The first time I went to an embassy was in 1995 when I was flying out to the US for graduate school. From then, till Summer 2006 when I came back, I consistently had the following experience at American, British and Canadian embassies, as well as on the various international airlines I flew:
The Indian staff disses Indian visa applicants and travellers while sucking up to foreigners, while the American, Canadian and British staff is polite with everyone. Even the Indian embassy at Chicago, which ought to be a place to turn to for Indians there if needed, was rude and off-handish the one time I visited them for a routine passport renewal.
Never understood it! Why should Indians diss their own? I don't think any other nationality in the whole world does this to its own.
PS: To give three examples of the above:
1. An Indian staff member of British Airways at Mumbai once disallowed me from carrying my guitar onboard while allowing foreigners to carry theirs 🙂! I was 21 years old and flying out on a student visa - when I asked her why I couldn't carry my guitar with me, she said it posed a "security risk", in that I might use it to beat someone up 😅! And when I switched to a domestic US carrier in the US, not only was there no problem, the Americans were surprised at my guitar having to come as checked in luggage 😅! This is self inflicted racism 😅!
2. Several years later when I finished my PhD and was to travel to the USA on a different Visa (J-1), another Indian staff member as the US Visa Facilitation Service Center in Mumbai left me utterly bemused with her behavior! Here's what happened: I reach the VFS Center and hand my duly filled out J-1 Visa application form to the lady at the desk. She taps her forefinger on the desk and, gesturing with her hand as she spoke, asked me for my J-1. I, a bit taken aback, said I was there to apply for a J-1 Visa. Impatient, shaking her head, she goes: This is the application form...your J-1, your J-1... It then flashed in my mind that she was asking for the DS-2019 document that University of Michigan had sent me. I of course had it in my hand already and gave it to her. Goodness gracious! The lady didn't even know the name of the document! But she certainly spoke like she lived at the White House!
3. I once made the mistake of flying Air India (then run by the government and by far the worst airline to fly with). As we were getting ready to land the cabin crew handed out immigration cards to everyone, one that was to be filled per person and would get attached to the individual's passport (I-94) and one that was to be filled per family (Customs Declaration). There was a family in the row right ahead of me that was going to the US for the first time. A bit confused after the announcement, the man simply asked an air hostess to tell him once again which color form was to be filled per person and which per family. Just an innocent question! And the air hostess snaps: "Weren't you paying attention to the announcement? The white one per person and the green one per family!" Then she speaks to the atmosphere so that the insult is driven home: "Oh! These so called smart IT people! Can't even understand basic instructions!" To this date I feel anger at that lady! I have never, never ever ever, experienced this level of discourtesy on any other international airline in all my flights outside the country!
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