It is only when one tastes the medicine that one has been prescribing to others for such a long time, that one will protest how bitter it is.

I am an Indian national married to a Malaysian man. After my marriage I applied for a visa to enter Malaysia at the Madras embassy. To my disbelief, the embassy officials said my visa application was rejected and they want someone, other than my husband, to sponsor my visit to Malaysia.

They couldn't give any written reply, only verbal, because they said they don't have to give me any reason as to why my own husband cannot sponsor me.

Mine was an arranged marriage so how could I find someone else to sponsor me? I had to go to Singapore and get a one-month non-extendable visa from the Malaysian consulate and once in Malaysia, I had to register my marriage again.

On my mother's visit to Malaysia when I was expecting, the Malaysian consulate in Madras was very generous. She was given a two-week non-extendable visa. This was after submitting to the consulate thousands of documents, i.e., my husband's monthly income, letter from my gynaecologist that I was really pregnant, blah, blah, blah.

If the Malaysian government can be this nasty, I see no reason why the US government cannot be. Or is this the case of "I can do what I want but you can't"?