FIRST NIGHT AT THE FOREIGNERS RESTRICTION CENTRE
After spending a sleepless night outside my apartment on the 29th, I found myself the next night sitting on a hard chair at the KR Puram Police Station. The hours stretched endlessly until the evening of the 30th, when the police inspector assigned two officers to escort me to the Bureau of Immigration; the FRRO office.
At the office, I was instructed to submit all my documents for verification. After a careful review, they confirmed that everything was valid; except my visa, which had unfortunately exhausted. Because of that, I was told I had to be transferred to the FRC.
The journey there was long; about 37 kilometres from the city, and by the time we arrived, it was around 8:20 p.m. My few belongings were checked and taken by the security guards. Later, I was called to the administrative section to collect my papers, hand over my gadgets, and sign some forms.
It was a strange and unexpected kind of welcome; to walk into a place filled with so many other foreign nationals, each with their own story, each caught in their own moment of waiting.
Abubakar Abubakar
30/10/2025
