Work smart,Play Hard.

So after a lot of effort, finally, i got my degree attested by the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi.

First your degree MUST be attested by the state HRD authority. Without this attestation your degree will not be entertained by the Ministry of External affairs.

I planned to write my experience of getting the Apostille sticker by the external affairs ministry on my degree. So here's the drill -

The CPV Division, is located on the Tilak Marg, Patiala House. I got there by reaching to the Central Secretariat metro station(exit at Gate No. 3), then walked all the way, parallely to India Gate, to reach the end of the India gate lawns. Right there you would see the board directing towards Tilak Marg. Start walking on the Tilak Marg. On the right side you would see the CPV Division, Ministry Of External Affairs Board in blue color. Thats the place. There's a little stall of PCO and some snacks outside. It also sells Postal Orders, albeit in black. As high as 100 INR! Dont buy from there!

Walk through the gate, entering the premises, take left. There's a window on the right and rows of chairs to sit and kill time. The window is the counter to buy postal orders. You can buy the postal order only after 10 AM. You need a 50 INR postal order, but even the Ministry of External Affair office 'babu' sells it for 55 INR! Incredible India! The irony being that there's a notice pasted inside that selling the postal order in black or on a higher price is a punishable offense.

Walk a bit farther to the window, you'll spot a black heavy duty iron gate, a bit rusted. Thats the way to the main office counters for the Apostille and other attestations.

Now the best time to reach there is around 10 AM. The black gate opens around 9:45 AM. Beware - Indians usually have the habit to join queues and make them longer. Try to abstain from this urge to join the line. Just sit and enjoy people getting mean to be the first one on the line. Dont yield to the desire to stand in the line.

Let the gate open and people get inside in a chaotic manner. Now get up and buy the postal order (Others would have already bought it from the PCO). Anyways. Keep 55 INR handy. I got into the nuisance of "no change" reply, as touts place orders for the Postal Orders worth 3000 INR in one go! That too with 6 notes of 500 INR. Impressive! Thats why be ready with change.

Now write your name and address on the postal order and in the column "pay to" scribble down "PAO M.E.A". Done. Further, you'll need a photocopy of your passport and degree. Keep the original passport handy too, the officer might want to see it, although in my case he didnt bothered with that.

Walk inside that iron gate, there are benches strewn around, take left. 4 counters with fiber glass sheets would be visible, clearly marked in blue color with their purposes. The extreme right one, counter 1/Apostille is the one you were looking for. Join the line, wait for your turn. Just hand out the Original Degree, 1 copy of the degree and 1 copy of the passport. The officer would jot down a number on your degree and fill out some details on a receipt and tear it out and shove it in your hand. Bingo! Degree Submitted!

They give it back from 4-5 PM.

Now to kill time from 11 AM to 4 PM i went to India gate, strolled in the lawns, watched exotic foreigners, bought a drink(slice) and a water bottle. I had carried a book too with me. So under a tree shade, i took off my shoes and socks, lied down. Phew. Relaxed. Stretched the legs longer. Aah. Took out Agatha Cristie's "And then there were none" and started flipping pages. Afternoon passed.

Evening at India Gate is quite pleasant. Then the hour came, i hurried back to Tilak marg, CPV division, Ministry of External Affairs. Straight to counter 1(Although on counter 4 its mentioned Returning of Documents, but they just fool everyone with it). Present the officer with the receipt and he would hand out your degree. Check the back side - there should a sticker with 2 stamps and signatures along with more precise details(your name, institution, etc.) printed on it.

Voila! Degree Apostilled.

Now my bad luck - they printed my name wrongly. Damn these clerks. I told the officer at the counter. He cooperated. After a little debate he took it back and went away somewhere on the 2nd floor. He returned 10 mins later and handed out my degree. My name was corrected by hand and signed. I asked "would hand written correction be ok?". "bilkul, koi dikkat nahi, sab chalta hay" - he replied.

Why are we satisfied with this approach of patchwork...why dont we do the work perfectly in one go... i submitted my passport copy too, the name's written clearly there....nevermind.

© Zaki Khan