Pushing through the Red Tape

Anjali woke up on Tuesday morning and said, "Anjali, Papa beti (daughter), Anjali, Mama beti.  We thought it was an auspicious sign considering it's not something she has ever done before and given the significance of the day.  Well, we didn't pass court on Tuesday.  We had a stressful drive to the courthouse that took far too long.  The hearing was held in District court room 3 and our judge is the honorable Sri Krishna Prasap Singh.  This was a smaller courtroom about 12x12 in a building off to the side of the main court building.  There wasn't enough space for us to sit in the court room, so we sat in a room off to the side that was filled with stacks of dilapidated files stacked haphazardly throughout the room.  An old man kept coming in the room with new stacks of files that he threw carelessly on the ones that were already there.  Mr. Sinha, our advocate and the senior advocate were in the courtroom while Adam, I, Anjali, Sister Meera and Sister Manoj waited in the side room.  There was no picturesque river off to the side of this courtroom and no ceiling fans.  While we were waiting, I had to change Anjali's diaper so Sister Meera took me up to the terrace as there was no public restrooms.  While walking up there as I looked down toward the street there were prisoners not shackled with handcuffs, but rope.  It was quite the scene.  Anjali was quite beautiful, as usual with her Nana's pearls on and a new dress.

The hearing was very short and we were there thankfully for less than an hour.  It was unfortunately, just another preliminary hearing for this new  adjunct court.  The senior advocate was again critical in securing a date for our next hearing which will be the evidence hearing less than a week from this one on Monday, September 21st. He brought us all into the courtroom at the end, so the judge could see us and see that we are here waiting.  It was a critical moment with Adam holding Anjali and Anjali with her arm wrapped around my neck, all of us looking intently at him.  He definitely straightened up a bit and took notice. Mr. Sinha is confident that this next hearing will be our last one.  Everyone will need to be there including the folks from Nalanda which is a two hour drive when traffic is good.  Sister Meera told me that this particular judge asks a lot of questions which is fine by us.  She and Sister Manoj asked us a lot of questions on the drive over and while we were waiting about life with Anjali.  They both were beside themselves about how well Anjali has bonded to Adam and I.  For them it was a confirmation of the good works they have done at Missionaries of Charity with the orphanage.  I am sad to report they will no longer be doing adoptions there.  They will still provide a home for children deemed "unadoptable," but those who have the possibility of being adopted, are currently being transferred to other orphanages.  

We were very disappointed on Tuesday, and headed for our favorite place in Patna on Wednesday, the Patna Zoo with Anjali.  She definitely needed a day of running around after a tense court day.  We discovered the bird aviary and finally paid the extra 25 rupees to go into the zoo playground where they  have a couple of giraffe slides, now that Anjali loves slides.  It was a fun, relaxing morning and put things in perspective as to why we are here and how fortunate we are to be able to foster Anjali as we finish up with court.  We feel so close as a family.  That is simply priceless!

Today we went to the passport office to confirm that we could apply for her passport ourselves and to find out all the documents required.  While I can tell you being there was yet another eye opening exeperience into the world of Indian bureaucracy, I am happy to report we were quickly referred directly to the head passport director at the regional office.  No one knew what to do at the central passport office since there has never been an international adoption in Bihar.  We got a little lost getting there, but once there at the regional office, another Mr. Sinha, the regional passport director, took the time to go over all the documents we would need over tea in his office.  He was so helpful and gave us his mobile number and told us to call him should we have any problems when we do apply for Anjali's passport.  He commented on how happy Anjali was.  Our experience with the people of Bihar is that they have been incredibly honest and helpful,  even if they are inexperienced with foreigners.  We feel so much support from everyone we have met here.

Tomorrow we are heading to Bodh Gaya for the weekend, a two hour train ride from Patna.  This is a very special spiritual place where Buddha sat under the bodhi tree and attained enlightenment.  There are many Buddhist temples there and the seventh generation of the bodhi tree.  It is said that if you find a leave fallen from the tree, it is an auspicious sign.  We are hopeful as we need it right now, but regardless, it will be a chance to calm down, meditate and pause to put things in perspective before our next court date on Monday.  Plus Anjali gets to ride on a train!