An EPIC struggle

Background : Must take GRE soon. Need passport to do so. The ridiculously complicated and convoluted application requires that I get my voter ID card or the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC).

Setting : South Bangalore, in a run-down non-descript 10ft x 7ft x 10 ft concrete cuboid, which is a miserable excuse for the ‘regional electoral office‘

Date : 7 March 2009, 11 am

Long serpentine queue outside the shack. Count around 25 people in front of me…….. 30 minutes pass……… Only 5 people now…. Vague thoughts of nice lunch at home wander in my mind… only 4 people left …………. blink ….. there goes the power and with it any chance of getting a card soon…. Operator says ‘Aenu madakka aagallaa saar, naalakku gantege banni, aavaagaa sigathe‘.. As any true citizen of India knows, arguing with such folks is about as effective as arguing with a banana, so I return home foul-mouthed and empty handed.

4 hours later…………..

Setting : The same god damned shack

Same long queue, with a few familiar faces. Wait for another 25 minutes….. My turn to get my photo taken (finally!!)…. Aghast to find all details (my initials and address included) are utterly wrong…. A pithy but heated exchange of words with the operator… details fixed, now for the photo…. Smiled into the webcam as blandly as possible… there… all done.
.
.
.
I wish..
.
.
As I was waiting outside the shack to have my card given to me, I get called back in…… ‘Systemalli yeno problem aagidhe saar, run-time error, innondhu sala photo thogoll beku’ (runtime error in system and must get my photo taken again)… Thoughts in my head in order are :
1.WTF?
2.Why me?
3.Are these guys completely incompetent?
4.And I thought this couldn’t get more f*d up.
.
.
Stand in queue for another 20 min…. Correct the details once more… stare at the camera once more, albeit in a more disgruntled fashion…. Was so irritated during the second shot that it showed on the photo… a friend of mine told me I looked like a terrorist… There go my chances of getting a passport without hassles..

Observations on this misadventure:

1. There are some places which must have uninterrupted power.. hospitals, railway stations, police stations and effing electoral booths!
2. Hope the Karnataka Govt does not use banking software from the same company that made the electoral software.
3. The ‘Silicon valley of India’ should ensure that its civil servants can operate a computer. No point in having an ignoramus trying to issue voter ID cards.