Got up at 7.00am today and this day is so special because my two (yes TWO) lovely little ones are born today (one is 5 year old and other is two - Wah, what a planning sirji !!) – It was celebrated yesterday at Mahesh Lunch home with two close friends and family.. Was bit upset to get-up early after those late dinner with Pomfret Masala, Crab Chilli Fry and Appam (Off topic, but if anyone hasn’t tasted it yet, I can guarantee 100% satisfaction, go and try it)..Now why I had to get-up at 7.00AM today?
A Small Flashback:
My little girl’s passport is expiring on 27th March and I planned to renew it in Feb. Thanks to Privatisation and TCS, it is all online and USER FRIENDLY !!.. I was confused between Tatkal and Normal and did bit of R&D. Realised that, it is really waste of Rs. 2000 to go for Tatkal for kids since only advantage you get is, passport is delivered in 5-6 days instead of 3-4 days.. Unless you need to travel between 3-6 days, there is no point wasting the hard earned money... I started trying for a 15 min slot from early Feb and everytime I try, I get one of these ‘Exceeds maxm slots today’ OR ‘Today’s quota of 225/250 reached, please try from tomorrow 3PM’. I kept trying every day at different time after 3PM and no luck.. Then my IRCTC tatkal online booking experience reminded me of FAST and Super consumer friendly online portals.. By this time, I already reached March and was getting nervous (nothing will happen even if passport expires, but it was too much of a personal insult for me who considers myself a thorough planner !!).. One day I logged in before 3PM and reached slot booking page by 3.04pm, then got classic IE message ‘Page can not be found’ !!.. Next day, I logged in at 3.00PM, and went to the page displaying available slots.. I might have taken 5-10 seconds to decide the slot, then it displayed ‘Your preferred slot is already booked by someone else.. try again’.. It reminded me of my Java interview days of multithreading and locking !!!!.. Third time on Friday 8th at 3PM, I went to the page of available slots and got a slot at 9.45AM on 11th. Clicked on submit and waited for 20 min to get the confirmation.. But IE was still working on it.. I logged out and logged in and to my surprise, slot was booked !! I thought twice since it is my two little one’s Bday on 11th, but decided to go for it to avoid the pain of going through my 3PM daily routine.. So finally, I GOT A SLOT even if it is toooo early for me !!
Now again back to 11th March 7AM..
Flashback is over, now you know why I got up at 7AM.. Idea was to go with wife and Neha (little princess) and drop them at passport seva Kendra so that I can go to office at my normal time of 10-10.30AM.. Since I don’t have Indian passport, I knew someone will raise a technical issue and it is always safe to take your INDIAN wife with you.. But, around 8AM, she asked me a million dollar question ‘Why should I come??’.. My logical sense prevailed past experience for some reason.. I told her, I will go with Neha, you don’t need to come.. But sign application forms as applicant parent so that, I am covered for all technical issues.. So finally, I managed to tackle all Mumbai traffic for 30 min and reached my destination – Passport Seva Kendra – which was just 3 KM away from my place. If you are doubting my driving skills, you are wrong, I will write about Mumbai traffic some other time !!..
I reached there at 9.35am and to my surprise, there was a big queue and close to 200 odd people in spite of opening time of 9.30AM. Then came my true Indian spirit, I directly walked to the gate (bypassing such a big queue) with a view that, I have an appointment and I got in without standing in the queue – Later I realised that, those 200-250 folks started their day very early around 4-5AM to get a walk-in slot since that counter is only open from 9.30 to 10.30 (there are many other conspiracy theories with agents standing in the queue for a token amount etc) .. You enter into TCS managed counter ‘NO NAME’ (TCS owns the computerisation and initial check at PSK) and there are five lines to your left and another 200 people inside already !!!.. Which queue to go, no one knows.. You keep asking people standing in these queues to realise, they are also figuring it out !!.. Finally I realised that, first two Qs are for fresh passport, 3rd one is renewal, 4th one is for Senior Citizens and Infants with less than 1 year old,5th one is Tatkal.. What is the rule behind less than 1 year? Govt expects all the mothers to stop feeding at 1 year?? – My common sense says, it needs to be for all with kids less than 5 years or bare minm 2 years.. Another question is, why don’t you keep a sign board about each queue so that, everyone knows what type of application is accepted in each counter?.. Finally I managed to reach the assistant around 10.45AM and realised, they also need second page of passport which is empty anyway. Then you go to a photo copy counter where you see a queue of around 15 standing near the counter as if like a big accident happened and all need to help. People keep coming to photo copy counter and take their Xerox and you keep watching the fun and keep standing in the queue... After 15 min, you finally get your empty page Xerox copy and feeling is like you just passed your 10th Exam and now ready to go to college !!!.. Reached counter AGAIN and She looked at my passport and once she realised that it is not Indian, she said only mother’s passport will do.. She gave me a token and slip and it is written, you go to AàBàC (Arrows were definitely not bi-directional !!) . All these are different counters and my token for counter A was called out after 10 min.. Woww.. Privatisation ki Jai – I am so proud of Indian Govt and what they have done.. But my happiness was short-lived. I am greeted by a TCS personnel at counter A18 and he had the sense to realise, it is Neha’s Bday and he wished her, scanned all docs, took a photo, took her all finger impressions.. I had all documents with me including my UK passport and OCI (Overseas Citizen of India – MEA site says, with that OCI card, I get all benefits like a NRE/Indian except a) I can’t contest in elections b) Can’t buy an agricultural land).. TCS personel completed all formalities and I proudly signed on application form since I am her father (EITHER of parent needs to sign – It doesn’t say Parent needs to be India Citizen) and it is written on my wife’s passport that I am her husband even if I am a UK citizen. There are 20+ TCS employees serving Counter A and I still don’t understand why only 4 people to verify the documents and issue the token (which takes more time - some people say, they get a bunch of applications from agents and are processing it parallel !!!! - and hall is smaller) for the same crowd !!... But I once again thanked privatisation and he directed me to counter B.. That is where our Passport officers (Govt Employees) sit and I had to wait around 1.5hrs there and finally my turn came in.. Then I realized my limitations in India as UK citizen even if I had an OCI card and my wife had an Indian passport. Passport officer at counter B wants to see kid’s mother.. He doesn’t (or he was not supposed to use common sense as per Govt Ministry) trust my OCI card (issued by same department), my UK passport and my name on wife’s passport.. My first question is, I had gone through two TCS counters already who verified all docs and completed all formalities, why didn’t they know mother with Indian passport is MANDATORY for renewing kids passport?. I did ask them couple times and they said, not required. It is already 1.30PM and I already lost half day.. It starts from scratch again !!.. Luckily I live just 3KM (30min Car drive) away from PSK and auto takes only 20 min to reach J.. Luckily for me, elder son’s school is till 1.30PM only and my mom lives with me to take care of younger son who just turned 2 today !!!.. My wife reaches PSK at 2PM and made her best effort to enter by trying to convince them telling the story.. But, you know what happened.. She lost the battle and she called me.. So, I wanted to get out of A/B counter to get her in and security there needs a letter from B counter.. I went back to the counter then realised that, it is official lunch time in India (1.30 to 2.30), and all of them go together for lunch so that they can have ‘fun’ at work and share the curries/Chapatis.. They don’t bother there are 500+ people waiting to finishing this crap and there is only a small counter like PAN Masala counter serving sandwich and tea !!.. Did anyone say we had to carry our lunch to PSK??.. I sent a note to my boss and colleagues saying, I won’t be able to make it to office since I am in PSK – I got 2-3 replies wishing me ‘All the best’/’Take Care’ !!!.. As an Indian, I got relieved little bit, I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE !!! :-)
Lunch is over, finally at 2.30pm, I reach the B counter AGAIN with my wife and he verified everything and asked me to go to counter A and get the new application form (signed by my Indian Wife) uploaded – Only question I have is, why couldn’t I do it while he was having fun at lunch (could have saved 30-45min – who cares !). Anyway, I go back to counter A AGAIN (2nd time) and get new application form uploaded !!!... Wait for automated token system to display my lucky token (this process of wait is repeated every time I need to go between A and B.. That is how thw work flow WORKS !) and go to counter B AGAIN (3rd time)... He completed everything (it looked like) and asked me to wait for my turn for counter C.. I waited for 5 min and got a call from Counter B AGAIN (4th time) saying, TCS personel at Counter A didn’t upload last page of application.. so, go to Counter A AGAIN (3rd time).. I go there and she says, Counter B person needs to put it back to her queue and it is not done yet !!.. She politely asked me to go to Counter B AGAIN (5th time) and explain him the problem.. He started telling me how messed up the system is, he did everything and nothing pending from his part.. But being a technologist and developed/worked on similar automated work flow system, I trusted technology and peeped in to his monitor (My messaging middleware support days helped me) – there were five options and one of them says ‘Modification required YES/NO and send back to previous’.. He had NO there and I could realise it in seconds.. I politely told him that is the issue and why don’t you do it.. He said, I WILL DO IT AGAIN (he was convinced he did once, but he didn’t) and asked me to go to counter A AGAIN (4th time)...If anyone is wondering how far is Counter A and B, it is around 20-30 meters.. But I need to pass a human road with 10+ excuses to reach other counter and it takes around 5 min to reach 30 meters.. First time, I started appreciating Mumbai traffic - It is really fast !!.. I reached counter A and this time, I was greeted by the person who verified my application first time (NO NAME counter) and confirmed I can apply for my daughter and wife is not required. I didn’t complain to her.. Looks like she is one of the seniors out there and she looked at who serviced me first time in counter A (she doesn’t have f***ing clue that I am coming back 4th time because of her!!) and told him, it is his mistake and he didn’t scan it properly.. I corrected her (being a manager, I hate people pointing/blaming someone for no reason and first person at Counter A was best among all people I met even if he didn’t know my wife is required for this application) saying, it is not his fault, it was done my someone whom I met second time in Counter A. Finally I am at counter B AGAIN (6th time) and he completed everything and asked me to wait for counter C.
It was around 3.30PM and I thought my turn will come soon since I started the saga at 9.45AM in the first counter.. But, later I realized it is not FIFO (for my non-tech friends, it is First In First Out).. Finally I reached counter C at 5PM and he asks ‘ Where is your UK passport’ !!! – I said, you don’t need it and if you need I can give it, then he started blaming TCS.. I explained the pain I had gone through in 10-20 seconds (very politely without raising my voice – Thanks to parish priest who preached about self control 2 weeks back. Without that preaching, I or someone at PSK would have been in Jail !!) and one of his colleague had different reason for this mess – He said ‘tell the ministry, they are doing all this’.. I told him, I don’t have the reach to ministry, but you are supposed/responsible to give this feedback and make it better. There is no point blaming ministry, you can make it better.. He gave me a LOOK !!! At last, at exit point, TCS person gave me wrong receipt and security told me that, it was my FAULT to accept wrong receipt !!.. I had a sarcastic smile on my face and she asked me why.. I said, Thank you for everything and I don’t have any more time to waste.. I skipped my breakfast to reach PSK on time and ended up skipping lunch and reached home at 5.45PM.. Asked Leena to make an omlette and had my first meal at 6PM..
I had to write this long story to vent my frustration (more than frustration, I am hurt and feel like insulted by the system). Didn’t want to shout at kids/wife/mom (had enough in the past and I am trying to change).
If any of you still haven’t got the sarcasm, please read MEA/PSK VISION – This is written all over the place in PSK !
‘To deliver Passport Services to Citizens in a TIMELY, TRANSPARENT, MORE ACCESSIBLE, RELIABE manner and in a COMFORTABLE ENVIRONMENT (More laugh here !) through Stream lined Process and committed, trained and motivated workforce’ J JJ
If you want to laugh more.. See the pic, this is what PSK think about a customer and it is an insult to Gandiji !! (I was reminded by a TCS employee that, photography is not allowed inside the office - Why?? Anything confidential there?)
If I expand this story with couple of characters I met today (some of them mentioned below), I am sure I can make an interesting book/movie with the help of someone (Chetan Bhagwat !!)..
- TCS head known as JPK (one of his employee said, he doesn’t know the real name, but he is a big shot known as JPK !!! – SRK came to my mind.. I tried to enter to his cabin twice and he was busy watching NDTV !! , so didn’t disturb him.. I am sure he is getting a very good salary and he needs it for his survival (Else, he won’t be doing this shameless job).. I would request him to look at his payslip and ask ‘Am I doing justice to it?’.. He may say, TCS is doing great and delay is because of Govt employees.. But, May I ask you sir, what did you do to change it?
- MEA person (didn’t meet him), but have seen his posh cabin and came to know he comes there once in a month – For what sir??
- A well educated and gentleman look person who shamelessly threw his tea cup under his seat thinking none noticed it !!
- A bunch of shameless people who didn’t even have the courtesy to look at ladies with small kids looking for a seat
- A TCS junior employee who listened to all my sarcastic comments and explained me process without shouting at me !
- TCS team lead who is waiting for a chance to dig at one of her employee
- Govt employees in the counter B who thinks TCS is waste and they don’t know anything.
- A 50+ aged Govt employee in counter C who had the patience to hear all my pain (which I explained to him in 10-20 sec) and still thinks, it is not his problem and TCS should listen to me !
- MEA person who made a rule that, I still need to go through police verification (post passport issue, but pain for me is same) even if they had put me through this pain 2 months back for same address for my wife’s passport. I had to spend couple of days chasing policemen (I had all documents ready) to get it released from there !
- Staff at Counter B/APO who was making every effort after 4PM to close all pending ones.. How does he do it? He keep shouting the token numbers and wait for 10-20 seconds and ask them to cancel the token if someone didn't shout back !!.. What an idea sirji !!.. You don't even bother to wait for a min when customer was waiting for hours to get their lucky token displayed on magic screen !!
- A middle class men who didn't bother too much about sacrificing 500 Rs to photocopy counter when he was insisting on 2 Rs change
My only prayer/hope is, May God give me enough patience to go through days like this !!! – Just remember that, all this pain is for a paid service.. When I think about applying for AADHAAR (which is a free service), I go crazy !
If any of the characters mentioned above feel bad or think I am wrong or think I can make recommendations/suggestions or help, I am happy to help (jees_l@yahoo.com) – but no apologies please..
It is a classic example, where technology with right intent also can actually cause adverse effect when implementors do not have the motivation, commitment and right skills !!.. I have two choices a) Go back to UK b) To enter in to Indian politics with a belief that, I can clean this - atleast make an effort. I would strongly suggest to all ministers (state and Centre) to spend 1 hour in each offices under them and take action there itself to clean this.. You don't need to go to Lok Sabha or create new legislations, just spend an hour at one office per day !!
If you are still wondering why I had to go to passport office and spend a day:
- All I needed was to renew my daughter's passport and I had all details filled online and I knew the three documents required for it. In good old days, it used to take me 5 min to go to post office and send the docs. Can I get old process back???
Some people gave a suggestion that I should give my free tips to improve this system (they think this will be read by people concerned and things could change - I could ask them how long you have been voting for different parties !!, but)..
Tips/Actions without any extra money:
1) Put a sign board in 'NO NAME' counter which clearly says which queue is for Fresh and which is for renewal
2) Renewal applications are straight forward/easy, make the work flow simpler for them
3) Move 5 TCS employees from Counter A to 'No Name' Counter so that, there is balance between two counters for same traffic - After all, customer expereince is all about end to end
4) Either have a photocopy machine with each counter or add one more photo copy counter
5) Have a proper canteen - Serve some basis lunch (rice and daal should do)
6) Like senior citizens, give priority to applications for kids (it is not fun spending a day with 0-10 year kid in this office)
7) Train each employee AGAIN and AGAIN (stretched objectives after office hours)
8) Change the Canteen fellow and install 6 Rs Chaiwala counter. That is better than 25Rs coffee I had. Reminded me of a mallu movie dialogue - "Just realised that, a chai/coffeed could be this bad"
9) Review the TCS contract and we really need to pay for 25 employees they have put up there?
10) Make sure the MEA personnel make at least one improvement a week/month and his salary should be based on that
11) Do a time checker on what TCS head do every day and you can put him to first counter and he can watch NDTV after office hours !
12) Why you need counter B and C. Same checking process happens at C. Why don't we scrap one counter ?
13) Make sure all walk-in appoitments are distributed throughout the day - Don't allow all 250 to enter at 9.30 and 9.30AM appointment person needs to wait in a 200+ long queue !
14) Allow a drop box facility in these centres so that, we can drop our application there !
You can charge another 100/200 Rs extra and do below:
1) Employ another 10 Govt employees in this office (counter B and C). If you don't want to do this, reduce TCS employees and save money !!!
2) Give a tender to start a one day picnic entertainment in this centre with restaurants, amusement park, swimming pool, bar counter etc.. I am sure, that will be most successful business in India - I am interested to run it !
