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.