Its extremely hard to believe...yes, its the passport!

Ok. Let me breathe for a moment. Ahhhh! Ok. Here I go...

I GOT MY PASSPORT!!

My God. Yes, I got my passport. Within 7 days of my application. Looks like a dream come true.

Now, I am giving away exactly what all I did to apply:

1. Documents to attached - PAN card copy, Driver License (best if you have a voter id card) copy, Ration card copy, Electricity bill copy, A verficiation cerfiticate as per their Annexure 'F', A non-judicial affidavit as per their annexure 'I', Copy of 10th marksheet, 12th marksheet, graduation final marksheet. Make sure you carry all the originals to passport office and keep them in your custody all the time. Also, carry two sets of photocopies of all the documents I mentioned above.

The verficiation cerfiticate needs to be on the official stationary of the official who is attesting the certificate. A photo also needs to attested on the certificate. Make sure, you sign all the pages of the affidavit and two places at the last page as 'Deponent'.

Don't get confused by the language on the passport site (given below). YOU HAVE TO GIVE ALL THE DOCUMENTS. There is no choice between verfication certificate and three proofs from the list. They want EVERYTHING!!

2. While filling up the form, be extremely careful and fill it correctly. Also, for options that are not applicable on you, write NA there. DON'T LEAVE ANY FIELD BLANK. Sign on the photographs on the two Personal Particular forms. DO NOT SIGN ON THE PHOTO on the MAIN FORM.

3. Find out what is the time of distribution of tokens for tatkaal in passport office of your area and be there earlier than the opening time. You will get a token if you are early enough since they only distribute 100 tokens a day that get vanished in no time. Get your form checked at the checking counter and if the person accepts your form, move to fee paying counter and pay the fees.

4. For passport in 14days the fees is Rs. 1000 + 1000 (normal application fees) = Rs. 2000 total!

For passport in 7days the fees is Rs. 1500 + 1000 (normal application fees) = Rs. 2500 total!

5. Do some hardwork and you can avoid the agents who will charge you Rs. 5000 or more for your passport. Nobody at the passport office asks for any extra money (at least not in the Lucknow office).

All the information is available at http://passport.gov.in/cpv/TatkalScheme.htm

P.S. All the information given above is generic and based on my personal experience. It does not take into account any special cases like a person having a criminal record or if the person doesn't have all the necessary address proof or photo id documents. Also, the above procedure will ensure that a passport is ISSUED to you and does not include POLICE VERIFICATION. For tatkaal applicants, POST ISSUE POLICE VERIFICATION is done. If any problems are found in the documents later on, you can be asked to surrender the passport to the department. You can fill up a form at the passport office for police verification and submit it along with the fees of Rs. 300 to get police clearance. You will not be allowed to travel abroad if police verification is due on your passport.