The "ME FIRST" attitude...

This is dedicated to all those people who live in INDIA. Everyone must have, at some point or the other, experienced this phenomenon. Recently, I had been to the passport office in Chennai, to get a ECNR stamped onto it. It was during this time, that I got the real idea and a sense of urge to create a blog and put down my thoughts. I shall, in the course of this blog, re-live my experience.

I just went to the shastri bhavan office and went to enquire the procedure for getting the ECNR chappa on my passport. Boy, the sight I saw there was just brain storming. A trailer of people standing in a haphazard, so called queue. Not knowing quite what to do, I asked the guy in front whether this was the queue for enquiry and he gave a positive answer with a wide grin on his face. This grin of his, made me to further engage in a conversation with him, as I realized that it'll take at least an hour or two for me to go and ask the procedure. I just had this feeling "Why should all the people stand in just for enquring?", like. are there so many unresolved questions, probably, the thanks should go to the office for not providing the solutions on the web, I thought. Later, did I realize, how stupid I was, for all the FAQ's were indeed posted on the net, it was just that "we-the people" just do not go through them. We believe in listening all that we hear, rather than believing all that we see. We believe, that wasting a few minutes on net is precious, but do not mind standing in the sweltering heat for hours, basically to get the same information that we would have got it by going through the net.

"WE INDIANS ARE ALL THE SAME"- I am including myself too, in the top ;)

Ok, going back to my title, "ME FIRST"...what did this have to do with all the stuff, that I had written in the first paragraph. This, I knew after standing in the line for some time. A board said that "counter for enquiry open from 9:30 to 12". I checked my watch, it was 9:45. I just thought, in just 15 minutes, about 100 people have come and stood in the sun. I just wondered aloud and the man in front of me replied, most of the people have been standing from 7 in the morning. Nice way to get a good coat of tan on your skin; I thought, but the reality is that, people are just eager to get done with their work first. If one comes at 7:30, next day, there would be a couple of people standing from 7:15, and so on... This is where the "ME FIRST" attitude of the people surfaces. Everyone, is just so eager to get done with their work. I would not have put this down, if it was just one of the isolated incident, but that was not to be the case. After enquring, thanks to a friendly citizen, he told me what to do, and I did not have to stand in the queue till its destination. I was told that the counter opens at 9:45 in the morning and I will have to submit my form there and collect it the very same day. Cool enough , I thought, with this the man also said one more thing, " though the counter opens at 9:45, you'll have to be here by at least 7 in the morning, else you wouldn't get a chance to submit". Great, I thought, here I was, pushed by my own limitations, I would have to got there, if I had to get my job done, after all i'm in INDIA, a place where people want to out run the time, a place where people just beat the constraints they have, to get ahead.

I submitted my form and was asked to come at 2:15. This time , I needed no warning, I was there at the office, at 1:35 and I saw a queue, not very big though, but there it was, and I knew , I had to be better and faster next time around to be there in the first... "ME FIRST".....

But, tell me guys, dont you just think, if at all, in unison, we come at the specified timings, there wouldn't be queues, the process would be much simpler isnt't it??? it would be less pain stainking.. aint I right???? Be there at 9:45, the officer would just have come, ask him your queries and do accordingly, you would save much more time and energy, by not standing in the queue, in the sun, for hours... If, you are asked to go and collect at 2:15, all of you, come at that time, just go, collect and come back, you would save so much and this could be so resourceful.

and for all of you who are interested in knowing what happened to my passport status, well....
I GOT MY ECNR STAMPED!!!!!!!!