Re: Such a negative attitude!...was: Re: A SOCIETY IN TERMINAL DECLINE?
library101
Elementary, my dear Watson !
What the heck are you doing adopting an infant less than a year old
(from USA or Bharat or wherever ?) and taking the infant over there to
get a Bharatiya passport, anyways ?
Did someone order you to do that ?
Are you 'helping' clear the way by showing procedures and details for
the 'baby smugglers' (Church people etc.) who have been known to do
such things ?
Quite a puzzle for me at face value...
- HSN.
On Feb 28, 10:01 pm, gandikotam <gandiko...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 28, 6:20 pm, Art Sowers <arthu...@mv.com> wrote:
>
> > See below......Its about India!
>
> India sucks in many ways. We recently tried to get a passport for our
> adopted daughter who is barely one year old.
> These are the motions we had to go through:
>
> a) both wife and I had to be there in person at the passport office
> accompanying our daughter
> b) we purchased an application for Rs.10 (why couldn't they make it
> available online?); the guy
> suggested that we should go to a notary to certify all the documents
> c) we went to a notary a mile away and got everything certified for a
> small fortune; we were then
> allowed to go to the passport officer
> d) the officer didn't handle an adoption case ever; so he passed the
> batton to the on-site MEA
> (Ministry of External Affairs) rep
> e) the MEA rep, an affable man, turned up after several hours; he
> answered a phone call where
> he learnt that his son-in-law passed CA and spread the word around;
> apparently he wanted to
> gift a "used car" (he told how he couldn't afford a new one); after
> the phone call he explained how
> the baby needed a police clearance
> f) we didn't have original birth certificate (why weren't we told
> first thing in the morning by the notary
> or at the web site about original documents)
> g) day one ended in limbo
> h) we went again on the second day with all the paper work
> i) the MEA rep told us that we could file for "normal" processing
> without police clearance
> j) we filed the papers and we were given a receipt
> k) we then went to the police commissioner's office to apply for
> police clearance; the commissioner wasn't there
> l) day 3 we went to the commissioner and applied for police clearance
> m) to this day, nearly 40 days past, we had no clue what happened to
> my daughter's passport
>
> Oh by the way, at the passport office and the police commissioner's
> office we had to write letters addressed as
> "Dear Sir/Madam...we are applying for passport/clearance...."
> and submit the signed letters. Getting a piece of white paper at these
> places is a herculean task. All the while our
> baby was enduring the crowds and hunger (we couldn't take enough milk
> for the whole day). We were lucky to find
> a store nearby that sold some juice and soda. Getting in and out of
> the office (there is no token system) is a nightmare.
>
> When I told this story to my parents who never set foot outside India,
> they laughted and said, "We had to go to the
> passport office 4 times. And haven't they moved to a new air-
> conditioned office yet?"
>
> Compared to the passport offices, the US consulates treat the
> applicants better, even though they both suck
> big time in my experience.
>
> Thanks
> Murthy