"Speak in hindi!!"

So...I was sitting in the auto today waiting to go to South City and there were only 3 people, and we were waiting on a 4th person. The other 2 people (a guy and I think his girlfriend?) had apparently been waiting for about 15 minutes for the auto to go. I get in and then this is how the conversation went (it was in bangla so this is a translation!)

Guy : "Do we have to wait all day to go?"
Autowallah : "We are waiting for 1 more person. This is how it normally goes."
The guy muttered some comment I didn't catch.
Autowallah : "Well, if it was just you 2 on a fared auto then you would have been gone already"

HAHAHA!

So then his girlfriend said to him, "Well, if you ask stupid questions you'll get stupid answers. She's laughing."
Me: "Auto's never go anywhere unless they have 4 passengers, even the ones from Gariahat."

Girlfriend (as she's feeding him a bite of noodles) : "You are like all other men, you are always eating!"
Boy : "Speak in hindi!"
Me : "Why? I can understand Hindi. And bangla."

LOL Love the surprised look on their face.

Then we had the normal conversation of why I was here, and how long I had been here for.

Seriously, made my day!!!

Legal or Illegal? Someone tell me now...

So...sorry I've not been posting lately. We've been going through some hard times. I was told by a friend of mine that because of the change of police jurisdictions that happened last year that he had been transferred from the Bhavani Bhavan FRO (in Alipore) to the Kolkata FRRO (on AJC Bose Rd). So, like the 3rd I go to the Bhavani Bhavan FRO by myself only to find out that yes, I have been transferred and I need to bring in my original Residence Certificate / Residential Permit (RC / RP) and they would sign it.

So, I go home and report this information to DH, and he says ok, and I said I will take it tomorrow and have them sign it. Well, I'm waiting for him to figure out what he is doing, and then he ups and gets ready and tells me to get ready, and all of a sudden he says we are going to the FRRO. So, we go to the FRO to get them to sign it and then we report to the FRRO.

Here, they tell us that my RC / RP is illegal because I have been registered on a 10-year tourist visa. I get pissed and they tell us that we have to go to New Delhi and go to the Ministry of Home Affairs for them to regularize my overstay and convert my Tourist visa to an Entry visa. So, feeling all pissed because now the government has made me a criminal (I have never gotten a ticket in my life...) and I just want to go home and cry.

So...I go home, and then later that week after we had been getting all our paperwork together we go and speak to the Commissioner of Police (who is over Kolkata Immigration) who says, "This sounds like a complicated and long story. Let me send you to a patient listener, I am a very impatient listener." We go and talk to the Assistant Commissioner of Police who then verifies that even if I have been wrongly registered I am still registered, and therefore I *HAVE NOT* overstayed and am not here illegally. Thank Goodness!

So, now we have to get our marriage certificate apostiled (I have no idea really what that means, except that they will verify that it is real...) and then we will head to Delhi. :-)

I am sure we will be told a few different things there, so I'm hoping our luck holds out.

Hindi, Lunch and outing adventures :)

So, took my Hindi exam yesterday. I was freaking out and basically told DH that if I failed it I failed it...since I've hardly studied or spoke it (it's easier for me to speak bangla since that's what I'm surrounded by all day!) but I studied and tried my best. I'll get my results Wednesday, so let's see how I do.

Anyways, on to the funny stories we know you all love!

I had texted DH yesterday saying I was going home and confirming we didn't need anything other than what he had told me before I left, to which he replied "Wanna go for a drink?" So off to one of favorite joints on Park Street we went. When we got there it was full, and being regulars the waiter's shortly got us a table. Now, this is where the fun started. We had tried to go for a booth that they told us was just finishing up, when another group went for the same table, and started telling DH that they had been waiting, so we went to another table.

The group next to us was getting ready to leave, well, first they had to figure out who owed what, and that took, I swear, like 10 minutes. But before that the waiter had brought over 2 extra chairs and 2 extra cups and told DH to pour a bit of his beer into the cups to make it look like there were people sitting there so they wouldn't steal the chairs. Then once the table cleared we moved the cups over to the next table, and people were trying to take the table, when the waiter and DH had told them there were people sitting there. :-) LOL

All in all, it was a good night, even if I did have to go to a different place to use their bathroom like 3 times, because the one there is horrible. And go out every little bit because their AC was like pumping the crap out of the cold air. Nice celebration.

Oh, and apparently DH was mad at me because he wanted to do lunch with me before my exam, but I had gone out for some errands the day before and asked him if he wanted to join me for lunch but he declined. I told him that I'm not a freaking mind reader and that he should tell me these things, because I'm not going to ask a 2nd time and get refused 2 days in a row. So I hope DH learned his lesson. :-)

Only half a Euro Madam...

Today I was waiting on the side of the street with DH waiting for a taxi or a bus or something to take us home. Well, you know how the drill goes, nothing goes as smooth as you want it to in India. All of a sudden this guy comes up and stands in front of me and starts talking.

"Please madam, give me some money for food. I am unemployed and I do not have a job. Please, just one plate of rice, 20 rupees. Only half a Euro."

DH replied not so nicely, "No thanks!" while I stood there staring off to the right in an attempt to ignore this man, because all I wanted to do was say, "If you can speak English that well there is no reason you shouldn't be able to get a job, so why should I give you *MY* money?"

So, then I looked and DH and laughed and said I was going to blog about this. DH's response was "Cholo!" (let's go) and so with his camera in hand, we start following this guy and DH starts snapping his picture. We follow him a distance and DH speeds up and tells me to stay behind so the guy doesn't know we are taking his photo, and tries to get in front of the guy to get a better shot.

Well...just as DH gets in front of the guy, the guy veers off into the bathroom as I am coming up behind him, and so I cross to where DH is and tell him that if he wants a better shot he is going to have to wait until the guy comes out of the bathroom, and he says "Ok, I'll wait. But you get behind, so you don't catch his attention." I went and had an ice cream at the little Kwality cart and sat down and waited. We waited for like 10-15 minutes (and even purchased movie tickets for Sunday LOL) and there was still no sign of him.

We decided to give up and then started walking back towards home to catch something and all of a sudden the guy is right in front of us, I was thinking, "How the hell did we miss him??" LOL

I mean, seriously, this guy didn't look like a beggar. He spoke pretty damn good English too...I was almost tempted to tell him off, but I just ignored him since that tactic works pretty good for me (or the "Kichhu hobe na. Jao!" Nothing happening. Go!). Take a look for yourselves, since DH gladly gave me this photo. :)

Then we are walking further and this guy says to me "Madam, come inside, English movies." Seeing as how every time I go past one of these road side DVD stores this happens, I turned to him and said, "Aapni ki bhabchhen aami shudhu English bujhte pari?" (What do you think I only understand English?) and he looked shocked. DH had kept walking LOL

PIO and OCI merge?

While DH was making our lunch of alu paratha he was using a page of the Economic Times under to keep the mess minimal. Lo and behold, there was this article.

According to the ET there is some talks going on about merging PIO and OCI cards. It also gives a lot of good information, like where to apply and how much they cost, etc. Now, while this is good news for the Indian citizens, because it is less confusing and better in the long run it leads to me a few questions that, sadly, were left unanswered.

Will the PIO be no longer available? If so, how does this affect those of us who are not Indian by birth? One would assume that the PIO would still be available but there is no further information to be gleaned in the article (unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible). Assuming the PIO is no longer available, then what will the spouses of Indian citizens get? Will we be eligible for OCI or what will we do?

There are so many unanswered questions, let us see what happens as DH says nothing will likely come into law for at least 2 years. :-)

Fan Page

I've created a fan page on Facebook. You are welcome to join. :-)

InterNations...

Yesterday I had checked my email and found a email from Malte Zeeck, Founder and Managing Director of InterNations, an online expat community, wanting to collaborate and post my blog address on their website. So, I agreed, and so you notice the new shiny button they sent me. :-) So far there is just 1 blog on the site and will have 2 after mine.

I have some invites to the site if anyone wants one, just mail me.

BTW, this is not something they asked me to do, I just felt like it. :-)