The friday gone by, (18th July) , my 90 year old grandmother's health took a turn for the worse, and we were informed by the doctors that she would not last the weekend. My passport has been with BLS / Cox and Kings for the last three weeks for a simple booklet addition.On Friday, I called them - there was no one to take my call, and no one called back despite the innumerable voice mails I left. I then rushed to the consulate in Manhattan, to try and figure if I could get my passport back, or some document that would enable me to leave for India that evening.
And what transpired was a nightmare.
The Consulate working hours at Manhattan are till 5.30 pm Monday through Friday, and I reached there to find the office shut from 3 to 4pm. There was no one to explain what the reason was, and no officer available who I could speak with. Till 4.30 pm, no one came to the passport window where many people apart from me were also cooling their heels.
Finally, I managed to catch someone’s attention and explained the nature of the problem and the emergency. With a sour puss expression, the ‘gentleman’ told me that there was nothing that he could do. When I asked to speak to someone in the embassy, he told me I could go to anyone and they would not help. I asked to speak to the Consular or some official and he said they could not be bothered. I asked him if he understood the urgency. His response was that it was night time in India, and there was no emergency. I told him I would lose my granny over the weekend, and was he telling me he could not help me get to India? He snapped at me and told me to not be rude and scampered away. No other official appeared . At 5, we were told the consulate was shut for the day.
My granny passed away on Monday morning, and the reason I had wanted to come to India did not exist anymore. It angered me first, and then saddened me that I am an Indian citizen, with a valid passport and visa, and yet I was denied the opportunity to meet my grandmother one last time.
I tried to process what had just happened! I figured there was a failure on two counts.
- A systemic process failure - It is actually bizarre that a mere booklet addition should take more than 3 weeks. It is even scarier that the Ministry of External Affairs has not planned for serious emergencies. There should have been some process that enabled me to get temporary documentation to travel back home. I asked the ‘gentleman’ who had deigned to talk to me if I could receive a one way document, and my husband would take the passport and courier it to India in the following week. To which I received a brusque no.
- Incompetent and callous behavior - Perhaps what galled me even more was that there was no one to listen and help.Why is it that I could not access any of the officials who are supposed to be representing me in another country? I can understand if they could not help, but the arrogance of officials in refusing to meet is unacceptable. An embassy conducts business on behalf of its country, but it is also responsible for the welfare of its citizens in a foreign land. Or am I missing a point here?
So here is my contention - Why is it that we choose to send such arrogant people to represent our country abroad? Is it because the great bureaucratic machinery is so secure in itself that it chooses to be badly behaved? India is full of amazingly hard working , considerate people and we can’t recruit them? In a country where the system fails us all the time, it is our people who rise up time and again to help and lend a shoulder. Surely our bureaucracy, and the people who are selected to represent us need to be of a higher calibre. And those people can make contingency plans that assist citizens far away from home.
In the US, if I faced discrimination from US citizens, I would take it in my stride. After all, this is not my country, and these are not my people. I am here for a brief period and don’t really care for its citizenship because I love India and being Indian. But when, in an alien land, my own country representatives choose to be callous and unhelpful, who can I turn to blame? Is it any wonder that Indians do not get the respect due to them in foreign countries? It is because we have no respect or regard for our own…and we have the audacity to want better from the rest of the world?
I still remain a proud Indian. Except that I am ashamed that Incredible India chooses such shoddy representatives for itself.
That Friday evening, totally disconsolate and inconsolable, all I could tell my NRI, ABCD and American friends in NYC was this - The Consulate is NOT representative India. This is not what India is. This is not what Indian people are. Don’t think negatively about my India because of a wretched few souls. Mera Bharat is Mahan, and the Indian Consulate people are not true Indians.
I never got to meet my granny, and could only 'see' her on Skype. But I hope that this does not happen to other proud , tax paying Indians, who may not be there for their parents, children or loved ones,all because Indian External Affairs failed them miserably.
1 comment:
Preeti, my two cents:
1) This is the brazen elitist culture of the IAS. Which was created to serve the British rulers and in their hearts they still (quite largely) do not believe they should "serve" the very people they once helped kick around 70 years ago.
2) You may find this hard to digest but hear me out. Education has done little to make Indians considerate or polite. They value education as long as it gives a well paying "status" job. And if you have that why be polite, unless of course you need to professionally polite as in hotels etc. See the way your apartment complex manager speak down to the driver, maid, courier and you will know. Or even how many of us inadvertently talk to people from a lower economic stratum.
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