Obtaining passport in tatkal option is not as difficult as people talk about it.
Unless you are a terrorist, you can easily get the passport by giving the necessary documents.
To begin with, anyone who is applying must be thorough with 2 websites.
1)
passport.gov.in
2) the website of your regional office which can be found from
passport.gov.in itself.
For example, kozhikode's site is
http://passport.gov.in/kozhikode.html
The tatkal scheme
There are two ways to obtain tatkal passport.
1) Annexure I + Annexure F
2) Annexure I + 3 documents
I went for the second way.
Annexure I need to be obtained from a notary public. There're
plenty of them. You don't have to worry about printing the annexure, etc. All of that will be done by the notary public. You just need to pay them and tell the details.
The originals of the 3 documents have to be shown at the passport office.
You need to take 3 photostat copies of each document and self attest them (I found in the net that self attesting means to write "This is a true copy of the original" and signing underneath. I actually wrote "self-attested" and put my signature. You could even try putting only your signature)
They give an option of 1000 + 1000 to get passport in 2 weeks. It seems like that option is not being given now (at least in kozhikkode office) and that the 1500 + 1000 option itself takes from 7-10 days (at least that's what happened in my case, because my holy adobe is far away from civilization)
Application
You should apply online. Even if you fill up the form offline, they'll make you do it online from just outside the passport office (kozhikode, i mean) (I'm not sure about this, I just saw nobody applying offline, and authorized people sitting outside and helping people convert offline application into online ones.)
While filling up the online form, almost all columns are self explanatory.
You can't use any initial.
If you have a name like Akshay S Dinesh (which you've been using since childhood every time) you will have to expand that S. In my case that was symoblic of my mom's name and required no extra proof (since my mom's name was already in my birth certificate)
Your dad's and mom's name need to be in full. But there's no need for the proof of those expansions.
After finishing online application take the printout. You will finally submit only 2 copies of the personal particulars form for each residence. So if you stayed only at 1 place throughout, you'll have to submit only the 2 copies that comes when your print out the online form (I actually took 2 extra copies reading that "to be submitted in duplicate" and those were complete waste)
Paste photos as directed in the form. Take 1 extra photo with you.
The ECNR status (Emigration Clearance Not Required) is available for
many people including those who have passed matriculation. So if you've passed 10th standard, that's enough. And it's highly recommended that you obtain ECNR status if you're eligible in any manner for hassle free travel.
Checklist
These are the things I submitted.
The application form with 1 unattested photo pasted + 1 unattested photo extra
Two copies of personal particulars with 1+1 signed photos
3 copies of ration card
3 copies of bank pass book (first page and transactions page)
3 copies of birth certificate
3 copies of AISSE 10th standard pass certificate (mark list was more preferred)
original + 2 copies of the Annexure I (affidavit)
Cash!! INR 2500
Collate them and you're better off
The queue
There'll be about 100 people ahead of you in the queue unless you reach the office before the first bus arrives there. But that's not a problem because the token system is pretty good and there are enough counters to finish about 10 people in 20 minutes.
