Friday, June 1, 2012

Getting apostille(only) is one of the simplest procedures

Getting the final apostille sticker for a document was so much easier than I had anticipated. An apostille is an authorization by the Central Govt that a document is signed by a person they can verify; it is used for documents which have to be presented to another country, for instance a 'police clearance certificate', birth certificates and degree certificates.

While certificates not issued by the central govt, such as birth certificates, need multiple round of attestations at local and state levels, others like the police clearance certificate, normally issued at the Passport Office, can be presented directly for apostille.

The website of the Ministry of External Affairs, which handles the apostille, gives the nitty gritty, but I will simplify it for someone who wants to get it from the Chennai office.

How to get Apostille for police clearance certificate from Chennai MEA office:

The office building is located on the DPI campus on the 7th floor of the EVK Sampath Building on Nungambakkam's College Road. 17D and 17E series of the MTC pass by that stop, which is also called DPI, making it well connected to Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore.

It opens around 10.30am; but before that you need either a DD or a Postal Order (in the name of Pay & Accounts Officer (PAO), Ministry of External Affairs payable at New Delhi) for Rs. 50 (for 1 document). You can get that at one of three places:
a) The Indian Bank just next to the EVK Sampath building
b) The State Bank of India opposite the campus, just across the road (It's a personal banking branch, so there isn't usually a big crowd and the staff are very courteous)
c) The post office on the same campus.

You take the police clearance certificate issued by the passport office, a xerox copy of it and a copy of the page on the passport which is endorsed by the passport office, along with the DD or the Postal Order to the 7th floor between 10.30am and 1pm.


Fill in a short form, hand over the originals and the copies and give it to the officials at the counter, which is towards the end of the MEA office corridor. There will probably be no queue of any sort. The officials there will be very nice, the head official was very nice and had a nice chat with me and a couple of others who had come.

Then you leave and come back between 4.30pm and 5pm the same day and collect the apostilled document.

That's it: no queues, big fees, big headaches... Various agents (I enquired because I had no idea about the time/effort involved) quoted rates varying from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 2500 to Rs. 8000, per document, which is an exorbitant rate, disproportional to the work involved.








Saturday, November 7, 2009

Mrs vs Ms vs Mz

In a social gathering, referencing other people is easy amongst peers - you could even say 'that guy' or just call him by name, 'Bala'. With elders, though, it is difficult with the elderly ladies. I've always had a bit of hesitation in naming a person - 'Who prepared this dish?' 'Ms/Mrs XY'.

Depending on their marital status, the answer can vary: the Guardian style guide says use Ms unless they have specified Miss or Mrs; Time magazine in a non-article says anything is fine.

There is one more specific: British speakers tend to pronounce Ms as Mz, indicating their current marital status is 'unknown'. I've heard it a couple of times on TV shows, so at last there seems to be a solution: Mz.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Mirror mirror who do you see

While rearranging at home, we had to move a dressing mirror(tall one) outside, where the dogs happened to find it.

The Dachshund is ferocious by nature, while the G. Shepherd is semi-mellow. The difference with which they approached the mirror is a telling lesson in how we perceive others and how they reciprocate to us.

The Dachshund, sighting another dog in the mirror, immediately started growling and then barking. Luckily I was carrying it, else it may have charged the mirror.

On the other hand, the G. Shepherd went to the mirror tail wagging - bumping into it whilst trying to sniff, obviously not expecting the dog in the mirror to move as fast as it was.

Then it struck me: isn't this how we end up viewing others? Unbeknownst to us, people are sizing us up, with little help, based on our doing. Our actions may not seem much to us: a kind gesture here, a swift rebuke there, an innocuous tease - but they may be a lot to others. If one has a frown with an authoritative voice, like the Dachshund, there is no reason for others to speak to us softly or kindly.

While, like the G. Shepherd, smile, and the world smiles with you.