Adoption Update - Filing the Papers in Court

We finally took the first step to legalising the adoption - filing the papers in court in Pondicherry.

Pondicherry is not an easy place to get to, if you’re traveling with little kids. The easiest would be to take an overnight train to Chennai, and from there a car (or bus) to Pondy. But, we had to be in Pondy by 9, and preferrably looking quite presentable by then, so that didn’t work for us this time.

Pondy itself also does have a railway station, but this is described by Lonely Planet as being of more use to the local goats than to people, so it didn’t appear very confidence-inspiring. There’s no airport at Pondy, so going by air would still necessitate changing to “surface” transport at Chennai.

I had optimistically booked 4 seats on the overnight bus to Pondy - but the sleeper reached Pondy too late, so it was a normal Volvo “seater” bus. The idea of holding the girls in our laps for the entire duration of the journey was frankly scary - I’m sure my lap-load would have slipped off my lap at some point.

So after way too much discussion and consideration, we decided that the best thing to do would be to hire a driver-driven cab and drive both ways.

Still, we made this decision at 2 p.m. And we had to leave by 4 in order to have something of the night left by the time we got there.

Now if you’re wondering why we left it so late to organize things, I have to add that it wasn’t entirely up to us. The lawyers in Pondicherry were on strike (no clue why) on Tuesday, and our lawyer said she would let us know by afternoon whether the strike would carry on the next day or not.

So, having received the all-clear from her around 1 p.m., we rushed around organizing and packing and were on our way by about 5.30.

The drive passed uneventfully and we reached Pondy at midnight. Then, it turned out there was a problem with the papers of the vehicle we were in, and at the Pondy border they refused to give our driver a permit for the vehicle. They allowed us to go into Pondy, at the risk of being caught and fined at any point. Great.

The next morning we had to be at the lawyer’s office by 9 a.m. Amit insisted on taking an auto, though it was only a short drive away. After signing a whole lot of paperwork, we got into the lawyer’s car and went to the family court, reaching there a little before 10. Apparently there’s only one Judge at this court and he sits at 10. After waiting in a hot, crowded, small hall outside the hot, crowded, small room that was the court, the Judge came, a bell rang, our case was submitted, and Amit was called. By the time he could push his way through the crowd to the front of the room, with me tagging along a little behind him, it was time to turn around and head back out. Our appearance was done! The Judge hardly glanced at him and wouldn’t even have been aware of my existence. If we had sent in someone off the street to appear as us, he wouldn’t have noticed.

We waited for our lawyer to return. Waited, waited, and waited some more. The weather was hot and sultry and the kids finally turned cranky. From the window in the hall, I could look across the road to the endless sea thrashing against the rocks on Pondy’s Marine Drive. Unfortunately there’s no beach here - only a long, straight stretch of coast, with a black, rocky shore, and a higher, sandy promenade, and the road right next to it. No trees, no shacks, no shade. Still, at least it was out and away from this crowded hall - it certainly couldn’t be any worse than being indoors.

I took the girls and crossed the road, leaving Amit to wait for the lawyer and call me if I were needed. At first, the girls were delighted to be on the “beach” - they sat in the sand and played quietly by themselves. After about 20 minutes, Tara suddenly started howling and wouldn’t stop. I decided she must be hot and thirsty - we had forgotten the water bottle in the hotel in the last-minute rush to leave. Walking down that beach and crossing the road to find a snack bar that sold water was really difficult with one girl wailing and the other wandering around smiling and picking up dirty ice-cream sticks. Once I got some water into all three of us, I saw Amit standing across the road, scowling, cellphone in one hand - my phone was ringing, but my hands were too full to permit me to answer it.

A little after 11, we were back in our hotel room, cooling off. By 1.30, we were all bathed and fed and ready to leave on the long drive back. Seven hours later, we were home. Though it had been a hectic trip, I have to say that on the whole the girls handled it very well, apart from the one hour at the courthouse. It was probably the two of us who were more tired out by it.

The next trip will be after a month or so.