How I got my International Driving Permit

In August 2015 when I came back to India, I had few things in mind. One was to get an International driving license so that when I go back to complete my Erasmus+ semester in Austria, I would be able to drive there by myself.

I have my Indian driving licence for light motor vehicles (LMV) issued by Regional Transport Office, Pune. I was under the impression that RTO issues separate international driving license if you want it to be used outside India. However, this is not entirely true. They issue a permit - more like a separate booklet which states that you are an eligible driver in most of the principal languages in the world. Honestly it was kind of a turn off when I first saw that ugly looking permit. It seemed that it was printed in government press run inside the Yerawada central prison. Nevertheless, it was going to serve an important purpose - letting me drive on serene Austrian landscape and limitless German Autobahns.

How to Apply -
If you have a valid license already, getting international driving permit is not a big deal. In Pune RTO it's a hassle of 1 day.. Technically.
The information desk in the RTO mentions that if you have your documents ready, you can have the permit within one working day. However, the clerks do not surprise you making sure that it will take a week. So, remember, apply at least 10 days before your scheduled departure.

Information regrading the IDP on the automated help desk at the Pune RTO

To apply for the permit you will need -

1. Form for IDP which you can get inside the RTO premises for free or from the Xerox shop at Rs.5.
2. Four photographs.
3. Photocopy of your existing driving licence.
4. Photocopy of your Passport's first and last page.
5. Photocopy of Visa page.
6. Medical certificate from MBBS doctor stating you are healthy and in condition to drive/ operate heavy machinery. (It's not mentioned on the info desk, but they asked for it when I went there to verify the documents.)
7. Rs. 500 as processing fees.

Receipt I got from RTO office.

Once you complete the form and have the documents, you will have to get it assessed personally by a senior police officer in the RTO office block C, who will assess the application. He might ask you few questions. The officer who asked me questions was strict but when he heard that I am doing my masters, softened his tone and signed the application without any problem. Depending on the rush on that day, you may have to wait upto 30-40 minutes in the queue. Better go early in the morning.

Then I went to the pay the processing fees and finally submitted my signed application and the payment receipt to a clerk in the same block C of the RTO office. He asked me to come after 7 days. He gave me receipt which I should bring the next time I come in the office. I politely asked that the info center has mentioned that the permit can be collected in a single working day to which he indifferently replied that I had to come 7 days later. I didn't argue. I rationalized it with the thought that these guys must have hundreds of applications every day.



Things to notice -
A. International driving permit has validity for 1 year. Make sure that you have your license validity for the entire period of your stay abroad. If your license is expiring in next 6 months they will allocate the permit for only 6 months not the whole year. In my case I have LMV type or license. It was expiring in Feb 2016. So, I got permit till that only.

Inside of the IDP

B. There are many agents outside the RTO who will gather around you. No need to go to anyone. This is fairly easy process and you can do it yourself. The officer who signed my application was very rude to the agents. He seemed like an honest man and even scolded some agents there.

C. The processing fee payment counter closes at 2.30 PM. So, it's better you go in the morning. Get the documents verified and pay the fees. I missed this time once and had to come the next day.

D. Depending on which region of India you are applying for the IDP, the required documents list might change a bit. So, get additional information beforehand. Check sources like Quora or website of the RTO in your state.

Hacks - 
To get a medical certificate from MBBS doctor it might cost you Rs.100-300. I saved the hassle by attaching the medical copy which I had acquired at the time of my admissions. Be creative.

Conclusion-
It's fairly easy to get International Driving Permit which is good for short stays at abroad (Upto 1 year). I got my permit however I am still waiting to experience my first drive here in Austria. I hope the day will come soon enough.

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How I got my Grandma a Passport

First post on this blog. Let me start off this blog by sharing the story of How I got my Grandma's passport.

Some background story..

My maternal grandmother has always been fond of travelling. I could see it on her face when she started watching the discovery channel. Around 40 years ago she had a chance to travel all over India with the lady she was serving. The woman was one of the influential lady of the Sarda family of Nashik where my grandma was working. Initially she worked in the factory, but later she was given a job as a personal maid for the lady of this wealthy family. She was among the numerous other servants in the home of Sardas and her task was to take care of the old lady.

The old lady of the Sardas did pilgrimage once and my grandma got to travel with her. She traveled in Kashmir, Panjab, Rajasthan, UP, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, West Bengal with this lady and these travels became her memories of lifetime. Coming from a modest family, it surely was a luxury for her.

Not until the late stages of her life when my mother started her own career she got the chance to revisit some of these places again. Throughout  my childhood, I grew up listening to her tales of those travels and I noticed her forgetting herself in that nostalgia when she fondly recalled those memories while watching the places again on TV whenever she saw it again.

I have this dream of taking my grandmother on Europe tour. I want to see her face when she travels abroad and have similar feelings she might have had when she experienced those strange places in India.

There are couple of factors between that dream and reality. Around 8 years ago, none of our family members had passport. Nobody had traveled abroad. I was just starting my career after bachelors in Engineering and so was my sister. My mother and father never felt the need of having a passport. It started with my passport and then my sister's and finally my mother and father's. Eventually they all traveled abroad for some or the other reason and I got my chance too. That passport and visa story is matter of another post. 

My grandma however, never had the passport and hasn't traveled abroad yet. She is old.. so old that no one knows her actual date of birth. She just remembers vaguely that she was very young at the time Mahatma Gandhi died. No documented proof of the birth whatsoever. This was the first problem. 

When I first had this idea of getting her a passport I was aware of one way to have her birth document as to go to municipal office and get it done. But no one had the need back then. If the youngsters of the family are not going abroad yet, why would someone ask the old granny?

In 2015, that old bug started carving my mind again. I was in Poland and I thought that let's get at least passport. A step at a time. When I came for summer break, I started the procedure. I asked mother and she said yes. But she was skeptical whether a person as old as my grandma can make it to abroad this age or whether they will ever approve her visa. But I convinced her that we should get her passport first, that's the essential.. everything comes later. My point was backed by my sister too who said that there are so many Patel grannies in New York even older than my grandmother.

From thought to reality.

Stage 1

So, I confirmed by calling the passport office customer service and their detailed website (yes, Passport office of India has a kick-ass service from past few years.[1] But the reminiscence of earlier red tape doesn't fade away so easily.)

So according to them, what was needed for my Grandma to have her first ever passport -
1. Birth Date proof.
2. Proof of residence.
3. Photo ID

The Problems -
For 2 - Proof of residence, the problem was that she has been living with her daughter since my grandpa passed away back in 1988 I think.. long time. So, we couldn't just produce electricity bills which have my mother's name. So, I decided to use her bank passbook. Fortunately she has account with nationalized bank where she receives her pension every month. So I checked. It had old address on it.. darn it.

For 3 - Photo ID
We had her Electoral card. So, this was good.
We could also use her bank passbook which was allowed as Photo ID if it is a nationalized bank which is the case for my grandma.

For 1 - Birth date proof
They suggested that they would need only an affidavit stating her date of birth and signature or in her case her thumb impressions. As it turned out, for illiterate applicants who are born before 1988, they can submit a sworn affidavit. So, this was good too. I got this affidavit done just few minutes before the appointment in front of Pune passport office. It was easy. You pay Rs.350 and it's done in 10 minutes.

The solutions -
For 2 - Proof of Residence.
We took her to the Nationalized bank first. Applied for the address change. Attached the electoral card and ration card xerox as proof. Surprisingly, they said that they would give the new passbook at the same time. We waited for a while, and indeed even if the regular working time was over they returned the new passbook with new address and photo of my Grandma. Win for the day.

Anticipating that the passport office might need more than one supporting document, I also started the procedure to get ADHAAR card for my Grandma. It took 7 days, but comparatively it was very easy to get. But still before I knew it was easy, I had to make a couple of trips to the registration office and it was quite frustrating. This should be another post - How I got my Adhar Card.

So, I was ready now. I checked the Passport site. I completed the personal data form which I had saved time to time. Appointments were available in next few days. Another surprise. Just few months ago, if you were to take appointments, you had to wait for at least a month for normal appointment. Tatkal on the other hand gets you next day appointment but it costs almost double. So, I took the appointment of few days later. Just to be safe.

Day of Appointment-
14th September 2015
I got all the documents xeroxed. I had the copy of the appointment confirmation. Went to the affidavit shop (yes it's true) in front of the passport office and got the affidavit for date of birth. The appointment was 10.30 AM. So I went to the gate, the sentry there looked at the appointment confirmation and said that it wasn't that. What they needed was another print with a barcode on it. Duh.. I crossed the road again went to one of the affidavit shop, paid Rs.20 to get the appointment confirmation printed from my account on Passport.gov.

Came back to the gates holding hand of my grandma. The sentry checked the appointment print. He looked convinced. Asked for my ID. For old and illiterates it is allowed for one blood relative to accompany them inside the passport office. He asked who was I as my surname is different than my Grandma. I said I was her grandson.. she is my maternal grandma. He said she should have come with her son.. in a bit agitated voice I said that "she doesn't have one". He nodded his head and let us go inside. The same process again at the office entrance.

The passport office had three layers.
First- pre-check documents.
Second- photograph, fees collection and data entry, documents scan.
Third - Documents check from passport officers.

I asked my grandma to wait at a corner and I stood in the queue. They have many counters to precheck the documents After waiting for 10 minutes, the lady said that I should have brought death certificate of my Grandpa. WHAT? they didn't mention it anywhere on the site.. at least not to my knowledge.. She said it's necessary for a widow. But still she let me pass to the second stage.

   

The waiting in the senior citizen section was next to none so I straight went to the second counter.
The lady there asked me to confirm the details that I had filled online. She took Grandma's photograph in couple of attempts. The bio-metric took a bit long as grandma's palm have too many wrinkles and cracks which made the scanning difficult. She scanned all the documents one by one and asked for the death certificate.. I said that I didn't have and she just chuckled and took the processing fees of Rs.1500. "You should have brought the death certificate" she whispered while we left the booth.

I got this ominous feeling that today is not the day.. but still I was hopeful. I went to third and last counter. The familiar government officer face indifferently said that everything was fine, but they need the death certificate. On one side I was happy that every other document, including the much concerned birth date affidavit worked but on the other hand, the red tape devil still had me.
I asked very politely that my grandpa died more than 20 years ago and we don't have it. I also asked if pension document can do the job.. and he said no. An old lady in front of him expecting her passport didn't move him a single bit. He gave me next appointment date of 15 days later.

I came out frustrated. In this state of the art facility, some things haven't changed yet. I said to myself.
Grandma asked if it was done.. I explained her what we missed. She nodded her head and we came back home.

Stage 2

I called my mother and asked if we have the death certificate. She said yes.. So, there was ray of hope after all.
In the evening, I and my mother dug up the old documents. In the pile of rusty old court case papers we searched and searched. As it turned out, she had the xerox copy of the death certificate. It wasn't going to be enough. We found old photographs, old post cards.. my mother turned nostalgic filled with her childhood memories when she read the postcards from her father. Told me the story how she had to fight with her step mother and brothers to get righteous share for my grandma. It's a tale of sorrow, determination and patience.. I am proud of my mother for what she did for her mother.

Pondering on how to complete this task of getting my grandma her passport, she suggested that we could it from the Grampanchayat of the village where my Grandma spent most of her life, where my grandpa died. My mother has her cousins in the village and the next day I called my cousin Vishal, son of my grandma's other daughter. Vishal said that he would get it done. I gave him xerox copy of the death certificate. Thanks to him and my uncles in that village, we got the original one after few days.

Meanwhile, I was leaving to Austria to complete my second semester. So I asked my mother and Rupa to get it done in the second appointment.

On 28th September, Rupa took my grandma again to the passport office and showed the death certificate. Finally they accepted the passport application. Win for the day!

Stage 3

The passport application was processed in few days and the police verification was initiated.
Rupa had to handle all those things as she had to go to the Police station 3 times with my grandma.
The police needed the birthday affidavit. Thank god I had taken photographs of it before submitting in the passport office. Otherwise they would have forced us to get it new.

Conclusion -

Today is 7th November. I got confirmation on my mail that the passport has been dispatched by speed post. One more hurdle to cross as sometimes the Postman miss to deliver it on address. As I was completing this post, I got news from home. They received the passport. It took us long, but finally we have done it!

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1. The reforms started back in Congress government.. I felt compelled to mention this as people these days have unhealthy habit of attributing everything good happening in India to the new Modi government. I am a Modi bhakt too but please, facts are facts.