Cogitations of Vishwas Jain

Through my  previous blog posts , you must be knowing that it took almost 9 months for my passport to travel from Lucknow to Kanpur, even Indian Railways are faster than this. After this incidence I decided to file an RTI application to unearth the data of different regions and to find out that which region is working efficiently in processing the passport application. Application: 1.      How many days it takes for a Normal and Tatkal passport application to process and to issue   a passport in different regions? 2.      How many passports are issued within 3 days, 7 days, 14, days, 21 days and 30 days in case     of Normal Passport and how many passports are issued on the same day, within 2 days and 3   days in case of Tatkal Passport? Despite the fact that I asked for the time taken in issuing the passport, including Police Verification Time but the reply I got was excluding the Police Verification...

 On 2nd October, 2014  Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan(Campaign Clean India) to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country. Government nominated 9 prominent personalities to propagate the campaign of Swachh Bharat. The endeavor is to clean India by 2019. Who  wants to live in filthiness?. Nobody. I went to Tokyo to attend a conference, a couple of weeks before PM Narendra Modi visited Japan. I was mesmerized after seeing perfectly cleaned roads, streets. It was difficult even to find a piece of paper somewhere on the streets. Let me give you some contrasting figures comparing India and Japan broadening the perspective. We are almost 9 times in area and population than Japan, but the density of people per sq km is almost the same which means that countries are comparable.  Although GDP (PPP) of India is 1.5 times that of Japan, but per capita GDP ratio is still 0.04. The per capita income ratio of India to Jap...

To directly go to Part-1 of the story Click here To go to Part-2 of the story Click here I was in huge uncertainty till 10th April when the status on passport seva portal revealed that my passport is out for printing. On 21st April I got a mail that my passport is being dispatched and finally on 25th April I received 'THE PASSPORT' after 9 months of complete frustration. This is not only mine's story, this is also the story of many others like me. One of my friends recently got the passport after 8 months, one got in 6 months and a friend of mine also obtained in 25 days. This shows that the number of days also depends on the location of your respective Regional Passport Office. My case was involved with Lucknow and most of the delayed cases which I heard of are dealt by Lucknow office and the cases where passport are delivered within 1 month are dealt with Jaipur Office. The data which I found on the website of Passport Seva left me shocked. It says that on a pan Ind...

To read Part-1 of the story Click here Still, I was in no hurry and then November also went by in preparing for End-seams and then screwing up in them too. After the exams, I checked the status, it was still the same, but I went home for the vacations in December and did volunteer-ship in Disha, an NGO for children with multiple disabilities. To read my experiences click here. I came back to campus in January to find out the same status on the Portal. I decided to do something about it and the very first thing that came in my mind was the toll free number. I called and they never listened to me and instructed me to call the regional office which is in Lucknow for Kanpur applicants. I asked them for the contact details of  Lucknow office, but they denied. I searched on the internet and found two numbers which I dialed the whole day but nobody responded. The only alternative left was proceeding to Lucknow Regional Office and inquire about my application. I also went there and to m...

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 ...

Have you ever dreamt of walking in or above the clouds? Ever wanted to see how the world looks from the escape to the world, the suicide point and how it feels when you have chocolates plants all around? Heartwarming beauty, awesome climate, terrific atmosphere and pleasurable hot flavored tea.....If all these stuff tantalize you then without thinking anything else explore the blue mountains (Nilgiri Hills) of OOTY. How to reach? If you are in a group you can hire a cab otherwise the best option is KSRTC Volvo service AIRAVAT.  It takes 7-8 hours to reach from Bangalore by the bus.  There is a check post before Bandipur National Park, which remains close from 9pm to 6am.  So you have to take another route which is quite risky or plan your trip according to the check post timing if you are planning to go by your own car.  Check post is around 60 km from Ooty and it takes almost 3 hours to reach out from there, so it is better to reach the check post ear...

Here is the full text of Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Stanford in 2005. It is one of the greatest reflections on life we've ever heard. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about  connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that whe...