The measurement of the gat is finally done. 
The process took 3 weeks.
Requirements: 2 labors, chuna(lime - white powder), lots of patience
Part 1: The surveyor asked to see the “current boundaries”. He made one labor put a stone at each point and put “chuna” on it - to physically mark the point. Used his instruments to “logically” mark the point on his “map”. This involved walking along all the boundaries, and took abt 2 hours after reaching the land. The instrument consists of a tripod and probably a telescope & its assorted electronics (not sure abt this). The surveyor made the other labor carry the stick-with-prism and hold it up at the marked points such that it would face the telescope. Cost - transportation from bhumiabhilekh office to land, labor cost 200 * 2.
Part 2: Done nearly a week after part 1. Background process - per the surveyor’s explanation, he checked the marked points against the maps in his office and noted the differences. Interaction with us: Showed us the “points as they should be” physically. Moved the stones and put more chuna on them. This process took about an hour. Asked us to put the markers at those points. We did that by using 3-ft cement poles. Needed 4 poles * 75/-, a bag of cement (250/- , half-a-bag would’ve been enough), sand and crushed stones (got from neighbor), labor cost 200 * 2. Fixing the four poles took abt 2 hours after the labor arrived.
Part 3: Done nearly 2 weeks after part 2. We got the map from the bhumi abhilekh office. This took about half-an-hour after we reached the bhumi abhilekh office. The actual process took 5 mins (just one sign).
Output:
- The points marked physically on the land.
- The map. It is called “k-prat” (as in the first letter of the devnagari alphabet). It consists of a chart paper with the drawing of the land on it. Shows the neighboring “gats”. Ours is at a scale of 1:1000. Shows the “current boundaries” as a dotted line, and “should be” boundaries as a solid line. Has the stamps and signs of the bhumiabhilekh office.
Challenges: As expected, the attitude of the govt employees left much to be desired. Had to pick up the surveyor and his instruments from the office. They asked us to reach at abt 9-9:30 (which we did, so as not to give them an excuse to say we weren’t there on time; we knew they wouldn’t really start work before 10-10:30). They told us that the instrument was out and would be back “soon”. It wasn’t back till 12:30 and they were peacefully slumbering in their office. Only when I fussed, did they get off their chairs. Actually, moved out from there abt 1 pm. For part 2 also, their time estimates were terrible and we ended up waiting for 2 hours ( 
better than 4 hours).
Good points: The surveyor has done his technical work properly and the map looks correct.
Now waiting for the survey for the “pot hissa” (division).
