Thursday, September 21, 2017

Chennai RBI

Time: March 14th-15th, 2017
Place: Chennai
Company: Alone
Highlights:

Overview: One of the reasons for me choosing to head back to India for good was that I didn't've to go to Chennai for US Visa stamping purposes whenever I visited India on vacation! I was tired of preparing for the consulate visit, the countless documents - originals and copies, checklists, the booking process in the company, the approvals in the company, the list goes on and on. 

Now thanks to demonetization, I was left with few old notes that I had to deposit with RBI. Thinking happily that there was an RBI in Bangalore where I could just go and deposit, I was told that I had to go to Chennai RBI - and again with full documentation, checklists, etc. to prove how I legally owned the old notes and why I could not deposit in 2016 itself! And so Fate made me go to Chennai again!

Reached railway station on my TVS at about 6 and took the 6:30 am Lalbagh express hoping that it would be on time. If it exceeded beyond 2:30 pm, then I had to come back to RBI the next day. Thankfully, it was right on time. I reached RBI gates by about 1 pm (via prepaid auto) and although there was a queue, I was able to get inside the campus before the 2:30 pm cut-off.

Once inside, I had to go through the security and then await my turn. My token number was over 150 from the current counter and I had a huge wait time - almost 2.5 hours. So I refreshed myself with some snacks and water and read the book I had with me. My turn finally came at 4:45 pm and it was just a matter of filling up some forms and submitting my old notes just like in any other bank. Except that this was RBI and it was colossal! There were huge portraits of currencies traded in India right from about 10-15 decades ago which was awesome. I wanted to take pics but it was against RBI law to use phones inside the premises. So refrained. Anyways, once I deposited the old notes, I was free to get back to Bangalore. 

I took two buses (and walked a long way in-between) to get back to Railway Station. It was stifling hot and I was profusely sweating. By 5:30 pm, I was sitting in one of the chairs under a full-blast fan on the main platform waiting for my 9 pm Kaveri Express train back to Bangalore. Passed time by chatting with few folks (one Russian included), getting up to date with Whatsapp videos (!), reading some more of my book, munching, etc. and finally it was time to board up.

Train journey back home was uneventful. Slept all the way. Arrived Bangalore at 3:30 am. Against parents advice of not to ride a two-wheeler at such an odd time, still drove home and reached by 4ish. 

After a really long, long time - went on an outstation tour all alone. Tontu and wifey really missed me. Tontu kept asking if I will be back by night and I said I will be sleeping beside her when she wakes up. And so it happened! :-)

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