The Hindu Business Line : A `face-off' in dragon land

"Do you have any other identity card?" she asked. I produced my office identity card and my driving licence. She took them and went to another woman (who appeared to be her superior) sitting at the corner of the hall.

By then, there were butterflies in my stomach. All my colleagues had cleared out of the emigration counter.

I had no clue about what was happening. All kinds of unwanted thoughts came to my mind.

We were a group of journalists from India and the Philippines visiting Hong Kong and Guangzhou in China on invitation from The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. This part of the trip was the one that I really looked forward to, as China having always fascinated me. A visit to that happening country, however short, was a dream come true.

It was just a day trip to visit the HSBC offshore service facility at Guangzhou. We came to Guangzhou from Hong Kong by the high-speed express train.

The two-hour journey gave me a glimpse of China's real estate boom that has boosted world demand for steel and other construction materials. Most of the multi-storied apartments blocks looked recently built.

The houses were not too close to the tracks. On either side of the tracks, there were long stretches of farmland, some growing plantain and green vegetables, a soothing sight as one looked out from the speeding train.

Here and there were water bodies where young Chinese men were fishing with rods. We were served Chinese green tea and honey-roasted peanuts on board in the upper-class compartment.

After that very pleasant journey, now whatever was happening?!

I started sweating as the lady officer came back with my passport and identity cards. The stories one heard about people being harassed at foreign lands came back in a rush to the mind.

"Your photo looks different," she said, staring at me again.

"Oh ma'am, I dyed my hair," I said.

"But the hair on your left side (of the head) looks different," she said, pointing to my photograph. I didn't understand what she meant. But very soon, I remembered my colleagues back in India telling me how the Rs 500-haircut and the L'Oreal black touch-up had changed the silver on my head and my looks too.

She sat back in her seat and punched some keys on her computer. I prayed to all the Gods I knew.

After a couple of minutes, she said something in Chinese to the lady at the next counter and reluctantly stamped the visa. I was handed back my passport and other documents.

I was greatly relieved.

When I came away from the counter, my companions waiting outside rushed to me. Hearing my story, they were curious to see my passport photograph.

A young lady from our host group, remarked of my silver-haired photograph: "Oh, this could be your grandfather!"

As a result of all this, I was worried throughout the day about what might happen when we came back to the same place to leave China.

I could not enjoy with true abandon the 10-course Chinese meal that was served by our hosts that afternoon. In fact, there was a special menu laid out just for some of us vegetarians in the group.

But I need not have worried. On the way back, the man at the counter stamped the visa without asking any questions. He didn't bother. I was after all, leaving his country this time.

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A `face-off' in dragon land