It started on April 2007. I was working at Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. That was actually a vacation from Secunderabad to my hometown, Tirunelveli. The manager over there requested me to get a passport so I can be sent Onsite. During that time, I don’t know, but I never liked onsite. But my manager kept on forcing me to get the passport, so I decided to apply one during this vacation. So, I applied for the passport along with my best friend, Sethu at Tirunelveli on 18th April 2007. We (I and Sethu) didn’t move through the agent as we thought we are educated enough to fill-in the application. That’s the first ever application I made for passport. My first mistake that, I work in Andhra Pradesh and applied for a passport in Tamil Nadu. After that, I came back to Secunderabad and worked normally. As always, sometime we feel that the job that we do used to be boring. So, I applied for so many companies and Infosys Technologies Limited was one of them. I was called for an offshore campus interview and was selected during the process. I wasn’t able to make it to their first offer date, so I accepted the next, 18th June 2007.
Trouble started when I was in training at Mysore. The police verification was on and I was not there at Tirunelveli. The policeman who came for the verification did not accept any valid reason or money and sent an adverse report. After training I was immediately posted to Pune and during my ‘bench’ days, I wasn’t given any leaves. So, the adverse report sent to the passport office became a problem and I was asked to justify. I need to mention here that during 2007, the nearest city to my hometown which had a passport office was Trichy. My file had a reference to Trichy although I applied at Tirunelveli. I spent my bench days in Pune, unable to report to the Trichy passport office. After a while, I got a project, and my manager told me – “You just have joined the project, you cannot avail any leaves”! Ok. I need to wait. I waited and the opportunity came next April (April 2008). I was there at Trichy passport office and provided them a valid reason for me being not present at Tirunelveli during the police verification. They understood the reason submitted and offered a transfer of file to the Pune passport office so I could still, provide an address proof in Pune and get things done. I accepted and asked them to transfer the file to Pune.
May 2008, file received at Pune. I was given a new reference number for Pune City. That makes my 2nd application. I now need to submit an address proof in Pune which I don’t have. I tried a lot and finally took the statement from the ICICI Bank where I have the Infosys Salary account. Luckily, I changed the address on it (from Mysore to Pune) after I changed my room. I am in Pune (present tense) from August 2007. But, I switched two rooms in the meanwhile. From August 2007 to February 2008, I was rented in a different house and from thereon, from March 2008, I stayed in a single room. Trouble again started as I submitted my present address (where I live from March 2008). The file received in Pune – they asked me to submit some personal particular forms which I did and after that, there was police verification. The verification came during November 2008. Unless the verification that happens in Tamil Nadu where the Police come to your home and verifies if you’re there are not, Pune had a different strategy. They call you to the Police station and you just submit the proof (a copy of what you already did in the passport office) and fill-in a form. I was called there and I submitted my proof (along with Rs. 300 bribe). When I was asked to fill-in the form, there was a column where I need to mention how long I’m staying in the present address. I’m in Pune from August 2007, but on the present address, I’m from March 2008. That makes only 9 months (March 2008 to November 2008) on the present address. I filled-in that way and told the police men that I’m in Pune over a year and I used to stay at a different place earlier. I don’t know if he understood what I told him (language problem… I don’t know Hindi much!) But he said “OK” all the time. My second mistake. He’s not going to verify if I’m there for just 9 months. I should have written that as 1.5 years.
Ok, the police verification was over – now I just need to wait for the passport to come. Unless Tamil Nadu where you get a letter to your address if there’s any discrepancy on your passport or if they need any document/ proofs, Pune again, had a different strategy. They just update your status on the passport status page and wait for you to turn back. I did not check the status of my passport at all; thinking that the passport might come anytime. Something happened in my project and my manager came to me one day and asked me “Where is your passport?” Well, I’m waiting for one. He said, get it done quickly or else you’ll be kicked out. So, I searched for the status of my application and found that the file was closed. What the hell? I then took a screenshot of that page, took a printout and went straight to the Enquiry at passport office, Pune. I was given an appointment to meet the passport officer. It was November 2009, one year after the police verification. Was it my fault that I did not check the status regularly or was it their fault since they did not send me any letters (to my present or permanent address) asking for clarification? I don’t know whose fault it was, but the impact was on me. The passport officer told me, you should apply a new one because at the time of verification you were not completed one year on your present address.
I told this to my manager and he granted me leaves immediately and asked me to go to my hometown and apply a fresh one with ‘Tatkal’ Scheme. I had leaves, ok, but I did not have money to travel to my hometown, Tirunelveli. So I said some lame excuses, waited for the month to over and traveled to my hometown during December 2009. I caught an agent, tried applying via Tatkal Schema and he said since I’ve applied for the passport previously, I’ll have to submit some more forms and No-Objection-Certificate from the local police to submit passport via Tatkal Scheme. I had to apply normally, but I was told that the process is quick nowadays. Yes, it’s been years since I first applied my passport. By this time, the nearest city to my hometown which had a passport office was Madurai. I applied at my hometown, my 3rd ever application and it had a reference to Madurai. This time I went to the nearest police station and told them my situation and they accepted to ‘pass’ it on. Anyone who applied passport before knows that there’s a column in the form where it asks – “Have you applied for passport before, if so, reference number”. I thought of cheating, but then realized the trouble I went through. Why take risk – let’s just provide them. I provided the Pune file reference number and submitted the form. The police verification was clear. I need to mention here that the service provided my Tamil Nadu passport office was extremely good when compared to Pune. I got a message in my mobile as soon as I applied for the passport with my file reference number. After the verification, I got a message stating that my verification was clear and the application is in process. 1 week passed by and then I got a message that since you’re working in Pune, you need to submit an address proof for verification. My father called me and told me that I even got a letter from the passport office about the same. So, I sent the address proofs and stuffs to the passport office, Madurai immediately as they mentioned “failing to send these documents within a month will reflect in the closure of your file”.
Although my proofs reached the passport office on time, the file was closed after a month. I emailed the regional passport officer, Madurai for the reason. He replied (after two emails) that since I work in Pune, I should apply for the passport in Pune only. God, why don’t you guys just tell me when I apply? So, that’s my 3rd ever application closed. Back to pavilion – I applied a fresh one again in Pune, the 4th. I mentioned my last application (Madurai) as the previous application in that form and enclosed the reason why it was closed. I submitted the file on 21st May 2010. Unlike Madurai (where the process of applying until the closure happened from January 2010 to March 2010), Pune is very slow in processing passports. The police verification came during August and it was clear. As usual, I was called in, asked to fill-in the form and then submit proofs. By this time, I’m well aware of the process of passport! I submitted all the proofs, mentioned the time-frame from when I’m living in the current address and stuffs. I also gave the usual bribe, Rs. 300 to the policemen. This time, I checked the status of my application in the status page everyday. I don’t want to take risks. After a week, the status of the page was updated to show “Police verification is clear and your application is in process”.
At-last! I waited for another week and the status changed again to show “Your passport will be dispatched by 30th August 2010. Subject to all documents being in order”. Yee-haw! Hold on, the story is not yet over. I waited until 31st August and checked the status. It now showed “Your application is in process”. What the hell? Ok, perhaps the dispatching takes time. I waited for about a month and till then, no change in the status. As usual, I received no letters from the passport office. I emailed the passport officer, Pune about the status (at-least 10 times) with no response. I took a screenshot of the status page, printed that and went to the Enquiry. The person over there gave me an appointment to meet the assistant passport officer. I met her and asked her about the status of my application. She checked something and told me since you’ve applied for passport many times (4 times); it’ll take time for us to verify stuffs. She then took my mobile number and promised to give a call the next day. I didn’t receive any calls for the next 1 week. I then re-visited the passport office enquiry (you cannot directly meet the passport officer/ assistant passport officer. You’ll need to wait a mile-long queue for enquiry and get an appointment for the same day. The sooner you go, the faster you get). Same appointment, same assistant passport officer. This time she asked me to wait for sometime (The appointment was at 10:30 AM). I waited until all the other applicants left the passport office and I was called in at around 2PM.
When I stepped into the room of the assistant passport officer, the first question that was thrown at me was “How many times have you applied for the passport and how many passports do you have?” I was taken aback. Why in the earth would I wait for more-than-three-hours if I already have a passport? I controlled myself and told her that I do not have any passport and I’m here to explain why I applied so many times. I have never seen such a worst lady in my life time. Whenever I tried to talk about my first application at Trichy, she’ll ask me a question. I’ll tell her that the answer to her question is on the next word that I’m about to speak. Even then, there was no control. She used to ask stupid questions as if I have committed a murder and refusing it. It was almost 2:30 PM and she walked out of her room as I talk. She told me – come back again with an appointment and tell me your entire story. I decided that I’m never going to get my passport. I came back to my room, frustrated and literally wanted to kill someone.
After a week, I decided to give a final try and stop chasing my passport. I prepared a very long letter to the passport officer that explained all the stuffs that I’ve done during April 2007 to till date (like the summary of this story). This time as soon as the assistant passport officer saw me, she wrote something on the appointment and sent me to meet the passport officer as if she’s done with me or “I cannot talk to you anymore”. I met the passport officer, submitted the big-letter that I typed. He read the letter and again, wrote something on my appointment. I thought he’s going to send me again to meet that lady! Oh god! He asked me “Why you did not submit these reasons before?” I told him, I had submitted whatever the reason I had with the application (for the file opened in Madurai, my previous application). I also told him that I did not know if I should submit reason for all the applications that I applied before. He showed me a face that looked like he accepted whatever I said. I was asked to wait outside the room. I waited for about an hour and then a person came out of the passport officer’s room and called my name. I went to him and he said “You can go, it’ll come.” (Aap jaasakthe hein, aajayengi). I didn’t know how many percentages of those words were true. But then, I didn’t question him. I just walked away, thanking him.
Two days later, I checked the status of my passport and it said that my passport has been granted and will be dispatched within a week’s time. I was happy and then immediately, I became sad. One week from that date, I’ll be at Chennai. I planned my Diwali holidays from 3rd of November until 15th. The status page then changed on 28th October that the passport will be dispatched on 10th of November. I understood that I’ll not be here in Pune to collect my passport. I need to either cancel my leaves and celebrate my 4th consecutive Diwali in Pune or, just go on and make more confusion in my passport. Strangely, I decided the 2nd way. I went to Chennai as planned and before that, I issued an “authorization letter” to my roomies that they’re authorized to collect the passport on my behalf. I also told them to give money to the post man if needed.
During my vacation I checked the status of my application and found that the passport was dispatched on 4th of November, instead of 10th November. Oh, early! So, I decided to call my roomies and update them about the change. When I called them on Monday, 8th of November, they told me that they’ve received the passport. I could have asked him to repeat those words at-least 10 times. I also pinched myself that I’m not in dream. All it took was Rs. 100 for the post man to give my passport to my roomie. The authorization letter did not work!
Extra Bits:
- My friend, who applied along with me (Sethu) during April 2007, got the passport on July 2007.
- Friends who joined with me at Infosys didn’t have passports. They took leave (1 week) and returned with a passport.
- The roughest estimate of money that I spent for passport would be more than 50,000.
- Looking at my passport application history, one might feel that I tried to cheat. My first application (applied at my hometown) had a reference to Trichy city. Second application had a reference to Pune. Third application (although I did at my hometown) had a reference to Madurai. So people might think that “this fellow applied for passport 3 times in 3 different cities!”
- I had some friends who kept on nagging me about my passport chasings. They also suggested me writing a story about this. I told them I will as soon as I get my passport.
- The nightmares continued even after I got the passport (when I was in Chennai). I had dreams in which the passport was damaged. My name was spelled wrongly; my photo looked like somebody cut that until neck and pasted a new one.
