Getting passports are a nasty business, specifically difficult in our country. Both to apply for citizens as well as people traveling from abroad coming for short term work.
Each time I've applied for passport or gotten it renewed it's taken donkeys years to have the final result delivered, and it's not always picture perfect.
My last passport had me looking like I were vibrating. Even the printing of my name and other essentials looked like what double stamps look when you try to restamp the same space to darken the original stamping resulting in giving it a phantom echo, that makes it look shoddily doubled.
It was probably a case of laminating the page without letting the ink dry and imagine how difficult it was for me to live with that passport. Every time I travelled oversees I always had a problem with the customs.
I knew that the moment my turn in immigration would come I'd be questioned or made to wait or be asked to sign some documents and what not.
It angered me and made me feel helpless at the same time.
Every time I thought of getting it renewed or changed I was stuck with one travel plan or another and it didn't help that it also contained my resident visa.
I mean the looks I'd get from immigration police officers. I'd the worst experience in Hong Kong when they told me that such passport won't be allowed a second time.
I was aghast thinking what to do. Going back to India and getting the damn thing renewed wasn't an option. They'd take a whole month not to mention resubmitting documents which I don't understand why one has to do? Just renew my passport on the basis of my existing passport. But No.
I was so angry that I applied it in China and sent it via post to the embassy.
I got a new passport within a week sent back to me through post. No extra documents needed.
Oh come on. I mean it's that easy to get it in another country than your own. Such shitty irony.
Then I've had pathetically horrifying experiences each time I was calling a band from abroad. They'd go through such difficult times at the Indian embassy. There've been times when a band's visa has been denied just days before their concert.
I shudder thinking back those times when I'd be awake the whole night talking sense into visa officials in Indian embassies in Austria, Poland, Germany.
They'd ask me mundane questions sounding totally bored and obstinately lazy. I knew they were just dilly dallying and not interested in doing any work.
I mean I've had to send such ridiculously unneeded details like venue maps, fire exit plans, crowd capacity numbers.
And I've had to fax these details at sometime's 3:00 in the morning from office. Just so they could stamp the band visas and send them over. It angered me no end that my production person and graphic designer had to stay up with me in office doing this nonsensical work just because our embassy oversees was so incompetent and lazy.
It's a cultural defect you know. Babu types behind computers over the phones, asking myriad millions baseless, useless questions. Grievers to a fault.
So many times I had to cancel and rebook tickets just because the bands traveling party of 7 didn't get their visas on time. Such sheer waste of money and nerves.
Not once has it gone smoothly with bands. I'd got so used to this that I was well prepared to tackle a hundred idiotic questions at odd hours. Of course I was the one frantically ringing the embassy before their lunchtime to get a word in sideways. They'd keep derailing me telling so and so isn't available. 'Call in evening' (my post midnight time). 'Send the ticket design'(why the fuck do you want to see the ticket?).
And I'd be doing it all instead of telling them to fuck themselves .
If I were to start ranting on this, the entire blogosphere would be a place too cramped, such is my swilling anger thinking back those moments.
I mean talk of pressure, it was maddening. Imagine. A performance after four days, for which thousands and thousand tickets have been sold. Ads have been aired. Contest winners have been picked. Press conferences have been held. Sponsors have paid up. And the band in question is denied a visa. To say that I was tearing out my hair in wild frustration would be to put it grossly mild.
I can talk more about this. Not just passport situation but pressuring moments that had me contemplating suicide as an option. Moments that at those times felt like it'd be the end of the world, but are now fond memories of all the crazies I went through.
Ah..
now I feel like a bit of tea. Perhaps some red tea is in order.
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