Les Aventures de Techiemaque…

My book was published this July and I got my first royalty statement soon after. My contract with Galileo Press was executed in the US and hence this required me to apply for a TIN to get the actual payment as well as claim tax exemption from the Indian Government. The process, it seemed, was simple, fill a couple of forms and mail it with a notarized copy of my passport duly apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs.

And this is where it all began. A visit to the MEA office in Kolkata got me the response that since my passport was issued in Trichy (It was issued while I was still in college), I would need to visit the passport office there and get it verified (?). Somewhat perplexed, I landed up in Trichy Passport office who told me that I would need to visit the Chennai MEA office to get my passport apostilled. At a loss for what to do I called up the MEA office in Kolkata again seeking for help and the response that I received floored me. It was not under their “jurisdiction” to get my passport, which was issued in Trichy, apostilled. I would need to go to the New Delhi office instead. All attempts to argue over the fact that that my passport was a central government issued document and not a state government issued one and hence should be verifiable from anywhere in the country only yielded curt and irritated replies and this was where I almost gave up.

Continue Reading »

If I leave here tomorrow Would you still remember me? For I must be travelling on, now, ‘Cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see. But, if I stayed here with you, girl, Things just couldn’t be the same. ‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now, And this bird you can not change. Lord knows, I can’t change. Bye, bye, its been a sweet love. Though this feeling I can’t change. But please don’t take it badly, ‘Cause Lord knows I’m to blame. But, if I stayed here with you girl, Things just couldn’t be the same. Cause I’m as free as a bird now, And this bird you’ll never change. And this bird you can not change. Lord knows, I can’t change. Lord help me, I can’t change. – Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd).

Continue Reading »