People Are Funny....Or Maybe Not

A day doesn’t go by when I don’t hear at least a few comments coming from one of the passengers that make me just stop and shake my head.  A day also doesn’t go by when I don’t feel very blessed and lucky to be on a world cruise.  Just about every day brings a new adventure or a new city that I never in a million years thought I’d ever visit.  How many people can actually say they’ve visited all seven continents? 

The other day, we visited Mangalore, India (I’ll be writing about our visit soon), and we were expecting to dock around 7 a.m.  We were to meet for our excursion at 8:15 but were required to have a face-to-face meeting with Indian authorities onboard at 7:25.  (In my very first posting on this blog, I believe, I wrote about the procedure to obtain an Indian Visa and the Visa is actually on a page in my passport.  Nevertheless, we still had to fill out an arrival card, a departure card and carry an “immigration clear” card and Indian shore pass when we left the ship.  When we returned, we had to return the immigration clear card and Indian shore pass.  

We arrived outside the Cabaret Lounge around 7:15 and saw a very long line of passengers in a queue waiting for their face-to-face.  The Lounge had not yet been opened.  We had not been cleared for docking so the Indian authorities had not yet embarked the ship. 

As most of you know, I am not a patient person but personally didn’t care because we were on a Princess excursion and until all the passengers were cleared, no one was going anywhere.  I also got up really early to have breakfast, shower, and enjoy a beautiful sunrise – something I rarely see because I never get up so early.  I was washed, fed and happy to visit somewhere I’d never been in my life  --  in other words, I was a happy camper. 

Not so with many of my fellow passengers on line waiting.  After a couple of minutes, I heard so many negative comments from the people around me – people who have the time and money to enjoy a world cruise and they’re still complaining – that I took out my little notebook and started writing (in shorthand) what I was hearing:

“This is who we call to fix our computers.”

“Welcome to India.  They’re probably not up yet.”

“You can’t get any explanations about India.”

“This is going to cut into the day.”

“This is crazy.”  

“We’re supposed to get on the bus in a half hour.”

“You can go get breakfast while you’re waiting.”

“When are they coming onboard?  They aren’t even onboard yet.”

“We’re going upstairs.”  

(If this was the buffet or ice cream line, I wouldn’t hear these complaints.) 

“I’ll be sure to write this in my memoirs – it’s called ‘Welcome to India.’”

“Somebody up front said immigration just arrived” (while nervously looking at her watch.

“Maybe they’re following daylight savings time.”

“Maybe they just don’t care.”

“I would think they’d want tourists to come back and be more hospitable.” 

Around 7:30 a.m., an announcement advised that the ship was in the process of receiving clearance from the local authorities. 

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

 

“Which way are we going in?”  (We were all in one line heading towards the Cabaret Lounge.)

“Is it worth going ashore?”

“We got here a quarter past 7 and it’s a little before 8.  We have to be in the bus at 8:15.  We have 15 minutes to go poop somewhere.”  

“You have to grin and bear it.”  

“We are on Indian time here.”

“Good, they don’t have uniforms.  I only saw two uniforms on the dock.  (A few moments later)  “They’re eight of them.”

And I could only hear about three people in front and in back of me and this was the chatter I had to endure while waiting in line.   

We got into the Cabaret Lounge before 8 a.m., got our clearance, went back to the room and down to the Casino Lounge by 8:15 to join our excursion.  So what’s the big deal?  

The people we encountered from India during the immigration process and while disembarking were people with smiles who graciously welcomed us to their country. 

Michael’s Observations:  Open borders in the U.S.  I also heard the comments that Leona refers to in her writing above and I could easily ignore people’s gripes.  What annoyed me was the incredibly complicated procedure to enter this third-world country.  I had to chuckle thinking “do they really think I want to sneek into this country to help groom the sacred cows?”  In other words, it just reminds me how lax our own country is about immigration.  It’s so easy for any bozo to stroll through the many open “borders,” head to San Francisco, get a driver’s license, apply for welfare, get free government aid, medical care, food stamps and education and, yet, a country like India has stringent requirements to enter theirs. Sarcasm aside, I wish our country was as diligent as the Indian government and other governments I’ve encountered on this cruise.