So it's been a while since a blog post. What you gonna do? I got a birthday invite for my grandfather's 75th. It was a little before my birthday. I booked tickets right away. I've always driven to Canada through the Niagara falls. This was my first time taking a flight to Canada or was it? I was under that impression until the following happened.
I was studying for my Masters in SU and decided to take a trip to India before I had to start looking for jobs. I attended the travel seminar and filled out the necessary documentation. While I was booking the tickets there was an option that looked the cheapest. It was flying from Syracuse-Canada-Mumbai. I was happy, I saved about $200. My dad being the skeptic that he is, asked me if I needed a visa to make such a travel. I asked at the student center and my brother looked through the website. There was no sign of what I need to do if I'm in transit. So I decided to just take the flight. Ignorance is not bliss.
On the day of the flight, I boarded without any hassles. Furthermore, the flight crew looked very inviting until I reached the immigration desk on the Canadian side. She looked at my passport twice trying to find a visa. I said I don't have one. At this point, I had a pretty good idea of the fix I was in.
She pointed me to a small room. I had exactly one hour until my next flight plus security. I went in the room. It looked like it was for special cases. The police officer stared me down through the glass window. My voice was shaking as I started to explain how I was a student and I didn't know I needed a visa since I was in transit. He asked me to take a seat. He went in to discuss with other officers while I was constantly checking my watch. My dad's suspicions were running over and over in my head. After very difficult 15 minutes, the officer called me and said you have two options. One is to pay $200 and get a Canadian visa. I was thinking the second one is obviously jail. There goes my $200 which I'm not sure I have at this point. And he continues, the second one is to sign on this document stating you will be leaving the country within 24 hours. And he smiles. Well, it must have been my lucky day since it's very rare to find anyone behind a glass window smile. I signed and ran like bolt and made it for my flight.
No, this is not the end of story. The next time I drove to Canada, the officer asked me at the border, if I've visited before. I could tell by his face he knew my dirty little secret. I explained the story and he nodded as if matching my answer to the information written on his screen. I still had to park and go to the small room on the side of the road. One would think it was the end of my misery and I had undone everything wrong I did. Until this time while visiting Canada for my grandfathers birthday party, I was still given the small room treatment. They are never going to let me forget I entered their country without a visa. I thought I had washed away all my sins and forget.
But who wants to forget, I got a great story out of it. It's high up there with my other gems. Even though it was a wee bit traumatizing.
I'm over it until the next visit to the small room,
PARAB JANHAVI K
P.S. My grandfather's birthday was a great success. I met four generations of PARABs, including my parents.
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