Signs
Conflicting dates, travel agent politics, visa and ticketing issues. We got through them all and finally had our tickets to China one day before we were to leave.We were scheduled on an Air Deccan flight to Delhi at 5:30pm. We get a call at 4pm that our flight is cancelled and we may (or may not) be able to get on another one at 7:30. It's storming in Hyderabad and all flights to Delhi are delayed or cancelled. Perhaps this is a sign. There's been too much trouble over this damned trip.
Well, we're finally air-borne at 7:45pm and make it to the international airport without a hitch. At 1:30am we go to check in for our Beijing flight. The airline rep tells me I don't have the "ECNR" stamp. "Emigration check not required (ECNR)". I'd never heard of it before. A stamp, I'm told, required by Indians to pass through most Asian countries unless we're traveling to the US or Europe. So there was no chance of me boarding the plane that night.
Err, now what? Flight leaves at 4am. The doubts creep in again. Is this a sign? What if we’re hit by some bad luck?
So I find myself in the emigration chief’s room. I ask him if there is anything, ANYTHING, I can do to get past this emigration stuff. "What do you mean by anything", he asks. He's testing me to check whether I suggest a bribe. But I'm not good at that kind of stuff and I would never have the guts to suggest something like that to an officer like him. I'm dumb like that. So I play innocent -- "I don't know Sir. You tell me what can be done. You're the officer here". He asks again and now I’m convinced that he wants a bribe and I don’t know what to do.
He fired questions at me for the next 10 minutes. He suddenly got sentimental. He realizes we’re both from Rajasthan (ethnically). Also, his 25 year old daughter studies in LA and he said Tulika and I reminded him of her. “You look like girls with a good background”, he judged. He could relate to us now and decided we were safe. I quickly wrote out an official letter requesting him passage to China and he let me go.
We ran to board the plane and passed out the minute we took off. There are no “Signs”.
Well, we're finally air-borne at 7:45pm and make it to the international airport without a hitch. At 1:30am we go to check in for our Beijing flight. The airline rep tells me I don't have the "ECNR" stamp. "Emigration check not required (ECNR)". I'd never heard of it before. A stamp, I'm told, required by Indians to pass through most Asian countries unless we're traveling to the US or Europe. So there was no chance of me boarding the plane that night.
Err, now what? Flight leaves at 4am. The doubts creep in again. Is this a sign? What if we’re hit by some bad luck?
So I find myself in the emigration chief’s room. I ask him if there is anything, ANYTHING, I can do to get past this emigration stuff. "What do you mean by anything", he asks. He's testing me to check whether I suggest a bribe. But I'm not good at that kind of stuff and I would never have the guts to suggest something like that to an officer like him. I'm dumb like that. So I play innocent -- "I don't know Sir. You tell me what can be done. You're the officer here". He asks again and now I’m convinced that he wants a bribe and I don’t know what to do.
He fired questions at me for the next 10 minutes. He suddenly got sentimental. He realizes we’re both from Rajasthan (ethnically). Also, his 25 year old daughter studies in LA and he said Tulika and I reminded him of her. “You look like girls with a good background”, he judged. He could relate to us now and decided we were safe. I quickly wrote out an official letter requesting him passage to China and he let me go.
We ran to board the plane and passed out the minute we took off. There are no “Signs”.
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