High Commission of India

Today I spent two hours at the High Commission of India in Singapore, waiting in line to file paperwork for a tourist Visa. First of all, I was surprised that it would take 5 working days for the paperwork to go though and I have a flight booked to fly to Delhi next Saturday…10 days away. After realizing that late this morning I headed straight down there to file my paperwork because my coworker mentioned sometimes it even takes longer than that. I realize that I’ve really been spoiled by being a US citizen. All of the places I’ve traveled before have granted Visas on Arrival but this is not the case for many citizens of other countries. A lot of people here in Singapore have told me how lucky I am that I can travel so easily. I never really understood what they meant… I probably still don’t fully.

So I arrived at the embassy, took a number (number 105), and realized there were over 40 people ahead of me. I arrived just before 11:30am and they stopped giving numbers 11:30am which meant I was going to be one of the very last people served for the day. The time went quicker than I thought would.

Towards the end of the wait I got a lesson in what it means to be White over here: I was about 10 numbers from being called up the window when some blond haired white guy comes in, sits down next to me and asks to borrow my pen. I say ‘no problem,’ so he takes it and then fills in his paper work just then. He finishes then realizes what’s going on with the tickets so he tries to get a number but can’t because the machine stopped issuing numbers at 11:30am and it’s almost 12:30pm. So he sits down, waits for a few minutes until the next window opens up and before they have a chance to change the number he rushed up and says with a smile “I lost my ticket. I was number 23. I’ve been here since 9am this morning. Will you take my application?” as he slides the paperwork though the window. I couldn’t believe it. The Indian girl working kind of smiled and shook her head but then she took it and processed the paperwork. It wasn’t even 10 minutes that the guy was there. A few minutes after he left I got called up and was out the door… just under 2 hours, total time I was there. I’ve heard a lot about this stuff and being able to get away with more but this was really ridiculous…. And I let him use my pen! I’m sure it happens all the time.

Anyway. I don’t care because I’m going to India next Saturday for 9 days. I’m going to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. I don’t have a plan exactly yet but I’ll be traveling with a coworker from San Diego. I’m really lucky how this worked out since he’ll be able to act like my guide and arrange everything and he has family in both Delhi and Agra. I think India would be very overwhelming the first time otherwise.