Author: SF

A YIndian, Yorkshire by birth and Indian by marriage. Originally from the UK, I've now lived in Mysore, South India for over ten years with my beautiful wife Manjula. MeandMycycle is about the ups, downs and ups of our life in Mysore and our creations: Mysore Bed and Breakfast and MyCycle Tours.

three weeks later

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It’s now been over three weeks, since our last visit to the Regional Passport Office (RPO), and the Houston incident, the letter was sent to the headteacher, she replied confirming the TC was legitimate and to sent a letter back to the RPO within three days. Spot on.

Then a vacuum, we’re lost in Space….what’s holding it up now?

I call them, on average, every two days. I get the standard answers, it’s being dealt with, it will be approved by the end of the day, the officer has it…. blah blah blah

I send emails and a fax, then I give you, me and Manjula a rest,

I’m back on the case today.

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[If you’re getting confused about timings, think what it’s like for us, we’re now ‘Back to the Future’ So real time and bloglet time creeps closer together]

 

 

Houston there’s a problem

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BUT we’re not aiming for the moon. We just want a passport for a ‘Passage from India’ is that too much to ask for?

 

We now know what this statement on the acknowledgement letter means..

Documents Verified with originals, however, confirmation from issuing authority is required.

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No one told us at the time, of course, the officer just said (ie lied) we could have the passport and get Police verification afterwards BUT we now realise there’s a problem with the TC

prepare for re-entry

I telephoned the office and we are called back to the main Regional Passport Office in Bangalore.

 

To make this happen, we have to go all the way back to Bangalore, that means, book a taxi, three hours on the road, and a further hour through the treacly traffic jams, an eight hour round trip, a relatively short queue to get our number and interview time, then come back four hours later for another queue to see an officer. Unfortunately the location isn’t good and any interesting place or attraction is too far to go, so we enjoy a late breakfast and chill out in a local park.

It seems that The Babu (civil servant), on our first visit, (she had a bit of a rant) was not impressed that Manjula didn’t answer questions quickly enough and didn’t know her proper school name. In the Civil Service World it indicated that she might not be legitimate. In another world it might show that she was only seven at the time, have hardly ever attended the school and that she was a woman from a poor background who’s had crap schooling.

How did she not know the name of the school? It seems that it’s known, by the local children, as the name of the slum area: Bamboo Bazaar. Manjula, who attended there when age seven (35 years ago) didn’t know the proper name of the school. Bugger.

That’s raised the Babu’s suspicions or at least provided an excuse for a right old runaround.

Because of this they require  her TC (transfer certificate from school,which serves as her proof of date of birth) verified by the headteacher. More uncertainty and delay.

So they plan to write to the headteacher to verify the TC is correct.

I’m not at all sure why we needed to be here in Bangalore for all this… So we do try get useful and help it along a bit…. and get the letter sent fast!

We provide another two copies of the TC. On top of the ones we’ve already provided. They are scanned on the first floor.

Back to ground floor, officer signs chit that acknowledges papers scanned in.

Up, to second floor to trigger the formal letter to go to headteacher.

Back to ground floor for something or other.

Back to second floor, God knows why.

One more trip down and then up. They promise to get the letter off tomorrow. (we’ve become part of the team so we wander in and out of the office up on floor 2) That’s why we did all these ups and downs, we’re running out of time to get the passport and apply for visa for the BIG trip.

I now have a new worry: Manjula’s Disappointment if it doesn’t work out. How has this become so bloody difficult?

 

 

but how easy is it to manage Manjula?

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“come on, you’re supposed to be an experienced manager from across the sectors, a consultant and trainer, known for his adaptability (?) and ability to communicate, and now with some great insights into India and with almost forty years experience.. ”

” Yes but…..”

well here was the first attempt, a Job Description on a whiteboard.

 

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How difficult can it be, to employ a maid?

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I’d only been here a few weeks (it was six years ago) and I asked my friend Cary and his wife if they knew of someone looking for a job.

I was was called round to their house to meet Manjula. She seemed quiet, even timid and perhaps she was a little worried about meeting me and the prospect of working for a foreigner. She’d brought a friend with her who seemed to know her stuff. After the simplest of introductions. (We didn’t speak each other’s language.) We went round to my house.

I was looking for a maid. Yes a maid. My two sons (who were in their twenties and back in the UK) were not impressed. “You’re seriously going to have a servant!”

we’re a very liberal, left wing family so even the idea of having a cleaner back in England was a bit of a stretch.  A maid? Quite another matter. I explained as best I could, that it’s different here. It’s about giving employment and I’d be a good employer. They weren’t convinced.

I just wanted someone for a couple of hours a day. To do some cleaning, clothes washing and cooking.

so we arrived at my home.

They  ladies were not impressed. The place was sparsely furnished, not unlike a trad Indian home. So that’s not a problem. But horror upon horrors. There was little equipment in the kitchen and THERE WAS NO ELECTRIC GRINDER. I had just this……

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I promised to get an electric one!

By the next day it was bought and installed in the kitchen. Kudos and Brownie points or what?

Hang on a minute! What have I done? I’ve set the pattern

so, on reflection, it was pretty easy to employ a maid (it’s maybe not so easy now) BUT how do I get her to understand what I want her to do?

I’m sick of seeing the Passport service home page

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and the message… “application being reviewed by the Regional Passport office” which is a completely useless update.

So we’re all going to have a break and not do the passport blog thing over the weekend.

I can hear the sighs of relief and hip hip hoorays reverberating around the Facebook and blog world…. 😉

To bring it, nearly up to date (blog time is like winter time as its a bit behind) so far, we’ve:

  • revised and amended Manjula’s ID ( Aadhar card) so it is now correct and consistent,
  • visited the Bank manager for documents  to prove her address,
  • obtained the TC (transfer certificate from her school)
  • applied and received a PAN (tax card) card,
  • sworn an affidavit with the advocate,
  • submitted the online application and documents,
  • attended the Bangalore office to actually submit the application itself and for Manjula to be interviewed,
  • met the police,
  • neighbours signed forms and verification report gone from Police to Regional Passport Office.

phew……

It’s cost thousands of Rupees, endless meetings, hours on the internet and in traffic and a ton more grey hairs

and I’ve learned a LOT

but there is the risk of it taking over and lethargy air got there first, so let’s have a nice relaxing weekend and a cycle trip with Simon in the morning

passport service, a deserved award winner?

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I must congratulate the passport service on gaining triple ISO certification and its various digital awards.

In my view, and I say this as a sometime consultant who has reviewed services and systems in the Government, not-for-profit and corporate worlds, a system and service is best judged on how well it performs when everything doesn’t go smoothly or according to some abstract plan. It should perform even better when it doesn’t go to plan. It’s essential that a citizen’s service such as this can be properly accessed by all sectors of the community including the poorest, least able and uneducated. Only then should it be considered a success and have met its objectives.

It’s critical that individuals operating the system should be able to spot problems and resolve them, with flexibility and an absolute focus on serving the recipient.

OK, rant over but it’s hard to convey how powerless this makes one feel because as you’ve probably guessed, I don’t think the service has performed well.

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we’ve got the service on our side

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Ok ok we were disappointed that we weren’t getting the new slick service promised by the minister. BUT we do have two other services on our side:

The police service are with us and on the job. They might be a bit traditional BUT we’ll have no worries

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Thankfully,  we’ve also got the SMS service also ‘on our side’ otherwise it might be confusing and not very fast.

So its happening

Manj has met the Policeman, neighbours sign to say Manjula is who she says she is and lives here. Result!

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Our SMS arrives on Stephen’s trusty phone (it even gets a chortle from our friends in Mysore!)

they come fast fast and furious, usually in the middle of the night…

Your GSC no. for Passport verification is xxxxxxxx. Contact Nazarbad PS for verification. Courtesy: Police Computer Wing 20/02/16

Your Passport Verification is complete. Contact your Passport Office. Courtesy: Police Computer Wing. 05/03/16

Police report has been submitted by your Thana and its under review at Commissioner Office, District Mysuru city. 09/03/16

Police report not yet finalised by Commissioner Office, District Mysuru City (Mysuru). Contact Police for details 11/03/16

xxx Police has submitted clear report for your current address. 11/03/16

called at Police Commissioner, report has gone to the RPO, I called, they received it. OK the final bit did take ten days but it’s sorted. The Police service has had to deal with 800 verification reports just for passports. It must take a heavy toll.

the SMS service has now gone quiet

When we get back home..

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At our interview the assistant passport officer stated that they would issue the passport and get police verification (they visit your home to check you’re who you say you are and that you live there) done afterwards and When we get back home….. We realise. He wasn’t telling the truth.

imageThe passport will NOT be issued until after police verification and there is a statement about verifying original documents. This isn’t going to be as straightforward as we once thought and it’s going to take longer. It was clearly a waste, doing the affidavit and following the ministerial announcement.

 

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It’s taken me over.

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What’s happening to me?

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Am I getting too old? ill with something? falling apart? why can’t I motivate myself? It’s so difficult to get things done.

It’s reappeared

It must be Summer again.

 

Have I always been like this or is it a new phenomenon? has anything changed in my life to lead to this? Maybe its ……

Lethargy air

I remember back to earlier last year.

I’d only been back here a few weeks after a short trip to the UK. On getting back I hit a wall of hot thick air. It’s like transparent foam and possible to walk into but not quite through. You have to breath it in. There’s no choice.

People who visit here, worry about a whole set of things. Malaria, Dengue fever, being ripped off, attacks from dogs, the price of food, chain snatchers, you name it, we all worry…. but I reckon one of the most insidious things is lethargy air.

It’s getting worse but most guests miss it as they choose to be here in the winter.

So what is happening in Mysore?

I’ve lived here for over six years. Surely I’m used to it by now. Fact is…. Summer arrives earlier every year. Mysore is known for a wonderful climate throughout the year. But whereas summer used to arrive in April, the past two years saw it arrive in March and this year it was upon us in Feb! It’s a combination of  a busier city (hip hip hooray for development), climate change and someone called Nino.

Now, this year, in March we’re in the mid to late 30’s

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So be aware. It may come to your street soon.

Lethargy Air  can hit at any time. But the mid afternoon is the high point. One feebly starts with a vague list of things to achieve and if today is anything to go by, within two hours it becomes a mental struggle to place one foot in front of another. I’m walking in treacle. Of course, I exaggerate but not by much.

There is a lasting impact from the day before and the overnight tussle with the air, dogs and sleep.

I think I just need a rest

 

Almost all good intentions fly swiftly out of the window. With a combination of lethargy air and ‘things never quite get delivered as promised’ syndrome well not a lot gets done. It’s no accident that one often feels that the term mañana is so much better suited to Mysore than Spain. Tomorrow just never arrives. Maybe

Maybe it’s just time for a beer!

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and I can’t really believe I’m saying this but maybe it’s also time for a bit of English Air!