When I disembarked at Raxaul, I walked more confidently as I knew the way. The dirt road was strangely muddy--not as muddy as it was six months previously (during the monsoon season) but still surprisingly muddy. I do not know the reason for this.
As I approached the Indian Immigration office, the road was not turned into a parking lot of lorries, as it had been on my previous visit. I did see a line of lorries in another direction, though.
When I entered the office, I saw an older man--perhaps the same man whom I saw before (I am not certain as I sometimes have difficulty in recognizing people, especially with the passage of time). Regardless, he began the process of stamping my passport. I felt uneasy, as it seemed to be taking him awhile. He even stepped away to go to a computer, for what reason, I do not know. He came back and he seemed to say (he was very soft-spoken) that I had overstayed in India and that I had been there 182 days. (180 days is the maximum for those on tourist visas.) I found this surprising because I was aware of the days and thought that I had made the correct calculation at timeanddate.com. However, because of the one-day journey, I may have miscalculated. Also, I do try to stay for the maximum time, so there is little room for error. Moreover, most Immigration Officers use not the correct (and more difficult to calculate) rule of 180 days but the approximate 6 month rule. I guess that he was experienced and knew of the correct rule. I did not really address this concern other than to acknowledge that I knew of the proper rule and to say that I adhere to it. This seemed to satisfy him and after a little while more, gave me my stamped passport.
I then walked a little bit more to the Nepal Office. On my way, I was somewhat surprised to see the tall archway signifying, I assume, the border of Nepal. I was surprised because on my previous visit, the entire road was filled with lorries and it was difficult to get a view of it.
Once inside the office, I was instantly 15 minutes into the future. This is because Nepal's time zone is 15 minutes ahead that of India. This makes sense to those in the Eastern part of India, but not to those on the Western half of the country. This is yet another reason why I think that India should be divided into two time zones The sun rises in Imphal (at the Eastern end of India) at 5:20 in the morning (as of today, 19 March 2014) and in Porbander (at the Western end) at 6:57 in the morning (both according to timeanddate.com). Anyone with half-a-brain (and even those without it) should be able to see that this virtually mandates a different time zone.
Inside the office, the walls were painted, so it did not seem so dingy as it had before. Regarding stamping the visa, I remembered it as being easy and quick the last time, and it seemed to be even easier and quicker this time. He seemed to stamp it faster than I could give him the passport. Again, I had gone to the Nepal Consulate to get the Visa even though, I believe, Nepal offers a VOA (Visa-on-Arrival) to Americans and perhaps other nationalities (although not Indians as I believe that there is an open border between the two nationalities). If I were seeking a VOA then it may have been more difficult, or even impossible at such a small office.
In leaving Birganj 48 hours later, I went back to the office to have the passport stamped for leaving. I asked the officer (out of curiosity, and partly because I thought that I was already early--being there at 8:00am) what were the hours for the office. He replied by saying that there was someone there from 5:00am to 7:00pm.. I found this surprising. He knew more about the train and arrival times better than I did, but I never heard of any government office anywhere in the world being open at 5:00am. On the other hand, I thought that 7:00pm might be too early to close. Trains are usually late (more on this below) so it would be a shame to arrive in Birganj, only to find that the Immigration Office had already closed, and that you would have to wait until the next morning.
Ben Franklin was right. (However, although I consider myself to be healthy and wise, I am not wealthy.). On this journey, I concluded that I was successful in the things that were (somewhat) within my control, but not so much in things that were outside of my control.
Regardless, I had gone to bed early, woke up early, completed my visit to the Nepal Immigration Office quickly, and arrived at the Indian Immigration Office at a time when there were no other foreigners there. I did have some concerns about things that were outside of my control. The first was that the Immigration Officer was younger than the one I had met. (This was troublesome to me because of my experience at the Ashok Guest House, to be elaborated upon in my next post.) The second was that my Indian visa was going to expire very soon, and I did not know if this would be a great concern to him. (In 2010, before my previous passport expired, I had difficulty in getting into Singapore because it was within 6 months of its expiration. I still do not understand this. Are 10-year passports not 10-year passports but 9.5-year passports? If so then 10-year passports ought to be valid for 10.5 years.)
However, before the second concern could be raised, a couple of tourists from the U.K. and Switzerland (if I remember correctly) came in and sat down. A few minutes later, a couple of tourists from the Ukraine (although if they were from Crimea then they would be Russians now, I suppose--as of 19 March 2014) came in and sat down. There were now five of us wanting to have our passports stamped. In short, the Officer did his best to accommodate all of us at once, did not raise any issues or concerns about my soon-to-be expired visa, and then stamped my passport. I was now free to be in India (at least, for another two months, during which time I had to get a new visa).
I was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and then later lived in San Francisco for a quarter-of-a-century. I came to know that the only thing that TV meteorologists have to say in San Francisco is "Morning fog, clearing by mid-day". Sometimes the fog can be very thick, especially at night. I remember that there were a few occasions of pea-soup fog at the Golden Gate Bridge. I also came to know that London is famous for its fog, as well.
Strangely, South Asia also has fog. In previous years (primarily in December), the fog was so thick around our previous residence that I could not see buildings that I knew were about 20 metres away. In Birganj, on this morning, the fog was also pea-soup fog. As I was walking, I was beginning to think that I had turned onto the wrong road and would have to back-track. However, as I came within 20 metres of the Raxaul train station, I could see the outline of the building..