Visa troubles

In the past week I have spent an inordinate amount of time at the Indian Embassy trying to secure a visa. I was hoping to get my hands on a 6-month multiple entry visa which despite being ‘technically’ feasible is now ‘not encouraged’ for un-specified reasons. The officer I spoke to said that this kind of permit is no longer 'advised' and the embassy would get into trouble if they issued them, which begs the question why are they theoretically available at all. I finally conceded that I was clearly not the kind of person who would be able to get around this and settled for a visa allowing two visits into the country. I was expecting to be joining a trip to India this week. It was cancelled as an indefinite strike was planned to start today but in the end this was called off a few days ago. Obviously this is a win for the country and economy, although I have planned a walking tour with K today and would have liked the roads to be free from traffic!