I assume most of us will not have gone through the, what to say, rigmarole* of getting one’s name changed, officially! Except that for the past few weeks I’ve been squeezed to my wits end to get my name changed in all the documents an individual has to have. PHEW! Now I know why and how easy it is to go for a name change when you’re at school, before 10th class. If you do so all your subsequent documents which are proof you are a living person be in that name.
Though I had decided I’d go ahead with my name change way back in 2004, I did not do so for various reasons such as location, access to relevant docs and time. But with college coming to an end this month I wanted to make sure I possessed at least one legit certificate with my name as Hariharan. As per procedure, the first step was to fill out a form with stated and prior name and submit to an office near Higginbothams. The official TN Govt Gazette will be issued with the desired text within 10 days time. With the gazette in hand, one needs to advertise the same in a newspaper in English and the regional language. At least one advert has to be in the newspaper of your locality, for passport applications etc.
Those documents I needed to get my name changed in were, in order of importance- passport, license, PAN card and then the bank credit and debit cards. I’ll make this short because if I go into details I’ll have to relive the trauma which I don’t want to.
I went five times to the passport office, five to the license office and twice to the banks. I applied for passport in Tatkal and still fate would have it that my previous passport details in the Pison (Personal Information Source On Net) report was erroneous due to a typo by some moron. I was summoned twice for verification and once more for analyzing this typo. But finally, today, one blessed officer apologized saying that the mistake was internal and that I would receive my fresh one within three days.
The license office was a different story where no ‘paper’ moves to the next desk without deep throated shouting at arrogant officials. The RTO has to sign exclusive case sheets before being processed and my papers was typically so. But the problem was the RTO is a tough man to spot or catch. You should have an extremely lucky day and be a persistent ass to get an audience with the PA of the RTO. Once this happens, data entry of new details, payment of fees and photo shoot takes half a day. Stand in various queues from 9.30am and the printed card will come to your hand for details verification at around 12.30pm. Things can go wrong in between too, like the data entry operator mixing your old and new name in the bills! Finally the card arrives with the officer’s signature and when one turns around to thank the guys who ‘moved’ the papers to various desks is when one is called inside processing room to ‘donate’ Rs.100 for the ‘flag-day’. I guess with increased public awareness or whatever these guys have changed their ways and do not openly ask for bribe. And by the end of the grueling wait, I did want to give them something myself and a 100 split between five people worked fine for me.
Thankfully, the customer interaction skills of the bank employees were a whole Milky Way away from those in government offices. And so I had to visit each bank only once to submit the requisite forms. One has already completed the formalities and I expect the other to do so by the end of the month.
So folks of the world, those who contemplate name change in the future (even those who need to do the necessary in their passports after marriage etc.) contact me for help. And, I shall henceforth be known as Hariharan Balasubramanian, officially! :)
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For you J ;)
rigmarole (-ə-mə-rōl')n.
1. Confused, rambling, or incoherent discourse; nonsense.
2. A complicated, petty set of procedures <<<-------- *
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Labels: flag-day, license, name change, passport, typo
