had a really weird experience at the door of the Indian Embassy today...... I heard about all these peculiarities before.... but this was my first experience with it..... first things first..... I would never have gone through these kinds of painful experience for my own benefits..... only a serious emergency could make me do this..... and it was something like that......
around 300 people were already in line when we reached there by around 6:00AM...... and many were sleeping on the road.... it was a Sunday, first day of the week...... and Sundays are usually more busy...... the crowd eases as the week progresses..... this is daylight saving time and the month of October is here...... so, 6:00AM is complete darkness..... these people had been in line for the most of the last evening and night..... but we had a deal with a "professional queue guy"...... he manages several people who stand in line for all night..... and others pay out to take their positions...... these are called "dalal" or brokers by most..... and although none can prove that they are in violation of any rules, they are looked at as part of an illegal gang...... whatever the case, this is an easier method for those not willing to spend their bed-time on the streets and having the ability and willingness to spend for that instead.....
these brokers were working in collusion with the police very openly.... the duty police officer knew every single broker and he seemed to have trusted the brokers more than the others not using a broker....... it was quite obvious that all the people there spending the night there had some interest...... and most of that interest came from the smell of money...... there were people selling the services of filling-up the forms, photocopying, pen and stapler, tea and snacks, and even a place to store your bag, as the Embassy didn't allow bags inside..... small children had their pockets filled with cash just by selling pen and stapler services.... an old woman was keeping the bags saying that she couldn't run away with those..... I also kept my bag there......
the other thing that had a profound influence on me, was power..... these people held some power here that was hard to break by most... and that powerful position allowed them to behave as they wished with whoever they wished to...... they were ready manhandle anyone who didn't follow their rules there..... and the police worked hand-in-hand with these people...... it was almost as if these brokers were part of the system in place!!
we used a couple of brokers who somehow managed to squeeze the two of us into line...... but not without some hassle..... we had to pay Tk 1,200 to the guy for managing the two positions..... we had serials of 23 and 24...... the next phase came when the clock ticked 7:00...... a huge clamour started....... the duty police official went crazy and began to shout, "stand in line!!"...... we quickly realised that it was time for a higher police authority to came up and screen out the people who couldn't show any document to prove that they were the actual applicants....... and even though there were some screening-outs, somehow our serial numbers went back to 35 and 36...... this higher official went through the visa application forms of everyone and gave serial numbers to everyone....... proxy people were all kicked out..... this was the moment our broker was worried about most... if his people were kicked out of line without a client, we wouldn't get anything.... the guy next to us wasn't ready with his forms..... so, the official actually gave the number and signed on his palm!.... and also warned him that he had to get everything completed and got signed on the papers......
emotions were running high from the start..... there were lots of loud voices and pushing and pulling..... the brokers played their due part until the higher police official came up..... it was 'police time' from 7:00 onwards..... the officials looked at us and asked if we were using any brokers to get our positions..... because, according to him, we didn't look like people who stood in line for long..... this was the same question asked by an Embassy official at the entrance..... I was struggling to find out the motive behind such a question....... it was almost as if an Indian visa was something to be achieved..... and visa without an overnight toil would be something illegal...... this question irritated me most......
anyway, the line began to move from 8:30AM onwards...... our turn came quite quickly...... 20 people were taken in at a time...... and we had to stand in line several times inside the embassy...... the visa processing officials tried to present themselves as the most powerful people on earth...... and they used all their power to prove that they were gods there...... we had little problem overcoming this, but some others had some really hard times without any reason..... the officials wanted to make sure that getting Indian visa stayed in their (applicants) head as one of the toughest things they've ever achieved!!
I was thinking what an opportunity this was to do a photostory...... but it was one of the most difficult..... those people, all were pouncing on sort of revenue and none would want to feature in front of a camera.... and judging by the emotions of the place, I could imagine what sort of a trouble one would face with a camera in hand...... and in any way, I couldn't carry my camera inside the Embassy... so, I left the camera back home..... keeping the camera inside the bag and keeping the bag with that woman didn't look like the most prospective thought.....
it seemed ridiculous to me people had to go through this kind of trouble to get an approval to travel to India..... I would never have gone through such a process unless it was mandatory for me...... the human lines outside Indian Embassy in Dhaka epitomized the one-sided relationship existing between the two countries......
