India, June 27 -- It is a must for any Delhi citizen planning to travel abroad to at least once enter this sprawling basement complex tucked under Shivaji Stadium metro station. Here is the office of VFS Global, the company to which most foreign embassies have outsourced their visa application procedures. The friendly staffers examining the necessary documents sit behind their formidable counter, exercising extraordinary patience with nervous visa applicants.

Rohit Taneja is one of those staffers. He is a "visa manager" for the Schengen countries of Europe. Like any of us with an office job, he has his identity firmly stitched into the fabric of his workplace. But he has an additional identity, possessing its distinct set of aspirations....