On filling out a Passport Application Form !

On one of these morning when the New Jersey weather decides to remind the “immigrants” here of their great great gandfather’s heritage by being miserably wet – just like in the real Jersey across the pond, I realized that my passport needs renewal. Of course, the next thing to do was to “google” the Indian Consulate in NYC and get on their website. I download the application forms and the 2 page long requirements document along with that….

I finally got to it the next day and decided to start filling it up. Now I do not really remember the first one I filled out in 1996 (because in India you have “passport agents” do most of that work for you – but not here. Here you have to be a “self made man”!!), but this one looks a bit different. Hmm.. if the Indian food here can be customized to the American taste, what is in a passport application form?

Memories of 1996 when I first filled in the passport form in India with the help of my "agent" still haunt me – the trouble I had in getting my name matched to the right columns with the Surname, Middle Name, Father’s Name, First Name, Father's father's name et al.. It is obvious that the Indian government recognized the variety in naming conventions in the country, so the new application form just says Full Name (Surname followed by Given Names) That was a big relief…..Whoohoo.. I think this one should go easy …

Now I am down to line 6.

6. Color of Eyes: Black

7. Color of Hair:

Wait a minute, that is the first time I came across that… Is the color of hair something you would have on a document like the passport?? I guess if you get old or your hair decides to change silver/white, you should report to the nearest consulate and fill out a change in appearance form (which incidentally requires you to apply as if for a fresh passport).
Regardless, I answered –

7. Color of Hair: Predominantly Black


13.
Full name of father ……………………………………………………….. Country of his Birth
Full name of mother …………………………………………………….. Country of her Birth

Oh Oh .. This questionnaire is starting to get really tough now. I scratched my head a couple of times to figure out a way to fit in my father’s full name into this miniscule space? I don’t think even if I type it in a size 8 Arial font, it would fit!! And I am pretty certain that over 90% of Indians would run into the same problem unless their father’s full name were Dev Anand or Raj Kumar. Heck, wonder how Abhishek (Bachhan) would fill that out – Amitabh Harivanshrai Bachhan .. I doubt if he would be able to squeeze that in? But then, I am sure the Passport Application forms in India are not Americanized as this one ….

I decided I should write “*Note Below” and enter my father’s full name at the bottom of the page. Is that wise, I questioned myself again. What if I get a passport that read:

Father’s Name: * Note Below
Mother’s Name **Note Below.

That would be a disaster, because then I would have a hard time explaining it to the people at the consulate as to what is wrong with my passport (judging by my last experience, where they entered my date of birth as 18 may 2001 – the date I applied for an additional booklet !) What could be worse is that I go to collect my passport in the evening only to find that they have returned it marked “Incomplete” because “Note Below” does not seem to be a middle name or grandfather’s name !! Maybe if I write “Please Note Below” I can get around that one – but still the question remains, how do I explain it when the passport comes out with

Father’s Name: “Please Note Below”.

The dilemma is killing me. Oh Wait! There is more underlying politics and diplomacy here that meets the eye. I realized seconds later the Indian government’s strong support for Bush is very evident in these forms. See the line after Father’s Name? It reads “Country of his birth” and for mother “Country of her birth”. There is not a chance in the whole wide world that we are going to toy with the idea of same sex marriages and same sex families. Line 14 reinforces it again

14. Full Name of Husband ……………………………………………………………………………………
HIS nationality

15. Full Name of Wife …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
HER Nationality
(BTW, Note there is a full line to enter these items as opposed to Father/Mother’s names)

Marriage is a union between a MAN and a WOMAN!! Is that clear enough??Did our PM not say " As you're all aware, India and the United States are working together increasingly on global issues. This is not just good for our two countries, but for the international community....