Madamji, aap Monday ko aao. Abh to kuch nahi hoga.
Foolish hopeful heart, trying to get out of India. Simply cannot be done. Stuck here. Till Monday. Misery.
This is because while the Indian Embassy in New York and the Air India office tell you one thing, the stalwart emigration officers at Amritsar airport tell you another. With the result that you don't get to leave. Till Monday.
Then you rant and rave. They direct you to the Air India booking office back in the city. Because, you know, the airport does not have a ticketing office. You start to leave the airport to find a cab to take you there and back in 2 hours (because you smartly decided to get to the airport 3 hours in advance of your flight) but you can't get out. You have to be escorted out by an airline employee. Who takes multiple copies of your passport and then after having you wait for 40 minutes, runs off because his shift has ended and he couldn't be arsed. Consequently, you have missed your flight to Delhi and will possibly not get another one till Monday.
You then demand to speak to the station manager who, a kindly person, finds you someone who will take you out the airport. Then the nice taxi fellow waits 2 hours while the nice but utterly useless people at the Air India office try to rebook you. They cannot. Until Monday.
They order you a chai and a cutlet with brown chutney. Then one nice man calls the nearest hotel to negotiate a rate for you for a room. Till Monday.
You get to the hotel cold, wet, lungs teeming with all sorts of germs, tired, broken, hungry, dejected and in pain. The room is freezing. They give you a space heater. You're thirsty. They give you a bottle of water. There is no internet. You head to the lobby to find a signal. Ironically, airindia.com will let you book a flight out to New York (thereby confirming that people are useless and all Indians should be replaced by the internet). For Monday.
I suppose the upshot of all this is that I get one more chance to do some shopping for Black Cobra and BIL and see the Temple in the night tomorrow.
I'm going to take my pills and go to bed. I expect to be back home by Tuesday. If the wahey guru sees fit.
This is because while the Indian Embassy in New York and the Air India office tell you one thing, the stalwart emigration officers at Amritsar airport tell you another. With the result that you don't get to leave. Till Monday.
Then you rant and rave. They direct you to the Air India booking office back in the city. Because, you know, the airport does not have a ticketing office. You start to leave the airport to find a cab to take you there and back in 2 hours (because you smartly decided to get to the airport 3 hours in advance of your flight) but you can't get out. You have to be escorted out by an airline employee. Who takes multiple copies of your passport and then after having you wait for 40 minutes, runs off because his shift has ended and he couldn't be arsed. Consequently, you have missed your flight to Delhi and will possibly not get another one till Monday.
You then demand to speak to the station manager who, a kindly person, finds you someone who will take you out the airport. Then the nice taxi fellow waits 2 hours while the nice but utterly useless people at the Air India office try to rebook you. They cannot. Until Monday.
They order you a chai and a cutlet with brown chutney. Then one nice man calls the nearest hotel to negotiate a rate for you for a room. Till Monday.
You get to the hotel cold, wet, lungs teeming with all sorts of germs, tired, broken, hungry, dejected and in pain. The room is freezing. They give you a space heater. You're thirsty. They give you a bottle of water. There is no internet. You head to the lobby to find a signal. Ironically, airindia.com will let you book a flight out to New York (thereby confirming that people are useless and all Indians should be replaced by the internet). For Monday.
I suppose the upshot of all this is that I get one more chance to do some shopping for Black Cobra and BIL and see the Temple in the night tomorrow.
I'm going to take my pills and go to bed. I expect to be back home by Tuesday. If the wahey guru sees fit.
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