The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

F O C U S O N F S R E F L E C T I O N S 26 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 T HE A MERICAN W ITHOUT A C OUNTRY ack in 2004, TomHanks starred in “The Terminal,” a movie about a man forced by immi- gration requirements to live, against his will, in the transit lounge of a major airport. The following story is equally implausible, but real. I was a consular officer in NewDelhi. It was the 1970s, when all sorts of people—Mia Farrow, the Beatles—were discovering Indian spirituality. Eric Cameron Smith was older than the usual hippie— in his late 30s, maybe even 40 years old. He was a balding, articulate former Hollywood studio executive who had, he said, given up the rat race, searched for peace in an Oregon mountain cabin and finally found salvation with an un- known (to me, anyway) guru who lived in a cave in Rishikesh, a holy city on the Ganges River. “The man is a saint,” Smith told me. “The first time I heard him speak, I fell on the floor, moaning.” I asked gently if perhaps he’d been chewing something. (Like, maybe, opium? It was a common practice in this part of the world, after all.) “No, no,” he said. He’d tried that, back in Hollywood and, later, in Oregon. Drugs didn’t work. What he had found in Rishikesh was different. “It was pure ecstasy,” he recalled, describing emotion, not today’s narcotic. But Indian authorities determined that Smith had over- stayed his visa and must leave immediately. He had come to the embassy to investigate his options. I sighed. “You really don’t have a choice.” The American was given 10 days in which to prepare for departure. He took no action, however, so Indian police went to the cave and took him away in handcuffs. The em- bassy was informed that Eric Cameron Smith was in de- tention and would be deported the following day. I went to PalamAirport the next morning and found the tall Californian being processed through Indian immigra- tion. He was alone, no police in evidence. The man nodded briefly in my direction and turned, seemingly in resignation, toward the counter, where an of- ficer examined his papers. Suddenly, Smith lunged forward, a pleased smile on his face. He grabbed his passport from the Indian official and P ROVING THAT WHERE THERE ’ S A WILL , THERE ’ S A WAY , SPIRITUALITY TRUMPS CONSULAR PROCEDURES IN 1970 S I NDIA . B Y G INNY Y OUNG B Ginny Young accompanied her late husband, Jim Carson, on several Foreign Service tours before his death in 1973. She then entered the Foreign Service herself. Ten years later, on assignment in Hong Kong, she met and married Don Young, who accompanied her to further postings in Mexico and Romania. Young died in 2002. This reflection is adapted from her memoir, Peregrina: Adventures of an American Consul , which the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training will publish in 2011.