"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.
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6 comments:
a gud pilot episode lot better than those shity sitcoms
Although i didn't have lots of problem getting a passport because of the infinite time i had at my disposal i had a wonderful experience at the Jaipur passport Office. At about 5:30 i reached the Office to find myself 32nd in the line waiting for the office to open up at 10. I was proud to be the only 10th pass in the entire queue. There were writers sitting in the mud with a writing pad filling forms of ppl who were dreaming of a job in the middle east or were getting immigration cleared for their wives from middle ease (at least 2 females per male... gr8 job i thought the pass port office is helping India improve its sex ratio)... I saw the person next to me had 2 different birth dates on his 2 different documents (each from a different janma i guessed)... every one was getting their work done smoothly... but i was obsructed by the document verification guy...
App ka naam kya hain?
Vardhan
Puura Naam hain ya nahin hain?
Thigle Vardhan Vinay
Muze padhna aata hain ye aap ke lc pe hain
Ji haan
"per aap ke birth certificate pe aap ka naam Vardhan hain"
Ji haan wahi mera naam hain
" To ye Vinay aur Thigle kahan Gaye?"
"Ji Vinay mere pitaji ka naam hain jo birth cirtificae main mere naam ke niche hain"
Babu said suddenly in english,
"Nahi u r trying to change ur name.. i can arrest u for this... ye aap ne birth certificate kaahan se chapavake laya... here we accept only english... ye anpadh gavar log bhi aangreji mein birth certificate chapavake late hain... aap padhe likhe hoke bhi aakal nahin hain"
"Ji maine chapawaya nahin hain ye original doc muze municipal carporation se mila hain"
"dekho aap yahan se jao warna i will call police aap naam badal rahe ho"
Finally i realized that it was only the document verification counter... taking advantage of the unordered illiterate crowd I entered the next room and submitted my docs and got a passport in 30 days..... Indian Babus Rock!!
Nice to see Bapat writing again..:)
I have a different experience though.
I got a contact number of a passport agent at Zunzunu.
I called him.
He told me to bring 5 documents only.
1)10th Certificate.
2)Hostel Bonafide
3)CG card
4)I card
5)Photoes.
That it.
One fine day, I woke up at 9.
Had a hurried breakfast.
Caught a bus to Zunzunu.
Observed some beauty (You know, what i mean)...
Reached Zunzunu at 11.
finished submitting at 12.30.
was back to pilani at 2.
NO HASSLE.
Passport will be ready in at max 2 months, i guess....
@shivam.. thanks man... i hope u make ur passport asap from the Bhavan H-Rep....
@Vardhan... Dats crazy....
More on mine coming up..
BTW our H-Rep had a manifesto point to make passports and accordingly he has put up a notice for the same.
@prasad The normal procedure is hassle free but it seems if u need a Tatkal passport its a pain.
I don't think next episode will ever come.
W8ing for the S2E02. Dec 15, air it plz.
BTW, I got mine in 5 days after submission and all got over in 30 minutes at Jaipur passport office. No agent money paid, reached at 11:30 Am only. No bribe paid (except the 25 rs for 10 rs form at post office in BITS, was happy to give it to the guy and 200 to police guy in hometown, not happy this time !). Only tatkal fee paid.
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