Learning India

Making sense of the subcontinent

Filed Under: Be Prepared

Filling Out Your Online Indian Visa Application

Visa Application Form

 

After you choose the right visa, the first thing you must do is complete the online Indian Visa Application form. If this is your first interaction with the government of India, you should refresh yourself on How to Please the Babu. This will get you in the right frame of mind.

The form seems easy enough, but a simple mistake can lead to your application being rejected, which means you lose your application fee, and you have to start the process over again! So, it’s best to get it right the first time.

 

Before you begin

Two things to remember:

1) Filling out the Indian Visa Application form online does not mean you have submitted it. The purpose of the online form is to make sure you have filled in all the correct information in the right format for easier processing. If you make a mistake, you can start over and it will not affect your application. No one is looking through all this data and cross-checking it. The only form that matters is the one you print out when you finish.

2) You may not alter the application after you print it. This includes handwriting answers. Once you print it out, if you want to make any change at all, you must start the application form over again.
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Filed Under: Be Prepared

Comprehensive Guide to Indian Visas

Indian Visa Udo

When you are searching for the right Indian visa, it is easy to get overwhelmed.

Everyone seems to say something different, and you may feel the need to hire an immigration lawyer just to make sure you don’t get arrested for filming a family video at the Taj Mahal.

Here’s an easy-to-understand comprehensive guide for you, covering all the visas for India. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #ChaosBeatsLogic, Be Prepared, Cultural Adaptation

Two Kinds of Culture Shock

Indian Queue Line C+H

There are two kinds of culture shock.

The first is the kind you get when you are riding in your first taxi ride from the airport around India and force yourself to close your eyes as the driver dodges cars, cows, bicycles, and pedestrians in traffic.

The second kind is what happens six weeks later when you find yourself physically pushing someone out of the way who has cut the queue in front of you and yelling “What’s wrong with you?!”

To distinguish between the two, I’ll call the second a culture attack.

Culture shocks are actually a little bit fun. These are the experiences you tell your friends and family about when you go back home. It was like culture shock when everyone jammed into the train all at once! That was crazy! These are simple isolated experiences of cultural differences that leave an impression on us.

Culture attacks are hellish. They overtake your body and leave you feeling like the Incredible Hulk. You don’t tell people back home about these times. How do you tell your mother about the time when you got out your car and threatened to kill the motorcyclist who pulled out in front of you? [Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, #PowerPlays, Be Prepared, Daily Living

How to Please the Babu

Your Guide to Filling Out Forms In India

 

Jan Banning People At the office

Photo Credit: http://www.janbanning.com/

 

You will spend most of your first three months in India filling out forms: visa, immigration, customs, mobile connection, internet, lease agreements, etc. Every country has its own peculiarities when it comes to filling out forms, but in India it is all about pleasing the Babu.

Babu is a term given to a government official who sees a lot of papers going across his desk. He signs it or stamps it and passes it along to the next person. If you know how to make your Babu happy, he will pass along your form. If you don’t, he may decide not to approve it.

Before we begin, here’s a story to introduce the topic: [Read more…]