I am quite sure that when Otis Redding put together his lovely nugget about "sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time....." he was not thinking of personal effects shipments that cross various oceans to be reunited with their hopeful owners posted far far away. But that particular line could in fact mirror EXACTLY what often happens to such shipments in the life of those who like to move from place to place. I mean, taking out Frisco for a more relevant Bay --"I left my home in Georgia....headed for the Bengal Bay.....looks like nothings going to come my way..."
(disclaimer: this is not my shipment --mine is much smaller. But it adds visual flavor)
Where to begin. Usually it starts at what is called the "home of record", meaning whichever location the forementioned person is administratively anchored --meaning, that home is going to be the place where you get your annual leave ticket to, the place to which your "master address" is linked and the place from which your beloved personal goods get inventoried, packed and wrapped, and stuffed into boxes and sent off to the nearest port for loading onto a container. You hope for an eventual reunion. Recall those Rush Hour scenes where Jackie Chan hops from container to container in the dark Hong Kong harbor dock, searching for the bad guys? He's likely hopping on my personal effects that are waiting around for the next round of paperwork clearance and release.
The next thing that happens once you wave farewell to your shipment is, well, nothing. You just go about your business, and try to eek out information from a kind but overworked shipping company agent your organization has hired to manage the crazy relocations of your colleagues. (you think Atlanta to Nepal is a strain, try oh, Kinshasa to Kabul. Kudos if you know the countries in which those capitals are located). Just as the sun will set and the moon will rise, you can count on an information vacuum, with nebulous updates such as "what will likely happen, is your shipment will go to Charleston, sail through the Panama Canal, head over the Singapore, make its way to Calcutta and then once released from customs (good god!), be offloaded onto a truck and head towards the Indo/Nepal border where it will be inspected (another good God!) and then once cleared, arrive in Kathmandu warehouse. Great, so that's not even mentioning dealing with Kathmandu traffic and the police. Can we have a final Good God please! What happens in a Calcutta port, you may ask? Click here: Calcutta Port
So, after several months in country, your news starts pebbling in..."please sign this paperwork, it sounds as if your shipment will arrive soon." False alarm, that was someone ELSE's shipment. So, have I just signed for another shipment? Where is MY shipment? Mine Mine Mine. Nothing like demonstrating pre-school behavior when tracking your personal effects. Yippee. Its arrived in Calcutta! But wait, it's under lockdown until the Nepal paperwork is authorized in the ministries, couriered to Calcutta (only hard copy signatures, thank you very much ) and then passed around the various hands in the Calcutta ports. By this time, images of dock workers sleeping on my brand new plush king bed dance through the mind's eye, while in KTM another hotel room has to be found since you could not extend your hotel room due to the influx of Dutch and German tourists arriving for trekking season. Why don't they all just stay in Europe and stop bothering us over here?
But at long last, hope appears. An email confirms that "your personal effects shipment left Calcutta and is expected at the Indo/Nepal border on 10 October. Shipment is expected in KTM a few days later." something about that "few days later" rings an unwelcomed bell. Isn't something happening starting 15 October? wait...it's ...it's...right. Dashain. The biggest Hindu festival in Nepal. Everything closes down. It's like saying "oh, your shipment will arrive on 24th December in NY." what then? "No worries, madame, it will remain at warehouse till after Dashain Festivals are completed.." which is when? 10 days later.
I can hear Otis singing again the lyrics below, with new insight from the perspective of a shipment. You can too, by clicking here: Sing it, Otis!
Sittin’ in the morning sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I’ll watch ‘em roll away again
Just sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Sitting on the dock of the Bay
Wasting time
I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco (Bengal!) Bay
Cause I’ve had nothing to live (wait) for
Looks like nothings’ going to come my way
Just sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wasting time
Looks like, nothings going change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what 10 people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same
Sittin’ here resting my bones
And this loneliness (paperwork) won’t leave me alone
Two (six) thousand miles I roam
Just to make this dock my home…
Just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
Sitting on the dock of the bay,
Wasting time…..
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