7 days and £ 80 poorer, I had no clue as to what my fate was. Will I ever get a passport? Will I ever get to leave this country? Will I be deported? What? The questions kept on haunting me and I had no answers…from anywhere. I had written to the High Commissioner, I had written to the Consulate General, I had met my University’s Student Welfare Officer, I had met 5 Constables. There were no answers. I got a reply from High Commissioner’s office the next day, which was again a disappointment as it stated that only the Consulate General Office in Birmingham could help me. I was off for another trip to Birmingham. In the meanwhile, I had procured all the other documents required for the application of a new Passport in lieu of the lost passport. A stamped affidavit from Notary Public stating I am not seeking asylum in UK – Check. Four Passport Size photographs stamped by Notary Public – Check. Copies of my old passport and Visa – Check. Cost involved in Affidavit - £ 8 for Affidavit + £ 60 for registering with him. Cost involved in Photographs - £ 7. Total expenditure till 8th April - £ 165. Net result – Zilch! Add to that the misery of not being able to speak to any of my family members, so that they do not panic…especially my Mom!

Cheers to the Lady Luck! For the first time ever, she was able to kill my fighting spirit. On the bus, that day, on the way to Birmingham, for the first time I was literally begging her to go away and leave me alone. I had accepted my defeat. I was not willing to fight her anymore. But, she…no no no…she was not done with me yet. She wanted her revenge and made sure it was slow and painful.

I was again at the office. This time at the correct window at the first go, but only after a good long wait of more than an hour. Mr Hazari Lal, the Passport Officer at CGI, Birmingham was there. He went through the policy change document. Spoke to the Officer in Leicester Constabulary. He was more bamboozled than I was. At loss of words, he stammered and muttered “Oh…aa…mmm…then…then…this requires a change in the Gazette of India…I will have to escalate this to Ministry of Foreign Affairs”. Change in Gazette of India? Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Was he playing with me in those dire moments? Was I hearing things? Was he serious? Am I dead?

I had to actually pinch myself to get back to senses. He then asked me to leave my application with him, not to pay my fees for the passport at that moment and once he has a clarification from his superiors he will get back to me. He asked me to leave all my contact details with him and wait. Wait. With no specification on the length of time…With the change in Gazette of India involved…and With Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India coming into picture…I could, at that time, only imagine about how long the wait is going to be?

With heavy heart and heavier steps, I walked back to the bus station. My wait had started…an almost never-ending wait. One of the e-mails in between had surprising new information from the CGI. It was only the Leicestershire Constabulary in the entire UK which had brought in such a change of policies. All other Constabularies were still taking the reports for lost passports. Oh Wow! How could I have not seen that coming from the Lady? Of course! It had to be only my constabulary and on the day these changes were brought into effect. Well done lady! As always…Perfect! This implied that there could be no change in the Gazette for one constabulary. It also implied, in a way, that I am stuck in UK for life…At least, it seemed so, at that moment.