Taking Care of Business

Monday April 4^th

Was woken up this morning at 9:00 by the hotel manager calling me to make sure I didn't miss the included breakfast. My alarm was set for ten minutes later anyway, as I want to get to the Canadian Embassy early this morning. Had an omelet and then asked about the best way to get to the Embassy. The hotel vehicle was way too much, and local transit is always more exciting, so I opted for a tuk tuk ride!

First I had to haggle over the price, he wanted 150 rupies, the hotel told me it shouldn't be more than a 100. So, I got a 100 (about $2!). The ride was about a half hour through the teeming, streets of Delhi. Traffic going every which way, tuk tuks, bicycles, cars, lots of motorcycles, and pedestrians. I wouldn't ride my motorcycle here for love or money! Interestingly enough, helmets are compulsory, but not for Sikhs. I confirmed that with the manager here (he rides). So I said I hope they wear hard turbans.

At the Embassy, I had to pass through a gated checkpoint, state my business, be phoned in, pass through two locked gates, leave my camera and iPod touch, be scanned with a metal detector and then I could walk across the grass to the actual building. Passed through automatic glass doors into a waiting room dominated by a large, silver half circle counter where the employees sat behind glass, presumably bullet proof, where they talked to you through a microphone and vice versa, and anything passed to each other was put into a sliding drawer! It's so sad what terrorism and fear have done to the world.

Anyway, explained that I was out of pages in my passport and asked what my options were. Then I sat and waited for a bit. I was called into a small room where I could sit and a woman sat opposite from me with a counter and a glass wall between us. She was very helpful and quite nice. A temporary passport wasn’t going to work for me because it only has four pages. So she said I'd have to apply for a new. I told her I'd come to Delhi a week before my two week tour so I could deal with this. She told me it would take fifteen days! Again what are my options? Unfortunately, I return to Delhi after the 15 days, but on a Saturday, and I fly to Kathmandu on the Sunday! So I can't pick it up after the tour. So, to make a long story longer, I asked if I could have someone pick it up for me. She said I could, told me how to do it, we filled out forms, I gave her phone numbers of non family members who could vouch for me, she took my international drivers license and my passport, and then told me the cost. I had to pay 4375 rupies for the passport and 2190 rupies for a notary to sign it for me! I had 500 rupies with me.

So, I had to ask where there was an ATM, go find another tuk tuk, negotiate a price for taking me there, waiting and bringing me back. I paid, got a few things back and then left. Got another exciting tuk tuk ride back to the hotel.

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in my room, having dinner in the hotel and trying to stay awake until bed time. Then I remembered that my tour of India includes a couple of flights, and I worried that without a passport it could be problem even if the flights are local. So, I called the Embassy and talked to the same lady. She told me to show them the receipt for my order, at which point I told her no one gave me a receipt! She told me come back in the morning. Then I made some Skype calls and retired.