Thursday, February 21, 2013

My Lady Luck of License

There are things in life which you think are a piece of cake (pieces of cake to be grammatically precise) but eventually they turn out to be what I call still in the butter-flour-batter stage! There is a long way to go that  is hidden from your pathetic mortal eyes!

In Singapore if you have an Indian Licence you can get it converted to a Singaporean one, once you clear the basic theory test.

Piece of Cake isn't it? With that thought, I set off on my mission to obtain a driver's license here. Little did I know that Lady Luck of License had me on her 'Ah-Ah-Aaan-NOT-SO-FAST' list!

Well, I did clear the Basic Theory Test at my first attempt (despite the pass percentage being quite high!Phew!)

I had obtained my Indian license when I was in college way back in 2000. The dude who took the photograph then at the RTO office or rather the equipment he possessed had given me a kind of "posthumous" effect in that. Not to mention the "posthumous effect caused by Hepatitis A" effect. I have no idea why I looked that yellow in that. Of course I did look like Frankenstein's niece.

That was not a problem anyways. The template of the license was though. The person at the counter said that I need to convert it into the latest card format

When we got back to Chennai for vacation, we contacted the local RTO for the license format conversion.It so happened that I had gotten my license at Erode, a town around 9 hours drive away from Chennai. Now, no part of my family stays there and my own home and home-in-law is at Chennai .

When I approached the RTO in Chennai, they requested for a a No-Objection letter from their counterparts in Erode.

My father in law sweetly agreed to travel to Erode solely for this purpose. After an overnight journey, he arrived at the entrance of the Erode RTO to find all doors locked tight and secure. It was a public holiday there for some local festival. My LLL (Lady Luck...) now was happily smirking away to glory! Somehow, my father in law caught hold of some person there who like a guardian angel said that he would take care and send the No Objection letter by post.

That man kept his word and it did arrive. Then was the procedure of going to the local Chennai RTO to get the conversion done and do I have to elaborate how the system there works? Luckily it did not take more than a couple of days and finally I had the license in the new format.

Back in Singapore I approached them for a license conversion again. (The best thing is the Basic Theory Test result is valid for life :) ). Thats when I realized that my new license was a later format but not the latest one. So they requested me to approach the Indian High Commission at Singapore to obtain a letter certifying the validity of my license.

Basically the High Commission takes my application and then contacts the Chennai RTO to verify my license details and once it receives a response, would give me a letter holding the Indian emblem.(Oh yeah it costs some money).

After a couple of months I finally got that letter.

Yesterday I went again with absolutely no confidence about succeeding though I had all documents. Yeah, my darling Lady Luck... had succeeded in thrashing down my morale and hope.

But I guess she was asleep yesterday. All documents were fine and I succeeded finally in my attempt.

No wait, I am yet to receive the license. It would come to me in a month by post. Keeping fingers crossed there. You never know! LLL can devise methods we can never imagine!

63 comments:

  1. Haha! Some ordeal that! :D Hope you get your license soon, Jaish. :)

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  2. Hmmm.. Story.. Of liecence.. Seems topic... Will b boaring.. Bt u put it very well.. Nyc to read ur post.. Aftr long tym...!!!d

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  3. Now that I read your post, I remember an important day of my life which was screwed up similarly and I had to face palm my fate. :) Good read Jaish. :)

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  4. And I thought it is only me whose LLL always keep visiting her.

    All the best Jaish and once u get ur license, I will visit you and we both can have a merry time on Singapore roads

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    1. Done Deal!! We'll sing 'Honge Kaamiyaab ' while we do that ha ha

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  5. I too faced the same kind of experience when i shifted from bangalore to chennai. Forced to re-register to a local RTO. The process said was quite simple. Just get a NOC from the existing RTO and submit to the new RTO which went a lengthy process and in between my insurance got expired.. after a night mare of 16months i got my local registration number!

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    1. Oh yeah, its not at all a simple process ...Given the fact that the computer is still in its nascent stages in some of our Govt offices...Coming from a s/w background I could not help wonder how they manage all the files (literal paper bundles)

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  6. Lady luck can really play vile sometimes, I hope it stops putting you in 'exciting' situations and you get your license soon.

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  7. Hahaha! Hope you get the license in the latest format applicable in Singapore :)

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  8. Oh My!! A lot has gone into getting the license! Hope you get it soon! Good luck :)

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  9. Oh my! A lot has gone into getting the license! Hope you get it soon! Good luck :)

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  10. Goodness me!! What an ordeal. But,I'm sure, your LLL will be there soon!Amen!!
    Hearty Congrats in advance :D:D

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  11. The slip between the cup and lip story oft repeated in public dealings:(

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  12. Hehehe...quite a journey, Jaish girl! I have a story bigger than this for my Visa. :) Hope you get it soon and you go vroommm...

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    1. Yeah FIF!! Really? Why dont you write about it some time....If you already have, do pass me the link

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    2. NO, I didn't pen it down yet..not a post yaa..it can be a book :) So, did you get your license yet?

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  13. if you managed without a license for so many years there then why are you bothered about it now? but i guess you will get the license now. let's see what happens. lovely post, enjoyed reading it!

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    1. No deb, I dont have a Singaporean one and hence I cannot drive in Singapore....SO this whole attempt is for that

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  14. Phew!! Good luck. I hope all will be well and you'll soon be behind the wheel. Enjoy the roads of Singapore, Jaish.:)

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  15. ha ha ....hope singapore postal services r much unlike indian postal services which is basically snail mail ..!!! hope u get yr linence soon having been through such pain :D

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    1. They are usually prompt Saikat...And you know once when I did some changes in my passport , I did get it promptly in India! :)

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  16. Jaishree i am a devil actually,because your ordeal made me smile n laugh !!
    Nicely put!

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  17. Ha..ha..ha:):D Wonderfully written, Jaish:)
    Enjoyed lots:) Thanks lots:)

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  18. Jaish Vats, hmm an American name LOL! Congrats for getting through and hope you get the license soon. We need to learn from Singapore. As a matter of fact, getting a license here is truly a piece of cake but not in Singapore or Dubai.

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    1. American Name?? Thats short for Jayashree Srivatsan (Def Indian by all means eh? ) :) Thanks for stepping in

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  19. wow ...hope you get your license soon ! After 2 attempts I finally got my licence last year and look at my fate after 2 months I lost my purse .

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  20. well written license story.. bit long ordeal though. wish you get it with no further delay.. interesting read.. :-)

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  21. Nice of you to share the LLL story and in spite of completing all formalities does it take a month to get a license at Singapore..and am surprised it being sent by post!!!

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    1. Actually they have already given a letter with which I can drive till I receive the actual license...So no worries there

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  22. Well Jaish, my view point about the Lady Luck is a bit different.... apart from LL there is also Law of averages which evens out everything in the long run.... so hoping you get the Licence, sooner than later... Best wishes.... God Bless :-)

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    1. Yeah it does!! Thanks for stepping in and God bless u too :)

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  23. I applaud you at your persistence. If it was me I would have given up long back. And now many in India is facing a similar problem with the great coveted Aadhaar card !!

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    1. I was on the verge actually...ha ha...But Never Say Die does help!

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  24. Wow ! That was a hard run ! Wishing you luck that it finally reaches you and the courier doesnt swallow it !! Think if it had been Mr.Luck, you might have had a better chance at it than Lady luck eh ;)

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    1. Now thats a different way of thinking!! Hmm! Actually rt! :)

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  25. Some things in India are no less tough than Moon Walk by Neil Armstrong... I had similar story though within India. I wonder when all the Government offices will be connected by network.

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    1. Things are getting better now and hopefully in another ten yrs it will all be in place!

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  26. Wow! I can't believe the pain you have taken. You have the perseverance. So you will ultimately succeed. Congratulations!

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  27. Oh My my ! it was tough to please the lady luck ..but thank god the sun has stopped beating down so hard. :)

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  28. oof!! The wonderful bureaucratic process!! How else can we learn patience in this life?!! Keeping my fingers crossed that you get your license without any more problems!!

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  29. Aww!! all the bestt!! Safe driving!! :D

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  30. Hilarious!! Even I wonder why our license photos come like that! Hope you get the Singaporean License soon!

    www.anucreations.blogspot.in

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  31. The best thing is, you can get your Indian licence just converted, but knowing how tedious and time consuming this process is, sometimes we feel like it's even better to take a new licence altogether! Good that you finally sorted them out. Happy and safe driving to you!

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  32. a small token of appreciation for you HERE

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  33. It sounded easy, pass a test and get your Indian license converted but sometime luck is not our side. BTW, read the opening lines of the latest post and congrats you finally got it.

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