Monday 4 Jan 2010

9 am at Cheru Resmi Centre and get stuck into my list of jobs to do. Finalise the English version of the Constitution. This needs to be certified as soon as possible. Next on the agenda is the court's requirement of accounts up to 5 Jan to be filed with lawyer and court. I request the vouchers and previous records to draw up a suitable tabulated document. There are bells and whistles and they take time, but we finish the job.

Babu arrives to pick me up for our trip to the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) and fetches up becoming taxi driver to Sr Mercy and others who are attending a memorial service in town. Hey Ho!

I take a few pics of downtown Trivandrum. There are posters everywhere for the upcoming Communist Party Conference. Che Guevara is hot favourite!

The trip to the RTO is a bit of a farce. Nobody knows what to do with me. The RTO himself is at a high level meeting with the minister as there is to be a transport strike tomorrow! His deputy is bemused by my questions: "Can I drive a scooter using my Intl Driving Licence or do I need something more?" She wants to say NO as she has never been asked this question before but I argue my case firmly. She eventually suggests I need to apply for an Indian driving licence. This amazes me. She passes me to the Senior Superintendent who fences and parries with me telling me I need to take a test and the whole process will take 30 days. I look at the application form in dismay. It requires a medical examination and an eye doctor's certificate?. This is way over

the top. In the end, after I argue the various points, he decides to call the RTO on his mobile, who miraculously is on his way to the office. So we take a seat and wait. Sure enough within 10 minutes a very smartly dressed uniformed gentleman arrives. Everyone tugs a forelock and looks sharpish.

We are ushered into his Air Conditioned (blissful) office. I present my documents and ask my question. He reflects for about 30 seconds and then picks up my UK Driving Licence and says: "With this, Madam, you can drive in the UK." He then picks up the Intl Driving Licence and says "With this you can drive in India" and then smiles at me. The interview is over.

Phew!

Now all we need to do is find a scooter shop! I would like to buy a second hand one but Babu thinks a new one would be better. One thing we have discovered is that I cannot register one in my own name, as I am non-resident. So it will have to be in Babu's. We drive out of town and find a Honda shop (3 models mostly on a 1-4 month waiting list) and a TVS (made in India) shop with 2 models (no waiting list). The cheapest costs round about 40,000 rupees - 520 pounds. Then snag comes when the insurance people say they cannot insure more than one person to own/ride the machine! This is not looking good. We decide we have done enough for one day and retreat!

A quiet evening waiting for Alexis to return from 3 days in Varkala for work at Dr Ajith's clinic. He needs to freshen up and catch us up on his adventures. Blog time for me!