Abhijit Menon-Sen wrote:
(though I forget exactly how). I was sufficiently annoyed that I decided to get the license the "right way", i.e. by going to the nearest RTO and
I have had a very good experience with the RTO in Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore. When I first got my license way back in 1996 it was fairly peaceful and I had got it the *right* way. When I came back to India for good, I found that I did not have my Indian license on me anymore. Luckily, I had a copy of my International License and that listed my driving license number. So, off I went to the RTO with all the info needed to get back my license.
I made it very clear, I think, on day 1 that I was not going to pay come what may. I was asked to get a complaint from the local police station as proof that I really lost my license. (On a tangent, I wonder how a complaint registered can really prove I lost it? Can I not just register a complaint without losing it?)
For all the prose I wrote in my complaint, I got a tiny scrap of paper that said in Kannada that I registered a complaint for "lost license". That's all the cops would give me.
When I went back to the DMV, I had to fill forms in duplicate or triplicate, I forget. Then there was an issue that I came under a newer RTO's jurisdiction. After that was sufficiently resolved since my license was originally issued here, the man said that I would have to come back after a week for him to accept the form. To *accept* the form? The real reason was that there was no "tea with biscuits" promised or exchanged. I volunteered to go through the "apparently endless" archives to find my original license application. My license number, year and date yielded it in 90 seconds flat. :) And that "nice" officer knew it all along.
And then, I went away for almost a week although he promised it in a day. When I went back after a week, he spotted me coming in through the door and said that my license was not ready and that I had failed to mention my address on one of those "x-plicate". And then when I filled it out (a different set of forms was insisted upon), he emphatically stated that my complaint did not have the license number on it. The police never give in to such requests as far as I know, but he was determined to make life hell for me. I decided to go back to the cops and request when I spotted a "complaint/suggestion box" at the doorway. A-ha, one avenue to vent. When I asked the peon for a complaint form, he simply stated that I meet with the commissioner instead.
Not knowing if he was in cahoots with the staff, I decided to take my chances.
I got my license the same day, the staff got an earful and everyone was quivering for a while I guess. I was happy to have returned to this INDIA.
Venkat
