So my bro's passport is expiring so we decided to go today to get it renewed. This obviously became a family outing. My father to handle the official paperwork, my mother to take care of my bro, my bro had to be there as the applicant, and me serving the dual purpose of making sure my dad didn't mess up the official work (like today I saved him from giving them the wrong address, and my bro's false age...he can't remember unimportant details like those) and helping Mom with seeing to my bro.
We conveniently forgot that the Indian consulate does not handle passport renewals anymore, having outsourced it to an external (i.e. not within the Consulate) office to do it. So after finding out at the Indian Consulate where a passport renewal centre was (one is near the Karama Post Office), we headed there. Bro still in good mood? Check.
I'd like to add here that me and Mom wore high-necked t-shirts and jeans so that if he (my bro) decided to pull at our clothes, the t-shirts are expendable and it'd be harder to give a free show of our chests that way. Doesn't always work. As we found out today.
Anyway, we got to the centre and took a token, and they had to take a photo on the spot for ID purposes, which of course was quite silly, coz he refused to look at the camera. So the ID photo that they have is of my bro looking towards the ground and my hand on his shoulder trying to keep him from standing. The admins then pushed us into the next booth ahead of our token number coz they realized it was quite imperative they get done with us fast. The guy in the form-filling booth was terribly useless though. The expiry month was denoted by a "6" in my bro's old passport; that moron happily inputted it as July, and only after me and my dad pointing out to him that 6=June and 7=July a few times did he change it. And when we gave him our address, he was asking such silly questions, I lost my temper. Anyhoo...
...then they had to take fingerprint scans etc, so my bro decided that NOW is a good time to pull my Mom's clothes. And managed to pull it quite wide. The people on the same floor weren't treated to it, but a complete bum walking up the stairs decided that HEY, a guy is pulling a woman's top wide, let's look DOWN the stairs towards what's going on. I managed to catch that voyeur's eye within a few seconds of him looking down towards my Mom and stared at him with my dirtiest look and he walked off hurriedly. Ah well, like I tell my Mom: always wear good lingerie inside, so even if he pulls our clothes, at least we look good! (My grandparents don't approve of this view, but hey ... my bro is how he is. We're trying really hard to get him to stop pulling our clothes, but he's currently doing it. Instead of crying about it and whining...we choose to laugh about it, because if we didn't find little pieces of humour where he's concerned...we'd be quite more depressed than we already are. And till now, only people who have the same problems find this view of mine funny and have ended up laughing their heads off; the others think I'm shameless or just don't get it.)
But once we got him inside, he gave his fingerprints quietly and 5 minutes after that, we were done and outta there!!!
Mom and me did have to employ Phase 1 of our tactics; The Stare. Thing is, when people stare at my bro, we stare back, as if goading them to say something. Most times, this shames them into silence and they look away. Plhase 2 only happens if someone says something rude or derogatory; then we talk back (case in point, a truck driver who screamed at us once to tell my bro to shut up; I put my window down and told him to shut the hell up...I was 17). Phase 1 was employed today for one of THOSE Mothers. The ones who only wear designer clothes, iron their hair and have D&G's perched on their head. Erm, hello, keep your eyes to yourself! Bitch. Although there was one VERY VERY nice woman there, who had a girl with her, standing in front of us for the photo ID thingy; as soon as she realized we can't afford to wait for too long, she just moved aside and told her daughter, "Beta, let Bhaiya go first okay?" Awww.
Operation:Passport to be continued after 10 years!!!
We conveniently forgot that the Indian consulate does not handle passport renewals anymore, having outsourced it to an external (i.e. not within the Consulate) office to do it. So after finding out at the Indian Consulate where a passport renewal centre was (one is near the Karama Post Office), we headed there. Bro still in good mood? Check.
I'd like to add here that me and Mom wore high-necked t-shirts and jeans so that if he (my bro) decided to pull at our clothes, the t-shirts are expendable and it'd be harder to give a free show of our chests that way. Doesn't always work. As we found out today.
Anyway, we got to the centre and took a token, and they had to take a photo on the spot for ID purposes, which of course was quite silly, coz he refused to look at the camera. So the ID photo that they have is of my bro looking towards the ground and my hand on his shoulder trying to keep him from standing. The admins then pushed us into the next booth ahead of our token number coz they realized it was quite imperative they get done with us fast. The guy in the form-filling booth was terribly useless though. The expiry month was denoted by a "6" in my bro's old passport; that moron happily inputted it as July, and only after me and my dad pointing out to him that 6=June and 7=July a few times did he change it. And when we gave him our address, he was asking such silly questions, I lost my temper. Anyhoo...
...then they had to take fingerprint scans etc, so my bro decided that NOW is a good time to pull my Mom's clothes. And managed to pull it quite wide. The people on the same floor weren't treated to it, but a complete bum walking up the stairs decided that HEY, a guy is pulling a woman's top wide, let's look DOWN the stairs towards what's going on. I managed to catch that voyeur's eye within a few seconds of him looking down towards my Mom and stared at him with my dirtiest look and he walked off hurriedly. Ah well, like I tell my Mom: always wear good lingerie inside, so even if he pulls our clothes, at least we look good! (My grandparents don't approve of this view, but hey ... my bro is how he is. We're trying really hard to get him to stop pulling our clothes, but he's currently doing it. Instead of crying about it and whining...we choose to laugh about it, because if we didn't find little pieces of humour where he's concerned...we'd be quite more depressed than we already are. And till now, only people who have the same problems find this view of mine funny and have ended up laughing their heads off; the others think I'm shameless or just don't get it.)
But once we got him inside, he gave his fingerprints quietly and 5 minutes after that, we were done and outta there!!!
Mom and me did have to employ Phase 1 of our tactics; The Stare. Thing is, when people stare at my bro, we stare back, as if goading them to say something. Most times, this shames them into silence and they look away. Plhase 2 only happens if someone says something rude or derogatory; then we talk back (case in point, a truck driver who screamed at us once to tell my bro to shut up; I put my window down and told him to shut the hell up...I was 17). Phase 1 was employed today for one of THOSE Mothers. The ones who only wear designer clothes, iron their hair and have D&G's perched on their head. Erm, hello, keep your eyes to yourself! Bitch. Although there was one VERY VERY nice woman there, who had a girl with her, standing in front of us for the photo ID thingy; as soon as she realized we can't afford to wait for too long, she just moved aside and told her daughter, "Beta, let Bhaiya go first okay?" Awww.
Operation:Passport to be continued after 10 years!!!
that was very sweet of that lady.
on a less serious note, nothing is safe from the *drum roll* SuperPuller. (If this might sound tasteless, feel free to not publish it, and my apologies)
All's well that ends well. Loved the idea of finding humor instead of getting depressed. I try to do that a lot of times. Fail miserably though, when I have to keep a cool head and look at the bigger picture...*sigh*
@MJ...
Yes, it was. :)
Ah it's fine... he is quite the SuperPuller ... we warn people who meet him the first time itself... he might pull your clothes so ... be careful...!
@Lifford...
I agree, you do fail miserably!!!
woman in the last line, ftw.
Hi,Dee..that must've been quite an experience..and,you're so right-many times,it's better to look at the humour in a situation,rather than letting it depress you!
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Re. the voyeur-I wouldn't worry-Dxb's filled with them-they stare at anyone and anything,like they're zombies..I encounter some during my walks,frankly-heaven knows what a man wants to stare at in another man-but,it's as if they're seeing their long lost brother in me or something(LOL-there,see,humour in a situation)..depending on my mood,I give a light smile,or a thick frown,or,just ignore and look at the clean pavements with the cola cans in each flower zone!!
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Tks for the reminder about the passport renewal centre being in Karama,for one!That's right where I live!
Dee,I just posted a comment here..did you get it?Pretty confusing!!Blogger just makes comments vanish sometimes,without any message,not even'will be visible after blog owner approval'.
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In short,let me repeat it:
-Dee,that must've been quite an experience..it's nice that you look at the humour in a situation rather than get depressed...hope the renewed passport comes back aok,with no 6/7 errors!
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Re. the voyeur-I wouldn't think too much of it-it's a 'grin and bare,err,bear it' situation..I mean,Dxb's full of people who've mastered the art of the Stare..even I encounter people like that during my long walks-looking like zombies and staring away-for gosh sakes,why would a man stare at another man thusly?(I'll write a post on that shortly)..do they see their long lost brother in me or something? Dep on my mood,I either give a light smile or a drop dead frown or just ignore them!Arghh!!(Ah well,there're stares from the fairer sex too,but,that's a different story!!haha)
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And,tks for the news about the passport renewals being in Karama now!