When I came for joining Ordnance Factories way back in 1963, I remember my first "experience"
with Sun Glasses. Having come from an area in Andhra Pradesh, which was equivalent to a Town-- there was not much of development. Those were my first days of " Independence"--i.e. away from parental restrictions, no studies, lot of money( hard earned ! donot go by present day standards!).
I saw many people using Sun Glasses in Summer. I said to myself--why not me ? I got one from--of all places the Footpath ! Next day it was a Sunday and I was staying in Rasthapeth,I ventured out in hot Sun and suddenly sky became overcast and I went back to the Room and picked up my Umbrella ( the traditional type with a long handle--the folding type had not been introduced in the market yet ). So I started off again--with the Sun Glasses ( my proud possession)
and with an umbrella in hand. I was waiting to cross the Road. Suddenly there was a good Samaritan by my side and trying to help me cross the Road, and saying a few words of sympathy!
That was the last time I ever made an effort to go for Sun Glasses .
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
PAY SQUARE
I would like to bring to the notice of People the advantages (?) of utilising the services of Agencies who make tall claims of taking care of People's problems, as these poor creatures (mostly IT sector )either dont have time or not knowledgeable about the Government procedures.Take for example a simple thing of changing the Sur Name (Post marriage) on The PAN Card. Income Tax people say that it takes just 15 Days to issue the name change ( Provided all documents--marriage certificate, Residence proof etc) are submitted along with the original PAN card . This is exactly done by my daughter-in-law on one of those unfortunate days 24.11.2005 .(please note its 2005 and not 2006 !!!) to Pay Square( the so called Pay Roll People ). We gave the the Gestation period and enquired on 14 th Feb .about the status. They told there is Father's mismatch (Thank God only in Name !!! )and that we should go to UTI office in Pune and that we would get the PAN in 7 Days !! Anyway Paysquare was kind enough to collect all relevant documents and resubmit to UTI. Now this process of resubmitting the documentary proof of ancestral history has been done two more times. At the end of it all, Pay Square ( PayRoll people !!! ) say that its just their job is only to courier the things to UTI and that we have to follow it up. If we have the time in the first place, we would noy have gone to these chaps for Service. If they cannot facilitate the whole process why should they take up these jobs ? Another thing is that they have different characters to do these jobs !! Nobody is sure what the other does !!!
Finally I have taken up the case and after about 5 visits to local UTI office, innumerable phone calls to Mumbai ( local UTI says they are helpless !!! ) and a visit to Income Tax Office near Sadhu Vaswani Statue and a final confirmation from UTI Mumbai that the revised Card has been couriered.Again the PAN card has gone into a spin and it was in Space for three more days as UTI has given to the wrong couriers!!! The story has a happy ending. We got the revised PAN card on 7 - 10--2006.
Who is going to pay my expenses incurred for my visits to UTI & Income Tax office and various phone bills ?
I am writing all this so that no one will be lured by tall claims made by these Agencies. UTI office is open on Saturdays also and anybody can walk in and do the job personally and avoid all this anxiety and mental torture.
Thank God we got the card before the First Anniversary( No credit for PAY SQUARE (THE PAY ROLL PEOPLE !!!! )
Finally I have taken up the case and after about 5 visits to local UTI office, innumerable phone calls to Mumbai ( local UTI says they are helpless !!! ) and a visit to Income Tax Office near Sadhu Vaswani Statue and a final confirmation from UTI Mumbai that the revised Card has been couriered.Again the PAN card has gone into a spin and it was in Space for three more days as UTI has given to the wrong couriers!!! The story has a happy ending. We got the revised PAN card on 7 - 10--2006.
Who is going to pay my expenses incurred for my visits to UTI & Income Tax office and various phone bills ?
I am writing all this so that no one will be lured by tall claims made by these Agencies. UTI office is open on Saturdays also and anybody can walk in and do the job personally and avoid all this anxiety and mental torture.
Thank God we got the card before the First Anniversary( No credit for PAY SQUARE (THE PAY ROLL PEOPLE !!!! )
Friday, March 02, 2007
Passport
This is the story of how I got my Passport . Generally there should not be much to write on this subject for ordinary mortals. But the Passport Office made mine a unique case.
After retirement in 2005 I thought of applying for a Passport. ( I do not have any intention of using it , as I am scared of Travel by Air & Sea. ). Its only for the heck of it !! Every Tom, Dick & Harry is applying & flaunting it. So why not I ? So I located one agent like character in my area.
I thought why not I get one for my wife. The agent came to our place with a bunch of Forms.Filling up my Form was fine. As far as my wife is concerned he wanted me to prove that we are married. Now after 34 years of our blessed married life somebody wants a documentary proof.( In our days there was no Registration Process). My son was always taunting that he was born out of wedlock as we did not have documentary proof . So the Agent chap said that an affidavit will be enough. ( I still do not understand the legal validity of these affidavits-- you commit a crime, and swear before some body and the deed becomes holy !!). Anyway, the Agent brought some Stamp Paper ( hopefully not the Telgi type ) and got it notarised and made it into an authenticated Document . So finally after 34 years our marriage had been blessed and recognised by the Law of the land !! Hope my son is now satisfied about the legality & legitamacy of his pedigree !!!
The agent submitted the Applications on 14 th June 2006 and informed that Police Verification would be done in a week and that Passports will be received in a maximum period of 21 Days . Even the Government does not give this kind of Guarantee !! Promptly one Police did visit our place and noted down the details. After a week I started visiting the Website of Indian Passport
to check the status-- it was written "Police Verification not received" --I thought that it may take some time ( as we know the police are busy protecting the precious lives of our politicians !!) and visited the website after another fortnight. There is some improvement-- " your application is under process "---so far good. After 3 months I visited the Passport office,the fellow told me that police had confirmed my honesty for only 11 months ( that unfortunately is the date on which my Ration Card address was modified to the present Address ). They wanted my old address along with two more photos , I promptly submitted. In fact this particular form with the old address was submitted along with the original one also, which was not taken into consideration. Then after waiting for 3 more months I visited the Passport officer and after waiting in Que for 4 Hours, the Officer ( incidentally this chap was PRO when my ordeal started
and even he got his promotion in these three months ) ,very sweetly says that my verification for the previous address was not received and wanted me to verify from the Police Commissioner's office. I very faithfully visited them.The concerned chap just brushes you out and vents his feelings about the Passport office and their lethargy etc... but blesses me with some 4 Digit Number under which my verification was forwarded. I trek back to Passport Office(hereinafter known as P.O ). Again stand for 4 Hours and meet the P.O , show him proudly my Number. He says " we are not challenging this but it refers only to 11 months ". He sweetly asked me to submit the Forms along with 2 photos all over again. Mind you this was the Fourth time I repeated this exercise and exhausted all my photos.( As one of my friends said --my photos are available in plenty with P.O and police-- which I hope they would not use them for some unsavoury purpose !! ) .To ensure proper receipt I was given the "Honourable Job of Courier" and went back to Police again. That was the Fourth Visit there. I was looking like a criminal, as the receptionist and the other police started greeting me !!!(they must be wondering whether I was a "seasoned criminal" or new entrant ). Meanwhile I started writing letters to the Editor in various Newspapers, visited Kiran Bedi's site ( just a day before she wrote an article in Asian Age glorifying the Police & P.O s.I shot of letters to her, Chief Passport officer,New Delhi , Public Grievance Cell New Delhi & even the President of India who all have kindly acknowledged my sad story and assured that the letters have been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs. Out of frustration I made a final visit to the Passport Office in february 2007 and the PRO (totally different character) who appeared to be very cooperative and courteous had gone through my case and expressed shock & surprise at this undue delay and even expressed regret. By the way we got our Passports exactly after 2 5 2 Days.
Government says we can get Passports online in 10 Days. What a Joke !!
My advice:
1. Never go through an Agent--you can yourself submit.
2. Never apply for a Passport unless you complete atleast 12-13 months at the present address.
After retirement in 2005 I thought of applying for a Passport. ( I do not have any intention of using it , as I am scared of Travel by Air & Sea. ). Its only for the heck of it !! Every Tom, Dick & Harry is applying & flaunting it. So why not I ? So I located one agent like character in my area.
I thought why not I get one for my wife. The agent came to our place with a bunch of Forms.Filling up my Form was fine. As far as my wife is concerned he wanted me to prove that we are married. Now after 34 years of our blessed married life somebody wants a documentary proof.( In our days there was no Registration Process). My son was always taunting that he was born out of wedlock as we did not have documentary proof . So the Agent chap said that an affidavit will be enough. ( I still do not understand the legal validity of these affidavits-- you commit a crime, and swear before some body and the deed becomes holy !!). Anyway, the Agent brought some Stamp Paper ( hopefully not the Telgi type ) and got it notarised and made it into an authenticated Document . So finally after 34 years our marriage had been blessed and recognised by the Law of the land !! Hope my son is now satisfied about the legality & legitamacy of his pedigree !!!
The agent submitted the Applications on 14 th June 2006 and informed that Police Verification would be done in a week and that Passports will be received in a maximum period of 21 Days . Even the Government does not give this kind of Guarantee !! Promptly one Police did visit our place and noted down the details. After a week I started visiting the Website of Indian Passport
to check the status-- it was written "Police Verification not received" --I thought that it may take some time ( as we know the police are busy protecting the precious lives of our politicians !!) and visited the website after another fortnight. There is some improvement-- " your application is under process "---so far good. After 3 months I visited the Passport office,the fellow told me that police had confirmed my honesty for only 11 months ( that unfortunately is the date on which my Ration Card address was modified to the present Address ). They wanted my old address along with two more photos , I promptly submitted. In fact this particular form with the old address was submitted along with the original one also, which was not taken into consideration. Then after waiting for 3 more months I visited the Passport officer and after waiting in Que for 4 Hours, the Officer ( incidentally this chap was PRO when my ordeal started
and even he got his promotion in these three months ) ,very sweetly says that my verification for the previous address was not received and wanted me to verify from the Police Commissioner's office. I very faithfully visited them.The concerned chap just brushes you out and vents his feelings about the Passport office and their lethargy etc... but blesses me with some 4 Digit Number under which my verification was forwarded. I trek back to Passport Office(hereinafter known as P.O ). Again stand for 4 Hours and meet the P.O , show him proudly my Number. He says " we are not challenging this but it refers only to 11 months ". He sweetly asked me to submit the Forms along with 2 photos all over again. Mind you this was the Fourth time I repeated this exercise and exhausted all my photos.( As one of my friends said --my photos are available in plenty with P.O and police-- which I hope they would not use them for some unsavoury purpose !! ) .To ensure proper receipt I was given the "Honourable Job of Courier" and went back to Police again. That was the Fourth Visit there. I was looking like a criminal, as the receptionist and the other police started greeting me !!!(they must be wondering whether I was a "seasoned criminal" or new entrant ). Meanwhile I started writing letters to the Editor in various Newspapers, visited Kiran Bedi's site ( just a day before she wrote an article in Asian Age glorifying the Police & P.O s.I shot of letters to her, Chief Passport officer,New Delhi , Public Grievance Cell New Delhi & even the President of India who all have kindly acknowledged my sad story and assured that the letters have been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs. Out of frustration I made a final visit to the Passport Office in february 2007 and the PRO (totally different character) who appeared to be very cooperative and courteous had gone through my case and expressed shock & surprise at this undue delay and even expressed regret. By the way we got our Passports exactly after 2 5 2 Days.
Government says we can get Passports online in 10 Days. What a Joke !!
My advice:
1. Never go through an Agent--you can yourself submit.
2. Never apply for a Passport unless you complete atleast 12-13 months at the present address.
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