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October 24, 2005
The blog I write out of mere hatred and shame!
Wish I was Indian. I am not talking about the nationality that is conferred on any individual when he is born in a particular country – that too without his/her consent. In fact I wish I was movie maker Shankar’s depiction of Kamal Hasan in his movie Indian (Hindustani). If that was so I am sure I would have killed at least 3 government officials in the past 30 days! Or wish I was at least Shankar’s Anniyan – few would have died getting roasted in the boiling oil. Well I am a normal human being who gets defeated at the hands of the mighty and corrupt Indian government officials!
My dad was a pensioner, and he was always perfect in all his documentations. He had told my mother about what exactly has to be done after his death, and how that pension can be transferred to my mom’s name after his death. And we thought it was as easy as my mom told to us.
According to my father – you just need to get the death certificate from the municipality and submit it with the pension book, which has both my parents’ photo and signature on it, to the post office where his pension used to get credited. But things were not easy as it looked.
At the cemetery, the watchman wouldn’t sign on the bill if he was not given Rs 50 as bribe. This bill would have the details about the person who died, and on what date he was cremated. Now it is the process of applying for death certificate. You need 2 documents – 1) certificate from the hospital about the cause of his death and 2) the bill that says that he was cremated on so on so day at so and so place. You fill a huge form and submit the same to the sanitary inspector. I dunno why on earth is he called a sanitary inspector. He is the one who will provide the death certificate.
My sister and I don’t know the trick of getting work done from government officials. Hence my mom asked us to take my uncle - a former government employee - along with us. The sanitary inspector asked us to come on the 4th day to collect the certificate. We weren’t in town, and my uncle collected the same on our behalf. The sanitary inspector charged Rs 100 for the certificates!! There was a small error in the certificate they issued – they added one ‘Swamy’ out of their own choice to my father’s father name. And the same bugger charged Rs 50 for the correction to be done!
To be continued – people in focus the VAO (Village administrative officer) & the Revenue Inspector!
Posted by Kenni at October 24, 2005 08:54 AM