Getting registered in India is like Facebook controlling your privacy..

It was almost like a Fawlty Towers episode (not the one I link to though), without the main character of John Cleese, but including a lot of Manuel's. The seemingly uncontrolled officials going around and in and out of the offices, coming back because they forget something, not understanding me and vice versa. It all wants to look official, but to me it was anything but. Funny though!

So, to get registered in Gurgaon you need a couple of things. Lots of paperwork, your passport, 4 photographs and quite the amount of time and patience.

We went to the local courthouse in Gurgaon, a 5 story building somewhere what seemed to me on the outskirts of the city. Outside as well as inside it is crowded with people waiting and walking, walking and waiting. Elevators are out of service. Everybody needs something done. And just as you would expect, no real waiting queues are to be seen. Of course there are, you just need to know how they work.

Waiting outside the FRO office which is at the back

The office I had to go to, the FRO, or Foreigners Registration Office, was located in a small room, with what seemed to be one main Official guy doing the work. The others, I figured out first, sitting on their plastic chairs, must have been people doing some last-minute filling out of their paperwork. The people standing around were those waiting for their audience with the Official and having him tell them that their paperwork was not right, after which they would be sitting down and scribbling down missing signatures, dates and what more. At least, that's what I thought.

Ah, waiting and writing and looking busy

Of course I did not have to stand in line, a colleague of mine from the office did that, while urging me to sit down outside the office. But it was far to interesting inside the office for me to just sit and wait.

For the last couple of years, a strong discussion has been going on concerning governments and big companies alike (facebook), archiving too much of people's personal data. Can it be controlled? And what happens with our phone numbers, addresses, passport details after we have filled them out digitally on all the new portals that we have these days?

The records!

In India, no such concerns. All paperwork is just up for grabs at the Gurgaon FRO office. Just look at the pictures below. The colorful books are the registration records since 1997 (the oldest year I found). I am in there as well now. It took me 2 trips though, my paperwork was obviously not correct. The second time we entered the room to get my papers processed, I understood what everyone was doing there.

The people sitting on the plastic chairs are actually writing down all data into these colorful books. They are the lower officials. Our main Official is just flipping through the paperwork given to him, and nodding yes or telling you what is wrong. Yet another guy is running around making photocopies. That machine must not be in close, because it takes him 10 minutes for each copy (and evidently, he takes each paper separately from the applicant and only upon finishing the full registration, will he go out for the next copy). Sometimes he forgets something, and he comes rushing back.

Paperwork (waiting to be) archived?

Of course, like in any openly corruptable society, every now and then, some people skipped the lines to offer some candy or nice wrapped boxes with who knows what kind of presents. These were put by the assistants into the only lockably storage units in the room. Obviously these gifts are more important then the records kept :)

The open door filing storage

Once done, the paperwork I handed in is kept in loose files, wrapped tight with a shoelace and then put somewhere in the open archive. No KGB stories here.

A registration form of an American lady at the Palmtree hotel, I decided not to publish any passport copies (which I have though :)

That's me, being registered in the 2011 green book

Ah well, I got myself yet another registration number, and an interesting look into the local governments working.

It seemed strange, inefficient like hell, but oh so funny.