I had taken a 11:45 appointment and it was already 11:10 . a quick calculation told me i can no way reach the passport office by tht time . and i knew will they not allow me after that .
so i quickly looked at the train timetable , found there was a thane vashi train at 11:15 , in a hurry packed all the documents reqd in my college folder and ran towards the railway station . i remember while leaving home , i said mom tht i dont even know the passport office address .
But somehow i reached the passport office just-in-time . i saw there were dozens of "agents" outside the office , who were in low voice offering to make passport. They were taking in a way , in a very low voice and murmuring when someone passed by , that made them look like cocaine peddlers .
I went in , asking others like me , where exactly in the building all this passport business is done .
Most of the people were too busy to answer , they were preparing their documents . somehow i reached the place where there was a good crowd , all of whom were there for the same reason.
i asked a gnetleman who was attending to a small group of 4- 5 people of my doubts .
And the answer i got from this gentlemen in a very loud , rude and strong voice shook me .
"CHAL LINE MAIN JA PEHLE , TEREKO SAMAJHTA NAHIN KYA . LINE MAIN JA "
i thought i m still just a kid . i may be in final year engineering , but that doesn't make a difference to the people of this world , for them i am another kiddo . i remembered i had not even shaved that day , and i remembered i was looking quite masculine , grown up . Not like a kid ,at least . And i was wearing a good clothes that day .
then why did i get such a answer , maybe that man was like the people of administrative staff of our college . These people feel they are the most respectable persons on earth , simply because others dont dare to utter a word against them .
but what gave me some relief was tht there were other very rich people , coming out of their long AC saloon , who were meted similar or even worse treatment by this genteman .
I then asked another person in the queue to know of all the documents to be attached along with the form. he answered satisfactorily and even said "mujhse poocho na kuch kuch bhi doubt ho to, main hoon na " . i understood he was a agent and knew of everything to be done here .
i quicky got all the photocopies . and had all papers ready . The jherox wala was also doing great business . 1 Re per page per side . but we required his service and would have even paid him 2rs if he asked for .
i went back to the office . now the only work to be done was to get a token no. form the very same gentlemen , who had replied me so politely before , in so gentle a way that moved me .
before the a soudie lady asked me something which i dint knw , i advised her to approach the man there . but she was not ready to ask this man , said , " Wo do buad tempered hai" . And i felt even better , even ladies in there 40's were treated the same way .
Now the real thing to tell . i went to a shop outside to staple my documents , as i feared this man will shout at me if dared to give him those unstapled documents . ( Our gentlemen was given a simple job to put token no.s on the documntst so that people would be called later according to their token no.s for submission of the documents ) and when i returned , i found the gates were shut and the watchmen would point towards a notice that said token nos will be alloted only between 10:00 to 12:00 . I said i had all the papers ready , and went out only to staple them. But he wouldn't budge . In no time a good crowd had gathered pleading the watchmen to let them in . i particularly remember of a lady who said she had come from mira road ( to thane ) and how would she know tht the office timings are 10 to 12 . And no one here answered her phone . i really felt sorry for her and his son who wanted passport urgently for higher studies abroad .
One more thing . the passport website said that online applicants need not get a token no.
But the people there said we don't bother what the website says . and i thought that i unnecessarily got a online appointment , these people dont bother to look at it , they go by their token no. , i heard our gentlemen scolding some1 for not get getting an online appointment .
But at this time , all i wanted was to get inside somehow , and it was not time to think of how the government and the government officials work in synchronism .
I m simpy tired of typing ....
Now i feel , this is something that happens everyday in a govt. office
