Waiting...waiting...waiting

One of the most frustrating things we came across in our Missions trip to India was the time it took to move anywhere.
And if anything involved state or government officials, you could guarantee that would make it all that much worse, and the whole process would grind to a snail's pace. It was obvious that speed and efficiency was not their forte.

For example; there were six of us in the Mission party. We needed to cross the border from Bangladesh to India, near Brahambaria, on foot. Apart from a couple of men in an old blue truck, we were the only people making a crossing at that time.
There were 2 huts on the side of the dusty road in both countries, with two big barrier arms blocking the road and a no-mans land in between - much like you saw in those old Cold War spy movies (but without the barbed wire and machine guns!).
The Bangladesh side took about an hour to process the group - not bad, given the poor resources at their disposal.
But when we passed through the barrier into India, well, that's another story...

They would look over every page of our passports and visas, ask questions, then write the answers manually in a book. Then the book would be passed to another, who would copy details from that book into another book. This happened about four times. Then finally the last person would stamp the visa.

Three and a half hours later in the exhausting heat we finally left the border area and collapsed into the waiting vans.

After many ordeals like this one, I penned my frustrations...


waiting waiting waiting

all I seem to do over here

is wait in line what seems a year
thinking do they really care?
waiting waiting waiting

waiting while they frisk your clothes

waiting while they have a doze
waiting while they pick their nose
waiting waiting waiting

waiting for the wheels to turn

wating for red tape to burn
waiting for the court to adjourn
waiting waiting waiting

half my time is spent in queues

extinguishing my shortening fuse
wearing out my new bought shoes
waiting waiting waiting

how much longer must I wait
ever early, yet constant late
feeling my eagerness deflate?
waiting waiting waiting

oh, India, why so slow?

I have deadlines, don’t you know
places where I want to go
waiting waiting waiting

please stop all your farting around

before I collapse here on the ground
buried in paperwork, never again found
but I’m still waiting waiting waiting…

© craig godfrey

12/08/2002