Disclaimer: The immigration officer on this photo above is NOT the subject of this post. This photo only courtesy of www.pbase.com's offspring.
TIRUCHIRAPPALLI, India. There is something so wrong with the people they field as Indian Immigration officers - these are the people who stamp your passports and check your visas in and out of India. Last year, it was the same experience in Haridaspur (near the Kolkata-Benapole border), then again at the Chennai Airport. I dunno, but they seem to be handpicked from the University of Idiocy.
As I got my turn at the Immigration Desk, the immigration officer sternly looked at the pages of my passport - he must have gotten confused with the vast number of stamped entries accumulated since I renewed it January last year.
With his face all zonked out, he asked me :"Why you going out, you only have double entry?"
It was my turn to tread the streets of confusion. Am I gonna go on tutorial mode? First off, it was clear that I was a foreigner. I was in fact the fairest person in a see of dark-skinned individuals. This never happens in Manila, as I am not mestizo! I had a double-entry visa for this Indian visit, so what's all this fuss?
So I go: "First entry was Trichy! Second entry was Sunauli! (The Nepali-Indian bortder up north) THIS here NOW at Trichy airport is my EXIT, NOT my ENTRY! That is TWO entries!"
He intently stares at me again, furrow on his thali-free forehead. There were imaginary spirals moving across his cornea and if he would stare harder, he would drop on the floor and perform a mandatory seizure. Suddenly, like a flash of light that gleamed from his deepest recesses, he crawls out of some hole of stupidity - and begins to see the light! Then shoos me away!
I HATE HAVING TO EXPLAIN THESE THINGS as it is NOT my JOB to teach them. Was he schooled from some squat-type latrines?
Obviously, in India, some things take a little more time to sink in !
This is the Eye in the Sky on buffoon immigration duty!
No comments:
Post a Comment