An Experience at the Sub Registrars office
When I reached the Sub Registrar’s office, I could see that there was a huge crowd not only inside but also outside the office. Some of them were gathered near the groundnut vendor while the others were at the entrance of the building getting some typing work done from some people there who had settled down on a comfortable table that had a typewriter on it. The only thing that confirmed it was the Sub Registrars office was the board put up on the building. Like the bank guy had said, it was right behind & yeah I didn’t know about it.
I was supposed to get some impressions done on the bank documents the bank guy had given me. I entered the Sub Registrar’s office. There was utter chaos inside. One couldn’t distinguish between a customer & the office employee. Everyone wore civil. There were no boards, no directions as to how to proceed to get something done there. The only board as such that was visible was the name plate kept on a table, which read “Sub Registrar”.
After wandering about looking at people to see if anybody could help me, I eventually approached a guy sitting at a desk & showed him the document I had in my hand & said “stamp”. He lifted his finger & pointed it upwards & said “go up” in Kannada. So I rushed up after having finally got some clarity on how to proceed with my task. Until then I didn’t know there was an office on the first floor as well. The first floor was no different to the ground floor. Chaotic. There was one row of tables. One guy at the beginning of the row was surrounded by couples & a pretty young crowd. In due course I figured out that it was the marriage registration counter. Once again there was no board, no communication of what is being done there & how. I approached another person sitting behind a table & repeated the same thing – “stamp”. He pointed toward the Q that had formed nearby. I understood & joined the Q. After a while, somebody in front of me told another person that one needed to fill an application to get the impression. I realized I had to get one too. Where does one get it? No guidance available on that. I rushed down. I looked around for some board somewhere or for some officer to collect the application form. It was nearing the hungry hour (lunch hour) & I was dead sure everybody there in the office felt hungry at that time. After a lot of looking around & others looking at me looking around, I approached a guy sitting outside, who had a typewriter on a table. I only said, “stamp impression application?” He showed no signs of having heard me, but the next second he was fishing for the application form from some cover and handed it over to me. I looked at it and stood there just to figure out if I have to pay him. When I thought I don’t have to & started to move he called out & said, “1 rupee”. So I paid him. I still don’t know if this guy was part of the Sub Registrar’s office or some tout.
I quickly filled up the application form & went back to the Q. The lady who was making a receipt for the impressions was already grumbling. It was the hungry hour & she had started to feel hungry I suppose. A few minutes passed & I prayed that her hunger disappears & she will finish my work as well before she takes a break. But no such luck, she sent off a few people & took mine & a few other applications & told us to come back at 2:45 PM.
I managed to quickly grab a bite & returned to the Sub Registrar so that I was the first in the Q. On reaching I found out that that was exactly the case. I was indeed the first. But that excitement was short lived, because when the door opened I saw that there were 5 others already in the Q & that is when I realized that there were two doors to the first floor office. But luckily the process thereafter didn’t take too long. I had to get stamp impressions of Rs 200 done for which I duly paid. But once the payment was made & the cash deposited in the safe case that the lady had beside her, she wrote my receipt & without looking up handed me the receipt & said “pay thirty rupees there”. I knew I heard thirty rupees, but you know when you are not too sure about what you have heard you want to reconfirm, so I respectfully asked “sorry how much?”. “Fifty rupees”, the lady sitting next to the receipt writing lady said. I pulled out a fifty rupee note & handed it over to her, which she slid inside the slightly opened drawer. Then the lady did some friendly talk with me & in the process of putting the impression on the bank document she realized that for one document Rs 20 impression would have sufficed instead of Rs 100 that I had gone in for. Now only if that info had come to me much earlier. The last bit of the job was to get one final signature from the Sub Registrar seated on the ground floor.
When the whole thing was completed there was a sense of relief. But at the same time I felt sad about the sorry state of affairs at the Sub Registrars office. Some kind of differentiation between the office employees & the general public would be the first thing to bring about there. Some nice boards indicating what happens where & who the in charge is would also help. Government offices are like this only. But should they be like this only? At a time when there are phrases like ‘customer is the king’ being thrown around by the corporate world, here in the Sub Registrar’s office it seems the phrase is slightly twisted & is more like, “I am the king”.
PS: This experience was at a Sub Registrar’s office located in Jayanagar, Bangalore.
Hi Lokesh,
Understand the frustration u underwent. But why always the -ve side look @ the positive sides too
1. There was no Corruption involved (AWESOME )
2. The office though lacked sign boards still has a help desk @ each floor ( that is what impression I get )
3.The govt staff is atleast sensitive and realizes the people on the other side of counter are hungry too and schedules her work accordingly.(Big Big improvement )
4. Bureaucracy is always slow even the US bureaucratic system is pretty slow ( no justification of delay )
Response to above comment from Karthik – No corruption involved? I got the impression that the Rs 30 / Rs 50 requested (demanded?) was a bribe.
However, I agree that this author seems to have had an easier time than I have experienced in some of the govt offices.
Well, this is exactly how it was thirty years ago when I left the country! The more things change, the more they stay the same!
Paul
Is this a forum to crib about Bangalore???
@WTJ:- No, its to crib about certain irritating, annoying comments left by nameless, faceless, cockroach-type creatures! Know who I’m talking about?
Well, this is not a forum to crib, but it just brings up one of a million questions, which is bugging bangalore and India as a whole.
Corruption seems to be reduced, on the outer look, but has not stopped completely as you see the money payed (30/50 Rs) may be a part of corruption.
This forum should not only wirte beautiful things about bangalore, but also show dark side of bangalore.
People should write more on this blog, and i hope this blog become one stop for government officials to look at before they start their work in the morning or plan their work in future.
WIth this Vision in Mind in Me …… Do i have any supporters…….
Continue blogging…..
Bangalorean
Well, this is not a forum to crib, but it just brings up one of a million questions, which is bugging bangalore and India as a whole.
Corruption seems to be reduced, on the outer look, but has not stopped completely as you see the money payed (30/50 Rs) may be a part of corruption.
This forum should not only wirte beautiful things about bangalore, but also show dark side of bangalore.
People should write more on this blog, and i hope this blog become one stop for government officials to look at before they start their work in the morning or plan their work in future.
When complaints in the compliant box won’t work, CNN-IBN with their sting operations won’t work, Lokayuktha’s operation are silenced, then where do people go……
WIth this Vision in Mind in Me …… Do i have any supporters…….
Continue blogging…..
Bangalorean
I completely agree with Bangalorean. We should be able to talk about both +ve and -ve sides. Unfortunately there are 2 -ves and 1 +ve with our country always (dont read this literally). Hence democracy rules which is -ve.
I hate to see the lack of accountability in our systems on a larger scale.
This was a great post!
“The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.
– Eugene McCarthy”
Its Ironic but i actually like it. :P
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Regarding the comments related to “bangalore cribbing forum” -> If you are living in Bangalore, you will probably find your life cribbing. I start my day with the bad traffic in Bangalore. And then it continues. No parking in most parts of the city, no space even to stand in shops and restaurants. High cost of living …. so it is quite reasonable if on an average, some one cribs 90% of the times.
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but i hope that situation will improve once the Metro, ExpressWay (and similar projects) get going. Once traffic eases up, city will expand outside the current boundaries, and there will be more space. Real-Estate cost also might come down once the city spreads and there is more land available.
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Hello Lokesh, interesting post there. I am from Bangalore Mirror and I wanted to know if I could use your post for Blog Talk section in our paper. If you can okay with us using it please mail us your permission to nt.balanarayan at gmail.com
Hello Lokesh, interesting post there. I am from Bangalore Mirror and I wanted to know if I could use your post for Blog Talk section in our paper. If you can okay with us using it please mail us your permission to nt.balanarayan at gmail.com