Saturday, April 16, 2011

Am I getting deported?

So, I found out about 12 days after I get to india that my passport as to be 'registered' with the government 14 days after arrival. Whoops. It's fine....
  • I get all of the paperwork and go to the registration office on day 14.... when I get to the front of the line (after 2 hours of waiting mind you) the guy says, "Sorry, we can't do anymore today". Can't do anymore today?! Then he tells me when I come back I have to pay a penalty for not registering in time. I almost freaked out on him... But I left and went back to the office and finished my work day.
  • Attempt number 2: I go back the next day... do the normal 2 hour wait... when I give the FRO officer my papers, he looks at the address of the current hotel i stay at... he looks at it for a long time... he then says, really, really loud...'illegal, no register!'. what?! what's happening??? i'm naturally a nervous person anyways... when he says this my heart starts pounding, my hands start sweating, and i look to him for some sort of indication that this is a joke... he doesnt give me that indication... i then start thinking, holy crap, im getting deported... anyways....he says that the hotel that im at right now (and where i'm currently writing this blog post) is not authorized by the government, and hence illegal. not sure why, but apparently some stuff has gone down here... He then goes on to ask me why I need a lease for an apartment when im a foreign national... I don't know dude, I'm staying here for 6 months so it might be more cost effective to stay in an apartment. He doesn't agree. He tells me I need more proof that the owner of the flat is ok with me staying there...
  • Thankfully I'm with a guy from the office that talks through everything and we get the passport registered... But I have to go back with proof that I changed hotels and more proof for the apartment...
  • Oh, and this guy from the office... he randomly tells me the world is going to end in about 8 years... weirdly he seems ok with it. he asked me i believed this and i said no, i believe in jesus and jesus hasn't told me himself when he's coming for me (i didn't say all of this, but i did disagree with him)... we were no longer friends for the rest of the day. 
So this experience wasn't fun... but I'll be fine. One thing that's not ok... Apparently the government shut my phone off b/c I was late registering. When I try to make calls this woman, speaking in hindi says, 'you haven't submitted your papers for government approval. no calls can be made'. not cool india. not cool.
    Bob

    1 comment:

    1. Well, it is now Sunday -- I hope you are still in India. I am really enjoying the blog -- especiall the pictures!!!!

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