How I got my name included in my birth certificate
I was 30 when I realized that my birth certificate did not have my name on it!!! What a realization and that too at what age!!?? Thinking “Better late than never”, I contacted my friend who is a lawyer to start the process.
I followed the form filling ritual diligently several times. In India filling up forms can be quite challenging, considering the forms made by 4th-degree recycled paper! If I may exaggerate only a bit, ink might blot even when you are using a ballpoint, forget the ink pen or for that matter, throw that form on the ground, and it will convert effortlessly into manure within a matter of days!
There is a customary statement in all such forms – “The applicant should be present while submitting the form”. My friend told me to come over to the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Bangalore at 1630hrs one day. I went there and saw a painful sight – there are people everywhere, all sorts of people from all walks of life, rich, poor, very poor, very very poor, young, old, naive, corrupt, aware, ignorant… – to sum it up, it is similar to a pot of stale goulash. The office was ill-lit with hardly any ventilation. It looked like an ancient dilapidated relic. I wonder how it withstood the rains?! There is no place for the officials to sit and work there, leave alone the plethora of people who throng these officers to pose complex queries and helpless situations that can confuse the most intelligent software systems. Let us put a modest veil on the computers for now. There were files and papers; here, there, everywhere. I have heard from very close and reliable sources that these offices are required to preserve all physical documents for a minimum of 100 years before they are destroyed! Imagine the amount of space required to store them and contrast it with a small 10X10 room, consisting of 3 – 4 people, typically, working their way towards solving people problems and also storing the documents! It is just amazing how resilient humans are – sitting in a small dungeon, they are writing birth and death certificates!
Since my friend knew somebody in that office, I was called early enough and the officer inspected the forms, accepted bribe with dignity and said: “Sir, come and collect the certificate after 10 days”. I was happy that the process got over. I waded my way through the sea of people who, I don’t know since when, were waiting helplessly for their work to be done.
I drove out of the parking lot, hit the road and sped away. However, I could not forget that sight I saw while I was waiting for my friend to come. People say India is improving, we have made progress, we have made a global impression, etc. I am confused. Is this progress? Nothing seems to work without bribing. Right to information is something which is only on paper – not in practice. Having said this, I don't have a solution, thus I don't complain.
Background of my friend – Om Prakash is a practicing lawyer and a gold medalist in both LLB and LLM (bachelor and master degrees in law) and is currently pursuing Ph.D. keeping his subject as the Indian Constitution. He is a very interesting person and has been extremely helpful in getting things done in highly corrupt government offices.
I followed the form filling ritual diligently several times. In India filling up forms can be quite challenging, considering the forms made by 4th-degree recycled paper! If I may exaggerate only a bit, ink might blot even when you are using a ballpoint, forget the ink pen or for that matter, throw that form on the ground, and it will convert effortlessly into manure within a matter of days!
There is a customary statement in all such forms – “The applicant should be present while submitting the form”. My friend told me to come over to the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths, Bangalore at 1630hrs one day. I went there and saw a painful sight – there are people everywhere, all sorts of people from all walks of life, rich, poor, very poor, very very poor, young, old, naive, corrupt, aware, ignorant… – to sum it up, it is similar to a pot of stale goulash. The office was ill-lit with hardly any ventilation. It looked like an ancient dilapidated relic. I wonder how it withstood the rains?! There is no place for the officials to sit and work there, leave alone the plethora of people who throng these officers to pose complex queries and helpless situations that can confuse the most intelligent software systems. Let us put a modest veil on the computers for now. There were files and papers; here, there, everywhere. I have heard from very close and reliable sources that these offices are required to preserve all physical documents for a minimum of 100 years before they are destroyed! Imagine the amount of space required to store them and contrast it with a small 10X10 room, consisting of 3 – 4 people, typically, working their way towards solving people problems and also storing the documents! It is just amazing how resilient humans are – sitting in a small dungeon, they are writing birth and death certificates!
Since my friend knew somebody in that office, I was called early enough and the officer inspected the forms, accepted bribe with dignity and said: “Sir, come and collect the certificate after 10 days”. I was happy that the process got over. I waded my way through the sea of people who, I don’t know since when, were waiting helplessly for their work to be done.
I drove out of the parking lot, hit the road and sped away. However, I could not forget that sight I saw while I was waiting for my friend to come. People say India is improving, we have made progress, we have made a global impression, etc. I am confused. Is this progress? Nothing seems to work without bribing. Right to information is something which is only on paper – not in practice. Having said this, I don't have a solution, thus I don't complain.
Background of my friend – Om Prakash is a practicing lawyer and a gold medalist in both LLB and LLM (bachelor and master degrees in law) and is currently pursuing Ph.D. keeping his subject as the Indian Constitution. He is a very interesting person and has been extremely helpful in getting things done in highly corrupt government offices.
Aravind Bargur
Feb 23, 2010
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