I called the Indian Embassy in D.C. yesterday and had the pleasure of talking with an extremely rude Mallu lady. Her tone suggested I had committed a big crime just by calling them. I asked her if I can send copies of my passport for the PCC, and she said they needed original passport. I began to tell her NY allows notarized copies, and she interrupted me by saying don't tell me anything about NY - they are different we are different. She cut me again when I started to say I am not comfortable sending my passport for such a long time by saying we cannot help you if you are not comfortable. It has been a long while since I've talked to someone this rude. That is not my complaint, what I am pissed about is that she did not try to help me at all, and that is her job!
Probably just another case of take a Babu out of India....
If anybody had better luck interacting with a different rep please give me their details.