Passport Story - 2

You know what, my good friend Mr. Bholanath Hansmukh, finally got his passport reissued after a battle of 3 years. I hope you all remember, his ‘Passport Story – part 1’!  Now, with his permission, I am sharing the 2^nd part of the story, in a nut-shell. I am going to share the one letter he wrote to the Appellate Authority sitting at Delhi, which set the ball rolling, in which he has summarized his complete story and his utter frustration with the system.  Here it goes:

“Respected Sir,

I, Bholanath Hansmukh, had applied for reissue of my passport on 7th August 2013, in Belapur.  And still I have not received my passport. Since last 10 months, I have been struggling to find out the reason for the delay, without much success and there has been no satisfactory answer to my queries from the RPO Belapur. I request you to please give 15-20 mins of your precious time and go through my letter fully, along with the attachments I have enclosed.

I had applied for reissue of my passport 2 times, once while I was staying in Junagarh in February 2012 and again in August 2013 in Belapur. Hence, first I would like to give you the background of my case.

1^st application, in RPO JUNAGARH, on 7^th Feb 2012  file no: ****420

1. I had applied for reissue of my passport on 7^th February 2012 at Junagarh RPO.

2. My police verification at Junagarh Police station had happened successfully in March 2012, and I was waiting to get a call from Ramgarh police station as I had stayed in Ramgarh for 6 months from May-2012 upto Sept-2012 and in Junagarh for 6 months in the past 1 year from the application date.

3. After around 1 month, suddenly I received a 'missing note' from Junagarh police station, stating that I have to come to Junagarh Police station as my file has come there. I was surprised that why the file arrived again to the same police station, when my police verification was already completed by them few days back. I went to Junagarh police station, and asked the same question. Upon checking my file, they informed me, that they had already cleared my file in March 2012 itself, and the file seems to be sent by RPO Junagarh, by mistake to them, and it should have gone to Ramgarh Police Station. They informed me that now they shall send back my file to RPO Junagarh in 2-3 days, and from there it will go to Ramgarh Police Station.

4. I waited for 2 months, but I never received any call. In these 2 months, I visited Ramgarh police station 2 times but they said my file never came there. They advised to visit RPO Junagarh to inquire.

5. In the meantime, the status on the passport website changed from ‘Police report awaited’ to ‘Police report is adverse’. I was wondering what has gone wrong, while I had provided all the necessary documents in my passport application and also to the police, and what exactly is the meaning of an adverse report?

6. Hence I went to RPO Junagarh in May 2012, to inquire about the same, when I didn't receive my passport even after 3 months from application date. But I didn't get any satisfactory answer from RPO Junagarh, as to what was the problem, and how much more time it could take to get the passport reissued. They didn’t treat me properly, and avoided my questions, as what exactly is the meaning of an ADVERSE report?

7. Meanwhile, my employer company (CHACHA Consultancy Services) had transferred me from Juagarh to Belapur location. Hence I needed to leave my rented house in Junagarh and relocate to Belapur AND also, I was totally frustrated with this harassment of last 2-3 months.

8. Hence I requested them to return my passport back, so that I can apply again for the reissue, from Belapur.

9. At that time, Junagarh passport officer agreed and he asked me to write an application for the closure of the file giving the same reason, and I wrote the application and submitted the same to the passport officer. And I was returned my old passport with a 'canceled' stamp. 

10. I was told by the passport officer then, that I can reapply for reissue of my passport in Belapur, and there will not be any problem due to closing of file.

2^nd application, at Passport Seva Kendra, BELAPUR on 7^th Aug 2013, file no: ******

1. I had applied for reissue of my passport on 7^th August 2013 at Passport Seva Kendra, Belapur under TATKAL mode, as I required passport urgently for going to Europe for project work assignment as instructed by my employer Chacha Consultancy Services.

2. But I was told by the passport officer at Passport Seva Kendra, that in the database, it is showing that my file was closed and police report was adverse, and hence as per the rule, I am not allowed to apply under TATKAL mode and hence I was asked to submit the application in NORMAL mode. 

3. I submitted my application in NORMAL mode on the same day, by filling additional form for TATKAL to NORMAL conversion as advised by passport officer.

4. Upon submitting the application, they stamped the receipt, as ‘POLICY’ and the passport officer informed me, that my case has become a POLICY case and for all further processing will be done from RPO BELAPUR directly. Nobody explained me what does it mean by a 'POLICY' case, and till today I don't know what it means. 

5. After 10-15 days, my police verification happened successfully at Belapur police station and I was informed, that my police verification shall happen again in Junagarh, as my previous police report was adverse from my old, closed application.

6. Hence I used to travel to Junagarh, almost every weekend from Belapur, to inquire about my file, whether my file had reached to Junagarh police Station or not. And after 1 month of inquiring, finally I received a call from Junagarh Police station In September 2013, that my file had arrived for verification and I was asked to visit Police station for the same. 

7. I went there and my police verification at Police station, Junagarh happened successfully in September 2013, I provided them all the documents and they informed that everything is fine and they shall send back the report in 2-3 days to RPO Junagarh.

8. After this, at least I was satisfied that all the formalities have been completed this time, and I was hoping to receive my passport in a month or so. But unfortunately that never happened.

9. I inquired at RPO Belapur in November 2013 as to why I have not received my passport, and they informed me that they have received police verification report from Belapur police station, which is all clear and not adverse. But they have not received any report from Junagarh Police Station. 

10. And also they informed me that, they have sent a letter to Junagarh RPO dated 4^th November 2013, asking them the reason for the closure of my old application and they can proceed further to issue me a passport, only when they receive a response from Junagarh RPO.

11. I even wrote a letter to RPO Junagarh (Copy enclosed), on 10^th January 2014, explaining them about the closure of my old passport application, and asking about the letter from RPO Belapur, but didn't receive any response what so ever from RPO Junagarh. 

12. After this, I was feeling hopeless and helpless. I waited for almost 5-6 months, but I didn't receive any call or any written communication from RPO Belapur or RPO Junagarh, about the progress or status of my application.

13. After all this, I had no option but to lodge RTI application.

1^st RTI Application to RPO Junagarh, dated 2^nd May 2014:

14.  I sent my 1^st RTI application to RPO Junagarh dated 2^nd May 2014, asking for information about police verification report and the letter from RPO Belapur, along with a postal order of Rs. 10/-.
15. But I received a response from RPO Junagarh, dated 16^th May 2014, which I received only on 27^th May 2014, stating that I have not sent the application fee with my application! Hence no information was provided to me.

2^nd RTI Application to RPO Junagarh, dated 28^th May 2014:

16. Hence I sent another  RTI Application to RPO Junagarh, on 28^th May 2014, asking for all the information again, along with the reason why they took 10 days to send me their response to my 1^st RTI application, and also how they received my application but not the IPO of Rs. 10/- which was present in the same envelope. 

17. I received the response from RPO Junagarh, dated 11^th June, but received only on 16^th June 2014, not providing the information I had sought, but only the following information was provided: That they had sent the reply to RPO Belapur dated 22^th January 2014, conveying the status of my old passport application and also they sent another reply to RPO Belapur, on 29^th May 2014.

18. I had requested the written proofs and documents applicable to my questions in my RTI application, but nothing was provided to me except for the above mentioned information. 

1^st RTI Application to RPO Belapur, dated 7^th May 2014:

19. I sent my 1^st RTI Application to RPO Belapur, to get the information about my passport application and to know the progress made so far.

20. I received the response on 28^th May 2014, that they are awaiting the response from RPO Junagarh on my old file closure, and as soon as they receive the response they shall take the further action. 

21. I could not understand, if RPO Junagarh had already conveyed the response on 22^nd January 2014, about my old file status, to RPO Belapur, they why there was no further action from RPO Belapur side on my application even after 5 months, and what other response they are waiting for from RPO Junagarh?

22. Hence I decided to send my 2^nd RTI Application to RPO Belapur.

2^nd RTI Application to RPO Belapur, dated 18^th June 2014:

23. I sent 2^nd RTI Application to RPO Belapur on 18^th June 2014, asking about what action has been taken since they received the response from RPO Junagarh on 22^nd January 2014 with other details. 

24. I received no other information, and only the following was mentioned in the letter dated 16^th July 2014: They checked my file and found that file is not granted. My Police report is adverse and they asked me to visit RPO Belapur office for further process!

25. If all this was not enough, as if to frustrate me more, I received a reminder letter from RPO Belapur dated 1^st May 2014, stating that 'I have not visited Passport Seva Kendra, for processing of my application submitted through passport website. And the ARN and fee payment may be deemed as invalid if I don't visit PSK within 12 months of online fee payment dated 1^st August 2013!'

After all this, I am writing to you, because I can see, that after so many letters and inquiries, and so much of my time wasted in this, I have been provided no information at all from RPO Junagarh as well as RPO Belapur, and the only information they have given me is that 'my police report is adverse' and another information is, that 'my fee and ARN will be deemed invalid'!!! 

Even they don't know what is adverse in my report and why it is adverse? What crime have I made? Am I a gangster, am I a thief or a rioter, or a dacoit, that they are not reissuing me a new passport that I legally deserve as a law abiding Indian citizen?  I am being treated as a criminal and have been harassed for 3 years in this matter and still no action has been taken.

I request you to kindly look into this matter urgently and take necessary action, in order to issue me the passport.

Also, I request you to provide me all the information I have sought, in all the RTI applications I had sent to RPO Belapur & RPO Junagarh, with written documents/receipts.

I am ready to discuss with you, or any other officials at RPO Belapur, or RPO Junagarh, to understand what is the problem, and I can take a day off, at my office in order to meet and discuss.

I don't think, I am left with any patience and energy, anymore, to visit the RPO office Belapur once again, and to stand in the queue for 3-4 hours only to be told that my police report is adverse and I need to pay additional fine/fee and I need to furnish additional documents!

I am not ready to pay any other fee or fine, as I have already paid all the fee and I have already provided all the valid necessary documents required for reissue of my passport.

I am not sure, if this needs to be another RTI application, or simply a letter, hence I am also attaching an Indian Postal Order of Rs. 10/- with this letter.

I am enclosing the following copies of the documents with this letter:

1)       Old Passport copy

2)       Letter written to RPO Junagarh dated 10^th January 2014

3)       1^st RTI application sent to RPO Junagarh dated 2^nd May 2014

4)       Response from RPO Junagarh dated 16^th May 2014

5)       2^nd RTI Application sent to RPO Junagarh dated 28^th May 2014

6)       Response from RPO Junagarh dated 11^th June 2014

7)       1^st RTI Application sent to RPO Belapur, dated 7^th May 2014

8)       Response from RPO Belapur, dated 26^th May 2014

9)       2^nd RTI Application sent to RPO Belapur, dated 18^th June 2014

10)   Response from RPO Belapur, dated 16^th July 2014

11)   Reminder letter for submission of application at PSK

12)   Indian Postal Order No. __________dated __________for Rs.10/- favoring

“Chief passport officer” [payable at New Delhi]

You can contact me on my mobile number for any queries: +91 1234567890.  Please make a note of my current residential address:  

A2 – 502, Manoranjan Society,

Belapur - 420420

Yours Faithfully,                                                                                Place: Belapur               

Bholanath Hansmukh                                                                       Date: 5^th August 2014"

He literally wrote down this mammoth letter and indeed enclosed 12 attachments with that and dispatched via speed post. He also sent all this in an email too. The very next day, he got a mail wherein he was promised that passport shall be dispatched soon, and soon he got it. After sending the mail, he got his passport in 15 days!

Tour De Fort - GolKonda

I have been thinking to write something….on something….since long time…but had been delaying it for some reason or the other!  But today, after visiting an old place with lots of history, finally I couldn’t resist but to pick-up my pen and paper…oops….sorry….I meant my laptop and start typing! (We are in digital age now….gone are those good old days of writing on paper with a pen…and if it used be an ink pen…then that smell of ‘Camel’ ink and hands all blue!)  Am I sounding like an old nostalgic man….then I am afraid it won’t be any different as you read further…lots of history…lots of ‘good old days’ dialogues! But what to do…can’t help…sometimes I do feel I am born in wrong era!  :-)

I visited The Golkonda Fort today…around 10-11 km from Charminar, Hyderabad – The capital city of QutubShahi Kingdom some 450-500 years back. While on route, my cab driver said you can also visit the 7 Qutubshahi Tombs on the way to fort. The interesting thing about these QutubShahi Kings was that they used to start preparing for their resting place after death during their lifetime itself, by constructing these grand Tombs with a big Dome (Gumbaj)! So I first decided to see the tombs first, but upon reaching at the gate, found that it opens only after 9.30 am, so could see only one of the tombs, outside the main gate. But as soon as I saw these old monuments, immediately I was convinced that it’s going to be a great day ahead & I have come to the best place in Hyderabad, matching exactly with my taste and temperament.

So after taking few snaps of the tomb with my camera, I headed to the GolKonda fort with enthusiasm. The entry fee was some 30 odd Rupees including permission for camera. Here comes the character that made this tour memorable and interesting…Mr. Mazhar Khan the Guide! He told me that he and few other guides are here government appointed guides and showed his ‘official looking’ ID card to win my trust, and then gave a short snapshot of the proposed tour of Fort for free and asked if I am interested. I thought it won’t be a bad idea to have some company, rather than roaming around alone, so I agreed.

The guy was speaking in not very typical Hyderabadi Hindi…but nearly the same….was very courteous and not loud in the sense that he told all those interesting legend and stories associated with the fort, which we generally expect from a Guide, but not forcefully….probably was aware that not all of that is history. But then….as time passes…after so many centuries the line between history and legend can get blurred…and quite often history becomes legend…and legend turns into history!  (Well…now this isn’t me…I can’t recall from where I stole this phrase…probably from some Hollywood movie! :-) )  I had gone through a few websites about Golkonda fort’s history and I found that Mr Guide was quite accurate with the dates, such as the year Aurangzeb attacked this fort and won, and mostly all matching with the information on websites.   I will take you through this tour of fort, mostly with his entertaining stories and ofcourse with my observations:

So we start at the main gate – filled with iron spikes for protection, in case of an Elephant tried to break it down, while a soldier would be ready at the top, to pour boiling oil on that poor Elephant’s head!  A scene instantly gets created in my mind going back to those days of Kings and wars with Elephants and Horses, with swords and lances. A face to face war with such lethal weapons must be so cruel so ruthless, as compared to today’s wars with long distance missiles and automatic guns.

He told how the fort was surrounded by 10 km line of big outer wall (40 ft high), and then 3 more such protecting walls as we moved up the hill.  At the gate, information plate said the name of the fort as: ‘Bala Hissar’, he told this name of Fort is due to the fact that Qutubshahi Kings were originally from Persia (Today’s Iran), so it’s in Persian language.

Once we enter the gate, beautiful lawns make for a soothing sight, before the climbing steps.

He shows me there a heavy iron cube sort of object, of around 240 kg which he said even Salman Khan couldn’t lift when he came here for the shooting of Bollywood movie ‘Tere Naam’ and ‘Wanted’.  He claimed that this iron cube was used as a test for recruiting men for the King. If you can’t lift this up, then you must leave the fort and if you can, then you get the job!  And what that job would be:  Carrying such heavy items like stones, wood etc, climbing up the hill and building this majestic fort, for the KING!  What a life, what an era!

After this, I said to him, please don’t tell me about movie shootings and all, as I have hardly any interest in which celebrity came here and what they did, instead tell me whatever you can, about the history of this place! (I knew he wasn’t a scholar or a historian, but I also knew that still his stories would give me something better, than this crap Bollywood general knowledge!)

So we start moving up, he shows me the remains of King’s office or secretariat building wherein 2 Telugu officers named ‘Akanna and Madanna’ used to work for King. The building came to be known with same name.

Further up, he shows water tanks built to store and supply water upto the top of the hill. There were 3 such tanks as we moved up the hill and he told how the water used to be brought up in these tanks from a freshwater lake ‘Durgam Chevuru’ some 8-10 Km away. I was wondering how without any pumps and electricity, they used to achieve this bringing of water from so far to up at top of the hill, in those days?

He tried to explain how it was achieved through the underground pipelines made of stone or wood I don’t remember now, and then some mechanical pumping operation involving manually rotating a wheel/Charkha or something.  Boy… so much human labor was involved to build a fort like this and then making it livable!

Oh yeah…and another interesting example of engineering marvel of those days, which I forgot to mention was just after the main gate entrance, there is a dome and if you clap standing at the center, Mazhar claimed that you can hear that at the top of the hill.  This was the virtual telephone of those days, a warning system in case of an attack on the fort. He promised to show me this, once we reach the top, and he shall signal his colleague down at the dome to clap.

Then there was story of some ‘Ramdas’, who used to take care of tax collection for the King and was jailed by the King on charge of stealing from Royal Treasury, for 12 years in one of the chembers in the Fort. But he was such a devotee of Lord Rama, that it is said that the Lord himself appeared in King’s dream and cleared the misunderstanding about the money so the King released him! Since then he came to be known as ‘Bhakt Ramdas’.  Here the Guide was aware of ‘Samarth Ramdas’, the spiritual guru of Shivaji Maharaj, as he said to me…this Ramdas is different from that Ramdas of ‘your Shivaji’. 

Then he told about 2 court dancers named Taramati and Bhagmati, who used to dance in the royal court and King was too impressed by their beauty. He wanted to marry them, but both were Hindus, so he first converted them to Islam and then married them. Both were buried in their respective Tombs after their death. The old name for Hyderabad, that is ‘Bhagya Nagar’ was named after Bhagmati, as per Mr Mazhar, and not just that but the new name Hyderabad was because after converting to Islam, the King changed Bhagmati’s name to Hyder Begum! 

Since these QutubShahs were Shia Muslims whereas Mughals were Sunnis, Aurangzeb decided to destroy this kingdom and attacked Golkonda fort in around 1687 and finally won the battle after 8-9 months of siege. He captured the 7^th Qutubshah king and jailed him for 12 years or so in Aurangabad, wherein he took his last breathe. As mentioned before, that these Kings used to construct their Tomb, he too had started it, and it can still be seen half constructed at 7 Tombs area, with the dome at the top missing.

Aurangzeb, as usual demolished, damaged half of the fort buildings/courtyards and only because there was a mosque at the top, that saved at least some of the Fort from Aurangzeb’s wrath, for guys like me to visit today!

The Guide told me some other things like how the royal rooms for King and Queen used to be lighted, with series of diamonds on the walls and oil lamps, whose reflection from the diamond would light the whole room!

The King had his room at the 1^st floor and her Queen at the ground floor, and he could hear even a whisper from Queen’s room and all her plans of adultery or treachery if any!

The guide demonstrated the same, by whispering at one corner of the room wall, and I was able to hear it clearly standing at the diagonally opposite corner near a hole in the wall.   And he was right, when we reached top of the fort, his man down at the dome, clapped and I could hear that sound clearly.

Indeed these are the examples of engineering marvels of those times, when the modern science and machines were not there, they might not be aware of the formal scientific laws of physics and chemistry, but human beings found the ways to use the common sense and macro observations of life to their advantage.

By the time I descended down the hill, the Deccani Sun had started baking the very earth, so I had a glass full of sugarcane juice at ground zero and felt just great. Mr Mazhar’s few stories are recorded by me, but now I regret I didn’t record them all. I thanked him for giving me an entertaining company and he was happy to get an extra 100 bucks as tip. He made me aware that this is also an occupation that requires lot of hard work and at the same time wit to engage the customer. He and other guides like him, are the ones who are keeping the history (Or the Legend..?) of Golkonda alive!  :)

After visiting the 7 Tombs, I asked my cab driver to drop me at InOrbit Mall where I planned to watch a movie ‘Lakshmi’ by Nagesh Kukunoor. But about the movie….some other time.

Before visiting this Fort, when I had asked few of my local colleagues from office about it, they said there is nothing much, it is just full of rocks and walls! 

Well….for me it was a treasure…full of history…rich and eventful. These rocks and walls have witnessed rise and fall of Kingdoms, Kings…these rocks and walls tell you the long forgotten stories…I find them much more interesting than the same boring walls of a shopping Mall…the queue at the MacDonald…and the same pepsi and same Coke..and same Ranbeer Kapoor!  

But it was pathetic to see all the walls at the Fort and the Tombs ….with full of crap written by fools….it seems as if same standards are followed all over the country at least in this department – art of desecration and destruction! We, as a nation are so insensitive, so irresponsible towards preserving our history, our heritage while the West is so good at keeping their historical monuments in such good order that even 'nothing' is made to look like something majestic! I remember going to Urquhart Castle in Scotland, it was indeed same as my colleagues described Golkonda…’just rocks’ in the name of a castle, but it was well maintained and well publicized, well connected via roads and hence it is a famous spot for tourist in Scotland. Yet I must say, that GolKonda fort was well maintained as compared to other monuments I have seen so far in India – there was a comparatively cleaner toilet, there was less waste scattered around.  

Why as a society we live in such dirty places, why we clean our house and dump the waste either on the road or in neighbor's backyard! Why we urinate on roads, why we spit on roads, walls and everywhere, why we throw all sort of junk in our lakes, ponds, rivers...why are we making them a 'Nala'?

We learned a lot from West –  we learned how to speak fluent English, we learned how to wear a Tie and Suit, we learned how to eat a Burger, we learned how to drink, how to party but when we will learn cleanliness, neatness, discipline as social virtues and not personal? When we will learn about social responsibility and accountability?