i've seen folks frequently bashing the embassy guys here and elsewhere. but in their defense, i must point out that they helped me immensely in sending a verification letter to nepal with a great sense of urgency and accuracy. it's a different story that it was a bogus piece of beaurocracy that i was made to go through by the Maalpot office in nepal, and it was frustrating. i was surprised that there was such a mechanism in the first place. all they said was the official request had to be in via proper official channels (via foreign ministry), for which i had to move mountains back in nepal, but once the request was in, the embassy guys in DC replied back in next hour. kudos to hakim bhadur and team in DC for such an outstanding job.

i want to give them the credit where it's due. during my visit there a few months ago, lots of nepali guys and girls came in and i was surprised they come in with either incomplete documents, missing pictures, inadequately sized pictures and inane deficiencies and expect the embassy staff to correct everything and then on the way out were venting frustration 'teti pani gardaina yini haru'. i'm not trying to blame anyone or be a d i c k, but the tendency to fall back on the laxed nepali way of life - bhai halcha, gari halcha, eti bhaye huncha - was on display on many folks that were visiting the embassy in DC. also, the desk helping process passport applications was bending backward to help the applicants. he was cutting pictures to sizes, helping fill applications to a ton of folks, answer calls, facilitating ways to get folks submit applications and what not. during my one-hour there, the embassy guys were nothing but helping folks.

but i must mention, it did take me 48 hours to get an email response on which day of the week would've been a good day to fly to DC (sometimes the embassador will not be in the office and i wanted to make sure he was around during my visit). and the office furniture made me chuckle though - run down cabinets and tables!