Chp 457. You know what I did last month

It's been exactly a month since I decided to stop trying to apply for a passport from Mumbai and flew straight home to Aizawl and start my application from scratch using my home address for all documentations. 16th June 2013 I flew home with a heavy heart. And as of today, 16th July 2013, I have achieved the following -

- got my new Voter's ID card

- got my new birth certificate

- got my new driving license

- got my new ST certificate

- got my updated residential certificate

(Trust me, all the above require a lot of additional documents in order to be processed)

- got a joint bank account made with my mom's account

- got copies of past one month water bill from PHE office

- got copies of past one month electricity bill from P&E office

- got affidavits stating Vanlalruatkima, Vanlal Ruatkima and V.L.Ruatkima are the same person

- got six other affidavits for other various reasons

- got police verification certificate from Dr. Franklin, DC of Aizawl

- got second police verification from the SP of Aizawl himself

- got special request letter addressed to head of RPO, Guwahati

- flew down to Guwahati

- applied for tatkaal passport at PSK the next day with RPO letter

- after a long wait at counter A, B and C, they finally accepted my application

- flew back to Aizawl

- passport arrived in a week!

- since it’s tatkaal, police verification to SP and CID arrived 2 days later

- personally went and pushed them to hurry up with the verifications :)

- CID understood my situation, they verified me in half a day

- they handed me their verification in a sealed envelope

- SP office too understood, gave me my Police Station verification form

- ran to Bawngkawn Police Station, requested them to hurry too

- Bawngkawn Police Station investigated me and finally verified me

- ran back to SP office with the Bawngkawn PS verification

- SP office handed me their verification in a sealed envelope

- flew down to Guwahati the next day with both CID and SP sealed envelopes

- filled more forms and Xerox copies
- submitted the two verifications at Guwahati RPO the next day

- got my Police Clearance Certificate the next day, stamped on my passport

- went for medical checkup the same day, did ECG, HIV test and Hep-B test

- got my results the next day, woohoooo I’m HIV negative :P 
- got my medical clearance certificate

- flew back to Aizawl the next day

- got my health insurance, required for the Visa application

- it was a wrong insurance, so next day got a TRAVEL Health Insurance

- finally submitted all my documents and applied for a Visa

- now I am finally relaxing, waiting for my Visa appointment

- in between all these, three of my neighbors (u Ziaka, Pa Zahlira and u Chama’s mum) passed away, may their souls rest in peace, and is traditional, I tlaivar’ed on all three nights and spent time at their houses. And of course there were also the “we haven’t seen you in a long time, let’s have a dinner party” occasions, playing regularly with a local basketball team I’m currently co-sponsoring, and many other family commitments.

So looking back now, I can’t freaking believe it’s been just a month since I packed my bags for Aizawl. It felt like at least three months. My friends lauded me for achieving the impossible.

Hmmm… well, time is indeed running out for my Start-Up Chile program, and even if I don’t receive my Visa in time and have to forfeit my participation, I must say I am still proud of what I managed to achieve in just a month’s time.

Once again, a big thanks to Muanpuii Saiawi for putting a good word for me at Guwahati RPO, and to all my family and friends who helped me along the way. The best part is, I managed to push most of the people without pulling any strings because as Dr. Franklin advised me “Influence hian limit a nei ve a, a bak chu nangmah a i zu in hai chawp a ngai ang” (There’s a limit to the number of things you can get done through family and political influence, you’ll have to struggle on your own for most of the part).

And I did just that. At most of the offices, I mentioned the reason why I was going to Chile and it felt really good to see them, strangers, feeling proud of my achievements and hence putting my papers on the highest priority. The Mizo connection I guess.

Right now, I don’t know if I will be going straight to Delhi directly or first get back to Mumbai, it all depends on my Visa appointment date, but whatever be it, I will be bidding goodbye to Mizoram until I come back from Chile (IF I DO get to go to Chile). So here’s to all the great moments experienced in the past one month. Love you Mizoram. Cheers.