So, having heard that Vindya's passport would be issued on Tuesday, I cancelled my notarial appointment at the Chennai consulate (which was Tuesday morning) and started trying to plan. I got plane tickets Tuesday morning from Chennai to Hyderabad, and Tuesday night from Hyderabad to Delhi. Then I started trying to arrange my time in Delhi.
My travel notes had the phone number for the medical clinic in Delhi, with a note that some families couldn't get the phone number to work and a possible website to try instead. Since I didn't have good internet, I tried the phone, and the number did not work. Not having the internet option, I went to the next clinic, Apollo. I called them, and the lady who answered the phone said that I could not make an appointment until I got a letter from the Embassy. Since the Embassy was closed, this put everything on hold until Monday morning.
Monday, I called the Embassy. They made an appointment for Thursday at 10am. We discussed the fact that Vindya is over 2 and will therefore need a TB test. He asked me to scan and e-mail the NOC and the court order so that they could get started on the paperwork. He said that I could call and get the medical paperwork started. So, I called the clinic. The lady who answered told me very sharply that she had told me on Saturday that I needed a letter from the Embassy to make an appointment. Did I have one? No, I didn't. Well, then call when I got one, and she hung up.
It so happened that Christopher and Jayanthi were coming to take me shopping, so I asked them to help me get the court order scanned (the YWCA didn't have a scanner, but they said any internet cafe should). Christopher said no problem, and we set off. (Incidently, sometime during all this I discovered that Christopher is his surname, not his given name, which is apparently Louis.) This is where we see the advantage of working with a native, because the internet cafe he led me to was well hidden. We went down an alley and into a doorway, which led to a maze of hallways. The internet cafe did not fill me with confidence, since it was pitch black and lit by a single candle. Christopher verified that they could scan and mail the court order, but only after we copied it onto a regular sized piece of paper (it's on the Indian equivalent of legal sized paper). Christopher led me further into the maze, and we came upon an alcove with a Xerox machine. For 6 rupees, I had my copies, and we went back to the cave.
It turned out that the scanner and the computers were in a back room with light and electricity, which was presided over by a small child. I mean a boy about 9 or 10 years old, who took my papers and put them through the scanner with aplomb. Then, he asked me "Yahoo or Gmail?" and handed me the keyboard. When I fired up the program, I saw an email from the Embassy, attached to which was the letter! For a small additional fee, they printed it out for me, and I went away happy.
I wasn't able to call the clinic instantly, because my mobile was low on minutes, so I sake Christopher to take me to an !dea shop to top it up. This was quick (another alcove in the building, which I was beginning to think of as a masonry Bag of Holding), and I handed over 200 rupees. The clerk did whatever magic they do (it involves dialing my mobile number on a different mobile and waiting a few seconds). I got a text message verifying the deposit, but when I double checked by accessing my account balance, it still showed the old amount. This resulted in Christopher and the clerk arguing a while in Tamil, the clerk using my mobile to call Customer Care (which used more credits and had no effect). Finally, the clerk gave Christopher the address of the !dea office so we could talk to someone who might know what he was talking about.
I decided to risk a phone call, and called the clinic back. "Madam, I have told you when you called before, you must have a letter to make an appointment!" "I have the letter!" She didn't hear me, so I ended up shouting, but we eventually established that I had the letter and made an appointment for Wednesday morning at 9:30.
Christopher took me to the !dea office (we stopped on the way at the YWCA to drop off my papers), which turned out to be a guy under an umbrella on the sidewalk. It didn't look good to me, but he turned out to be competent. He made some phone calls, and told Christopher that since the SIM card was from Andhra, it didn't fit the Chennai system properly. The 200 rupees had been credited to my internet access account, which doesn't exist. (My mobile doesn't do internet, it only makes phone calls. This makes it practically obsolete by Indian standards.) Christopher wanted the balance transferred, which the sidewalk guy was dubious about. I was willing to write them off, and asked if he could get me any kind of top-up. Christopher discussed that with them, and then told me to forget it. "Tomorrow, in Hyderabad, find a dealer, get the balance transferred, and top up the card all the way. Then, you can use it while you are in Delhi." Pure genius!!
(To be continued.....)
My travel notes had the phone number for the medical clinic in Delhi, with a note that some families couldn't get the phone number to work and a possible website to try instead. Since I didn't have good internet, I tried the phone, and the number did not work. Not having the internet option, I went to the next clinic, Apollo. I called them, and the lady who answered the phone said that I could not make an appointment until I got a letter from the Embassy. Since the Embassy was closed, this put everything on hold until Monday morning.
Monday, I called the Embassy. They made an appointment for Thursday at 10am. We discussed the fact that Vindya is over 2 and will therefore need a TB test. He asked me to scan and e-mail the NOC and the court order so that they could get started on the paperwork. He said that I could call and get the medical paperwork started. So, I called the clinic. The lady who answered told me very sharply that she had told me on Saturday that I needed a letter from the Embassy to make an appointment. Did I have one? No, I didn't. Well, then call when I got one, and she hung up.
It so happened that Christopher and Jayanthi were coming to take me shopping, so I asked them to help me get the court order scanned (the YWCA didn't have a scanner, but they said any internet cafe should). Christopher said no problem, and we set off. (Incidently, sometime during all this I discovered that Christopher is his surname, not his given name, which is apparently Louis.) This is where we see the advantage of working with a native, because the internet cafe he led me to was well hidden. We went down an alley and into a doorway, which led to a maze of hallways. The internet cafe did not fill me with confidence, since it was pitch black and lit by a single candle. Christopher verified that they could scan and mail the court order, but only after we copied it onto a regular sized piece of paper (it's on the Indian equivalent of legal sized paper). Christopher led me further into the maze, and we came upon an alcove with a Xerox machine. For 6 rupees, I had my copies, and we went back to the cave.
It turned out that the scanner and the computers were in a back room with light and electricity, which was presided over by a small child. I mean a boy about 9 or 10 years old, who took my papers and put them through the scanner with aplomb. Then, he asked me "Yahoo or Gmail?" and handed me the keyboard. When I fired up the program, I saw an email from the Embassy, attached to which was the letter! For a small additional fee, they printed it out for me, and I went away happy.
I wasn't able to call the clinic instantly, because my mobile was low on minutes, so I sake Christopher to take me to an !dea shop to top it up. This was quick (another alcove in the building, which I was beginning to think of as a masonry Bag of Holding), and I handed over 200 rupees. The clerk did whatever magic they do (it involves dialing my mobile number on a different mobile and waiting a few seconds). I got a text message verifying the deposit, but when I double checked by accessing my account balance, it still showed the old amount. This resulted in Christopher and the clerk arguing a while in Tamil, the clerk using my mobile to call Customer Care (which used more credits and had no effect). Finally, the clerk gave Christopher the address of the !dea office so we could talk to someone who might know what he was talking about.
I decided to risk a phone call, and called the clinic back. "Madam, I have told you when you called before, you must have a letter to make an appointment!" "I have the letter!" She didn't hear me, so I ended up shouting, but we eventually established that I had the letter and made an appointment for Wednesday morning at 9:30.
Christopher took me to the !dea office (we stopped on the way at the YWCA to drop off my papers), which turned out to be a guy under an umbrella on the sidewalk. It didn't look good to me, but he turned out to be competent. He made some phone calls, and told Christopher that since the SIM card was from Andhra, it didn't fit the Chennai system properly. The 200 rupees had been credited to my internet access account, which doesn't exist. (My mobile doesn't do internet, it only makes phone calls. This makes it practically obsolete by Indian standards.) Christopher wanted the balance transferred, which the sidewalk guy was dubious about. I was willing to write them off, and asked if he could get me any kind of top-up. Christopher discussed that with them, and then told me to forget it. "Tomorrow, in Hyderabad, find a dealer, get the balance transferred, and top up the card all the way. Then, you can use it while you are in Delhi." Pure genius!!
(To be continued.....)
Hi Juli,
ReplyDeleteHow is Vindya doing? I hope things are progressing well. I cannot believe you have any hair left. I would have pulled all mine out by now LOL. The phone situation alone would have me crazy. You have wonderful patience and determination. You rock. Hang in there. It will be good to have you back soon. Do you have any PTO let?
Kelly