Passport adventure

DEC 29 -
As technology engulfs the world, every office and organisation must become tech-centric. Recently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in our own country has launched the much hyped Machine Readable Passport (MRP). The good news for me was that I could apply for one of these high-tech passports for my wife. The bad news was that we still had to stand in a long line to do so.

On the first day of our passport adventure, we went to the MoFA and waited in a queue to receive a “free passport application form.” We were excited to see that the queue was quite short; it only took us five hours to reach the front. Feeling pretty good, we decided to fill out the application the next day.

On the second day, we hurried to the Ministry to get in line to submit the application form. The tail of the queue was at Narayanhiti Durbar Museum where we popped in and waited for our turn. Patiently, we waited, and waited, and waited. The sun was shining bright and the blue sky had no sign of rain. We had reached the Ministry of Education and Sports when a police officer approached and said, “Please come tomorrow, you cannot submit the application today.”  Wow, a whole day lost and we hadn’t even submitted the application.

On the third day, we wised up and arrived much earlier, before sunrise, around 7 in the morning. Surely this was early enough that we would manage to submit the application—especially considering the government offices do not open before 10. Another journey in the queue had begun and we patiently waited our turn. Finally, we managed to secure a place at the window where the prized application would be submitted.

But a government officer on the other side of the window said, “You cannot write your application in ball-pen; write it in jell-pen or print it with the help of a computer and bring it again.” As we disappointedly trudged home, ordinary citizens of New Nepal, we took solace in the face that we had at least made many friends during our days of line-waiting.

On the fourth day, we arrived at the MoFA earliest yet, while the city was still sleeping, around 4 am. Our beloved queue had now become routine and we were no longer surprised to end the day without having accomplished our goal, nor to plan to return the following day.

Finally, on the fifth day, we were able to submit an application after answering a few questions asked by a government officer. Lesson learned: It is hard enough to be a V.I.P. in Nepal; it is even harder to be an ordinary person.

Posted on: 2010-12-30 09:11
Published: The Kathmandu Post