It took one hour to get to the Embassy in Leroy Place on a hot summer day. Mr. Dig Bahadur Tamang was helping a lady with visa application when I arrived.

Nepali Embassy in America sits on a rented property, a reminiscent of old Victorian style design in the middle of other embassies from the third world. You could see flags flying in the front windows of almost every building in the vicinity. The subdivision appears to be a residential subdivision when built, later turned into office buildings when market for office housing grew. There are still posh residential houses near the Embassy building west up to Massachusetts Avenue.

To serve for the tourists’ need, almost all houses facing the main street, Connecticut Avenue, are retail stores. The abundance of nearby embassy has helped local retailers sustain and flourish; especially instant photo and postal services. You could compare this section of Connecticut Avenue to Baneshwar Road, where all front facing houses are either kirana pasal or chiya pasal. In a similar distance where you see Everest International in Kathmandu sits a Holiday Inn in Woodley Zoo Park. The distance, of course, is proportionately enlarged to relate the size of the two countries.

Once you enter the embassy, you will see two doors to your left and a stairwell at the end of hallway. The first door leads to an office with two tables, and the second door leads to another office with one table. Both offices have AC units stacked by the window, which not only rattle, but occasionally leak.

The upper story was reserved for officers of higher ranking. Only selected customers would be allowed to enter to the upper stories.

I ventured to the first door and offered Namaste to Mr. Tamang. He, at that time, was helping an Asian lady with visa applications, who worked for some plastic surgeon that had made fortunes. The surgeon had wanted to visit Nepal for some unknown welfare cum tourism mission, and therefore dispatched this Asian lady to Nepali embassy. Mr. Dig turned to me once the lady left, and began helping. He gave me a glue to stick pictures in the application. He checked my application for completeness. Upon reviewing, he pronounced my application approvable. I was about to get my passport renewed.

With a relief that my passport was soon to be renewed, I began to take a second look around the office. There were two office tables in Mr. Tamang’s office, the other one being vacant at that time. In the corner sat a fax machine covered with a several layers of dust, at least 15 years old, on top of a dilapidated iron table with wheels; the kind you seen in old hospitals. Behind the two office chairs were two cupboards, either of those would safely outcompete the fax machine on their antiquity.

Despite the old age furniture and amenities, Mr. Tamang sat on his chair with full confidence, smile and professionalism, and dispensed help to customers who ranged from Alaska to Vermont. Some wanted to know when they will receive renewed passports, other wanted to know the fees. Some had got green card had misspelled names, for that matter preferred to ‘update’ passport to reflect the error. You would not bother applying to US official for trifle correction. The risks were high. Embrace the error and correct Nepali passport, which defines your nationality, origin and identity. The primary advantage, you would not leave a trail at Nepali office that may haunt you later. You probably already had enough with INS, which most likely had delayed your application, or even lost it. Almost everyone is familiar with the notoriety of INS office when it comes to customer services. Applying to Nepali office was a risk free business.

Let me go back to Mr. Tamang. He was polite and informed. While he was helping me with my passports, he received three calls from customers. More than likely all three customers were Nepali, but two of them chose to speak English. Dig Tamang would help them in the language of customer’s choice. In addition to his phone etiquette, he wore a shirt and a tie, which sharply contradicted the atmosphere, not to mention his supervisors.

The moment he was completing my passport renewal, his cell phone rang. This time from his brass: His Excellency the Ambassador Mr. Chalise. Apparently there was a high priority business, and Mr. Chalise knew well higher priorities were not delivered to office phones. They would go to personal cell phone.

Unfortunately for me, the hot summer day was not only steaming and humid, but a little more. It was the month of Asadh when Nepali fiscal year ended. If you know bureaucracy, you would know this. Either you spend the money before the fiscal year ends, or you lose it. The fiscal year would end in two weeks. There was some unspent money in the embassy’s account. Spending money was a high priority, helping a customer was a trifle business, unless the application had a red tape.

Upon calling Mr. Tamang, Dr. Chalise stormed out of his office to his car and waited Mr. Tamang to join him. Harischandra Ghimire, another embassy official, had previously joined Dr. Chalise to Car shopping.

A sleek Toyota Highlander had magnetized Dr. Chalise from quite some time. He had read several reviews on Kelly Blue Book and ZDNet.com. The dashboard LCD with rearview camera, low emission/high mileage, electric vehicle mode switch, and a GPS navigator, a fully loaded Highlander had it all. By now, Dr. Chalise had read and reread Toyota Highlander reviews to qualify for a salesman.  

Apparently a rowdy Korean salesman from local car dealer had called Dr. Chalise to notify of the latest addition to his inventory. It was a Highlander. Immediately, a diplomatic visit to local car retailer became a high priority. Because Mr. Tamang was knowledgeable about cars, Dr. Chalise gave him an emergency circular over his cell phone to join him. Another official, Mr. Harishchandra Ghimire, who would be able to sign passports, was also summoned.

My prospect of passport renewal doomed. Korean dealer’s call had spoiled my chances. I was devastated. I had taken a day off from my work to renew. Working in America had its own demerits. Taking another day off was difficult. I began begging Mr. Tamang, which delayed him a little to join his top brass. Thirty long seconds passed, and Mr. Ghimire appeared at the door a warning. Mr. Tamang was too late.

My begging transferred to Mr. Ghimire from Mr. Tamang. I expressed my distress and explained my urgency.

“All of us at the embassy have to attend an important meeting” he continued, “miting bhae pacchi k lagchha?”