Deported to Malaysia. Be back soon.

A little over two months ago I lost my passport. Well, lost may be the wrong word. It was sitting on my desk for about two weeks when one day the window was open and it somehow managed to leave my house on its own accord. Perhaps it has been incorporated into a bird's nest. Maybe it was in the hands of black-market goons and off to an Al Qaeda training camp. I don't know.

I canceled the passport and after a 12 hour rigmarole, filed a police report that it could have been stolen. Since then I have gotten a new passport and was hoping that my life might soon return to normal.

No such luck.

As of Sunday night I am being politely deported from India to Malaysia where I will have to reapply for a visa to come back into the country. In the last few weeks I have gotten to know the man in charge of the Foreign Registration Office in Chennai, Mr. Ram. Every day he sits in a dilapidated office and wields the full might of India in the form of rubber stamps and squiggly signatures. I asked him repeatedly to issue me a replacement visa (something their website says is possible) but he stated time and time again that it was impossible and I would have to drop everything for a flight out of the country. So I will spend next week standing in lines outside the Indian embassy in Kuala Lampur.

So next week if I manage to post you will be reading about DVD piracy and government censorship in South East Asia. Wish me luck.