The moment you step inside the building, you are in the Republic of India! That is where I went today to get a new passport booklet - the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C.
I took a cab from the metro due to a heavy downpour and the drive was quite a pleasant one. Massachusetts Avenue (the location of the embassy) has the most embassies located in D.C. It was a pretty site identifying the nationalities based on their flags (I could not guess many of them, especially those broken from the USSR). We also drove past the statue of Mahatma Gandhi which was unique and I felt quite proud considering no other statue occupied such a spot around the area. When I reached 2536 (plot location of the embassy), you see two elephants (made of stone, I think) welcoming you.
Also on the building exterior wall are symbols of Ashoka Chakra and the Lotus. The building as such is not that grand compared to its neighbours (the building pic), yet you get a welcoming feeling. The visa/passport section was at the basement and when I entered, there were already way too many people in there. Since most of the instructions for the passport are available online, there was nothing to worry. At the embassy, it would have taken some time to figure out the process, though.
It seemed that the system was not quite clear today. On the flashing screen up the wall showed token number 4 was being served. However, there were no tokens given and we had to stand in this curvy queue to get to the counter. The wait was decent, considering a 15” TV showed the latest songs from forthcoming Bollywood movies – That’s B4U for you! It was neat to see that the embassy has installed a photo vending machine out there – something quite handy for the US consulate to adopt considering how picky they are about their requirements for photos. Strangely, there were no Indian artefacts or posters adorning the walls, except on one that had a beautiful (although quite old) painting of Mother Teresa. It felt like I was home – not only the music from TV but also typically the latest filmy tones that rang through people’s cell phones. Further, spotted were Indian ladies in their ‘patiala’ salwars at the counter. Must say, they did a good job out there. They were assertive and quite effective since the line would move pretty fast. Talking about the line, one thing that was striking is that even here, people would queue close to one another. So when you are next in line for the counter, you are never really standing ‘behind’ the person at the counter. You are supposed to stand ‘next’ ‘to him/her so the moment it is your turn, you have only one step to move forward. Again, when it was indeed my turn, people behind made me feel I was taking too much time at the counter. Guess these are the ‘Indian’ rules of standing in line. My work was done in precisely 2 minutes and pleasantly surprised by this speed.
Whatever is said about Indian embassies not being appreciated and so on, my visit here was completely easy-going and am glad I got a chance to visit my 'little' India!
