Fair and Fair - Passport and Shabnur

After the Cypress interview, I thought I would be free. But there were some more things which kept bugging me. One of them was to get Passport. I had got the form from the post office, somewhere around July or August itself. I had even the DD ready with me, but was lazy enough to fill and submit the form. There are many reasons for that, and I don't want to tell all those now. Many of my friends who got the suggestion to fill the form from me, have already got the passport, and I am right here, describing how I submitted the form...

Anyway, our placement officers did something good. They kept a Passport Mela to help the students of the college. Any student could submit the forms in the college, on 27th of February. We had to be ready with

• The Passport form
  
• A DD of Rs. 1000/- taken in favour of The Passport Officer, Bangalore
• Six Recent colour photographs (3.5 cm x 3.5 cm)
  
• Address proof (ration card, telephone bill to show one year stay, bank passbook or a certificate by hostel warden - anyone would suffice. But, interestingly, DL is not accepted as a valid address proof)
• Proof of Date of Birth (SSLC or Class X marks card is sufficient for this)
  
• Proof of Education (marks cards of the highest education achieved)
  
• Two photocopies of everything we submit

I make blunders at some critical times and I did it here too. I made a mistake (it was a small mistake, and a bit of whitener would have been sufficient, but I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to use it) and I got a new form, on the same day, afternoon. Thanks to SBS for helping me get the new form from the post office. We had a lot of things as lunch together (When it comes to eating, I say just Main Hoon Naa).

After coming back to the college from the post office, I filled the form. But it was lunch time for those who had come. So we waited in the reading (chatting) room, and submitted in the afternoon. There was no queue. I just went and gave whatever I needed to give. The passport form was submitted.

I didn't have the faintest idea that I would be having one of the unforgettable events in that evening. While we were in the reading room, LDA invited us to the Shabnur fair. Many of us agreed, and planned to leave to Shabnur at 4:30 PM.

Time had come. We waited for some of our friends to come, and left college at about 5:00 PM. It was perfect time to assort. I, LDA, RDA, V1, V2, PKS, LU, ARH, ABN, NRS, VBK, MB, MG, MAP, CNG, SBS, SM - oh it was quite a large group. Probably the shopkeepers hadn't seen such large group ever. It was just fun. We first went to the Aanjaneya temple, and then started our campaign. Whistle, balloons and some coloured glass rods were the things purchased first. The real amusement was about to begin.

Someone asked MB what gift would he like. It all started when MB gave the option to bring any gift to him. He got a clapping doll. It became a craze, and almost everyone was given a gift. ARH got a kitchenware set to suit her, ABN got a Japa Mala. It was fun for others, but at the same time, a bit humiliating for the person who got the gift... Well, it ended with MAP getting a ladies' ribbon!!

In the mean time, V1 got snapped by some small girl, asking why he acted like a kid. He complained that someone among ourselves had told that girl to ask like that. You should have seen his face then!! PKS found a shop to fill our tank (stomach) and then we headed back to the college. Better luck next time, if ever, for those who missed it.