Hhhhmmmm

I am a firm non-believer in fate; we always have a choice. But situations sometimes arise that make me look twice at things. So, do I dare tempt fate by writing about it? Of course I do.

I have mentioned before the series of events that led up to me being in India, but in many ways that pales into significance compared to what has happened over the last few days.

A couple of years ago, a boy met some Indian girls and befriended them. Another boy (Will) befriended that first boy, and so too befriended those Indian girls. We shall leave that story for now.

After mine and Will's visit to the Irish embassy on Money we were filled with a degree of hope that once again, our overland trip may still be a reality and we could make it across Pakistan. However, on Tuesday morning, those feelings of good fortune were muted somewhat when, upon arrival at the Pakistan embassy, Will discovered that he had left his passport photographs behind, and so applying that day could not go ahead. Another minor blow was that one of the criteria on the visa form was the contact details of a willing sponsor within Pakistan who would vouch for our characters if required. This looked not quite as good as it had the day before.

We couldn't return to the hostel to pick up the photographs because Will had arranged to meet one of the aforementioned Indian girls in one of the regions of Delhi, and there was no time for the return trip. So we decided to mull our situation over throughout the day, and see what came up. I returned to our hostel, while Will met Akancha for lunch.

When we all met up for dinner, Will had a broad grin spread over is face. Over the course of the afternoon he had managed to get that sponsor in Karachi. It transpired that Akancha had mentioned one place for lunch, and Will another. They settled on Will's choice and on entering the restaurant, bumped into an old school friend of Akancha. It should be stated here that Delhi is a city of 13,782,976 souls (I have just found that out on Google, so it must be true), and the randomness is further compounded by the school being situated in a completely different state; these girls did not even have Delhi in common!!

Akancha's friend was not staying in Delhi (i.e. on that day there was at least 13,782,979 in Delhi), she had arrived that day, and was leaving that evening on a flight to...Pakistan, her home country. On hearing our predicament, she gave Will the details of her father in Kerachi who could act as our contact, and invited us to stay if we go down that far. She also says that reports of the situation are blown out of proportion by the media, and it is not nearly as bad as what is portrayed.

So now we are playing the waiting game. Our passports are in, our letter of recommendation from the Irish Embassy is in, our contact in Pakistan is in. Come Friday 4pm, it is possible we shall be in posession of our brand spanking new visas. But, now that I have written that, maybe not.

(the photo is of Will having his application form typed out, in front of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan)