Julius Caesar once famously quoted “ Veni…Vidi…Vici”…which when translated turns out ot be “we came, we saw and we conquered”…and it is being floated anywhere and everywhere anyone attempts anything and emerges a victor.
And so did I…emerged a victor… and here is my story.
Made grand plans with a friend of mine to go on a European Sojourn later this year. Both of us being German language trainers we had stars(not the ones on the American Flag) in our eyes when we thought of getting a first hand experience of Oktoberfest and free flow of Beer, the culture and the language we have been harping about day in day out to our hapless students.
Das Fest, Das Bier, not just this or that.Very particular people, we are.
We were flying sky high…high on energy and ecstasy(in spirits only).
With the same force we were thrown down shattered and bashed, back on to the earth with the same stars(again not the American ones) now reeling in our eyes when we were made aware of the process and documentation required to get a Visa to realise our dreams. It was a never ending list of papers I didn’t even know existed until then. Oh the Agony!!! It took every ounce of our patience and relentless pressure by our travel guide friend who was more stressed than us, to gather all the necessary documents. He kept sending reminders and highlighted versions of reminders to make us dimwits get the materials in place.
Did you know that you need to have a particular bank balance and submit loads of financial evidence before you could think of visiting the European Alps and green pastures? Reason: they are scared we might just decide to stay put, leaving our Nation, family and friends behind!!! Just like that!!!
I almost decided to cancel my trip when I got to know about this weird condition. I wanted to go as a tourist for God’s sake and I would never dream of staying there even a second later than my pre-determined time and date. I just want to Vi-sit not sit there tight!!!
After all this drama and dance of indecision and confusion, finally the D- day arrived wherein we had to go the Visa office to submit our documents and be done with. But to our shock and dismay the VFS office sent me a mail(repeated times) stating cooly that our appointment has been cancelled due to overload of applications.
My nerves were on the edge. I decided that Karma is playing its role and I should read the signs. Not only was I angry with the unprofessionalism of the Visa office but also made up my mind never ever to plan a trip to Europe.
I was done and dusted with Schengen and its Shenanigans.
But our relentless travel guide friend had already taken another appointment on the fly with another entry point in Europe and Lo and Behold, we got it… for the next day!!! He was more determined to make this work than us. And it worked.
So the next day we went with all our documents tucked in safely, photocopied multiple times and filed and pinned.
I was flabbergasted at the crowd that I saw at the VFS that day. Trust me when I say, flea markets have lesser people. I mean everyone wants to travel, Period!!! Or it could just be our population.
When it was our turn, the representative at the VFS checked our documents, and as luck would have it, told us that a couple of papers were missing. Panic attacks us in strange ways, this was just a sample. Running helter and skelter to find a printer, a copier machine, we both might have seemed like cats with their tails ablaze.
After some huff n puff I got to the printing section and more panic set in when he told me that each copy would cost 150 Rupees!!!
Panic 3.0 set in when he said the Internet connection at VFS was wonky at the moment and I had to wait.
Finally somehow we managed to submit all our documents before their windows closed.
Panic 4.0 set in when I read a news article that visas are getting rejected by the most European embassies and even getting an appointment for the US visa has become far away dream. The American stars seem hazy and blurred at the moment.
Mind thinks, it is as if they are doing us a favour by giving us the permit to enter their countries. We are although, on the contrary, helping them by adding to their economy, by giving a boost to their tourism.
After all these ascending versions of panic, we had almost given up hope.
But no, not our little travel guide friend. He was confident. Always positive. I almost see a halo on his head, he’s angelic!
All melodramas have a climax and so did ours.
After a nail biting wait of over a month of playing the guess game“did we, did we not?” We got our passports stamped last week.
Man, was I relieved!!!
Retrospectively, I do think, was this visa worth all the energy, the confusion, the stress???
I suddenly feel so proud of my country, India, the ease with which I am living here, hassle free. Do I want to go to some other Continent after they made me go through such a rigorous process??? I am not sure anymore.
Anyway whether Vi-go or not go, at least Vi-sa and Vi conquered!!!
And if Vi-go, Vi will definitely come back.
Herr Schengen has made sure of that!!!
