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.