Close Encounters of the Corrupt Kind

Background

You need a Sarkaari Document. You research about it on the internet. Find that the necessary items for getting the paper in the due process may not be feasible or are too troublesome to get. In a fix. So you try to use a shortcut i.e. an agent to do your bidding. And the agent takes you for a ride. Guess - Pretty familiar story.

Event

So there was I in a similar situation. A document was required but not very urgently. So thought why not get it made. Having done some research on it, tried to go and get it. But given the conditions and paperwork involved, thought about using an agent to do the job. Unfortunately, dealing with the agent started to prove nearly as cumbersome and painful as the one which was being avoided. Dealing with the agent and an advocat whom the agent had brought in contact was enough to make anyone wish to break their own head. Finally went directly to the government office itself. And found a very helpful person who directed us to the right place, which turned out to be quite different from the one which the agent-advocat duo was sending us to.
Went to the said office. Spoke directly to the person concerned. Most documents were found to be in order. And the government official gave the alternate routes for the remaining ones. Though some persuasion, in the form of few Reserve Bank certifcates helped the cause. The final documentation was put in process and my Sarkaari paper was on the way.

Learnings

• Sarkaari work is not that complicated. If you have the correct documentation.
• Try avoiding agents as much as possible. If nothing else they just increase the corruption index and money involved.
• Do NOT pay the agent any advance. And if you do take a receipt.
• Government officials are helpful. Only try finding the relevant one beforehand.
• A few Reserve Bank certificates can make the system move very rapidly.
• Advocats can lie at your face without even blinking an eye. Probably get the training in college itself?
• Corruption as a form of governance is highly efficient.