If India is able to facilitate the exchange of nuclear technology with the United States and launch satellites into space, perhaps at a micro-level they could improve conditions at their bureaucratic outposts around the world ?
Recently I had the misfortune to have to visit the Indian Consulate in Toronto. From the outside, it looks like any other normal building in Toronto, however, it is far from 'normal' inside. Entering the main area was a scene for which the best metaphor I could apply was 'hell on earth'. Your senses are assailed by a tidal wave of brown humanity packed into a room which was designed to only hold a quarter of the people there....jam-packed like Lahore station on the eve of Partition.
The walls are adorned with yellowing tattered posters exhorting the gullible (gora tourists no doubt) to 'Visit India'. You pick a 3 digit ticket to wait in line (eg. E-95) and yet the ticket counter clock is 2 digits in length (eg. 87), and you initially think this is great - not long to go - until you realize the person standing next to you is still waiting and they have B-22, and you still have all of 'C' and 'D' to go through. And the visa application forms on the web are different from the forms you pick up there. Apparently the web version is 'incorrect' and misses such vital details like 'Father's Occupation' and 'Mother's Maiden Name'. So you spend another 15 minutes jostling with Punjabi taxi drivers and emaciated Tamil types, re-filling the visa forms all over again. And it's like bad service has been magically transported from the homeland to Canada.
Signs which read 'Do not shout at staff' are testament to the exemplary service provided by those red tape worshipping baboons sat behind the glass counters.
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