Jane Wilson-Howarth

Blog

 
 

Authorial chores

Thursday, 17 December 2015
I’m lucky enough to have found a publishing house in India who likes my writing and, earlier this year, they launched a completely new edition of A Glimpse of Eternal Snows. I was so pleased that they took on my memoir and was even more delighted when they expressed interest in the novel that is a sequel to Glimpse. We’re hoping this will be out during the first half of 2016. While I was polishing up the prose to make my novel as good as I could get it, incorporating comments and feedback from the self-published version, I was aware that there were other aspects of the international book trade that I needed to attend to.

I couldn’t put it off any longer and early in September logged on to the Indian e-governance site to apply for a Permanent Account Number from the Income Tax Department. I wasn’t optimistic. UK tax affairs boggle my mind and I was acutely aware that any previous interaction that I’ve had with Indian bureaucracy appeared to have absorbed all that is cumbersome and unnecessary from British red tape and made it ten times worse.
I was relieved, then to discover that the on-line form wasn’t too intimidating or long. As with many on-line forms though I wasn’t allowed to do what I thought I needed to do and mistakenly ticked the resident of India box. As the whole thing needed to be printed out, a photo attached and posted to India, I crossed out resident and hand-wrote non-resident.

A week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, I received an automated email telling me I had filled the form in wrongly so needed to reply. I duly did this. A week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, I received an automated email telling me that my photo was damaged or unsuitable. I reapplied. A week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, I received an automated email telling me my proof of address was unacceptable. Foolishly perhaps although I hadn’t used my authorial double-barrelled name, I had applied using both my given names. I could have, should have applied as plain Jane Wilson, but I hadn’t and my proof of address had to be an official document giving both my address and my full name. It didn’t seem to matter that they had already proof of my full name as it was there on my passport.

What they wanted a separate document mentioning my full name and address, and they wouldn’t accept a document giving my name as Dr J M Wilson or Jane M Wilson but it had to be the name in full. I sent over the next month or so bank statements, bank letters, UK and US tax documents, driving licence, pension statements and reams of official letter but emails kept coming back a week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, that none of these would do. My better half suggested giving up and donating my royalties to a local charity. He knows. He’s been doing battle with Afghan tax authorities.

Finally I realised that what they insisted upon was a bank statement with my full name on it. I went into the bank. They were unsurprised. Money laundering regulations are strict everywhere. However my bank was physically unable to supply a bank statement with my full name on it. Snooping through the screen, I could see that my bank records knew I was Jane Margaret Wilson. The nice lady behind the counter spent some considerable time trying to print out what I needed but concluded it wasn’t possible. She wouldn’t let me take a screen shot of her computer. She did, though, provide a statement that she annotated by hand with my full name, a rubber-stamped and signed it and I set this off I the post to the tax office in Pune. A week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, I received an automated email telling me that my proof of address was unacceptable because it didn’t bear my full name.

I sent an ever-so-polite pleading email asking for leniency and a day or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, I received a reply referring me to the detailed requirement of the Tax Office. I looked back over the rules and stipulations which seemed to say that unless I could provide a bank statement in the right format – or Indian identity card – I’d have to travel to London and get a document from the Indian Embassy. Such a trip would cost more than the meagre royalties I hoped to earn. I went back to my bank and explained my predicament. The gentleman behind the desk was also sympathetic and tried a few things but also established that no-one could provide me with the statement in the form required by the Indian tax office. I rent my clothes and tore my hair. Surely a screen shot would be the solution? He brainstormed with his colleagues and finally offered to write me a letter confirming that the bank couldn’t provide a statement in the required format but confirming my full name and address. I posted this off to Pune.

A week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, I received an automated email – the sixteenth – telling me that the documents I had submitted nder the name of "kumari" Jane Wilson daughter of shri Joseph Wilson were satisfactory and that my application would be passed to another office. Joy! Though this was muted joy as I had a sneaking feeling the process might be repeated by this new office.

Then a week or so later – remarkably quickly, I thought, but three and a half months after I started my application, I collected a small envelope from the Post Office. Imagine my surprise when I found this very smart card inside, with my late Dad's name on it as well as mine.
Posted: 17/12/2015 14:47:25 by Global Administrator | with 0 comments



    Pontifications
    Travel
    Wildlife
    Writing
    March 2024(1)
    August 2023(1)
    July 2023(1)
    June 2023(2)
    May 2023(1)
    April 2023(2)
    March 2023(1)
    April 2022(3)
    March 2022(2)
    January 2022(2)
    October 2021(2)
    August 2021(1)
    June 2021(1)
    May 2021(5)
    April 2021(3)
    March 2021(4)
    October 2020(1)
    August 2020(2)
    July 2020(1)
    June 2020(1)
    May 2020(1)
    April 2020(4)
    March 2020(4)
    January 2020(1)
    October 2019(2)
    June 2019(1)
    April 2019(2)
    March 2019(9)
    January 2019(2)
    October 2018(3)
    August 2018(3)
    June 2018(4)
    May 2018(5)
    April 2018(3)
    March 2018(1)
    January 2018(4)
    October 2017(4)
    August 2017(3)
    July 2017(2)
    June 2017(2)
    May 2017(1)
    April 2017(1)
    March 2017(4)
    January 2017(1)
    October 2016(7)
    August 2016(2)
    July 2016(1)
    June 2016(1)
    January 2016(3)
    October 2015(1)
    August 2015(1)
    July 2015(1)
    May 2015(2)
    April 2015(2)
    March 2015(2)
    January 2015(3)
    October 2014(4)
    July 2014(1)
    June 2014(4)
    May 2014(1)
    April 2014(1)
    January 2014(4)
    October 2013(1)
#righttobreathe / . / 100 word story / 100-word story / 50 Camels / 50 Camels and She's Yours / A Glimpse of Eternal Snows / A Wide Woman on a Narrow Boat / Aberdeen / Abuja / accidents / Active Fairness System / Adam Reta / Admissions / adventure / adventure stories / advertising / affairs / age concern / aging / agouti / air pollution / air quality / Akwanga / albatross / alcoholism / Alicia Ostriker / Ama Dablam / Amadablam / Americanisms / Amharic / animal reservoirs / ANM / Annapurna / Antarctic / Antarctica / antelope / anthology / Argentina / Arrivals / Asad / assisted suicide / audacity / audible / audio / audio musical project / audiobook / author / Author from Hull / author interview / author reading / author-to-author / Auxiliary Nurse Midwife / ayurvedic toothpaste / Bagarchhap / Baglung / Bagmati / Bajaj / Bajaj Pulsar / Bajura / banknotes / BBC Radio Cambridgeshire / bear precautions / Belfast / Benjamin Langley / bergy bits / Bertrand Russell / Bethlehem Attfield / Betty Levene / Bhotang / bicycle / bike trip / birdlife / birds / birthday / black bear / black kites / black pine forest / Blitz / blood oxygen / Bloodshot Books / Blue sheep / book launch / book review / border guards / Boreal Wildlife Centre / bottled gas / Bradt / Bradt Travel Guides / Brahmin / brain surgery / breakfast / bridge / Britain / brown bear / buckwheat / buckwheat bird / buffalo cart / Bugs Bites & Bowels / Building Back Better / BuildingBackBetter / bulbul / camaraderie / Cambridge / Cambridge University Exploration Society / Cambridge writers / Cambridgeshire / camping hazards / canals / caracara / carcinogens / cardinal / caste / catastrophe / cave diving / cave fish / caves / caving / CBtoo / celtic / chaite-dhan / Chandragiri / Chele / childbirth / children's books / Chirang / Chisapaani / Chisapani / Chobhar / Chobhar Hill / Chomolungma / Chough / city cycling / civet / climate change / clinics / Clive James / cobbler / cold / cold desert / colourful hat / comfort / coming of age / coronavirus / Covid / covid vaccine / COVID vaccines / Covid-19 / cows / crab-eater seal / craic / creating characters / creative writing / cycling / cyclist / daisy chain / dal bhat / dangerous wildlife / dark tale / dawn / dawn chorus / Dead Branches / death / demonstration / Department of Roads / depression / desert / development / development work / Devon / Dhading / Dhading besi / Dhading District / Dhangadhi airport / Dhaulagiri / Dhee / dhulomandu / doctor memoir / doctors / Dolpa / Dolpo / domestic violence / Dr. Katrina Butterworth / dragon / dragons / Drakmar / drinking water / droppings / Dunai / dust / early marriage / earthquake / earthquake alarm / earthquake damage / earthquake today / earthquakes / East Anglia / eco-resort / eco-tourism / Edinburgh / efficacy / elbow sneezing / electrics / embankments / emergency / England / English journey / English language / environmental crisis / Eräkeskus / eternal snows / Ethiopia / ethnic cleansing / euthanasia / evacuation / Everest / evocative smells / Ewell / expat / expedition / expeditions / exploitation / Exploration / explorers / Fagu Purnima / Falgun / family / FCDO / feelgood read / Fens / festival / festival of colour / festivals in March / fiction / Finland / fire-tailed sunbird / fishing / fishtail / Fish-tailed mountain / flash fiction / flash literature / flash prose / flood / flood protection / floods / folk story / football / footbridge / footpath / forest / forest fires / Fox Chapel publishing / friends / friendship / frostbite / Gai Tihar / gaming / Ganesh himal / Gangetic Plain / garden / garment / Ghami / Ghemi / ghoral / giant crab spider / given names / giving birth / global warming / goodread / goral / gorge / Gorkha / gossip / GP writer / grandad / greater rhea / Greece / grey-headed canary-flycatcher / growler / Gupha Pokhari / Gupteswar Gupha / haiku / handwashing / hand-washing station / hangry / happiness / happyness / hare / Hatibhan / hawkmoth / health assistant / Heffers / Heffers bookshop / Hell's Grannies / Henningham Family Press / Henry Marsh / hill walking / himal / Himalaya / Himalayan Black Bear / Himalayan foothills / Himalayan Goral / Himalayan griffon vulture / Himalayan Hostages / Himalayan Kidnap / Himalayan serow / Himalayan Sunrise / Himalayan woolly hare / Himalayas / himals / Hindu festival / Hindu kingdom / Holi / Holi Purnima / holocaust / home care / home delivery / honey buzzard / hoopoe / hornero / horror / Horseshoe Bay / hospital / hot springs / Hotel Deep of Worldtop / Hotel Peace Palace / house crows / how long to write a book? / human kind / human spirit / Ibera / idyllic childhood / immigration / index / indexer / indexing / India / Indonesia / Indra Jatra / infidelity / inspiration / inspiring fiction for children / Ireland / irrigation / Is She Dead in Your Dreams? / jackal / Janajibika Hotel / Jane Wilson-Howarth / Jews / Joe Wilson / Jomosom / Jomsom / joy / jungle / Jungle book / Juphal / Kaag Beni / Kag Beni / Kali Gandaki / Kali Gandaki gorge / Kalopani / Kalunki / Karnali River / Kashigaon / Kashigoan / Kathmandu / Kathmandu Valley / Katrina Butterworth / kestrel / khana / Khartoum / Khumbu / Khumbu microbus / kickstart / kidnap / kindness / Kipling / Kipling's jungle / kites / Kolkata / Krishna / Kumari / Kurds / Kurentar / Kusma / labour / ladoos / lama / Lamjung himal / lammergeier / lammergeyer / landscape / landslide / landslides / Langtang himal / language / language gaffs / langur / Large Indian civet / largest tribuary of the Ganges / Laxmi Puja / leave no one behind / leave no-one behind / LeaveNooneBehind / Leaving no-one Behind / letter-writing / library / lichen / life lessons / Linblad / Livelihoods / living goddess / lockdown / lockdown project / LoMantang / Lombok / London pigeon / loneliness / Lord Ganesh / Lord Krishna / loss and recovery / love / Lukhu river / Lukla / lupus / Machhapuchare / Machhapuchhare / Madagascar / Makwanpur / Manang / Manbu / mani wall / married life / Marsyangdi / Martinselkosen / Mary Kingsley / masala tea / maskmandu / masks / maternal mortality / Maya and the Dragon / medical emergency / medical evacuation / medical memoir / medical Students / Melamchi / memoir / memoirist / memory / Mendip / Michael Rosenberg / microbuses of the Khumbu / microfiction / middle grade readers / Middle Hills / millet / mineral water bottles / Monsoon / morning mist / mortality / Moth Snowstorm / motorbike / motorbike trip / motorbikes / motorcycle / MottMacDonald / mountain / mountain medicine / mountains / mouse hare / mouse-hare / Muktinath / Mukwanpur / mulberries / Mustang / nag puja / nak cheese / names / naming / narrator / narrow boat / National Reconstruction Authority / nature / Naubisi / neighbours / Nepal / Nepal Communitere / Nepal road trip / Nepal roadtrip / Nepal Valley / Nepal wildlife / Nepali / Nepali food / Nepali tea / Nepali Times / Nepali topi / Nepali wildlife / Nigeria / Nigiri himal / nilgai / Nilgiri / Nilgiri South / non-fiction / Nonsuch Palace / Nonsuch Park / Northumberland / novel / nuthatch / Nuwakot / obstetrics / onions / on-line newspaper / orb spider / oven bird / ox-cart / Oxford / Oxford vaccine / oximeter / oxymeter / pampas / pandemic / Pangboche / pangolin / pantoum / parenting / Passer montanus / passing places / passive pleasure / Patan / Patan Durbar / Patan Durbar Square / patients / payer / PCR test / People in Need charity / percussion / petrel / Pfizer vaccine / PHASE / PHASE Nepal / PHASENepal / Phewa Tal / Philippines / Phoksundo / phonetics / photoktm2016 / pigeons / pika / pike / pilgrims / plastic waste / pleasure / PM 2.5 / poem / poet / poetry / Pokhara / Police My Friend / pollution / polytunnel / pony trekking / post earthquake recovery / post-earthquake reconstruction / Potatoes / powder / pregnancy / Pridhamsleigh Cavern / prose / public library / publishers / publishing / puja / Pul Chowk / Pulsar / Pungmo / Purnima / Purnima programme / Pyncnonotus cafer / Qatar / rabies / Rajapur / Rajapur bazaar / Rajapur Island / Rajapur market / Rajapur town / rat snake / reading / reading aloud / Real Fairness for Real men / reconstructed dialogue / recording / recovery / recycling / Red Dawn Rising / red-crested cardinal / red-vented bulbul / refugee camp / refugees / relief work / Remover of obstacles / Requiem for Potatoes / retirement / rhea / rhododendron / rhododendrons / rice / ricefields / Richard Mabey / Ringmo / risk takers / river crossing / river island / river-crossing / road trip / roadtrip / Rock Doves / Rock Road Library / rock shelters / Roe Deer / Royal Enfield Riders Club / Royle's pika / rubbish / Rufus-breasted Niltava / rupees / Russian border / rustling / rustlings / safety / Sagamartha / Sagamartha National Park / Sally Haiselden / samosa / Sappros / Sarengkot / sarus cranes / School rebuilding / scorpion / screening / Second World War / Seeta Siriwardena / self-harm / senses / serow / Setopati / Shackleton / Shadow Spark Publishing / Shaista Tayabali / Shangri La / Shangri-la / Shanti bazaar / Shey-Phoksundo National Park / Shivapuri / Shivapuri Nagajung National Park / Shivapuri National Park / Shivapuri Village / Shivapuri Village Resort / short fiction / short story / shrikes / silk / Simon Howarth / Sindhupalchowk / Sinhala / Sinhalese / Six degrees of Separation / skipper butterflies / skippers / snow leopard / Snowfed Waters / social isolation / solid waste / solid waste disposal / Soti / South Sudan / spaghetti electrics / sparrows / Speaking Tiger / species leap / spelunking / spider venom / Spiny babblers / spotted owlet / squirrel / Sri Lanka / Sri Lankan author / Stephanie Green / stink bug / stolpersteine / street art / street dogs / Subsistence agriculture / Sudan / Suli Gad Khola / Suli Gad river / Summit Air / sump diving / sunbird / sunrise / surgeon / Surrey / suspended bridge / Sussex / Suttee / Swildon's Hole / Tahr / tales / tar tattoo / tato pani / Tatopani / TBS Kathmandu / tea / tea shop / teacher / teashop / Teku / Teku Hospital / Teku infectious diseases hospital / Temporary Learning Centre / Tengboche / terai / Thamel / Thankot / Tharu / Tharu people / The Book Warren / The British School Kathmandu / The Lonely Cat / The Lost Spell / Thessaloniki / Thumki Danda / time / To be blessed / tongba / topi / totobobo / traffic / traffic jam / traffic rules / traffic uncles / transHimalaya / transHimalayan / translation / travel / travel anthology / travel health / travel health guide / travel narrative / travel writing / traveling with children / travelling with children / tree sparrows / trekking / Tribhuvan International Airport / Tsirang / Twin Otter / Type two fun / Uganda / UK / UK aid / UK aid in Nepal / UKAid / unbound / unplanned pregnancy / Upper Mustang / urban cycling / urban life / urban pollution / urban water supply / Ushuaia / vaccinating / vaccination / vaccine / Valley / vampires / vegetarian / velvet-fronted nuthatch / Viiksimontie / Village dogs / village life / village sounds / visa / volunteering / vulture / Wai / Wanderlust / water supplies / water tankers / West Sussex / western Nepal / white lies / WHO / widower / wild goat / wild places / wilderness / wildlife / wildlife stories / William Matthews / Wilson / winter / winter madness / winter Wheat / Witchford / women of a certain age / Women Travellers / wood fires / woodpecker / words / wordsmith / World Book Day / World Book Day 2020 / World Cup 1990 / World Environment Day / world herritage / world's deepest gorge / writer / writer in residence / writers group / writer's life / writing / writing a book / writing about writing / writing characters / writing exercise / writing for children / writing group / writing habits / writing prompts / xenophobia / yak cheese / year fives / yeti / young mother / young motherhood / Your Child Abroad / zoonoses