Wonder if anyone has the contact info for the Mumbai airport authority, I would like to email/write to them and at least hear their point of view. This is just so bizarre and shocking, and it could really have been any of us in Vijay\'s shoes.
The bit about making an exception to the neighboring Frenchman who had an identical situation and allowing him entry was particularly gut-wrenching, if true.
I just can\'t believe anyone would do something like that.
India is not going to improve at all when we have these fabulous corrupt officers on our immigration ports. I completely understand the pain and misery those poor kids must have gone thru. Vijay,you should have bribed them 10 rupees (not much), the officers will not hesitate to sell their loved ones for that much money thats how it works at Mumbai International Airport. I would suggest make this a public agenda and post it to all public site so as to reach maximum NRIs, so that they would know what to expect travelling with family and small kids.
Our immigration officers are Bunch of F***** Idiotic loosers.
Hello All, I am from Mumbai, was in Mumbai a few weeks ago. The staff there is mostly antagonistic/angry--Never welcoming or smiling. I have never felt welcomed on my trips to India.
Two q's:- 1. What was Mr Prabhu's demeaner when he negotiated/asked Mumbai's officials? If he was anything other than utmostly humble and "only-you-can-save-me", he has a high chance of getting the treatment he got. That's coz officials at mumbai airport are perenially sullen and uncooperative, if you are lucky. Overall they have the demeanor of being restrained when inwardly hostile--Sorry that's my opinion. The smile only comes when sufficient money goes their way. 2. there are always provisions to acomidate emergencies like this in the laws of ANY country. With children and families, there is more provisions for adjustments/consideration. This seemed like vindictive behavior either provoked or unprovoked. If unprovoked, the officials should be disciplined. If the situation was same as with the french gentleman and diffrent treatment was meted out. This is DISCRIMINATION.Forgetting a visa does not mean that children and parens have to be punished.A TV stn shud investigate,I'd like to know more.
did the mumbai immigration officials actually believe they would get away with this? the story is very common among returning indians. no courtesy. no smiles. purposeful neglect. being busy or being stretched is no excuse. in that case, they need to recruit more!! i suppose we must thank the immigration officials for not imprisoning the kids in a jail....this can happen!!! indians dont go abroad because they hate living in india. they want to save enough to live with dignity in india;something that is getting harder day by day. its not an easy life abroad..but definitely there is more fairness in the west...look at the quota issue..there are poor and underprivileged in every country, but nowhere are seats reserved compromising quality. the poor are given monetary help.
had this happened to the french national, the french embassy would have strongly sent a formal protest to the indian embassy. but indian officials take indians to be gutless and treat them with contempt. i refuse to believe there are no rules to allow the kids a few hours to prove their status?when did india get so fast. even the indian embassies in UK dont provide a same-day service. this is a disgrace!!
last year i applied for a visiting visa to the US. i only asked for a 4-week visa to visit my sister. at the time, i was working in england....if the rules were applied very strictly, i would have had to come back to india to apply for a US visa...however, with no property to my name in either INDIA or UK, and no permanent resident status in UK, i still got a 1-year visa to visit my sister in the US.
most visa officials all over the world are strict, because they have to abide by the rules. but the over-riding difference between western and indian officials is that rules are applied humanely by the western officials. i have travelled to germany and france this year. at times the german and american visa officials made jokes about my appearance because my passport is very old now. they could have detained me!!!! but they didnt.
i repeat,all over the world,with no exceptions.people of native origin are treated as first priority,except of course in india, where we are treated as dirt. what are we supposed to do?not go abroad? we buy property and spend most of our savings in india thus fuelling the economy.in 05, NRIs remitted $35 billion to india, a world record.
its all too familiar. for god's sake, they were children....rules need to be applied with common sense. its suspicious the french citizen got a transit visa....there are atleast a few thousand foreign nationals who 'overstay' in mumbai each year beyong their visa and then get it extended by dubious means...it would be interesting to know what the immigration police are doing about them... i am a doctor from bangalore. i live in the UK. whenever i go via mumbai, the officials are rude, never smile and sometimes treat us like sheep. they gave me and my wife separate seats on a plane far away from each other. they speak marathi at the airport assuming all of us speak marathi too...they dont smile back if u do.
the toilets have tissue paper OUTSIDE the toilet....!!!! need i say more...
i now fly to bangalore direct...not that people at bangalore are fantastic...but they speak english and smile once in a way...
I have checked US dept of state website which clearly mentions that the length of passport validity is 5 years for minors under the age of 15. Considering this I am not sure how would the youngest child (age 3.5 years) can have so called "OLD PASSPORT"? To me it seems that they didn't want to loose pay for one day and go to Indian embassy to get it stamped with Indian visa. I sincerely doubt integrity of the whole story.
this incident shows how currupt and lazy indian airport officials are at Mumbai. This is exactly why india wudn't get anywhere because people at responsible positions dont use their brains. I know a story when an official at a US airport asked a famous writer for identification and the only thing he had was a book written by himself with him. The official used his brain and took it in as valid identification. Thank god, officials here are not as stupid and arrogantly strict with stupid rules which they use as they please. I m sure if the family had tried to bribe em they wud hv been granted the transit visa..
After reading this article I feel that Indian Immigration at Mumbai and the Indian Ambassador in USA has some explaining to do. I cannot imagine a situation where Indian Citizens with valid Indian passports would not be given an opportunity to correct a mistake and would not be given reasonable time of perhaps 24 hours to correct their mistake. The case is even more distressing when the victims are minor children of Indian Citizens with valid travel documents. I know cases in USA where travelers with similar situation are given at least 24 hours and facility to rest at the airport until the matter is resolved.
The persons without valid visa in hand were minor children of Indian Citizens, not any type of terrorist or criminals. This is especially painful when we, the NRIs, are told and escorted for making contributions to development of India, and then we are treated without any dignity or human considerations. I urge the NRIs to send a letter or e-mail expressing their displeasure and protest over this affair. In my opinion arrogant and inexcusable behavior of even one immigration officer at the major Gateway airport of India, and lack of proper actions by the superiors, gives a message to current and future generation of NRIs that India is far from being a future Super Power. The bad habits are hard to remove!
I only hope that the appropriate people or what they always call "concerned officers" in India would offer an apology and perhaps some type of compensation to the parents and children.
NRI's shouldnt think that they are above the law - they dont deserve to be treated any differently just because they earn in $$. Would an Indian be treated the same way if he went to US without a visa or a passport. NRI's who ditched their homeland and adopted another country dont deserve any sympathy whatsoever.
