allowing someone to enter or service them?

Because its allowed by law, lot of people take advantage of this to discriminate & have their way.
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Old 15th June 2008, 09:38   #47
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Originally Posted by aah78 View Post
Similar thing happened to a friend of mine while booking a room in a prominent hotel chain in Mumbai - a few months ago.
They weren't ready to accept a reservation in INR but more than willing if you wanted to pay in USD.
I haven't put up the name of the hotel because I can't remember what chain it was - I'll put it up once I hear from him.
Actually this was the case until last year. It seemed much easier to get a room from a 5 star chain when you asked for a USD rate.
But since last year, with the USD doing all it's kooda-phandi, mostly downward, most hotel chains have stopped offering a USD rate.
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Old 15th June 2008, 13:34   #48
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Asking for USD instead of INR is not racial discrimination.
you can have any skin color or nationality, as long as you give USD, its okay. You may have any accent, any nationality, USD was the ticket.
This is more sort of discrimination against the Rupee, and unless the Rupee opens up a thread here and complains, we need not worry

And all the arguments about reservations etc., what makes you think that everybody says thats right.
People will fight against discrimination wherever they can, not everywhere, right?
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Old 15th June 2008, 18:07   #49
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From all reports it seems tourist hubs in Rajasthan, Goa, and 5* hotels in Delhi, and Mumbai are hubs of discrimination against Indians. So all those folks who visit these places should be prepared to be discriminated against unless proved otherwise.

Even after getting a taste of discrimination, if people on receiving end tuck their tails between the legs, squabble a bit and head back home grumbling then it means that the same treatment will be meted out to the next person. We must ensure that the thing ends right there without resorting to violence if possible.

Last edited by lurker : 15th June 2008 at 18:09.
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Old 15th June 2008, 20:28   #50
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Nice thread Tanveer. Most of the Hotels suck big time. Especially Oberoi's.

I must say it is exactly the opposite with Taj which caters beautifully or even better with Indians ( It belongs to Tata's after all )

Here is my story of a certain Experience with Oberoi - Amar Vilas here in Agra -

A few years back this controversial hotel opened next to the Taj Mahal a few hundred metres away. SInce the day it opened a lot of Indian Business people flocked to see the hotel and its restaurant just for the sake of it. Now I know every Hotel has '' Rights Of Admission Reserved '' but this hotel just denied entry to Indians and did not care whether they wanted to dine / stay here. Simply Put NO INDIANS.

There was a huge fuss created over the Oberoi's attitude and the hotel finally had to print a Apology Letter in the TOI Nationally. Ok All done, everyone happy now.

A few months back I went to the hotel for Dinner with my foreign clients and payed an exorbitant amount for dinner. Got excellent food and drinks. Good, I thought, AT least I have a place now where I can take someone for a special Dinner once in a blue moon.

Here comes ' Karva Chauth ', my wife's first one and I decide to go with my entire family to Amar Vilas.

I will be honest, I did not book a table here and just walked in around 9 PM. I was stopped by some guy in the reception asking me how he could help me.

I said I am here for Dinner, he gives me a dumb and fake smile and says to wait. I say OK. He goes inside and another of their jokers come outside and says they have no room today as their restaurant is full. I can look at the restaurant which is 90 % empty. Only 2-3 tables occupied. I tell him that the restaurant is empty. he says they are waiting for a group to arrive.

I then say, OK fine, I will wait and if he wants will come back. He is stubborn and he says NO. Now here is the Cherry on the cake. A few foreigners arrive with a Local Tout and quickly he arranges a table for them. No Prior Booking but just walk in like me.

Now I am a renowned businessman here in Agra and I do not like this treatment. I give up since my family is with me and I decide to go to Mughal Sheraton of which I am a priveleged member. No scene created. I walk out and another guy comes to me and asks me sarcasticlly as to why I was not entertained there, after telling him he says, '' Well you should know better, book in advance or stay with us next time''. This time I loose it and tell him to wait till tommorrow.

Result - I mark a strong mail to Oberoi Head Office and the GM in Agra. I also mark a mail to TRIP ADVISOR & Lonely Planet.

Oberoi HO fired 3 of their people who were on duty that day. I got a call from the GM and from one of the senior most guys in the Oberoi groups !!

I got an invitation for a free Dinner and got a free night ( Value of room 26,000 Rs ). I never took that offer and told them politely that never will I ever step into their hotel again and will try my level best to keep everybody away from their so called Luxury Hotel. Till today I have succeeded in keeping many prospective guests from their hotel and divert them to better places like Taj, Sheraton & Jaypee.

I will never deal with Oberoi Group ever again. I am an Indian and very proud to be one. These stupid people should know that at the end of the day it is us that matters and not foreigners.

Last edited by vkochar : 15th June 2008 at 20:33.
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Old 15th June 2008, 20:35   #51
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^ good stuff.

I think we can also propagate this information to others around us.
And make ppl aware
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Old 15th June 2008, 20:54   #52
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vkochar View Post
Nice thread Tanveer. Most of the Hotels suck big time. Especially Oberoi's.

I must say it is exactly the opposite with Taj which caters beautifully or even better with Indians ( It belongs to Tata's after all )

Here is my story of a certain Experience with Oberoi - Amar Vilas here in Agra -

A few years back this controversial hotel opened next to the Taj Mahal a few hundred metres away. SInce the day it opened a lot of Indian Business people flocked to see the hotel and its restaurant just for the sake of it. Now I know every Hotel has '' Rights Of Admission Reserved '' but this hotel just denied entry to Indians and did not care whether they wanted to dine / stay here. Simply Put NO INDIANS.

There was a huge fuss created over the Oberoi's attitude and the hotel finally had to print a Apology Letter in the TOI Nationally. Ok All done, everyone happy now.

A few months back I went to the hotel for Dinner with my foreign clients and payed an exorbitant amount for dinner. Got excellent food and drinks. Good, I thought, AT least I have a place now where I can take someone for a special Dinner once in a blue moon.

Here comes ' Karva Chauth ', my wife's first one and I decide to go with my entire family to Amar Vilas.

I will be honest, I did not book a table here and just walked in around 9 PM. I was stopped by some guy in the reception asking me how he could help me.

I said I am here for Dinner, he gives me a dumb and fake smile and says to wait. I say OK. He goes inside and another of their jokers come outside and says they have no room today as their restaurant is full. I can look at the restaurant which is 90 % empty. Only 2-3 tables occupied. I tell him that the restaurant is empty. he says they are waiting for a group to arrive.

I then say, OK fine, I will wait and if he wants will come back. He is stubborn and he says NO. Now here is the Cherry on the cake. A few foreigners arrive with a Local Tout and quickly he arranges a table for them. No Prior Booking but just walk in like me.

Now I am a renowned businessman here in Agra and I do not like this treatment. I give up since my family is with me and I decide to go to Mughal Sheraton of which I am a priveleged member. No scene created. I walk out and another guy comes to me and asks me sarcasticlly as to why I was not entertained there, after telling him he says, '' Well you should know better, book in advance or stay with us next time''. This time I loose it and tell him to wait till tommorrow.

Result - I mark a strong mail to Oberoi Head Office and the GM in Agra. I also mark a mail to TRIP ADVISOR & Lonely Planet.

Oberoi HO fired 3 of their people who were on duty that day. I got a call from the GM and from one of the senior most guys in the Oberoi groups !!

I got an invitation for a free Dinner and got a free night ( Value of room 26,000 Rs ). I never took that offer and told them politely that never will I ever step into their hotel again and will try my level best to keep everybody away from their so called Luxury Hotel. Till today I have succeeded in keeping many prospective guests from their hotel and divert them to better places like Taj, Sheraton & Jaypee.

I will never deal with Oberoi Group ever again. I am an Indian and very proud to be one. These stupid people should know that at the end of the day it is us that matters and not foreigners.
Thats the spirit,keep it up.M delighted to see the way you treated them vkochar.
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Old 15th June 2008, 21:17   #53
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Fact of the matter is that the cream of our country is still reserved for the white european just like as it was before independence. The 5* hotel's or the tourist shacks or even our media. All of them give overdue preference for the white foreigner. In case of media our media gives more preference for the opinion of the white euro rather than the genuine native Indian citizen. To a casual observer it seems as if most things in this country is geared up to serve the foreigner esp the white european. Whether it be the above mentioned things, or our IT/Bitty sector where our folks stay awake at night to serve some joe in US. This is supposedly our highest foreign exchange earner.

Our media can be seen to congratulate itself if they get a pass mark from random joe white. They yearn for white validation.

Which makes me think we are not truly independent yet. It is true that physical independence was achieved in 47 when the Brits were packed off. But financial and capital independence from the west has not yet been achieved. People must ask why the heck should we need so much foreign exchange for. The victors of the IInd World War have established their hegemony on the rest of the world. We need to pay for energy and every other import in dollars. Why should we agree to pay in dollars ...

because the victors imposed this on us. Either accept this or starve was their ultimatum. Only another war on a global scale .. this time won by us can reverse this trend. The people who imposed this hegemonistic system on the world are not going to fade away gently.
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Old 15th June 2008, 22:23   #54
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@vkochar
Very well done! I think if everyone takes such incidents seriously, things will change pretty quick.
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Old 16th June 2008, 02:05   #55
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Originally Posted by lurker View Post
Fact of the matter is that the cream of our country is still reserved for the white european just like as it was before independence. The 5* hotel's or the tourist shacks ..........................
Two posts and similar content.
Now how would defeating the western axis of evil get us rid of this problem.
However if we defeat India, it would fix the problem.
the people at the counters were Indians. Not westerners. I have not faced this from westerners, only from Indians. So the solution is to defeat India.
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Old 16th June 2008, 06:44   #56
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Another place that I have experienced this is in '05 at 'INFANTARIA' in Baga, Goa. My friend threatened to beat the guy up because he was serving the firangs who came in after us and we were still waiting for our order.
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Old 16th June 2008, 07:53   #57
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My friend threatened to beat the guy up because he was serving the firangs who came in after us and we were still waiting for our order.
no offence meant, but probably violent behavior is one of the reasons for getting discriminated.
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Old 16th June 2008, 09:15   #58
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faced this so many times- after a while- you just say - what the hell! :(

- there is a Tina Blue view resort in mahabs - the guy actually had the gall to tell me and my brother - we usually dont allow indians to stay - but since your friends (brother's friends were british) made the booking - we are allowing you - and the room was SAD -the roof was leaking in the rain and it was terrible. His claim to fame was that he was mentioned in the lonely planet.

- at thomas cook - we were waiting in line to change forex- some foreigners came, and the guy in the counter immideatly called them - my brother and I were again - what the heck? so we waited it out- and got our cash changed- then we just let loose- gave the guy in the counter quite a earful. His manager came and spoke in malayalam - bro gave them a earful in malayalam as well- the point was - if I am standing in queue- why must the white man get preference?

Had a similar treatment with a group of friends in a large restaurant in chennai as well. We came in - and were waiting for nearly an hour to be served- finally we got fedup and left. told them to cancel the order -adn also made it a point to tell the manager that we are leaving because the whites who came after us seemed to have been served and we are still waiting.
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Old 16th June 2008, 09:42   #59
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Originally Posted by tsk1979 View Post
Two posts and similar content.
Now how would defeating the western axis of evil get us rid of this problem.
However if we defeat India, it would fix the problem.
the people at the counters were Indians. Not westerners. I have not faced this from westerners, only from Indians. So the solution is to defeat India.
the problem is not at a single level.

there is a global level and a local level. At the global level I have mentioned the monetary hegemony of the west that forces countries to hoard dollars. You tell me why should we need to depend upon the currency of a foreign country to conduct trade and import stuff. Which means that the US and all the countries that have the meharbani of this one country (viz western Europe) can import as much as they like without a care in the world. Rest have to sell raw materials, and makes themselves of value to this one country and its favored cartel. Don't you sense a slight discrepency in that system? Have you ever given a thought on why such an unfair system has been imposed on countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America ?

then there is a problem at the local level. You have to go through the history of India to find that out. Indians had to be subservient to the Brits and before that were enslaved by the mughals. So if anyone had to prosper during those times they needed to serve this elite class. The Brits also encouraged those people with low morals and corruptive mindset to the high positions so that their interests could be taken care of and Indian interests could be ignored. This has left us with a corrupt legacy. This process in collective called 'McCaulayization' and 'dhimmitude'.

Last edited by lurker : 16th June 2008 at 09:44.
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Old 16th June 2008, 10:08   #60
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Originally Posted by lurker View Post
From all reports it seems tourist hubs in Rajasthan, Goa, and 5* hotels in Delhi, and Mumbai are hubs of discrimination against Indians.
That's odd, I have not expereinced this on such a mass scale.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vkochar View Post
Nice thread Tanveer. Most of the Hotels suck big time. Especially Oberoi's.
I must say it is exactly the opposite with Taj which caters beautifully or even better with Indians ( It belongs to Tata's after all ).
I had a similar experience with the Oberoi Grand in Calcutta and I was a guest (had a room) at the hotel! Of course when my office sent them a letter an apology was recieved with a similar offer of a free night etc... I wrote back that they should donate that ammount to Mother Theresa. I will never visit an Oberoi again.

Taj on the other had has been more than accomodating even shipping us stuff we left in our room in Goa back to us in Mumbai (no charge), on another occasion the reception at the Taj Mumbai took pains to get us a friend of mine a room at their sister hotel (President) since they were full.
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