A Rainy Day in Delhi

It was pouring in Delhi and my cab was moving at a speed of 1 inch/hour. The words of cab driver changed from – ‘Three hours is a lot of time sir. We will easily reach airport by 4 PM’ to ‘I told you sir we should have taken the other route ’. 

But it had been an incredible day for me and I continued to beat life. The flooded roads and snarling traffic could not stop me from reaching airport back on time. Ambling on the walkalator I saw passengers lining up at gate number 45. The departure of IT 343 was being announced. I was tired but not as much as I was happy. Life was fast, furious and beautiful since the previous evening.

It was the fourth meeting of the day and I was struggling to stay awake. Manish’s email popped up and it stirred me enough. It was a reminder to check the status. It was Thursday, 8^th September and the last hope. I entered details online and to my delighted-confusion the text abruptly ended – ‘Passport received from French Embassy. Please collect on.’ I burped. 

‘What does this text mean?’ 

Any other normal thinking mind would have read it as – ‘Visa is ready, have a wonderful trip to Paris’. But it was mine which has a penchant for analyzing absolutely trivial things.

With a very determined intent to clarify all my doubts, I dialed the customer care number. Yes, I was right. It was clarified and ascertained that life mocks at me at will, a little more when the topic of discussion is foreign travel. It was 6 PM and the call centre was closed. Amidst all uncertainties, one thing was clear – With or without Visa, I had to collect my passport. So requested Manish to book the early morning Hyderabad-Delhi flight. 

It was raining very heavily in Delhi. I reached the Visa office at Nehru place a little ahead of scheduled time. At the collection point, I was given an envelope. I tore it with all my might and quickly opened my passport. I saw what I wanted – A glossy page with multi-entry Schengen Visa. I was happy, very happy. 

I have to mention this to all my readers. After the agonizing experience I had with US Visa, this was truly wonderful. I was scheduled to travel to Paris on Sunday the 11^th of September. The only way this could happen is to get Visa latest by Friday, 9^th September, the last working day. With every passing day, my hopes waned. But I was always telling myself, whether I fly or not, what was important for me is Visa. Because I sincerely hoped that countries worldwide will increasing believe that I am harmless and all my future Visa applications will be hassle free (fingers crossed). Never know what problem they will have with my name and religion. 

Whatever, for now, I was all set to visit the fashion capital of the world and importantly a new country this year.

I hurriedly entered into the cab while questioning the cab driver, ‘We will reach airport by 4 PM, right?’