7/13/10 - noonish
Three of us just got back from registering as foreign visitors. It was a lot of waiting in line and there was some confusion/stress about some of the paperwork we needed, but we had Vikas from Fulbright there to help us get everything straightened out. We only spent about 2 1/2 hours there- which I know seems like a whole lot of time, but isn't by Indian bureaucracy standards.
The FRRO was actually kind of cool. There were all different types of people there: American missionaries, Afghan refugees, Iraqi students, Russian families… it definitely made for some great people-watching. Plus, the Ratha-Yatra parade was playing on the TV there for a few minutes! Great to see.
It seems like in the Indian government, there are a lot of rules, and these rules are heavily influenced by one's interpretation of them. Which explains why only three of us had to register as foreign visitors even though there are 8 of us here all doing the same thing and all on the same visa type. It's all very fascinating to me.
After we got back, Susan and I went to the Khan market, which is right around the corner. I had a delicious lunch for about $1, and then we looked in some clothing stores before deciding that it was too hot to be outside. I'm chilling at the hotel for the next hour, where I plan to use my daily internet hour- I need a fix!
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