So my mom just bought a small pressure cooker ... for me! ok so you dont know what a pressure cooker is, look it up on wiki.

You might be asking me so what about it? well for one thing I have been talking to mom since a very long time about me moving out, well maybe like since 1998. But she woudn't accept it and something would always come up either my career or something would happen at home that would make me stay back. She never accepted the fact that I would ever take the decision to stay somewhere else and not here.

Somehow since last year after my fracture things have accelerated very much, she has come to accept the fact that I wont be here for very long. In my recent discussions I had asked her on whether one just cuts and eats raw beet root or does it go through a cooking process. Thats where the pressure cooker comes in.

why legalization now?

While doing some research I came across an interesting article about the Hague convention. This was implemented to ensure that all the countries who signed or joined will not need to go through a legalization process. So all I need to get is an Apostille, however the Netherlands consulate does not currently know that India is now a part of the Hague Convention.

As per the MEA to get an Apostille you need to do the following steps:

Procedure: All documents should be first authenticated by the designated agencies in the State from where thedocument has been issued. In case of personal documents, Home Department/General Administration Department arethe designated authorities. In case of educational documents, State Governments have now opened Regional Authentication Centers (RACs) (see list) at various States from where the document should first be attested. Documents attested by these authorities then need to be presented to MEA for issue of Apostilles.

Fee: A fee of Rs. 50/- in form of Postal/Pay Order drawn in favour of PAO, MEA, New Delhi is payable for each Apostille sticker.

You can find more information at the following link
http://meaindia.nic.in/apostille.htm

To know which all countries have acceded to the Hague Convention you need to check this link:
http://www.hcch.net/

The irony is Hague is in Netherlands and they themselves are not updated on which country needs legalization and which does not. FYI Indians should not go through legalization yet they still have to. This is in effect since August 29, 2007 and Netherland counsulates have still not updated their procedure did I mention Hague is in Netherlands and is considered the seat of Goverment very similar to our New Delhi in India.

Lets do it again

So, I travelled to Mantralaya yesterday and went searching for a notary then I realized that they dont sit there anymore, I asked the xerox guy where I could find one and he said "court" realising that the city civil court was nearby.

I walked past the "oval maidan" and finally found a small crowd and in the centre a guy stamping everyones paper, aahh the notary. He charged me Rs. 60 for a document (I had two birth certificates so I paid Rs. 120), he stamped it, signed it, put a red circle sticker on it stamped that too, then he pasted 5 Rupee 5 stamps (total Rs. 25) and cancelled them out by puting the notary stramp on that too.

Finally after this was done, I went back and stood in the line which was now 30 people strong. It was five minutes to two in the afternoon. Oh did I tell you the attestation office is open only from 2pm to 5pm. So dont even try to go there any other time because they wont let you in.

Ok so I sign my name at the gate and I am told to go to 9th floor. Whoa look at the line at the elevator, anyways after much waiting and shuffling I reached the 9th floor. Guess what another line so waited some more, the board clearly said attestation will be done free of cost and that there is no charge. Some people were giving Rs. 100 and getting it done out of turn, anyways my turn comes I see a small window I shove my face and my papers through it, guy stamps it and then asks me to wait in line for the signature, checks it and signs it and then we are done.

I am on my way back home. Now I need to send these documents to the MEA - Ministry of External Affairs, Delhi. Now how should I go there by plane or train.

Leagalization

So you might be asking why am I doing this all, well I need to apply for a long term visa to the Netherlands. Prior to doing that one very important document needs to be procured, when I sent the consulate an email I was informed that I had to follow the chain to get the documents legalizaed from them in short first take the document to get it notarized, then stamped from the home department, then get it attested from the Ministry of External Affairs (Delhi). After all these stamps then fill up a 2 page form at the consulate and submit with approx Rs. 1400 and within a couple of days they would return it back to you. After which you can apply for your visa and submit all the relevant documents in relation to your purpose of stay.

The procedure in more detail below:

STEP 1: Get the original birth certificate from the Office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths, at the place where your birth occured. If your birth is registered contact the Registrar and request him to issue a new/fresh birth certificate. Advisably the document should be issued within the past six months.(i.e. should not be older than six months at the time of submission to our counter). - If you remember I got my original birth certificates extracted from the municipal office last week.

STEP 2: Get this original document attested from the competent authority of the State from which the document originates. Please be informed that IF ONLY your document originates from the State of Maharashtra, then your document should be attested from the Home Department, Govt. of Maharashtra. This is located at Mantralaya, New Administrative Building, Nariman Point, Mumbai. The Home department generally requires the original document to be notarised prior to attesting it.

Its finally done

Since mom had taken up this project she continued to follow up, she finally met the officer in Parel and she tells me that he was very polite and a true gentlemen. He read my application and signed it immediately approving the change of dropping "kumar" from my name, yeah my name was "Ashish Kumar" in my birth certificate. In 1972 they used to put Kumar for male child and kumari for female child. Now aint that cute, 35 years later I suffered the consequences.

So mom goes back to the municipal office and hands overs the signed letter and imagine here horror when the officer refuses to accept it saying that there is no stamp and the signature could be done by anyone....lol.

After a couple of phone calls and explanations from the senior officer in Parel, things got resolved and I am now a proud owner of 2 new birth certificates with my printed/given name as "Ashish". What a relief!

The BMC - once more

Since I have to work like most other normal people, I had to ask Mom to visit the BMC office again, so she trooped off again on Thursday, obviously she had to wait a couple of hours before the officer would get the "time" to meet her.

I always wonder in government offices who the public servant is?

Anyways, he finally meets her and says "I dont have the authority to take this decision" wow and you finally figured this right now? he mentioned that this change needs an authrotization from another Senior Officer who sits in Parel near KEM Hospital.

Mom went on Friday to meet that officer guess what he was in a meeting!! guffaw!

Now she will go again on Monday.

BMC - again

So I went to the Municipal office again on the 12th the concerned officer was ahem "visiting the wards" so then I went to office and then went again at 3pm by then he was in a "meeting".

I finally did see him as he came back to his office at 4:30pm (BTW he left office at 4:35pm, if I was his supervisor I would have....), when I asked him on what was the status of my application he nonchalantly said submit it and I will look at it. Hello buddy I did submit it last week, you haven't looked at it yet?

And he said "oh it was Diwali last week", ok that was understandable after all this was a government department and they celebrate this festival more than the common man.

"Ok can I come next week?" I said, and he said its ok you can call and find out the status.

You must be laughing your head off right now saying yeah right call him. Well I believed him and off I went on Wednesday I called and called on Tuesday and Wednesday and then asked my mom to drop in and find out what he was up to, she called me later to tell he was on "leave".

ha ha, Diwali holidays weren't enough!?

Diwali - Festival of lights

Happy Diwali to all

This is a special festive season for Hindus (wiki). I have really old memories on how I celebrated. Lights at homes, lanterns, fire crackers and oh all those sweetmeats.

What I loved about this festival was the fire crackers. My parents used to buy me some every year, no matter how difficult it was financially I always had crackers, as years went on and inflation was on the rise firecrackers became expensive. The same amount of money that bought me tons of crackers now only were worth a few.

I used to get a whole box of ticklies (roll of strip to use in a gun) yeah those were fun times, sometimes I would save some for later use when I would play cops and robbers with my cousins. What I really loved about burning crackers was the excitement and fear of lighting the really big bombs. Ah well those were the times and I dont think they will come back.

Many years ago we made a conscious decision of not buying crackers, instead we now fund books and toys for an orphanage and a blind school which are very close to our house.

By not buying crackers I save money, route it to the charities I support and save the environment by not polluting. I also realised that crackers were made using child labour so in a way I am protesting against that also.

Trip to the BMC

BMC is Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika - Bombay Municipal office. As mentioned in the previous post I went to get a fresh copy out of my birth certificate.

Since there was an error in the original, I had to get it rectified or else I would have a problem duing legalization. Anyways three officers said immpossible, a day before I had read that under the Birth and Death Registration (BDR) Act of 1969 section 15 an error can be fixed.

For instance "Ram Lal" can be made "Ram" but none of these officers where even willing to consider, so what is the problem well the procedure used to rectify this error is so long they would rather not go through it.

Please note however if you have deliberately changed your name to something else using a gazette or court order then your birth record will never be changed. Because name change applies to all documents in the future and no document from your past will reflect the new name.

I went to the municipal office or local gementee :) hoping that since I last visited it around 1992 they would have changed. I think at the lower rung of the ladder most of them are still rude. Still clining to the fact that we are here to service them and not the other way around.

Anyways, one thing I have realised in the last 2 years in most government offices there are some very educated officers and not only do they speak intelligently but politely. Its a real pleasure meeting these gems really makes me proud to know that we are making progress.

How can we provide excellent customer service the world over by way of Indian call centers but fail so miserably to treat our own people better?

Birth Certificate Legalization

I read about it on the internet and read reams and reams of posts on discussion boards and it says that it takes a long time. So I have set some wheels in motion that will help me get a fresh copy out from the municipal records.

Xerox copies, original BC (at time of birth), laminated copies, corrections or with any tear - will not be accepted by the consulate/embassy for legalization.

The BC must not also have initials i.e. names must be expanded and must match your Passport.

Now anyone who was born in India and lives here would realize that the Government of India (GOI) and their various departments give a single Indian a half a dozen different names or spellings and also mentions their address in different locations.

I find it extremely frustrating going to Government offices not because of the people, because the processes and procedures are not mentioned anywhere, if they let us know what documents are required before we do our submission then it would save us time, and also assist them in doing their jobs better and the side effect of all of this would be that corruption would be stemmed.

Everyone thinks that corruption can be stopped with computerization, I don't believe that. Its up to each individual person to act responsibility and honestly no amount of checks and balances will stop you from being a criminal except yourself.

Giving or taking a bribe is illegal in the country, please ensure you don't feed the monster.

Bigger plan

This post is more of a prelude for the start of something bigger. My trips to Brussels and Amsterdam were exploratory trips not to mention meetings compressed within a few travel days. Boy was it hectic. My leg was worn down as hell, it took me two weeks to recover from the muscle pain due to all the walking. Due to a fracutre in 2006 I have had muscle atrophy but that did not stop me from sight seeing Amsterdam more importantly visiting "The District" ;) sorry no photos

From here on I will be documenting all of the steps I will be taking, I haven't yet decided which city will host me but some of these plans will unravel soon.

My next trip is set for January 15th, 2008. Wish me luck!

This is Dam Square, Amsterdam the nearest tram stop is Damrak
in the back you can see Madam Tussards. I took this picture on a Sunday and boy was it crowded, I am guessing all were tourists. Neverthless it was a beautifull day chilly enough and no sun.

This was my first day and my first sight in Amsterdam, bicycles tons of them. This seems to be a parking spot just left of the Amsterdam Centraal Station. One thing I always wondered is if your bike is like a regular dutch bike black and with saddlebags, how do you find it in this maze. If my car gets lost in the shopping mall parking lot, I just keep pressing the alarm button on my keychain and the lights on my car flash letting me know where it is. Bikes dont have such a facility so its intriguing.

I was travelling from Brussels to Amsterdam by the Eurolines bus. On my way the bus stopped here and so I went like ok this is Den Haag (The Hague) heard about it but now I see it. Well what do you I was here my first day in Netherlands and I would also be here on the last day in Netherlands. I met some guys an expatica.com event and they asked me to come over. It takes about 45 minutes by train from Amsterdam to Den Haag.

Story of Manneken Pis

The story was printed on the board in a shop I was too lazy to write so here it is.

Manneken Pis

I recently visited Belgium, its in Europe to the geographically challenged. I was just walking on Sunday it was a beautiful day and a clear sky no rains can you believe it. I stumbled on to this tourist attraction its called the Manneken Pis. I wonder why they put clothes on him. You can see the chocolate shop nearby displaying an exact replica of the statue next to it.

Eureka!

This photo has been taken on the 88th Floor of the Eureka Towers in Melbourne Australia. The glass you see under my feet is actually opague at first. while the cage extends outward there is soft music playing just then the tempo changes and you hear glass cracking the glass clears and you can see all the way down nothing between you and the payment but glass.

Nisha Aunty

I spent most of my time in my Grandma's place, mom had to work then so this was the only place that liked me (more on that later)

Nisha aunty stayed next door and everyone knew that I spent most of my time with her than anyone else. This was around 1974 again, so I am told that I would run off with her to catch a movie yeah I was a big fan then of the talkies. No wonder I love to go to the movies even today.

Nisha aunty passed away a couple of years ago but this photo and memories are all we have.