One day in RTO

Regional transport office alias RTO is a complete world of babu-raj in itself . Out side Koramangala RTO it’s written in RED and BOLD letter “Avoid middle man” but they create very conducive and favorable condition to nurture broker Dhandha. This is my 2^nd face to face disappointing encounter with bureaucracy with in a month. Leaving the earlier, concentrating on the current one. Due to unprecedented reason I landed up in RTO to get a duplicate RC book. For duplicate RC, I was asked to fill a form written in kannada, well here we go…, since I have very jive knowledge of kannada and it was quite evident on my face and also with my question to the help desk guy, a person approached me and offered his help for just Rs 100 initially and later came down to Rs 50 to complete it. Well I was determine not to take help of any middle man, So I approached to a senior officer(Munniyappa ) who was describing to a lady how to apply for duplicate RC. Luckily he helped me with the form and also with the procedure. So kind of him.:)

I completed the form, got the relevant sign (from Munniyappa) and paid the legitimate amount as well as arranged for a self address envelope too. Till here things were quite OK but what Man proposes but God disposes. I was asked to submit the form and collect the token. I rushed from one counter to other asking from where I can get a token; well first it was hard to find a person who can answer me, since every one seemed so busy but due to repetitive request, one gentle man pointed his finger towards an empty chair.

Then I asked where is the person, reply came, went for lunch. I was amused to here that since it was 12:35 of the after noon only but I consolidated my self, saying he will return in another ½ hour. Suddenly a person standing near to me said, “Sir, I can pass your file, it will be done immediately “. I immediately realized he is the middle man, so I said not required I will wait for him. Then he said how long you will wait sir, he will only come after lunch hour and that’s get over by 2:30. I though may be he is bluffing but again I consolidated my heart saying anyway today is a holiday for me, so I can wait for long but I did not know that literally I have to wait for 2 long hour. In between I requested couple of Babu’s to help me out but none of them showed any interest since they were busy doing their own stuff. It was quite evident what job they were doing. One person was able to switch the role and was performing multiple job for his personal interest but at the same time when I was asking they were simply saying wait for the person to come. So after waiting for long 2 hours, Mr Babu arrived and offered his help (“They make us realize that they are doing some kind of favor by signing or providing any information”) and provided me with the token at last(hardly a min job).

I realized one thing after this incident and the previous that always get things done early in the morning whether it’s private or public.

I am really thankful to Mr Muniniyappa for his genuine help otherwise my struggle would have extended for some more hours.