Hyderabad, April 18 -- Getting a file processed or approved in an Indian government office is not an experience people want to remember fondly. Applicants are often asked to come the following day, only for that day to stretch into weeks, months and years. Either government officers or the files seem impossible to trace.

In Chhattisgarh Bilaspur district, a man, frustrated after repeatedly being told that his file was untraceable, threw a packet of almonds on a housing board government officer's table, sarcastically telling her it would help refresh her "fading memory."

"Aap badaam khaiye. Isse yaadash tez hotha hai. Aur jab yaad aa jayega ki mera file kaha hai, tab aap mereko bata dena (Please have some almonds. They help sharpen memor...