Iranian diplomacy - A Fine (Indian) Balance

Varanasi, Utta Pradesh, India

Iranian consulate in Delhi or how to get your nerves tested by Iranian officials...

It could have been a very simple and quick procedure... but it turned out to be a long 6 hours of waiting for almost nothing. The authorisation to issue my visa, granted 2 weeks ago by the MFA in Teheran, never got to Delhi. Problems of transmission they say. Problems of communication rather! The procedure is straightforward and hundreds of travelers use a private agent (as I did) in order to get their visa quickly. And how comes then that I myself got that authorisation number in my email box? Grrrr!

Of course, without authorisation, no visa. So they ask me to wait. And wait. And wait. Without of course saying to me what I had been waiting for. A French couple was in the same situation, yet, it was their second attempt that week at the embassy. Finally, after 3 hours of waiting the official in charge showed up... and asked us to wait! After 2 more hours, we finally got an interview (very stressful, it reminded me of taking an exam...we were all sweating and smiling like idiots to cheer the guy up).  And I did not wear my chador that day, almost thought it would put me out of the procedure. Thanks to Matthieu and Caro, first to be interviewed and granted a 30 days visa, it cleared my way out. Despite some tricky questions about my intentions and an initial refusal, I eventually passed the test without the need of showing my boops as initially planned and got issued the 30 days sesame the same day.

Du coup, we felt the need to celebrate our success by having lunch the 3 of us in a very fancy (no need to say expensive...) restaurant. Matthieu, Caro, meet you again soon in Iran!