My experiences at the Passport Office

I just read the status update for a friend of mine on Facebook with said that she's tired of running for her Passport. In her words, 

" I dont know why to run for these things in our country when it is a basic right of every Indian citizen..."

This reminded me of the tough time I have had just a few months back. It is really a difficult task to get anything done which involves 'others'. Just thought of sharing my experiences at the Lucknow Passport office, from march through may.

1)The simple task of getting my Spouse's name added to the Passport

After doing a lot of research on the Internet, my husband and I went to the Lucknow Passport office. The information on internet said that my husband's passport would be required and because he had to leave in a week's time we rushed to Lucknow. Somebody in the office said that a new passport would be issued. The blood stopped running in our veins because we knew that it would mean an infinite waiting period. Luckily, that was just a piece of information from a person who knew nothing!! The passport was returned to me on the same day, within a few hours with my husband's name stamped on it. A marriage certificate was all that was required. Happy Ending!!

2) A couple of weeks later we realized that my last name was not printed where it was supposed to be instead it was printed along with the first name, leaving the last name field blank!!

Now this was the real task!! A lot of time was spent on the internet again to gather some information. Every page had a different set of do's and dont's. I went back to the Passport Office and came back with an algorithm with a lot of 'if' conditions. 

Tool 1: Money!!

This was of no help because it would just help me get things done but a fast result could not be guaranteed and waiting was not an option for me. As it is, I was dying to be with my husband ;)

Tool 2: Source, 'jugaad'!!

This worked and I directly landed up in the Regional Passport Officer's office. Thanks to the three letters that stand before my grand father's name I.A.S. The Officer was kind enough to hear my problem and said that it would be done within 2 days. At the end of the 48 hours wait when I got my passport... with the proper first name and last name... my Spouse's name was missing...BOOM!! 

After another 24 hours and a zillion reviews of the passport... my case was finally CLOSED and the passport got stamped for Visa. Here, I am with my husband!!