If anything can wrong

On a Tuesday afternoon (15^th January 2019), I was asked to join on a Mission from Manila, the Philippines to Bihar, India.  I thought that I had the Indian visa because I had a double entry visa and had used only one entry in October 2018.  I also thought the second entry is valid for 6 months since the first entry.  I planned that I will leave on Manila on Friday (18-01-2019), stop at Allahabad to visit the Kumbha Mela, and then proceed to Patna to join the mission on Monday (21st Jan 2019).  Kumbha is a major congregation of Hindus, occurs once in 12 years (some would argue it happens once in 6 years), which attracts over 120 million pilgrims.  I wanted to be one of them in 2019.  I booked my tickets from Manila to Delhi, Delhi to Allahabad, then to Patna, then to Manila via Kolkatta, an Indian city I have never been to.  I was very excited.

On the Wednesday afternoon (16/01/2019), I was going through my passport and realized that my second entry to India was valid only for 60 days after initial entry, not, for six months.  I panicked but immediately applied for Indian eVisa through their portal.  The previous time, I received the eVisa within 24 hours.  So, I was hopeful that I will get the visa on time so that I could depart on Friday as planned. 

The portal was under maintenance, it came alive after a few hours, but still would not accept the payment from my Filipino debit card.  I tried six times and failed.  Then I contacted my wife in Sydney, who was able to make the payment at her second attempt.  I was still hopeful that I will get the visa on time for departure on Friday.

I did not receive the visa till Friday afternoon at 3 pm, so I thought of checking whether the payment from my wife’s credit card went through to the Indian Immigration.  My wife checked the credit card statement and found that the payment has not gone through.  I am now panicking.  I reapplied for the eVisa, at an additional cost of 80 USD, called the travel agent and asked her to cancel my plans to attend Kumbha, rebook the ticket to depart on Sunday, so that, I could get my visa and attend the official assignment on Monday.  I was disappointed, and in the process, I have lost another 250 USD.  No major loss except for disappointment that I could not go to Kumbha Mela.  Saturday came and went, and on Sunday (20/1/2019) at 11 AM I got the visa for my first application.

 

I was to arrive in Delhi at 3 AM on Monday morning, and through a hotel booking site, I booked a room for me to stay on Monday till 4 pm when my next flight from Delhi to Patna was due.  Then I sent an email to the Hotel, requesting them to pick me from Delhi Airport at 3 AM.  They immediately replied and informed that the website was incorrect to accept my booking as they were fully booked on Sunday night.  I contacted the booking website, after going through various options, I managed to ‘chat’ with a staff of the website.  She contacted the hotel, which informed her that the hotel is fully booked.  She agreed only to refund me in full but after two weeks.  I accepted the reality – I know we are now managed by computers! 

I have now decided not to push my luck anymore and decided to stay at Delhi Airport from 3 AM till 4 PM on Monday.

I left Manila Sunday evening and at 3 AM Indian time on Monday morning I arrived in Delhi.  Went through the immigration, had a ‘small’ friendly chat with the immigration officer who, from my application details, recognized my employer.  He wanted to join the Multi-Donor Development Bank I work for and asked how he could join.  For an Indian bureaucrat, he was friendly.
 

When I went to collect my luggage, it was not there.  The luggage belt staff said that I need to wait till 10 AM to talk to the Airline staff.  My frustrations continued.  At 10 AM, I went to the airline office, and after initial reluctance of the receptionist to entertain my request, and due to my persistence, the reception staff called a Senior Staff to talk to me.  The Senior Staff told me that another passenger has mistakenly taken my bag from the belt but has returned it.  That was better than not having my bag at all.  I had to go to another location within the airport to collect the bag.  I then reached Patna that evening.

Next morning, while checking my emails, I found that the eVisa officer has rejected my application.  S/He was unhappy that I had applied twice.  Instead of rejecting my second application, s/he has chosen to reject my first application, for which the visa was already granted, and I am inside the Country already.  This email gave me continuous stress for the next six days, while I was in India.  I did my best to concentrate on my assignment, but in the back of mind, I was very traumatized.  I briefed my situation to an Indian Colleague, who was previously an Indian Bureaucrat, who told me to have all documents ready, in case I was interrogated while exiting the country.

Finally, I reached Kolkata airport to exit, and a young immigration officer attended to me.  Before he asked anything, I confessed that there could be a problem with my visa.  He was a bit surprised, and told me that there was no problem, and then enquired about my employer and the assignment! 

I went to the lounge relieved, desperately looking for a drink, after a week of trauma.  But again, no luck – it was a dry day in India, being the Indian Republic day (26^th Jan 2019).  There too, things did not go my way!

When things can go wrong, they will!