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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Desis and the Laxman Rekha

I was there at the Indian Consulate in Chicago today to get a visa for a friend. Boy, the place is like any other desi office – chairs strewn all over, staff ambling in well past 9 a.m., one person behind the window to accept the applications and people made to wait to submit their application. But, I did manage to get out there in 25 minutes with my sanity almost intact.

I had to return in the evening to collect the passport. The place was a mess. There were at least three lines and I had no idea why. I picked the longest line. Not that I love lines but years of standing in lines in India has helped me figure out that usually the longest one is the one that I should be in. There was so much jostling and confusion – three people at the window at the same time and everyone else right behind them. It made me wonder why desis can’t form a single line, stand behind the yellow line. Then it hit me – we have had this problem for eons. Had Sita stayed behind the line there would have been no Ramayana.

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