Thoughts @ Amit Gupta

Passport for minor in India

As promised I am back to lock horn again with the Passport office. Three years back I had a tough time to reissue passport after expiry of 10 years.

But this time its for my sweetheart little baby. She now has a Date of Birth Certificate , a Pan Card and a Postage Stamp of her own Next target to get her the passport. Though the best source for information on procedure, documents required, FAQs on the topic would be the Delhi passport office website but still here’s my personal experience which might be helpful for you guys.

Step 1 : Application form (29th May 2011)

I suggest you fill-up the online application form to ensure you have an appointment and can dodge the long queue outside the passport office in Delhi (BTW regional passport office in Delhi is situated at Bikaji Cama Place , Behind Hotel Hyatt). This is the easiest of all. Fill up the basic details of the minor.

You can also select the date and time of the appointment for submitting the application form. The time on the application is only indicative , applications are accepted on first come first serve basis. So no worries if you are late or early. Its better to be early just in case you missed out on any document and need a copy etc.

Documents for the passport for minor

a.  Print out of the online application (6 pages including 2 PP forms). There are multiple fields which need to be filled manually (No overwriting allowed) e.g. Passport details of parents, Date of birth in words etc

b. Paste 3 photographs (3.5cm X 3.5 cm) on the form. DO NOT SIGN (THUMB-PRINT) ON PHOTOS

c. Use blue or black ink for taking minor’s thumb impression on the form

Self Attested (Signed by parents) copies of the following :

a. Date of Birth certificate (Issued by local municipal corporation)

b. Marriage Certificate of Parents or Affidavit

c. Annexure H

d. Address proof

e. Copies of passport of parents (First and last four pages)

Passport Fee for Minor :

Fresh Passport for Minors (below 18 years of Age) of 5 years validity or till the minor attains the age of 18 which ever is earlier. Rs  600/-

Tatkal Passport Fee for Minor :

I opted to apply under tatkal scheme for issue of passport.  You would need couple of more documents and additional fees of Rs 1500.

You need to submit a application of plain paper to convert your application to the tatkal. There is no standard format for the application. I have used the following :

The PRO,

Passport Office , Delhi

This is to request you to process passport application of my daughter <Name> under tatkal scheme.

Regards

<Name> <Relation>

Additionally , “Annexure I” was required on a notarized affidavit non-judicial stamp paper of Rs. 10. That’s why you need to reach passport office early. No worries you can get the affidavit done from Notary sitting at bikaji Cama place building. I got it for Rs. 100. Also there is a photocopier guy right within the passport office building .

It is advised to carry a couple of pens, extra photocopies and plain A4 sheets with you just in case they ask for some application. Be careful with your originals , carry them all for verification.

At Passport Office (07th  June 2011)

a. We reached well in advance of a warm sunny and hot day. To top it all the queue is now shifted to open space behind the passport office building. There are two counter for passport application and one for miscellaneous service  counter. These are only for ONLINE applications.

b. Even though online application enable us to dodge some 200 non online applicants in serpant queue but the online queue was long enough. Be patient as every applicant takes some 10 mins at the counter.

c. On counter itself you can convert your application into the TATKAL. the officer at counter was very polite and helpful. He attached a white paper on top of documents and suggested to write an application and get “Annexure I”.

d. Thankfully we didn’t have to get again into the line and our application was stamped for verification by PRO (sitting at Misc service counter)

e. The queue at that counter was not very long and took 30 odd min. The PRO validated our passports and signed the application.

f. The signed application was again to be submitted to the original counter. Thankfully again we need not stand in line. We paid the total fee of (600 + 1500 = 2100).

g. We are issued a receipt with the  promise of delivery within a week.

Update 1. (09th  June 2011)

The passport status page is showing as “Application is pending for want of Police Report.”

You can also find the complete list of documents http://passport.gov.in

Update 2. (13th  June 2011)

Passport is delivered to our address through speed post. The status on site though still shows “Police verification pending”

The passport is issued for Five years and for once I need to admit this was a super smooth process. My Fairy now has a passport to FLY

Update 3. (26th  June 2011)

Police verification done for for my daughter

Update 4. (30th  June 2011)

Passport Status updated as passport dispatched on 10th of June 2011. Funny but it’s Okie.

Incomplete map of India on google

Totally condemn the way Google repeatedly treat the map of India. J & K is and will remain integral part of India.

And , not showing it part of any other country also is not solution.  Correct your maps Google.

bow to the god of cinema – Rajnikanth

A big bow to god of cinema – Rajnikant. Here’s the collection of trivia of Rajnikant (collected from across the web)

RAJNIKANTH’s next movie is going to be called ” TWITTER” …. He’s going to play all 140 characters in it !

Stats point that #Endhiran car parking collection is greater than Anjaana Anjaani’s box office collection!!

Rajanikanth makes onions cry

Rajanikanth can delete the Recycle Bin.

Ghosts are actually caused by Rajanikanth killing people faster than Death can process them.

Rajanikanth can build a snowman….. out of rain.

Rajanikanth can strangle you with a cordless phone.

Rajanikanth can drown a fish.

When Rajanikanth enters a room, he doesn’t turn the lights on,……… …. he turns the dark off.

When Rajanikanth looks in a mirror the mirror shatters, because not even glass is stupid enough to get in between Rajanikanth and Rajanikanth.

The last digit of pi is Rajanikanth. He is the end of all things.

Rajanikanth does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die.

When Rajnikant does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down. 

Bullets dodge Rajanikanth.

Rajnikant doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

Rajnikant can divide by zero.

Rajnikant doesn’t bowl strikes, he just knocks down one pin and the other nine faint.

Rajnikant is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.

Rajinikanth reverses Court judgements by making the ink run back into the Judge’s ballpen.

The Bermuda Triangle used to be the Bermuda Square, until Rajnikant kicked one of the corners off.

Rajinikanth once went to Jim Corbett National Park. After eight straight hours of snapping pictures, the tired tigers ran out of camera film.

Raincoats were developed to prevent raindrops from getting electrocuted on coming within 1oo metres of Rajinikanth.

Rajinikanth once dived into the sea from his Chennai condo. The next thing you know is that a tsunami has hit half the world.

The Chennai – Delhi Rajdhani Express once missed Rajinikanth. It ran as fast as it could but failed to catch him.

Viagra often needs Rajinikanth.

No one messes with Rajinikanth. Only Rajinikanth can mess with himself.

Parachutes were invented just to prevent the earth from getting shattered to pieces when hit by a falling Rajinikanth.

What colour is Rajinikanth’s blood? Haha! Trick question! Rajinikanth never bleeds!!

Once a cobra bit Rajanikanth’ leg. After five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.

When Rajanikanth gives you the finger, he’s telling you how many seconds you have left to live.

Rajanikanth can kill two stones with one bird.

Rajanikanth has a deep and abiding respect for human life… unless it gets in his way.

It takes Rajanikanth 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.

Rajanikanth once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, “Bang!”

Rajanikanth got his drivers license at the age of 18 Seconds.

Rajnikant counted to infinity – twice.

With the rising cost of gasoline, Rajanikanth is beginning to worry about his drinking habit.

The square root of Rajanikanth is pain. Do not try to square Rajanikanth, the result is death.

When you say “no one’s perfect”, Rajanikanth takes this as a personal insult.

My personal favorite :

Endhiran (Robot) releases. Rajnikanth gives Times of India 3 stars.

Some dialogues from Rajni’s film

“I will do what I say, I will also do what I don’t say.”

“If i say it once, I’ve said it a hundred times.”

“When I will arrive, or how I will arrive, nobody will know, but I will arrive when I ought to.”

“My way is a unique way.”

“The past is past.”

“Say the name ‘Ekambaram’ and even an unborn child will shut its mouth and hush up.”

“God proposes…Arunachalam disposes…”

“I will hit you so hard, even Google will not be able to find you!”

Pan Card for Tisya

Tisya got her Pan Card issued on  at the age of Four Month and Nine Days (09 June 210).

By far this has has been the most wonderful experience of mine dealing with any government agency or should I say the only agency which offered a truly world class service experience.

I applied pan card for my four month old daughter (Tisya Singhal) online through NSDL. The form seems to be very simple and self explanatory. As my daughter is minor Pan was applied on her behalf by representative (her mother)

The fee for the pan card is Rs 94 . You have the option to pay through Credit or Debit Card / DD  /Cheque. The best mode of payment is Credit/Debit card as this beside expediting the process also give online status of your application using a 12 digit acknowledgement number issued on successful transaction.

A printout of acknowledgement need to be send to NSDL Pune with photograph and address proof within 30 days.

National Securities Depository Limited
3rd Floor, Sapphire Chambers
Near Baner Telephone Exchange
Baner, Pune – 411 045.

In case of any queries you can also call up NSDL call center at Pune (020 – 2721 8080) . I called them up twice , once while filling application and again checking the status of the application. The staff was extremely polite and helpful on both the occasions.

I received a SMS from NSDL on receipt of the application and again on confirmation of issue of the pan Card (whole process took less than 15 days) . Today the update on NSDL site shows that the PAN has been dispatched to our  mailing address through overnite courier.

A quick check on ovenite courier website says the courier has reached Delhi on 14th July from Mumbai. So hopefully We’ll get the Pan Card for Tisya tomorrow.

Next on agenda is to get a Passport for Tisya and that thought sends a shiver down my spine. To know why read my experience in getting my passport reissued

Update (July 13, 2011) : I applied for passport for my minor daughter under Tatkal and got it within 4 working days.

Neemrana Fort palace, Rajasthan

We booked a stay for a night there in Hari Vilas (Lord Vishnu’ adobe) , one of the rooms being offered from the heritage property. The deal – One night stay @ INR 5000 excluding the buffet lunch (INR 600) and dinner (INR 700). We opted for this room for three primary reasons

a) This room is part of  the original fort (There are many additional new rooms and facilities being constructed as an extention to the original fort palace.)

b)  The room have extended balcony and private roof top terrace.

c) This fits into our budget

We started a  cool ride on NH-8 towards Jaipur. Our first stop was at Mc’donald close to manesar for brunch. We picked up usual burger and coke. The ride was very smooth and took us less than 2 hours to reach neemrana. Road to the fort is from within the Neemrana town is still in shape the last king must have left it. We followed a camel cart patiently to reach the fort. 

 We certainly had some high hopes of staying in a heritage fort palace which was once home to decendents of Prithviraj Chauhan. Neemrana fort is magnificiant and well maintained property but the room was bit of a disappointment. Its actually a heritage property (no fancy floors and ceiling, tv, intercom and even room service).  My wife insisted and actually checked on couple of same room but found this to be best.

Infact if we ignore the room per say rest of the experience was lovely. There was huge balcony attached to our room and we have access to two level of roofs. The room offered excellent view of both fort and neemrana town from balconies and roof top. 

              

Next day we decided to have breakfast out on restaurant terrace and explore some more of fort.

           

and then we discovered the most coverted mahal(palace) in the fort. It was just a chance discovery as the way to this palace is told by fort authority until you have the pressing need. Look for yourself…

                                        

Traffic light for footover bridge in gurgaon !

This can happen only here in India. We know how to ulitize all the resources to fullest and look forward to accept new challenges. Look at the images below I clicked of foot over bridge meant for pedestrian in millenium city, gurgaon.

No hurry at all – Guy seems to be attending a call from home

 Wow ! such a good negotiater of sharp turns

Pedestrian should be given adverse travel advisory for crossing expressway by footover bridge build in gurgaon. Or considering the amount of motor vehicles goverment should put up traffic lights up there. Or better lets have a another overbridge on the existing one

I am a club hopper now

Just other day while checking mails on my Nokia E63, I noticed an invitation to a B’day bash of my dear friend Vivek Bhatia . I replied promptly for two reasons :

a)  I was too excited to meet old bunch of friends from Time of India after a really long time. 
b) Wanted to check , how does ‘send from my mobile device’ appears in my mail signature

So on the D day, we (me and wify) found ourselves the first one to turn out at Turquoise Cottage, Vasant Vihar as usual following the date and time on the invitation (9 PM on July 04). God knows how many more invitations would it take for me to understand that the time mentioned on invitation is only indicative and not to be taken seriously.

Our guest of honor B’day boy arrived the last and got well deserved bumps on right place :). Party continued well past midnight and it was time us all to say goodbye to TC (Bouncers reminded us politely to leave by first stopping to play music and then switching off the room AC and television). We have made up our mind to head back to Gurgaon and were exchanging goodbye greeting in haste (Stories of bouncers treating guest at gurgaon disco flashed in front of me).

And then, Vivek suddenly decides that before he turns too old to dance by next year, he want to party harder. For me any dance party beyond midnight is generally at marriage function or a jagaran. So the moment of my life arrived (I have to hop clubs remember) , when we all headed for Capitol the Disc @ The Ashoka at 2:00 AM.

My first hand experience of Delhi party crowd begins right from the entry date to the Hotel Ashoka. God! it seems I was stranded at Delhi-Gurgaon expressway in the morning office hours. Every one was jostling for the precious parking space. Like a true Indian, I parked my car on the road outside without wasting any more time. The scene at the entry to the disc was no better, it seems ration shops are distributing kerosene to BPL card holders. And very true to market scenario our group sneaked into the disc surpassing the all other needy thanks to our friend Gagan Myne .

The disc was full and over flowing with maddening crowd. We also shaked our legs to the deafening DJ music for an hour and so. This was when middle class traits of m and wify made us realize we should be back home before the first light of the daybreak. This marks ends to my first experience of club hopping.

BTW entry back to gurgaon via the toll plaza was a breeze at that hour.

Trip to Leh (Ladhakh) Part II

Day 3. We came across snow for the first time On the way to this beautiful and frozen Pangong Tso (or Pangong Lake; Tso: Ladakhi for lake). It is 120 Km long lake with one third of the lake falling into Indian territory and rest in China. The temperature was freezing cold literally and wind were blowing hard.

Our first stop was at the army post of Zingral @ 15500 ft. Few interesting things on the way (see images)

a) White house

b) Frozen drain

c) J & K Bank (Just 38 Km away)

By the time we crossed Changla (The third highest motorable road in the world) we all were shivering in our woolens.

BTW I had my favorite maggi at Pangong Lake. Ummah..

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Day 4. Highest Guest room complex in the world @ Tangse. But the highlight of the day was snowfall. Finally a long cherished dream come true. Dance in the middle of the snowfall.

On the downside because of heavy snow road leading back to Leh was blocked and we were forced to stay back in Tangse.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Day 5. Thanks to the Indian Army, our way got cleared by late evening and headed back to base. Fresh snow was too tempting to resist and all of us had lots of fun. We had to chain our wheels to make sure we had safe journey. It is highly advisable to get the vehicle chained in snow as it increases friction and grip for the tyres.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]