On the eve of Golden jubilee

The first jitter I got on the eve of my golden jubilee was that the expiry of driving licence. Indian driving licence is issued with validity till 50th birthday or for twenty years which ever comes earlier. Since I took driving licence in late thirties, mine was valid till the official 50th birthday ( which precedes my actual date of birth by 19 days ).

I said "jitters" with a specific reason. The driving licence I held was issued in Chennai. There is no way I can get it renewed in Chennai as I am not travelling to Chennai in the near future.The more important reason is that I can not produce any proof of residency there. This is the problem of being on jobs which keeps one moving from one city to another without a permanent address.

I decided to apply for renewal of driving licence at Jaipur itself as I have some "influence" in government circles here. I am staying in a rented accommodation but without a lease agreement. My landlord is abroad and there is no way I could get a rent agreement signed at this late hour. A rent agreement is treated as a proof for residence in Jaipur. So I entered into a rent agreement with a colleague which shows me as tenant. I had never been to his house and I memorised his residential address so that I could recite it without any problem if any official in Road Transport Office quizzed me on my residential address.

Road Transport office is not an office for the meek to enter alone unaccompanied. I was conducted around by a "broker". I found the procedure for renewal was circuitous. The office here would send a letter to the licence issuing office at Chennai asking whether my licence which expired was issued from there. The office here would wait for a response for a month. In case the response does not come within this time, the licence would be renewed without much ado. A positive response within the time frame from Chennai licencing office would speed up the process. A negative response from Chennai would kill the propects of renewal of licence.

We were given the letter from Jaipur Road Trasport Office addressed to Chennai Licencing office for speedier dispatch at our cost. I sent it to Chennai licencing office and forwarded a copy to my colleague at our office there for follow up. When they followed up, they were promptly told that the licence I was holding was a false one and was never issued from that office. Some creasing of palms led to the discovery that the licence was issued from that office indeed. The letter confirming the autheticity of my expired licence was collected by colleagues and reached me by mail yesterday.

We carried it to the Road Transport office in Jaipur and after filling up several forms with my photos struck almost everywhere, my licence was renewed for another five years. I heaved a sigh of relief. Now when my licence expires five years hence, where would I be ? I do not know. Life has taken a circuitous path so far and there is nothing to indicate that it would stay put in one place.