For newly returned Indians, dealing with the Indian bureaucracy can be a traumatic experience after having been spoilt by the relatively smoother dealings with Uncle Sam. These days however, many government services are being made available online, so encounters with License Raj are far and few in between. It is however unavoidable if you buy yourself a new set of wheels.
When I got a 2-wheeler 2 years ago, I dealt with my fears through the tried and tested technique of procrastination. I registered it finally almost a year after I got the thing after multiple nudges from FIL. I could get away with it because it gets driven only for a kilometre from the house for early-morning dropoffs of my kids to the school bus stop or for emergency groceries close by.
We recently acquired a Ford Figo, a compact diesel hatchback that gives 15kmpl in the city and promises to reduce my fuel bill almost by half (Petrol prices in tax-hungry AP reached a whopping Rs. 62 recently). Unlike the US, where you renew your rights to emit carbon every year, in India you pay an one-time (hefty) road-tax when you buy the car and you're done. The dealer collects the payment from you when you buy the car, but does not get it registered. Instead he gives you a stack of forms and a nice instruction sheet as to how to do it. The instruction sheet looked quite encouraging. It assured that I don't need an agent, I just need to show up in the local RTA office with the aforementioned stack of forms and "enjoy the warmth of their hospitality".
My first attempt on a Saturday morning got quickly aborted as it happened to be a second Saturday and the office was closed. My second attempt was on one of the week days. I reached the office early enough (around 9:30AM) feeling quite smug to be there before the rest of Hyderabad wakes up (usually around 11AM). The queue was short and I reached the window in no time. A guy who looked like an agent was helpfully snatching the forms from the folks to verify if things were in order and he did the same with me. He found that the forms were missing a signature and a stamp from the financing bank. Darn it.
The dealer and the bank's loan guy were supposed to work together and the bank's explanation as to the missing signature was typically vague. It seemed like the missing signature was by design and I was supposed to have contacted the loan guy after getting the vehicle to get the requisite signature.
Anyway, the loan guy picked up the form from me at work. We arranged to meet at the RTA office the next Saturday where he would come with the signed form.
So I reached the RTA office for my 3rd attempt on Saturday morning a bit later than I would have liked - 11:45AM. There were multiple long lines, with no signs as to which line was for what; word on the line was that one was for new driving licenses and the other was for registrations. I joined the line for registrations just getting beaten by two people who squeezed ahead of me.
The anxious wait started with less than two hours left before the office closed early on Saturday. People in the line had to be constantly on the vigil fighting back line-cutters, but were not always succeeding. One guy tried to get ahead of me saying he had just gone to park his car; I had been in the line for 15 minutes and had not seen him earlier, so I said nothing doing. He sulked and moved back and promptly cut into the line three spaces behind. The queue was getting increasingly restless and was pushing up forward as if that will make it move faster. The guy behind me was violating my air space big time and when I glared at him, he just pointed to the guy behind.
I was getting philosophical at this point and was fully prepared to find out at the counter after a couple of hours that some other thing was missing. "No registration for you!"
(to be continued).
- Balaji
