For those coming from west India, the pace of West Bengal can be excruciating. And if Kolkata is slow, mofussil towns or rural Bengal are something else. And in an environment where everything moves only with a push, elections have been an easy excuse for all administrative functions to come to a halt.
Whether it is in the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata or the small panchayat office neighbouring Santiniketan, every babu is somehow busy with the elections. And given that it is for the first time elections in West Bengal are being held in six phases stretching over nearly a month, normal life stands hampered.
I don’t know whether it is just faulty planning on my part (for not having foreseen this eventuality) or Murphy’s Law, much of my progress in life, which is bureaucracy-dependent, seems to have clustered around these few months. Last month, having learnt from experience, the first thing I considered even for routine work was whether the department concerned would be taken up with election work.
Thankfully, the post offices were still safe and we could use Speed Post services without difficulty. But that’s only officially. Unofficially, the election fever ensured that paper processors (or those not at the front desks at the post offices) found it absolutely in order to discuss election issues at the cost of keeping customers waiting. A claim form I had put in to withdraw some money that belonged to my mother in one of the large post offices in Kolkata has taken a few trips, without much success.
I gave my passport for renewal mid-February thinking I would beat the election fever, which would start only mid-April. Having waited patiently for a month, I checked the passport website for “status” and found that my form had been sent for police verification. Thinking all was well, I waited a few more weeks but when no summons came from the police department, I decided to check. I was informed that the papers would first go to Suri, the district headquarters, and would then be redirected to the Santiniketan police station. I used all my charm to get a number and a name I could call in Suri.
By then I was dangerously close to the elections. Many tries later when I got to speak to the person concerned in Suri, he asked me to get back after April 23, election day in our district. A week later, I called again only to be told that not all the papers were brought back to the desk after the elections. But he said I could call a day later and he would find out where my file was.
Also Read
When I called, I was told that no form with my name on it had reached Suri. I tried to call and sent a mail to the passport office in Kolkata. Neither did anyone answer the phone nor did I get a reply to the mail. Friends and well wishers told me not to bother before May 13, the day of election results. But I wonder what will happen later. With didi’s triumph, how early will her new broom sweep clean?
Meanwhile, some land that I bought near Santiniketan two years ago has not been registered because the land record office decided to stop work because of computerisation. Having heard some murmurs that work restarted in March, we made enquiries, only to be scoffed at. We were told that nothing would happen before the elections.
As I write this, everyone waits for May 13. It is much like the build-up to Durga Puja in Bengal. A month before the festival all work and decisions are postponed till the devi arrives — except that there are no new clothes.