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
- 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
- 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.
