Although disappointed that I didnt get any replies on this one , I didnt lose heart. I did lose a lot of petrol in my quest to convert my Dubai license to a Indian Driving license. At one of point I'd lost hope and I though it would be better to take driving classes again and go through the same A,B,C's of driving get my learners licese and be done with it . BUt waiting for a whole 30 days seemed just too long . And so I decided , no matter what am gonna get this done .
I searched numerous RTO websites , I read through the FAQ sections of almost all regional RTO websites and didnt get the info that I desparately wanted.
So then I decided to attached the RTO officer himself . And then I walked up to him and I said I already have a UAE driving license which by the way is a bench mark in itself. They follow both the US and Euro driving norms and I see no reason why I should be taking driving license. And then he said to me , we never said you have to take driving lessons again . And then I said you never said I didnt have to and he smiled . I thought he would get angry at me for being rude but fortunately enough he wasnt rude , probably was just one of those good days when no matter what you do nothing goes wrong .
So I told him that I've done all my homework on this and I couldnt get the info on any of the RTO websites. And he said , Son , all you need to do is fill up form NO 4 and submit it along with a ID proof and address proof .
So after all the document collection I made a huge bunch of documents collecting every possible ID and address proof and toot it to the RTO officer. And unfortunately this particular day wasnt my lucky day cuz I rode 25 KMs to the RTO office just to come back home with the same for and documents cuz I'd forgotten the photos at home. Ha ! Stupid me !
So , three days later I rode back agian and this time I had everything handy and I told the officer that today I havent forgotten anything. I have all the documents with me and just when you think you've done the unthinkable , he popped another question . Do you have a translation of the UAE driving license . And then I said to myself , what the hell , the license is already in english which other language does he want it in , Polish , french , russian ?and so I said the same thing to him thats its already in English I dont think we need a translation . For that he had a amazing reply , he said this is the Maharashtra RTO and we need it in Marathi , so i walked out cuz my brain cells dont work as fast INtel processors. And then I though even the Indian driving license is in English , what the hell !!
So , I walked back and said the same to him and he was like- " Oh ! yes " slipped my mind . I couldnt believe what I was hearing . here was a RTO office and he couldnt remember that the Indian driving license is in english too .. What the hell again . So finally he signed it . NOw the big question - Where do I submit this form . So I walked back into his cabin and asked him the same and to that he said I am not your customer service rep here . Please dont waste my time and what he was doing with his so called valuable time was reading the marathi news paper .. wow just my day. So after battling through with numerous enemies and calling various worthless people ( read Babus ) SIR , that is what they like to be addressed as , I finally managed to find out that I need to submit the form on the cash counter , and all this after 2 hours of making rounds around the same stinky RTO office and calling numerous babus , SIR .
Ha ! So I stood proudly at the cash counter with a thousand rupee note and all my papers and my form and then the lady there took my form and she had a disgusted look on her face , why , because i hadnt stapled some of the papers and she was almost about to send me back when I used my old trick , this time the processors worked a lil faster , I said the magic word "MADAM !!!!! Please " wow and all that disgust just vanished . She got the stapler from another cashier and stapled it for me even arranged all papers in the right order and she had explanations for why the documents should be in that order . So i said to myself as long as she is doing my work I dont m ind listening to what she has to say . I had a expression on my face that said " MADAM ! please forgive ignorant and dumb people like us" and after all her explanations she said dont repeat this again .. I was about to laugh out loud . What did the lady think , I was gonna come back in 20 days and apply for another license just for the joy of it ????
Well after all that she made that face again after seeing the 1000Rupee note and I was like Oh ! My ! God ! not again and then I repeated the magic words and voila , does that magic again. She noted my mobile number on the note and said its all because of teh fake note racket going on .. I added a occassional "yes " just to assure here that I was interested in what she was saying. And just to scare me she said dont give a fake mobile number our cashier head will call this number in the evening and if someone else answers we will cancel your license .. HA ha and she expected me to believe that
Well finally after making all teh payments , now came the next step . The high fundu Biometrics and you would be forced to believe that it must be some super room with some advaced ID management system , but sady its the same stinking room , the walls coloured in blue decorated with spider webs all over and the walls interestingly are 2 tone , blue and red , the red because the employees there didnt bother to walk out after eating all the Manikchand. They choose to sit and eat and spit all from the same chair.
Finally a lady in the corner calls me - " Ayee , ithe yay" ( Hey you , come here ) so I walked up to her . She had a intex webcam on her table and a stool beside the . So i handed over the form to her and my payment receipt. And her next sentence was " Basaiyla special request karu ka ?" ( should I make a special request to you to sit down) , I didnt know whether to speak back or laugh , I was kinda enjoying all this. So I sat down with my goggles on my head and my mail man bag around my neck. And then she looked at my image through the webcam and said " Goggles ghalun photo kadhuya ka ?" ( Should i take a picture of you with the goggles on ?) and I read between the lines and took off my goggles and then she repeated a sarcastic statement for my bag asweel . So I took my bag off . I though finally and then she started digging in her drawer for somethin and I though is she gonna spank me or what
.
Then she took out a tissue and said " tond pusa ani kes barobar karaa " ( wipe your face and tidy up your hair . I had gel on my hair and had nice spikes on , I wiped my face and said "Madam kes rahu dya " and then she said "kaay aaj kal che mula , changle kes kharaab kartaa , changla tel laun bhaang karaiycha sodun wede wakde kesa karun firta " ( you kids of today generation , spoil you hair with all this stuff , you should be applying oil to you hair and setting your hair properly but instead you choose to do all these crazy hair styles. ) Anyway after all that drama she finally took my photo my thumb print and said come after 20 days and you wil get your license .
And then I was like shocked - 20 Days. TO that she had the best reply in the world . I said how will I drive my car for the next 20 days . And she said just drive it like you did till now , without a license and laughed .. And then she clarified and said if a pandu catches you just show him the receipt and he will leave you .
And so that , my friends was my most amazing experience. So all that and 200 Rs and I shall have my license on the 20th of May ( Fingers crossed )