I had the wonderful fortune of joining my roomate in celebrating French independence day on the 14th. The big act for the evening was a French woman who has mastered the art of classical dance. Enjoy this short clip....a short glimpse of that evening.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
There is hope!
So my first week is coming to a close and I am reflecting on what I would most like to share. What won in my mind was the little glimmer of hope I saw in Indian bureaucracy. This sounds strange as I write it, because this was a 4 hour ordeal, but it was an organized ordeal.
As a foreigner working here I must register with the regional immigration office before I can do such things as rent an apartment. So I head out at 9 am (when the office opens) looking for what I have been told is the Foreign Regional Registration Office. This may be its new name, but all of the signs and postings call it the Bureau of Immigration, Chennai, so this made it a little difficult to locate. That aside, once I found the place I was seated in a line of chairs and played musical chairs; as one person left we all slid down. I just felt happy to have a chair - next door at another government office people were lined up sweating in the heat and the sun!
After about an hour I made it out of the waiting room only to be placed in another waiting room. I was told I was going to see the assistant director, but no one told me where or when, but just told me to sit. At first there seemed to be a system, but I couldn't figure out what that was exactly. People gradually moved forward in the rows of chairs towards a woman manning a desk labeled "help desk". However, when I moved forward a gentleman told me to stay where I was. After about an hour and a half I finally figured out that myself and some other forlorn looking foreigners were waiting to be shifted down the hall. I thought to myself "excellent!"...as I was the next person to go.
So I get ushered out of the room only to be placed in another room where people were playing musical chairs around a small coffee table. The chairs were comfortable, so myself and some others took the opportunity to nap while we waited. After an hour I was finally told to go in to the Assistant Director's office...I had made it! Well...almost. I had to go back to the help desk and then to the processing center, but those were measly20 minute waits.
But here is the glimmer of hope... As I waited for my number to be called in the processing center I was talking to a British "chap" who was in India for a second 18 month contract (he said he was the only person in his Redding office that was crazy enough to go back to India :-). He said that when he was here a year ago there was none of this "musical chairs", but instead it was a free for all, shove your way up to the front, madness.
So yes, the process took half a day, but at least I didn't have to take out my deadly sharp elbows. Now that is improvement! It gives me hope that if there can be this kind of bureaucratic improvement that maybe, just maybe, there are other radical changes taking place throughout the Indian government. And THAT is good news. Now if only they could have more then one person process paperwork we might really be getting somewhere!
As a foreigner working here I must register with the regional immigration office before I can do such things as rent an apartment. So I head out at 9 am (when the office opens) looking for what I have been told is the Foreign Regional Registration Office. This may be its new name, but all of the signs and postings call it the Bureau of Immigration, Chennai, so this made it a little difficult to locate. That aside, once I found the place I was seated in a line of chairs and played musical chairs; as one person left we all slid down. I just felt happy to have a chair - next door at another government office people were lined up sweating in the heat and the sun!
After about an hour I made it out of the waiting room only to be placed in another waiting room. I was told I was going to see the assistant director, but no one told me where or when, but just told me to sit. At first there seemed to be a system, but I couldn't figure out what that was exactly. People gradually moved forward in the rows of chairs towards a woman manning a desk labeled "help desk". However, when I moved forward a gentleman told me to stay where I was. After about an hour and a half I finally figured out that myself and some other forlorn looking foreigners were waiting to be shifted down the hall. I thought to myself "excellent!"...as I was the next person to go.
So I get ushered out of the room only to be placed in another room where people were playing musical chairs around a small coffee table. The chairs were comfortable, so myself and some others took the opportunity to nap while we waited. After an hour I was finally told to go in to the Assistant Director's office...I had made it! Well...almost. I had to go back to the help desk and then to the processing center, but those were measly20 minute waits.
But here is the glimmer of hope... As I waited for my number to be called in the processing center I was talking to a British "chap" who was in India for a second 18 month contract (he said he was the only person in his Redding office that was crazy enough to go back to India :-). He said that when he was here a year ago there was none of this "musical chairs", but instead it was a free for all, shove your way up to the front, madness.
So yes, the process took half a day, but at least I didn't have to take out my deadly sharp elbows. Now that is improvement! It gives me hope that if there can be this kind of bureaucratic improvement that maybe, just maybe, there are other radical changes taking place throughout the Indian government. And THAT is good news. Now if only they could have more then one person process paperwork we might really be getting somewhere!
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