An Indian wife travelling alone to destinations abroad needs a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from her husband. It doesn't matter if she is professionally employed or financially independent. They need it because, hold your breath, the Indian travel agents think it's mandatory. Worse, these agents assume such an NOC is required by over 30 Muslim countries the world over.

According to an account shared by photographer Mahesh Shantaram on Facebook , a travel agent processing his wife's papers for a trip to Malaysia - his birthday gift - asked them to come back with an NOC which allowed her to travel alone to the country. The travel agent claimed that all countries asked for it.

When their reasoning with the adamant travel agent failed, they asked the agency to send their papers anyway. "We will deal with the consequences of not having an NOC," they said. Later, they found out that it was a practice with travel agents to ask married Indian women from their spouses, of course with the assumption that they are not supposed to go out alone without their husbands' consent.

"What if she has no husband?" asked Shantaram's wife.

"NOC from father," was the reply.

"What if the father is dead?"

"A death certificate."

Shantaram narrates another incident where a travel agent processing his papers for a trip to Singapore asked him to specify his religion. Refusing to give in, he said he had to call the Singapore embassy and made an officer there speak to the agent to clear the air. "My dignity was more important than the two hours spent," he writes.