I don't think the world sees the same Indians that I do. I live, currently, in a small city in Western Maharashtra called Kolhapur. By and large it is the most satisfying place for a person of my temperament. The peace and quiet and sedentary life make all the worries in the world disappear.
But there is a vicious side to this bucolic city. And it has to do with the police, or rather, the Foreigners' Registration Officer (FRO). There's a new one in town and he's an ass. 3 months' advance to renew a visa, 15 days' notice to acquire an exit permit. Previously, all you had to do was turn up and all would be well with the world. Now, the little shit won't even help to get expired visas extended or renewed.
One can overlook a great many failings when one is getting along just fine. But when someone makes it his personal mission to make your life miserable, all those failings don't look so cute any more. Now, the filth sorrounding me, the illiteracy, rudeness and dishonesty of these people is making me sick and I want out as soon as posssible.
But there is a vicious side to this bucolic city. And it has to do with the police, or rather, the Foreigners' Registration Officer (FRO). There's a new one in town and he's an ass. 3 months' advance to renew a visa, 15 days' notice to acquire an exit permit. Previously, all you had to do was turn up and all would be well with the world. Now, the little shit won't even help to get expired visas extended or renewed.
One can overlook a great many failings when one is getting along just fine. But when someone makes it his personal mission to make your life miserable, all those failings don't look so cute any more. Now, the filth sorrounding me, the illiteracy, rudeness and dishonesty of these people is making me sick and I want out as soon as posssible.
My visa has expired, thank God, and I am being expelled from India. But even with a clear case of overstaying, they will only 'allow' me to depart at their leisure-so I have to wait a further fifteen days before I can even make plans to purchase an airline ticket.
And this is a country that sees itself as a superpower of the future. If this is how they see superpowers conducting their affairs, then thay have a lready lost the fight to their bette noir,
the Chinese. The buzzword should be efficiency, and Kolhapur is anything but. So, if we take small-town India as a microcosm of the amount of effort required to turn this country into a superpower, they have a looong way to go. And it is their viciousness towards potential friends that will continue to delay them, if not hold them back.
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