Dia is the way my name was originally spelt. When I was applying for my passport for the Femina Miss India Contest, someone spelt my name as Diya. Since it was on my passport, I couldn't do much about it.
Playing drums feels like coming home for me. Even during the White Stripes I thought: 'I'll do this for now, but I'm really a drummer.' That's what I'll put on my passport application.
When I'm applying for a new passport or something, someone will call me Christopher. Other than that, no one ever calls me Christopher.
Getting a new passport took me a stupid amount of time. I had to go back five times with different photographs because they kept saying I was smiling, which is against the rules. I was not smiling.
I had to stay in school before I started travelling overseas.
My fairy-tale life ended the moment I wanted to apply for a passport.
I got my first passport in 1989, when I was 28.
The process of establishing the identity of passport applicants needs to be strengthened by introducing a requirement for some applicants to attend a passport office in person.
Not having a passport makes me very blasé about what appears in foreign periodicals since I know I'll never see it.
