The Trip to Agra

I had my Medical Examination on 31st March 2010 at Air Force Station, Agra. For that I needed to have an important document from DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), New Delhi, called the NOC (No Objection Certificate). They were supposed to post it to me about a week before my date, but I'm not surprised they didn't because this is how things work in Indian Government Offices. I should have know this and should have gone to their office a lil earlier than I did.

But I did inquire about the NOC about 10days before my Medical Date and I was told that the NOC had been mailed already. But I still hadn't got it until 26th March which was Friday and offices are closed on Saturday and Sunday and my medical was on Wednesday. If I haven'y mentioned earlier, I was in Jaipur back then which is 250Kms or 6 hours away from Delhi.

So at the last moment I had to plan a trip to Delhi to inquire about my NOC without which my medical was not possible and the medical dates weren't available that easily and 31 March was my only option. On 28th evening I left for Delhi in a bus and reached there on 29th early morning. I got busy on 29th and couldn't go to the DGCA office to inquire about my NOC. So I just had the last chance that was 30th and if I didn't get my NOC, I would have to cancel my appointment and get another date which wouldn't have been available until June. I had no intentions to waste 2 months like that.

I reached the DGCA office on 30th morning. But I was told to wait there until 3pm as no one is allowed to go inside before that. BULLSHIT!! Anyways, I waited there as I had no other option. At 3pm, they let me inside. I went to the respective office and asked them why I didn't get my NOC. They showed me their register and said that the NOC had been posted to my home address and something must have gone wrong with the postal service. I inquired them if I could get a duplicate copy but I was told they don't keep a copy and to get a new NOC I'll have to wait for 3days. BULLSHITx2!! I told them my medical was the next day and it was their fault and I needed the NOC the same day. They asked me to wait in the waiting room.

After about 15mins one of the employees there asked me to go visit another room where there was heaps and stacks of files all around. I asked them if they knew anything about the NOC. They told me they had sent it to the third room from where the letters are posted to their respective destinations. I enter this small room which looked like a small hut kind of a thing where a poor lower class family would live. To add to the appearance, the had broken cupboards like a one, below poverty line family would own. This was like the tneth guy I was dealing with and telling the complete story over and over again that I had my medical tomorrow morning at Agra and I needed the NOC. They looked into the broken cupboards for a while and FINALLY found out my NOC with them.

I was happy and relieved that got what I was looking for. But my only question was:

"Why the hell did they put an entry in their register that the NOC had been posted when it WASN'T?"