Ripples on the brain

“No sir, that won’t do”, she said. “But, I have checked the measurements online. This is 35 by 45″, I protested. “May be, but the face is not prominent enough. Look at this”, she fetched a specimen and threw it in my direction. “Oh, I see”, I accepted defeat and followed her instructions.

“It is 35mm by 45mm for S, the same as that for the U, but the nature of the photos are different. While for the former, the face needs to be more prominent, the latter needs to be till you collar”, she smugly explained. “Oh, isn’t that similar to that for the U (a different U this time)?”. “No, that is 50mm by 50mm, totally different. Now why don’t you stop wasting your time and mine? Just get the photos done and come back, I just cannot accept the ones you have right now”. I didn’t have many options and had to fall in line.

At the photo studio: “I want photos to be taken for visas to S and M”, I tell the photographer. “Yes sir. That can be done”. Once the photos were done, the photographer demanded twice the amount I expected for the photograph. “We need to develop two sets of photographs, sir - one for M and one for S”. “But as far as I understand, the measurements and the nature of photographs are the same. Can’t I use the same set for both the countries?”, I protested, again! “No, while the sizes and the nature of photographs are the same, the required finishes are different. S needs a glossy finish, whilst M requires a matte finish”.

I couldn’t but wonder why different countries have different requirements for such a simple thing like photograph for visa. The need for a photograph for visa applications is universal and uniform. Then, pray why so many specifications? How is one specification superior to the other? The agents and the photo studios seem to be having a field day with the information overload that visa applicants need to handle while filling out forms after forms.

I came back to the agent lady and lamented, “The photo studios and you are the ones benefitting from this”. “Yes, we give them a lot of business”, she replied, with an unmistakable pride in her voice!

P.S: “feet” in the title refers to the unit of measurement, just for the alliteration.