Khwaari

So, in order to apply for a student visa, I need "good conduct certificates" from three countries! (USA, UAE and Pakistan). For the US, I had to send a fingerprint card all the way to Clarksburg, West Virginia (and hopefully they'll mail it back soon). Prior to this, I'd only heard of West Virginia in a song by John Denver. For the UAE and Pakistan, I had to go to a police station with the required documents and obtain clearance.

Note: I've never been to a police station before, not even for a minor driving incident!

So I went to the criminal headquarters in Kharadar, Karachi. The officers were surprisingly polite and efficient and rolled my fingers on an ink slab. Afterwards, they gave me Surf Excel to wash the ink off my hands :). I didn't see any criminals but there were a couple of addicts sleeping on the floor... and the head officer had to leave in a hurry because there had been a bomb scare somewhere in the city.

So if you're planning to study in another country, allow plenty of time for processing of documents and be prepared for a lot of khwaari :p