I finally got my passport, but I can't stop thinking about India's reputation abroad

Key points

• I didn’t expect my passport to come with anxiety.
• I expected drama, yes, the bureaucratic kind.
• Running between addresses that refuse to agree on where you belong, hunting down documents that feel like they were issued in another lifetime, smiling politely at officials who hold your fate in a stapled file (which also happened).
• And then finally, that moment — the navy-blue booklet in your hand.
• Your proof of arrival into a certain kind of adulthood.