"Travel was pointless. It removed you from the place in which you had a meaning, and to which you gave meaning in return by dedicating your life to it, and it spirited you away into fairylands where you were, and looked, frankly absurd."--from The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie Flashback: Bangkok, Thailand—October 2009. “Another holiday, what do you mean another holiday?” I asked the pompous looking official across the glass barrier. We were not at the Indian Embassy but the private visa-processing firm that handles the doling out of Indian Visas—for a hefty fee. This is not our first trip to this office. We came yesterday when a breathless security guard came running up to us before we stepped on the elevator, “You look for India Visa? The office closed, Holy Day.” So here
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