I asked them why they could not put an additional 1-2 people to speed up the processing. The response: “We are short of staff. In the past few years, our staff has been transferred to Surat and Bangalore, and no new people have been hired.” After a few of us raised our voices (with me leading the way), they finally got one of them to also start processing the documents and the queue split into two.

It was 3:30 pm by the time my turn came. All documents were in order. And all I had to do now was to pay the processing fees.  It was then I was told that since I had not come on the specified date for Tatkal, I would have to go to the Old Passport Office and request for Tatkal there. Another wasted day loomed ahead. But we were not done for the day. I still had to pay the fees. Child’s play, right? We forget we are at the Passport office.

Continued tomorrow.

There were 10 chairs - for the first ten in the queue. The rest needed to stand in place. There were people in the queue coming a second and third time because some document was missing. All accepted the reality of the situation, meekly.  I got my documents checked by a person in one corner - he suggested adding a couple copies which I did. I had no intention of coming again.

The utter ridiculousness of the situation kept starting at me. In today’s day and age, to ask people to wait 5+ hours to submit papers for a passport is absolutely crazy. We have got all the technology in place, but we haven’t changed our people’s attitudes and processes. The same inefficiencies which were there a decade ago are still there. Because no one is thinking it from the citizen’s point of view. The influential get it done by agents; the aam aadmi stands in queue - quietly.

Continued tomorrow.

So, I went personally to the passport office one morning. First Big Mistake. I should have given it to an agent. But I was told that if I wanted to get it Tatkal (quick), I would have to go myself. The date I got from the Internet happened to be the day I was in Palitana, so I went immediately upon my return.  Considering that this is my 5th or 6th passport, one would have presumed that they would not need every conceivable documentation on earth. But they do.

Anyways, armed with the documentation, I arrived at 11:30 am. (I had sent an office person to queue up for me. He called when my turn came.) I was shocked by what I saw.

Continued tomorrow.

Gov 2.0 Summit brings together innovators from government and the private sector to highlight technology and ideas that can be applied to the nation’s great challenges. In areas as diverse as education, health care, energy, jobs, and financial reform, there are unique opportunities to rethink how government agencies perform their mission and serve our citizens. Social media, cloud computing, web, and mobile technologies—all provide new capabilities that government agencies are beginning to harness to achieve demonstrably better results at lower cost.

While the conference is US-centric, I am sure there will be ideas for India also. Will share thoughts after the event in the coming weeks.

Over the years, I have realised the importance of being able to tell a story of what one is doing in a manner that is simple and compact. It doesn’t always start that way. On my recent US trip, I had a slide deck talking about NetCore, what we want to do, and discussing the assets we have created to help us build the future faster. I worked a lot on the slide deck. It took about 5 versions to get it just right. Each version took about two hours to create on successive days. To tell a story that others can understand in 10 minutes took 10 hours of hard work.

…Telling a Story is a key attribute that every entrepreneur, manager and sales person needs. However good an idea, if it cannot be communicated well, then it has a lesser chance of succeeding. Passion combined with a Perfect Story can be a winning combination.

• Are you a Coach or a Player: by Vineet Nayar. “A big mistake happening across corporates around the world. The CEO and managers refuse to give up control because they still think they are Maradonas.”
• The Third Replicator: by Susan Blackmore in the New York Times. “Imitation is not just some new minor ability. It changes everything. It enables a new kind of evolution.”
• ADB Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2010: “The special chapter “The Rise of Asia’s Middle Class” looks at the growth and impacts of the region’s rapidly expanding middle class, and resulting economic and policy implications.
• Contest of the Century: from The Economist.”As China and India rise in tandem, their relationship will shape world politics. Shame they do not get on better.”
• Distinguishing American and Indian democracy: by Atanu Dey. ” Indian democracy is about the citizens choosing who they will obey, while American democracy is about the people choosing who they will employ to carry out the wishes of the people. In the former case, it is servants choosing their masters, and in the latter case, masters choosing their servants.”

Even in today’s modern times, a part of us is still rooted in our traditions. Temples have been a part of our lives through the centuries. If India has to change for the better, this change has to come from a better understanding of our own identity and culture. Somewhere through the generations, much of that has been blotted out.

Our past is what binds us into a unique national identity - one that has somehow gotten dissolved into sub-castes and communities. An understanding and recognition of India’s civilizational greatness is perhaps the missing glue that can bring us together for the future.

Part of the charm lay in the dharamshala  we stayed at. The facilities were excellent. Many Jain dharamshalas tend to compromise on the basic hygiene and facilities, but not this one. Abhishek and I got plenty of time together to play - Uno, a bit of Chess, and Name-Place-Animal-Thing. And he used the floor of our room to make his own bus depots, trains stations and airports with his toys.

There are few other places on Earth than can provide solitude and inspiration for less than Rs 500 a day. It will probably, as it was for Bhavana and her family in her childhood, become an annual pilgrimage destination for me, too.

Through the trek up and down, we are not supposed to consume any food or water. So, from 7 am to 2 pm, that meant no eating and drinking. No wonder then that the sugarcane juice we had once we had reached down tasted extra sweet!

The pain in the legs starts the next day. And it lasts a day or two. Obviously, my legs aren’t used to this kind of exercise! And after the trek, I was keen to do one more the next day. Luckily, my father-in-law dissuaded me from that.

The toughest part of the climb was from steps 1,000-2,000 - the middle path, as it were. The destination is still away, and one is tired from the first part of the climb. After that, it is a countdown to the top.

There was a slight drizzle as we did the climb. At the heights, the low clouds made it almost surreal. Inside the temples, there was no artificial light. The rituals being done now were probably exactly how they have been done for hundreds of years.

In a sense, not only is one climbing up, but one is also going back in time.