Jai SriRam
June 7th, 2020
Earlier this year, Madhukar Anna Rao mentioned to Nitin that the Government of India had issued a new rule for the renewal of OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card and that it takes 2 months to get processed.
He had read that during the coronavirus pandemic, the wait time was short. Our fantastic scheme was planned out as such that M. Anna would read, fill, and submit his OCI application first and then Shaku (his wife) and I would follow suit.
I had been dillydallying because I knew Nitin would do mine along with His. But now I cannot return to India unless I get my OCI renewed. The online form was not easy for me to fill but Vikram was able to get it done for me in under an hour. Once my photo and form were uploaded with the Indian Consulate, the next step was to make copies, signatures, get the forms notarized, pay them, and mail the forms. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all bank lobbies in Cleveland were closed, so finding a notary was not easy.
Later, I told Nitin all that had happened and that I was ready to mail my application via FedEx (as per the Indian Consulate suggestion). Since I had to visit a UPS store for the notary, Nitin suggested that I find out what the pricing of UPS overnight delivery was. While at the UPS store, I casually asked the lady about the rates, and she said that only if I knew the weight could she tell me the pricing. I had no idea how much my envelope weighed so I left it at that and did not find out the price. But I knew in the back of my mind that He had asked me to get this info. I thought I would not need it anyway, so I did not pursue it.
Two days after sending in my papers, I received a text message from the Consulate saying my application was ‘incomplete’. I was flabbergasted, I wondered, “How could it be?” We had followed the procedures, I had verified all the steps, filled and verified the forms, and I had even done the form that the Raos had warned me that they had missed out, so what more needed to be done? It was not the same issue, BUT….
What the Consulate was saying is that the person on my US passport (INDIRA NITIN SAMANT, INS) and the person on my old INDIAN OCI card (issued by the Indian Consulate, INDIRA SAMANT, IS) were not the same person since the middle name was missing (the documents seemed as if they belong to two separate people). They wanted proof by my going before a judge to authenticate that I am the same person or send them other notarized documents to prove that I was the same person. I thought, “My photos look the same and my signatures are the same. No one in their right sense of mind could doubt it.” But this was an official requirement for the government business…and it was out to prick my ego. They had no idea that we still have all our old passports stashed, and the best part was this time He just showed where they were kept, so no need to hunt for them… it was easy as 123.
In the meanwhile, Vikram was having lighthearted fun and had started saying that the Indian government is singing part of a famous old Hindi movie song to me…
आप अंदर से कुछ और.... बाहर से कुछ और नज़र आते हैं !
आपका तो लगता है बस यही सपना - रामनाम जपना, पराया माल अपना !
Seeing my expression and to make it more entertaining, Vikram suggested I sing back to the Consulate…
अरे दीवानों ! मुझे पहचानो ! कहाँ से आया? मैं हूँ कौन ?
मैं हूँ कौन ! (kaun being a homophone of the English word ‘con’, which means a fake, a fraud, deceitful person).
We were entertaining ourselves. So that evening, I took out all my old passports since I got married. All those INDIAN passports had my name as INS, and both my USA passports also said INS.
I told Vikram that I wanted to scan and print out many pages to prove I am the same person. I copied the essential pages from each of my Indian passports and was ready. Later that night, when Nitin called and I relayed this whole fiasco to Him; actually, I had realized that this whole mess was to do with the UPS rates (not obeying Nitin) and nothing to do with the Indian Consulate’s error nor my name discrepancy of INS and IS. I was made to realize that I had not got the UPS overnight pricing as Nitin had asked, and that was why this was happening.
The next day I went back to the UPS store as I had to have these copies notarized again and paid again for the two-day delivery this time with UPS not FedEx. In reality, it was such a simple suggestion He had mentioned to me, but I did not follow through, not knowing what it was to mean to me… except now that it had been plain and simple -- disobedience.
I mailed my papers on Friday afternoon; I wanted my papers to reach the Consulate within the 7 stipulated working days because delivery delays can occur due to coronavirus. To my amazement, it reached the office in Atlanta the following Monday. By Tuesday afternoon, I received another text message from the Consulate, confirming that they were issuing me the OCI and that it would be ready to be mailed back to me the next day. It was that quick. I do not think they had even gone through all the photocopies I had sent them to satisfy their query.
The moral/ lesson of my story - I realized my mistake when I had not asked the pricing question at UPS office the first time when Nitin had told me to ask, so this whole scenario was created. I had been confident that my form was perfectly filled the first time since I had had even the opportunity to correct my errors from the errors the Raos made. I am quite sure the Indian Consulate would never have even seen that INS and IS discrepancy since they issued it in 2006 and also since no immigration officer had seen it in Mumbai in the last 14 years that I had traveled!
But HE made all this to happen so I could learn to obey; I pray that this is a lesson that I keep alive with me… just do it the way HE says.
Thinking back, what did I have to lose from asking the UPS? A lot!!! What was I to gain from His suggesting? My spiritual progress.
It was for me to learn a simple आज्ञापालन / obedience. It turns out that it is not so easy. My ego always tries to analyze events as insignificant and justify my faults. Above all, I am ashamed that I had tried to weasel out of it by convincing myself that this was trivial. I decided to write it out for myself as a lesson to uphold for the future.
Jai SriRam
10-06-2020 04:05 am / POSTED BY : Indira Samant / Where the Experience took place : Cleveland, Ohio
