Last week I had my first encounter with Indian bureaucracy when I went to the consulate to organise my visa. Because I didn’t have a exit out of the country, the lady said I couldn’t get a visa. The conversation went like this:

“You can’t get a visa without an itinerary leaving the country”

“Ok, well I’m getting a bus to Nepal and I can’t book that until I get there”

“But you need an itinerary”

“Ok, so how do I get an itinerary then?”

“It doesn’t have to be confirmed, it just needs to be an itinerary”

“So can I just write my itinerary down for you now?”

“No it needs to be an itinerary. You can get one from a flight centre”

“As I said, I’m not flying out of the country, I’m getting a bus so what do I need to do?”

“That’s ok, you just need an itinerary”

“Ok, so if it’s not a flight itinerary, what kind of itinerary is it”

“It’s just an itinerary sir”

“What is the solution? Just tell me and I’ll organise it”

“You need an itinerary sir”

“Fuck!”

The thing that is most frustrating is the smile she had of her face, and her total inability to explain what I needed to do to sort this problem out. Patience is not my virtue, but it is something I need to cultivate otherwise I think India will eat me alive.

So I have booked a flight out of the country which means I have an itinerary on paper. Once I printed it, I canceled.

I am going back this morning to organise it. Hopefully it’ll be sweet!