I was very much enthusiastic to write the extraordinary tale of my passport. When I started, I never knew that it will turn out to be so long but it happened because of the intensity within, so I decided to break the story into 3 parts to maintain a little level of suspense and also to make it a little bit of interesting.
The story takes you through the poorly managed 'Passport Seva' (The name should change from Seva to 'Self Seva') in India, especially in some states which is well supported by the Police in the best possible way and surprisingly supported by the staff here at IITK.
It was 21st July during the Hot summers of 2013 when I decided with full determination to apply for the passport. I am still wondering if there was something wrong with the day or something that it took 9 months to the PAS to dispatch my passport (almost a baby to me :D), even 'Mangalyaan' reached Mars Orbit in 9 Months (Many Many congratulations to ISRO for the same). When I started filling the application form, it took me almost like 3-4 hours in filling the form but that doesn't bothered me altogether. After the payment of fees I got an appointment for the document verification at Passport Office, Kanpur which also went smoothly (Which I realized later that this was the smoothest sub-process in the whole process although it was not). Everything was going fine till I got a mail on 26th July regarding initiation of Police verification process. I was very happy that things were going very fast and I was analysing that at this pace I will definitely get my passport within 1 months or at max 2. On 28th I got a call from the police station of Malpura that I have to come for the police verification at home in which I have to sign some document. I talked with my Papa and he went to the police station to speak with the concerned person. Papa asked him whether it is necessary for me to present at Malpura for verification. He said " If you can do the sign of your son, then it it's fine." Papa asked the same thing to me, but I insisted that I will be there for the verification process otherwise it could create some problem if in any case sign does not match. So, I decided to go to Malpura only for the sake of a signature but that was absolutely a better choice than bribing the police officer and get the sign done. When I was beheaded towards Kanpur by train a special incident took place as it was the precious occasion of Friendship Day. The details of which can be found here.
This whole process happened within 2 weeks of applying and after 3-4 days of police verification I checked my application status online and it showed that my application is received after verification and is under review. The next step was Police Verification of my hostel address and I got to know that I will get a mail from the institute about the date of the verification as some of my friends had already undergone that phase of the process. I was in no hurry as it was only August and there was no possibility of going abroad. But I had to wait for more than a month till a mail popped up in my mailbox on 20th September from Nodal Officer in the institute regarding Police Inquiry on my passport application. It was written that the Police Inquiry is on the 22nd and I had to bring these supporting documents for the same which are as follows (If you are applying from IITK, keep these documents ready to avoid the last moment hustle):
1. Xerox copy of ID Card.
2. Xerox copy of Residential proof issued by Warden/Estate Office /DOFA.
3. Xerox copy of Bonafide/No Objection Certificate from DOSA/DOFA/Registrar.
4. Date of birth proof. [Copy of High School Certificate]
5. One photograph. [Passport size]
When I was stockpiling all these documents I found that I does not have the Xerox copy of Residential Proof issued by the Warden and it was not possible to get it issued in a day. I recollected my memories and realised that we have to submit that Original copy of Residential Proof to DOSA office to get the Bonafide certificate and I forgot to keep the Xerox copy of that Residential Proof(My fault). So, I decided to go without it and the verification went smooth. I told the Police officer that I do not have the xerox copy of the residential proof because we have to submit that to get the Bonafide which already have the details about my address. He was looking convinced and said that it is totally fine and will not lead to any nuisance. But at that time I didn't knew that this will prove to be the turning point of the story. The next step after this process was just the printing of passport. I knew this will going to take another one month, so in the meanwhile I applied for one more passport on the behalf of a friend in Jaipur on 14th October and to add to my surprise after two days he got a call for police verification and after 15 days he had the passport in his hand and the application was not made 'Tatkaal'. In my case 3 months passed already and the status changed to ' Your Application is under review at the regional office'. I thought that review will take some 10-15 days and after the review I will be getting my passport soon. So I waited for 10-15 days and the status remained unchanged.
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