Oh Dear Lord. The Drama.

From my last sign-out to this post, there has been oh so much chaos that now, I can categorically say that I DESPISE drama!

So it all started last Thursday, I was teaching a class and was chatting with my students about my upcoming move... I don't know why, but I began worrying that my passport had expired. It wasn't mentioned in any way shape or form in the discussion, but after we finished talking, I was left with a deep concern that my passport was expired.

Naturally, when I got home, I went to my travel wallet to pull out my passport so that I could confirm to myself that I was just being silly and worrying for nothing when.... I REALISED MY PASSPORT WAS GONE...

So a bit of background here: I am extremely diligent when it comes to my passport. I tend to travel at least once every 6 months and I have a wonderful bright red, Kiki K travel wallet that has everything in it, including my passport. If I see my red travel wallet, I know that my passport is in it.

Until now.

It seems that in a frenzy of organisation after I lent my travel wallet to my mother for her recent holiday, I packed the passport into my "Important Documents" folder for safe-keeping.

Once my mother returned and gave me back the travel wallet, I failed to pull the passport OUT of the Important Documents folder and put it BACK into my wonder-wallet. And that's when the drama started.

In an almost cinematic time tunnel, I had every single action after the fateful return of my wallet whiz through my mind bringing me to the horrific discovery that i had SENT MY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FOLDER TO NORWAY ON THE SHIP (which left 2 days earlier to this discovery) and was now, an Australian Citizen (with no original documentation of this fact) without an original Indian birth certificate ready to leave Australia without a passport.

There are no words to describe what I felt. Self-loathing was only the tip of the ice-berg.

But I knew that it would all be ok. Somehow. After a mini pity-party, I had a rush of adrenalin which hurled me out of my self-loathing and began making phone calls frantically. Each time I explained what had happened, I could almost feel the "click" in the brain of the person on the other end of the phone... I could feel that they too, were loathing me.

There was just so much attitude, and meanness. I guess the fact that it was 3 days to end of trading over Christmas and New Years made everything all the more hectic for them. I was told that since I had no original documentation of my citizenship or even birth, it would take a minimum of 30-60 days (not including the public holidays) to get this kind of documentation and then, only then, could I get a passport issued.

And then an angel appeared. An angel working in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra called Naomi Eade. Rather than looking at me and asking "well, how exactly did you plan to leave the country without your passport Miss Gupta?" (as they did in the Citizenship counter) or "why do you have photocopies of these documents Miss Gupta? (as they did at the Immigration counter) or "im sorry Miss Gupta, there is absolutely nothing we can do" (as they did at the Australian Passports office)... she just switched on into disaster-recovery mode and began thinking of ways to help me.

Long Long LONG story short. Naomi contacted the people at Citizenship, got them to send her a fax with my citizenship records as they appeared on their screen, had me drive to Canberra (which is a 3.5 hour drive each way), show her my drivers licence and medical card and then issued the passport ON THE SPOT. thats right. on the spot.

And now, i'm back on track.

And, I despise drama.

xx