"How I got my passport" is a mini series based on the real story of 20 year old Student. His childhood dream of flying in an aircraft and visiting a foreign country is about to come true. The only thing that is stopping him is a Passport. This is a story of a boy who fights his race against time in pursuit of a Passport. The journey will teach him a lot. The journey will reinforce his belief in God, will take him trough a roller coaster ride of emotions, show him the ugly face of Indian bureaucracy and make him question his love for his motherland. Interestingly he will end up spending 10 times more money (INR 25,000) than the actual cost making a passport(1000+1500 Tatkal Fee) without bribing a single officer.
Day One:
Basic Stats:
Date for flight: 17th August
Destination: Singapore.
A Glimpse into the future.
It was 17th of July. I had returned home after an internship at Bangalore for one and half months. I had barely met my parents for the last 8 months. After a lazy morning, I was off to paying my college fees. After going through the passport website, I concluded that i needed 2 things
1. A Verification certificate
This is a formal way of 'Sifarish'. You are supposed to get a letter from a highly placed govt. officer saying that this officer knows you and certifies that you have a good moral character. He also has to mention you present address and permanent address in the letter. All this has to be done on his official letter head with his stamp, signature, office stamp and xerox of his ID card.
2. An Affidavit
The stupidest thing I have seen in my life. You have to write on an appropriate Stamp paper that you will not indulge in any illegal activity outside India and other such crap. It has to be signed by a Notary.
I set off to see a Lawyer-cum-Relative to get these tasks done. He further assigned me to another lawyer to get the certificates done. We met a govt. officer who asked us to visit them the next day(The red tape begins).
I also tried contacting some agent for a Tatkal Passport on that day. All turned out to be inefficient. They wanted INR 8500 and promised to get the passport in 25 days. (Leaving no time to get a VISA) So the agent was out of contention.
Thats all for day1.
Review:
Money Spent: 0 INR
Mental State: Happy to be home.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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