I'm allowed to be here, I promise!

I was told I had four forms to fill out to register with the local police here in Ahmedabad. I just didn’t figure they would be four completely identical, 25-question-long forms.

So we have all now submitted the forms — not to mention EIGHT passport photos— and are now waiting for the police commissioner to contact us. At that point, we will meet with him, and we will “be asked questions about our country.” I am still curious if he will be asking us American trivia — “Alright, so tell me who your 17th president was,?” — or if the questions about our country actually mean we have to prove we aren’t spies secretly masquerading as public policy graduate students who sweat a lot in 105 degree heat.

Then, once we receive clearance, we get a small green book — and by small, I mean it’s actually 8x10 — that we must carry with us at all times outside of Ahmedabad.

By the way, passport photo count:

Was: 41
Lost to the Police Commissioner: 8
Given for my "fitness center" application: 2

Current count: 31.