1300 hrs in LA.
She stands outside the BRITISH consulate and looks heavenwards. She has just realised that that the POMS dont entertain transit VISA requests in person and the only way to get one is through post.And that too takes 15 working days(and they call Us bureaucratic). She talks to me in a bit of disgust, not because of her present state of disarray, but because I am speaking a little softly(you ought to do it at 2 in the night u see...one has got family that normally sleeps at this time). And i say" Dont worry dear it will be alright", and she smiles ,albeit dry but she still has the courage to smile.
I never thought I would be making a public admiration of her qualities in this way but cannot help it. You have got to give to her. Still going strong and blowing strong.
For those who donot know here's the summary of her ordeal with UMMREEKA. On the very moment she landed foot in phoenix, in Uncle SAM's land her hand baggage got stolen. It had each and every piece of paper , the snobbish upperclass refers to as Documents. Be it marksheets,certificates,currency, Passport, immigration or VISA, she lost it all. Still she stood strong, a little big lady 22 yrs old , she kept her nerve. Then the usual drill of police station-embassy-consulate followed, to no avail. And if you people thought that the American cops are super smart and quick, You are WRONG !! They follow every bollywood movie very closely i guess as all they said was"Cant help it"
She moved on. There was some triumph though, she got a duplicate passport issued.(although it took time but Indians were the only people who issued her some kinda certificate). The Uneversity too The ASU did their bit. Then everybody else on the campus landed up with campus jobs that paid. Hers didnt. She aint got no VISA u see. All requests and pleas met with no answers but pleasantly wrapped NOs. She still worked for no pay.
She had to make a decision MEXICO or INDIA. Where she needed to go to get her VISA reissued. Mexico was the cheaper option but too huge a risk to take alone. Too many formalities and too little assurance. She decided to wait till the term end and booked a flight to her homeland where she can come relax and most importantly get her VISA done.
Late nights, arduos assignments, nerve wrecking sessions, blood sucking seminars, all done and over with. She puffed a sigh of relief, maybe she had jumped the gun.
The story had a little twist in the tale. She wasnt allowed to board the flight to INDIA from LA(which is far far away from arizona), as she did not have a transit VISA for UK nor a US visa, u see the flight had to halt at London airport so she needed to have either of the two. STUCK is the word.
Again pleading and requesting time.
"Can i get another flight via some other country?"- sorry ma'am Virgin atlantic flies only via the UK.
"Can i get some other airline atleast?"- Sorry ma'm but your ticket is valid for VA only
"AirIndia can help atleast i guess?"- Ahh sorry again ma'm AI does not fly from LA anymore.
They made her ticket into an open ticket atleast. And i thank them for that.
Now she is in LA. Has two options. 1. apply for a british transit VISA via an agent(if the agent thinks the documents are sufficient ie.(cost 150US$)
2. Get her ticket cancelled(if that is possible, cost 200 US$) and get another ticket via some third world country like us that create no fuss about BLOODY transit VISAs.
She still has the courage.
She still has the guts to fight it out.
She still has the smile.
She has it all.
P.S. its ironical that terrorists, can enter our country when they want, how they want, and our own innocent citizens have to go through such hell due to an unfortunate incident.aint it.
DUZNT THE PASSPORT COUNT FOR ANYTHING??
AN INDIAN CANT GET BACK WITHOUT BEING .....ahh leave it i aint getting emotional.
I know for a fact that she will be here. Soon and she will still carry that smile...oh sorry Giggle with her.
Keep going dear I am with you. And so is GOD.
Hell yeah! You are the MAN.
And dats the bottomline cuz the great one said so.
