Nepal Diary: TIA Experience

Before this flight, it had been pretty long when I last arrived on an international flight to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). I vaguely remembered the procedures inside the airport before I could get out. But, I clearly remembered the procedures in the US Port of entry. There were separate immigration counters for US Citizens and Aliens. The lines for aliens were very long and took even longer time to move forward, while the US citizens were briskly passing through their counters. That’s nothing new; after all it’s their country. Following their passport and departure city verification off they go. Conversely in case of aliens; the immigration officers have to verify the passport, visa, motive of visit and many other things. Now, as I am in TIA, I will have the advantage over those tourists, they will have a lot to talk with immigration officers while I can briskly pass through, after all it’s my country.

It would be a cliché to compare Nepal Airlines with Thai Airways based on their inception date; same is true with the airport too. Honestly, I felt our international airport should be little better than that. I was too tired to take pictures there, but check this link from MYSANSAR Dot Com which compliments to what I am trying to explain.

Since the flight I boarded had majority of Nepalese, there were longer lines for Nepalese Citizens. Me getting out of the plane last didn’t help my cause either; I was at the end of my line. A lot of people made mistake in their immigration arrival form, so they had gone to get a new copy and fill it. They joined the line after me; I was no longer at the end. As we waited for our turn, I noticed few were trying to get inside the line (break the line), one even in front of me, welcome to Nepal, I thought. I let them in because I had to wait for baggage’s to appear in the carrousel anyways. I looked over to the Non-Citizens Counter, they were moving at the same pace as the people through the Citizens counter.

After all the tourists were checked through, a new line was formed for us in those counters. The way the airport authorities addressed people to form line there boiled my blood. Aren’t they civil servants, ones who earn their living from the tax payer’s money? In other words, they are the people employed by the Nepalese citizens, and see how they are talking to their own employer. Though we foreign labors don’t pay the taxes to Nepalese government, we contribute in different way through remittance. No heroics this time I thought, I didn’t want to get into any discussion with a lethargic body and a tired state of mind. I patiently waited for my turn, engulfing the arrogance of the immigration officials and other staffs. I remembered, in America they addressed everyone as sir or madam irrespective of whether they were American citizens or aliens.

Finally it was my turn; I handed over my passport and the arrival immigration form.

“Where are you coming from?” He asked.
“I’m coming from America” I replied. There was noticeable change in his tone after that.
“There is no visa in your passport”
“Oh, my old passport expired so I had to get a new one”. I handed him my old passport (an unnecessary move by me)
“Even in your old passport, the visa has expired”
“I know” Now he was getting on to my nerves.
“So why didn’t you renew, why were you staying there with an expired visa?”
It was getting hard for me to control my temper now, why the hell he needs to know all these things. Even if I had stayed as illegal in USA, it’s none of his business; he can’t do anything about it. All he has to do is ensure that I am a Nepali citizen and let me in; I’m not leaving for USA, I am coming back home.
I patiently replied “You don’t need to have a valid visa once you are in there; you just need visa to enter. As long as you maintain your immigration status you are fine. My visa was a student visa before and now it’s changed to working visa, I’ll need to get a visa for this new status before I leave for USA”
It was odd for me to explain an immigration officer that visa for USA are not given inside USA, in fact I was wondering if he really knows the purpose of visa.“So where are the papers that say you are in status?”

I lost my cool now, “Do I need those to enter my own country”?

He finally placed arrival sticker in my passport and let me in. I don’t know if it was his curiosity or he was trying to prove who the boss was, but it’s definitely not under his job description. And after having such a long trip, I was in no mood for talking nonsense.

Baggages had just started to arrive when I got to the carrousel; I found myself a cart and hurled my luggage. I was praying for smooth exit from the customs, I had absolutely no patience left. On the customs, I had to place my luggage through the X ray machine, the officer there asked me “Where are you coming from?” an unnecessary question I thought. I replied honestly “Lafayette, Louisiana”. There was a puzzled look in his face, I picked up my luggage, smiled discreetly and left.

I could see scores of people waiting outside, I scanned among them for my parents and I saw them both before they saw me. Before I could reach them there were crowds trying to help me with my cart or persuade me to go on their taxi. I ignored them all and reached my parents. They seemed to have aged lot quicker than I expected. My father waved the crowd off saying we don’t require their services. I turned back to see, there was similar crowd after every person that was coming out.

As we were walking to the car, I was thinking that TIA has the most unusual security compared to any other international airport in the world. It (security at main gate on the road) is reluctant to allow the family and friends to come see off or pick up their loved ones, but they allow these crowds to be there. From what I gathered from my friends who recently visited Nepal, there are these drug addicts (among others) who will help you (without you asking for help) lift your luggage’s inside the car and then ask for Dinar/Riyal. When asked how they came inside the premise; they say it’s easy; they jumped through the fence from the back side of the airport.

I think it’s the most stupid security system I have ever heard of; everyone is entitled to come freely at least to the parking lot. The airport is not secure if someone can jump the fence at the back while you are scrutinizing people coming to see off/pick up their loved ones. When we were coming back, Pragya and I sat in different cars so that more people could come to see us off. Still the army was asking why 4 people to see off one? If they really care for security, then secure the building and the boarding lounges like most of other International airports do. I strongly believe this current security system has to do more with the commission from contactors running airport taxi service than the security itself.

We walked to the car, after loading the luggage I took a seat in the front. That was not the smartest thing to do, especially when you were coming back after such a long time………

To be continued……..