You never can tell where....

...the next phone call is from!

(Cross-posted on my Oulu Chaff Blog.)

I was speaking on Skype with my dear friend, Ajay, in Beijing, when my land line rang. I excused myself and answered the phone.

There was someone on the line who said his name was "uncle" and he was calling from Bangalore. His voice was that of a young man.

As many youngsters in India call older people "uncle", I thought he was referring to me as "uncle", so I kept asking him what his name was.

Seeing that we were going nowhere, I asked him to ring back in half an hour as I wanted to continue my conversation with Ajay!

When I finished, I went about my other business, forgetting completely about this call from Bangalore.

A little over half anhour later the Bangalore caller was again on the line. I finally understood that his name was "Ankur".

He had quite a story to tell, but being excited that he was speaking to me he got it all topsy turvy. I managed to discern most of it, but I think that he email he then sent me a little later explains the situation better.

From: ankur debnath
To: jmatthan.....
Date: 02-Oct-2006 14:06
Subject: hi sir. Could not contact Mr. Ishtiaq and Jawad Rahman!!

Hi Sir ,

My regards to you and Annikki mam.

I hope you remember me. I am Ankur Debnath. I spoke to you on Friday (the one with the Foreigner's Act problem). I spoke to Annikki mam too on Saturday. She must have told you about it. Sir,

I could not find Mr. Ishtiaq and Jawad Rahman's (are their spellings correct) Phone number or Address from the telephone directory or any helplines available. I am now thinking of going to Karnataka Bar Council to look for their address of correspondence.

I am really worried as I want to get in touch with them as soon as possible. Could you please give a rough idea of the place they had their office in that Cantonment market area, any Landmarks nearby or their residential address, or the address of any person who know them. Any rough idea of any such person's locality will do. Do you remember their Firm's name ?

In the meanwhile I shall once again give you an account of what has been happening so far ...

To begin with, I am a BANGLADESH NATIONAL, aged 21 yrs (DOB 20/11/1985). I have been studying in India for the past 11 yrs (starting March,1996). Presently I am studying in the 7th semester of Electronics and Communication discipline at B.M.S. College of Engineering sponsored by Educational Consultants India Ltd. I have been studying with proper VISAS from the Indian govt. (high commission) all over these years .

My problem is :

I have a case against me under the rule 7(2) of Foreigners Order,1948 r/w section 14 of Foreigners' Act, 1946, filed by the state of Karnataka for not registering in the Foreigners' Registration office within the period of 14 days of arrival of India, which I failed as my father FAILED TO SEND ME THE COLLEGE FEES in time DUE TO FINANCIAL CONSTRAINT as a result of which the college was witholding my bonafide certificate, which is required for the the registration.

I informed the previous ACP (foreigners' registration branch, Bangalore) of that time of the problem. He told me to come with the bonafide certificate and the fine of US $ 30. But when I went to register again, the ACP had changed and the new ACP ordered my prosecution.

I have a letter from my father claiming full responsibility for the delay in sending the fees. My father is a businessman in Bangladesh, regularly importing food grains, agricultural crop seeds etc., from India for the past 16 years. My younger brother too is studying in India.

I was arrested on the 21st of January, 2006 when I went to register myself in the FRO and was released on bail on the next day. I have regularised the offence now, but the case is still on .... The next date of hearing is 5th October. My present lawyer (She is my 2nd advocate, the 1st one was provided by the Police themselves. He did not know anything. He wanted me to plead guilty. It is because him that the matter went so far. The ACP would not have taken the case to the court if I went to him after getting the bail. But he did not make any such moves.) is cheating me. Her demands keep on rising every other day.

Thus I am completely helpless in this situation, as I have no relative or a guardian who can help me in this issue. My future is in such a danger. Till now the trial has not started. The next hearing is as close as 5th October, 2006.

Please help me in this. I shall be ever grateful.


Thanks , Ankur Debnath .

The reason he contacted me was that he had Google searched for cases under the Foreigners Registration Act problems and he landed up at the page Annikki, the creative gardner... and then the link to the book by Annikki "...for the hour of his judgement is come:...".

From somewhere, probably my Profile, he located my phone number and then called me.

I answered him thus:

From: Jacob Matthan
To: ankur debnath
Date: 02-Oct-2006 19:36
Subject: Re: hi sir. Could not contact Mr. Ishtiaq and Jawad Rahman!!


Hello,

I have lived outside India for over 22 years so I do not know the current situation there in Bangalore.

Jawad Rahim is a High Court Lawyer while his partner Ishtiaq was the one who handled matters in the lower court. Their office is near Russell Market. The best way I can describe it is that you walk to the end of Commercial Street. At the end, turn right and then turn first left. You should see a building on the right hand side of the road in which was the office of Jawad and Ishtiaq on the 1st Floor. However, all that area may have changed considerably, so these instructions may be quite useless today. (If you continue walking on that street, Russell Market is on the right hand side.)

If you cannot find them, immediately contact a lawyer by the name of Aditya Sondhi and tell him I (Jacob Matthan from Oulu, Finland) referred you to him. Tell him the situation and see whether he can organise someone to help you. I do not know his field of specialisation but is a highly respected lawyer in Bangalore.

--
Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland

Earlier this evening I had a call from him, yet again. This time his troubled voice seemed much brighter.

He had followed my instructions but did not find the office of the lawyers. So he went to a nearby shop and asked a person whom he thought was the shopkeeper for directions to the office of Jawad and Ishtiaq. The person asked him to explain why. So he unfolded his story, piece by piece, the person egging him on.

Finally in desperation, he asked the person for the directions to meet Mr. Ishtiaq, whereupon the person replied that HE was Ishtiaq and he was there as he was a close friend of the shopkeeper.

All excited, Ankur explained to Ishtiaq about the book and showed him the printed Preface which specifically thanks the lawyers.

Ishtiaq has extended his hand of friendship to this young man as he remembered Annikki's case well. He has promised to take some steps to try and sort out the situation.

I was not very confident that when I gave this young man directions to the office of the lawyers, whether the location had changed. I did a search on the Google satellite site and looked down at the location. Although not very clear at the very large magnification, it did look as if the small building which housed the office of the lawyers still seemed intact, although neighbouring buildings seemed to have become new monstrous constructions.

It was, therefore, with a tongue-in-cheek feeling that I had directed this young man to our former lawyers.

Hopefully, the problem will be resolved and Ankur has promised to update me as soon as things sort themselves out. Meanwhile, Annikki and I discussed this and felt that the purpose of putting the book on the inbternet over 12 years ago had served its purpose, at least for one young man!

So CHAFF is keeping to its character:

Chamber of Assistance of Finns and Foreigners!