D-day, monday morning, and we were running late. Finally, asked Dad to drop us to the office. We were there by about 8:45am. First, we milled about in the front for about 2-3 minutes before realising we needed a token to get in, and that window was at the back of the building. Rush to the back and 2 lines, one for Tatkal, one for General. We had been advised to take General, but since the Tatkal line looked short, hubby stood there and I stood in General. Then hubby called me to Tatkal and pointed out the reason. On a board was written Token no. 1-30 for Tatkal and 1-100 for General would be given entry at 10am. Ah thats the reason! However, since there were fewer than 30 people in Tatkal in front of us we remained there after some juggling of lines and phone discussion with our agent. Cold winds, about 9am. The counter would open at 9:30am. I realised some of the people in queue had lined up since 7:45am, maybe even earlier!! Gosh! Shivering in the line we all waited for the window to go up.
While waiting, hubby started milling around. Suddenly he came back, whether spurred by something he had seen, or simple recollection - I didn't ask - We've forgotten the covering letter. I sighed. No fresh papers in the packet either...okay that was dumb of me. I always keep blank sheets! Well, sent off hubby to look for paper. He found an enterprising paan-waala selling A4 sheets and returned. I started writing. It was 9:30am now. No windows up. Slight grumbling in the ranks. Kept writing. General window went up. More grumbling in Tatkal line. I kept writing. Soon our window went up. I stopped writing and got my papers ready. At my turn, he looked at my application and gave me a General stamp! Huh? Perhaps he saw it was for damaged passport. Anyway, the number was 48. I was IN the first lot. Thats all that mattered really.
Back to the front, and another queue to get in, with a small side queue lined up outside a photocopier stand at the corner of the complex. I stood at the side and finished my covering letter while hubby kept our place in the line. Finished, I came back into the line. By and by, we went in, got security checked and got into the warm room. Found a place to sit in front of the lost/damaged counter. The counters were not yet open. As I looked through my papers again, suddenly I realised that I needed a copy of the last four pages of my passport booklet...I had only the last two pages! Gosh, would this NEVER end!! I sat hubby at my place with my purse and other documents, clutched my passport, wallet, phone and application form (for re-entry) and went to the photocopy kiosk outside. Took me a while to find the end of the line till the copier pointed out I was standing at his "give back" window, not his "take" window. Luckily, there were only a couple of other people. Feeling chastised, I went to my right place. The copier was fast and I quickly got my copies and went back inside.
As I took my place again, hubby got up and started scouting around. He then suggested we queue up at the lost/damaged counter anyway, coz even when our token no. came up, we'd just be sent to this counter and have to queue again. He stood in line while we waited. As he came closer to the counter and I joined him, the token numbers being called went up. In a strangely weird co-incidence, our token number went up the same the we reached this counter. Since the lady took our application, and we figured it was our turn anyway, all settled down. Or did it?
I kept my originals ready. Everything was in place. She spent a lot of time going through everything, then looked at me and told me it can't be done under Tatkal. What????
Apparently, it seemed my earlier verification had never come in, so this time I would have to go through the whole process. About a couple of months, maybe more because I was from a satellite town, the whole process was through normal post, and everyone takes their own time. I think I completely numbed out. But, but the documents are all there, right? Oh yes, they are fine. It will happen in normal process. But what about the senior govt. officer verification (done with much effort on our part). Well thats not really required, since its for normal Tatkal and you dont qualify. I think I was too much in shock to really say or do anything. My hubby checked was was next. We went to the payment counter, paid and submitted the form and left the place.
All that running around planning, what now? Well, my hubby said, we wait. His colleague actually got it in 3 days really under Tatkal scheme. Yea right...like thats what I needed to hear, not that it really sunk in anyway. I felt hysterically numb and shocked, if such a state is possible..sucked into a really really weird anti-climax. Well, hubby and I discussed, I guess we can take a national holiday then, as we wait for the process to complete. Yea, I guess so. Lots of nice places around. Yea, can do cruises too. Yea, lets check out something. Yea, lets just get home right now. We walked to my parents' place. Packed up our stuff, picked up our dog Nero and his stuff and drove back home. And that is where we stand.
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