The power of a piece of paper

Folks, some not so good news this side of town. 

The South African consulate in Delhi has had Manjeev's passport for nearly three weeks (despite saying the average processing time is 5 days). We have no idea why they are holding on to it - they refuse to tell us anything. At this stage our only two options are a) to wait or b) to withdraw our application. The latter is not an option because it would just mean having to cancel our trip which we really, really don't want to do. 

There were a few articles recently talking about the issues with getting a South African visa: 

http://allafrica.com/stories/201508240001.html

http://www.voanews.com/content/south-africa-tourism-controversial-visa-restrictions/2921427.html

The whole thing just reminds me how unfair life can be for some people just because of the passport - i.e. piece of paper - they carry. So far, none of the countries we have travelled to have required me to get a visa whereas Manjeev has needed a visa for every single one of them - and more to come. 

We will keep you updated with the developments...