Asking for Permission to visit my family! :(


I have applied for a lot of visas, Schengen visa when I went for my first family holiday abroad as a girl, spouse visa for UK when I got married, Schengen visa again for holidays with my hubby, Japanese visa for office work, Dubai visa for more holidays and so on and so forth but never had I ever in my wildest dream imagined that I would be applying for Indian Visa. A visa which is a piece of paper that grants one permission to enter a certain territory, without which it would be deemed illegal for one to enter a territory or even stay in longer. Since I got my British citizenship and I had to surrender my Indian Passport, it has been quite difficult for me to acknowledge the fact that “on papers” I am no more Indian. Maybe it’s my protective nature or maybe it’s my dramatic upbringing (my family has always been emphatic) but I tend to get emotionally attached with anything or anyone quite easily. Some might argue its borderline psychotic to bid goodbye to your plants one by one as you go away leaving them behind at home for a long journey abroad, but I say that those are my babies and I am emotional about them. Couple of weeks back, someone who I had met only once before in my life got annoyed with me about something we were discussing online. They stopped talking to me after that and moved on, but for me it wasn’t easy to move on. Now every time I go online I think about that person whom I probably hurt by my honest but opinionated conversation, which very well could have been a misunderstanding because of all the underlying meanings when you message online. Anyways, the point was that I am an emotional person and the fact that I need a visa to go and meet my family in my homeland is hurtful to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love the law, I am a law abiding citizen for all intents and purposes J but this, just feels plain bad. However this is also just another experience in life and they say that experiences make you wiser, they make you more knowledgeable and in a way they also make you more empathetic. Yes, they do make you empathetic, like the experience when you are first called an aunty, for us Indian origin ladies (note how I have used Indian in the context of origination, because it applies to me now, see I am a dutiful citizen who is cautious and knows who she is) it usually happens after marriage when you are forced to wear traditional attire every time someone invites you to the “ceremonial” first dinners after wedding to their homes, we wear the traditional sarees and suits and with it comes the stereotypical age perception which is if you are married you are old! So not true! Hence, the EXPERIENCE of being called “aunty” and feeling awkwardly old makes you empathetic to those women who you started calling aunty growing up, when those newly wedded ladies crossed your path. Experiences make you empathetic towards others and this is life, understanding each other, forming an empathetic bond with God’s creations – humans/ animals/ plants - is what leads you to think and form your attitude. These attitudes will govern your actions and your actions make your karma. So even though I am not feeling great about the whole “cruelty” of the law forcing me to apply for a visa for my motherland, I am going to take it with my stride and I am going to consider this as an experience and get on with my life J

Comments

  1. Vijay sharmaFri Mar 04, 11:05:00 PM 2016

    Dear Anu,

    I read all your blogs,, and today I tried to write something for you..

    There may be some irrelevant to your blogs, but let me try,

    Karma done in present always reflect in future, Success in life asks for a sacrifice,

    when you are bottom of any ladder, u can see or feel all your loved one or belongings easily, but as you go up difficulty will come even to see them.
    And a quote is Pain always gain… or gain wants some pain..

    Secondly as per hindutva ideology you have entered in your second phase of life i.e. Grihastha kal…( the married family )

    So enjoy this phase as much as u can, as third phase certainly depend upon this one

    And again karma follows u..

    Hoping to see u soon..

    ReplyDelete

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