Bangalore, Karnataka, India – Woke up and started watching MTV, sounds like a theme by this point. We had absolutely nothing to do and Bangalore being a government city, had nothing to offer us. We finally got lunch at 2 o’clock. Then headed to the state house to see if our extension appeals have been approved. Of course, they had not even been typed up yet, so we sat in the park until I could go and find out about them.
In the office, they handed me an envelope and without looking at whom it was addressed to, I opened it in the hallway, but it was all written in Tamil. I went back into the office to ask them how long the extension was for and they were appalled that I had opened government correspondence addressed to the police commissioner. They were seriously upset, but just sealed the envelope shut and told me to go to the police station.
I grabbed Rich and we headed over to get the visas extended. I had to meet with the assistant commissioner of police intelligence and tell him why I needed the visas extended. Medical reasons, but Rich was sitting outside on the sidewalk. Then it was to the deputy commissioner to tell him directly why I needed the special extension. I was sent to another man who gave me all other forms to fill out in quadruplicate, no carbon paper here, plus Rich had to fill out his own forms. I went out to get Rich. Then the two of us returned 20 minutes later and with cramped hands handed the officer our passports, four forms, and four photos. They said to take a seat.
We would have our passports back in 10 minutes. Amazing, how we always managed to get the official papers we need, cutting through all the red tape I will never know, but I will never complain again. I got my passport back along with a large piece of paper with my picture stapled to it. The paper read “Karnataka State police residential permit under paragraph 7 of the foreigners, order 1984, Mr. B. P. Robinson not departing from India before 15/07/1993” July 15th, residential permit. Do not know how we manage to swing either one of those, but yee ha!
We went to dinner from the police station, then bought a “Knockout” beer, which was so strong in alcohol, not taste. It did just that, knocked me out at 8 p.m.