Sigh!

We had to go to the friendly neighborhood USCIS office this afternoon for "having our biometrics taken". Which in other words means, we had to give our fingerprints (now we can't escape from a crime without being given away by our fingerprints;) )

We arrived, Subhash's appointment was @ 1PM and mine was @ 2. The guard tried to be a little nasty in asking me to wait one hour and saying he won't let me in @ 1 PM. Which was a little funny considering that the place was empty.

Well anyway, Subhash got done and it was my turn. After all the finger prints, it was the turn of the web camera. I had to get my picture taken. And the most unthinkable of things happened to me. The lady actually asked me to remove my "bottu" (which is another word for vermillion/tilak/bindi). I was infuriated. I asked her if I had to and she was like "yeah, you have to" with a type of I-cannot-help-it-I-am-so-sorry expression.

For a moment there, I had a good mind to walk right out of that place. But I didn't want to over-react. But maybe I wasn't? I have been here ~6.5 years and I have been stared at and asked funny questions (a lady at a Border's Store actually asked me if I was sick and why I was wearing the Tilak, I thought, what a stupid female, and I let it go at that) but I have never been asked to remove it. For me, (you can call me old-fashioned for this), it is an essential part of my attire. I will not lie and say I am the quintessential "Bharat Nari" or anything like that, but I have never gone out without wearing my bindi. If for nothing else, just the fact that I don't like the way I look without it. I have been wearing it for more than 2 decades now and I don't think I can get "un"-used to it at all.

That I had to do this today, infuriated me. Maybe I am over-reacting, but then maybe I am not. Whatever happened to freedom!

And the funniest part was, Subhash had one on his forehead too (a real tiny one) and she never asked him to remove that! Well, there seems to be no end to the weirdness in USCIS and its practices!