Permutations and Combinations.

Now please dont get the wrong idea that this is some kind of maths tutorial.Trust me when I tell you that Maths is one of those subjects I absolutely loathe.Strange coming from a person who has never scored below 70 in math.But it is not necessary that you'll have to love almost every little thing that you do or then again there is no hard and fast rule that only if you have the passion for something you'll be able to get on with.If that was the case I'd be happily doing psychology by now in some corner of the nation and not be sitting with pillow sized textbooks titled "Database Management" or "Network Management" while trying to maintain a balance in my sanity-meter.

But ,as always is the case ,we digress.The title is about one of the most unpredictable things.How about a few rounds of guessing?Okay?

Oil prices?

World Economy?

Next World War?

Is Kalmadi insane?

The next general Election?

Tomorrow's dinner menu?

NO.

This post is about the story of a passport.The story behind how a perfectly i-toe-the-line citizen was made to rush from one end of the state to another before he could obtain a passport.And all because of his name.One of my earlier posts,What's in a name? had a reference to this.(The second paragraph)

(For those who feel the soberithanam to navigate I Ctrl+C,Ctrl+V it here)

It appears that if you have multiple names+multiple surnames+You native place's name annexed to your name it is not very easy guessing what name and what combination will actually turn up in your passport.

Now I should not be the one to talk.Because thankfully my whole lineage has had single names.And my passport was attached to mom's when I was barely 1 year old wherein there was not much that I could offer for proof than a bokka-vaai smile and a goo-gooo-gaaa(Roughly translated to : Sotta maama I have done my part.Please hand over that chocolate before I forget my niceties and grab it myself)sound which due to lack of technology was not recorded for voice recognition and sadly I cant do that goo-gooo-gaaa anymore.I can voice my thoughts though which will prove much more disastrous of course.

That said,this particular guy(Shyam Anand) had the misfortune of carrying two names and in addition a family name and his dad's name.The family name ,as like in most Telugu families,was his native place's.

So the full name as per his school records is T.G.Shyam Anand.

Now there was a reason for the urgency.He wanted to write his GRE exam soon and a passport is mandatory as the validation proof for the exam.The name you give while booking cannot be changed and must be found alphabet-by-alphabet in your passport.Else out of Everonnn systems you get.

That said the usual procedures of filling out applications were gone through and a bonafide was received from the college.

Now here entered the villian.It appears that they got his name was spelt wrong on the ration card.Since his certificates and bonafide held the correct spelling.So his passport application was daar-daara kilichified and hurled royally into Chennai's Thames Koovam.

However,unfazed by all this he tried to apply again.Now began the cat and mouse game.He was supposed to show his birth certificate as the proof(For the name).

Problem 1:His birth certificate did not have his name.

Consequence:He had to run to the gazetted officer to get a signature.

Problem 1.a:He was born in coimbatore so he had to run there.

Problem 1.a.a:The database crashed for the babies born on that particular month of 89.

Problem 1.a.a.:They could not do anything because of Tamil-Maanadu preparations.

Poor guy almost died running from end to end.Finally after around 3 or 4 months the passport appeared and it was neither one of the combinations we had guessed.It was....Oh wait a minute I never told you our guesses did I?

Guess 1 : First Name :Shyam

Last Name :Anand

Guess2: First Name :Shyam Anand

Last Name :GopiKrishnan

Guess 3: First Name :T.G

Last Name :Shyam Anand

Guess 4: First Name :Shyam Anand

Last Name :T.G

Guess 5: First Name :Shyam

Last Name :Anand Gopikrishnan

Guess 6: First Name :Gopikrishnan

Last Name :Shyam Anand

The Final name:Thota Gopikrishnan Shyam Anand

Result:University applications did not have enough boxes to fill his name :)

P.S-Getting passports is like gambling.You have luck you get it.Else in Coimbatore you stay :)

Until the next one,

Gaya :)