Had three rather odd experiences this week.
- I lost a token from the Indian Embassy’s partner (IVAC). I had to file a General Diary although I had a photo of the token (they are supposed to return my Passport against it, and refused to give it to me without the token). It carries no intrinsic value whatsoever because I had a photo and could easily provide whatever information they needed from the token itself. At any rate, they always verify fingerprints to confirm that it really is my passport. But alas, they made me go back, spend money to file the GD, make a photocopy of it, and add in a photo of myself with it as proof that I really lost it. What a waste of time and effort for a piece of paper. Bureaucracy 101.
- BRTA (the local road transport authority) kept me on my toes with renewals against stuff they do not do themselves. My name transfer application apparently has an expiry date. But the application does not expire. It’s just a delivery date that they fail to uphold, and then expect me to visit and extend the delivery date. Without the extended date, apparently, I am supposed to pay a ~150 USD fine. All for what? Their failure to get my work done on time? What a bunch of crooks.
- I had an AI file that’s 4 MB with the design elements. But then, I added 3 images to it. The images themselves are 12-15 MB each. That means, the whole package should be 50 MB at best. But with my images embedded, the final file reaches 500MB. Where does the 10X more data come from?
On the other hand – I am rather sad and concerned about whatever has been happening in Turkey post the earthquakes. The news pouring in is sad. And it’s terrifying that the same could happen to me in Dhaka – and it would probably be 10X worse here. I keep wondering if I should think about it – or whether the best idea is to just turn a blind eye towards it. What’s right?