Guess what? All your dreams to go to an exotic foreign destination this New Year's might just fall flat!
You know why?
The government of India has advised all Indians living in India and abroad to urgently replace their handwritten passports (wherein your details are filled in by hand) with machine-readable ones.
*So if your passport looks like this, rest assured your vacation stands cancelled.
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The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set a November 24 2015 deadline for globally phasing out all Non-machine Readable Passports (MRPs). Thereafter, other countries may deny visa or entry to any person travelling on a non-machine readable passport.
What you need to keep in mind: The government of India has been issuing these (MRP's) since 2001.
If your passport is a non - MRP issued before 2001, with a validity of 20 years only, then you need to get it re-issued.
Indian citizens residing in India and abroad and holding such passports with validity beyond November 24, 2015 should apply for the reissue of their passports well before deadline.
Deadline: 24th November 2015
How Your Passport Should Look: 
For more details related to Indian passport services log on to: www.passportindia.gov.in