continued from here
We all knew within our hearts that we were being treated no less than dogs, in the most inhuman ways that could be. Infact, a Somalian guy came up to S and said that it was neither person's fault, but the fault of our skin color. Coming from Asian and African countries was considered as a crime here. Luckily for him, he was the next person to be called. An amazing kid, speaking six different languages including Arabic, English, Swahili, Somalian and others, he bid good bye to his Egyptian friends as he left the room.
With the grace of God, and to S's good fortune, he was next in line. The cop entered the room again with his passport and ticket. The cop didn’t say much, and just asked S to pick his luggage and follow him. Interestingly, they never gave S his luggage and he was pretty sure that it had found its way to the lost and found department of the airport (or may be the flea market of Moscow). He never ceased to find new problems for himself. But the important thing was that he was out of a big mess. As he left the room, he wished the rest of the people good luck and could only pray to God to help them as well. He didn’t have the courage to look at the agony in their eyes and he walked out of there as fast as he could.
It took about half an hour before he got his luggage and moved towards the green channel to face yet another problem. A Russian lady officer stood there, giving S another set of strange looks as he approached her. As S reached her, she spoke a few Russian words, only to find S confused as usual. After a lot of trying to understand each other, S found out that she wanted the customs card that was to be filled. The only thing S remembered about the customs card was when he asked for it on the flight to fill it up and the air hostess told him that it was not required. Great!!! S was in another mess. He tried explaining this to the officer, but she failed to understand (how typical!!!). Finally she gave up on him and luckily decided to ignore it, asking me to go ahead and get the hell out of there. Phew, S was finally out of the damn place after 23 hours of being held captive. What a relief!!!
As S walked outside, he looked at all the placards, expecting one of them to read either his name, or the name of his company. Not to his surprise, all the placards were in Russian. He tried to recollect the little Russian he had studied about three years back in college and tried to make sense of the words, thinking that the company representative was probably Russian. He also cross-checked it with the name written on his visa, which was in Russian too. He realized that the misfortune was not yet over. There were no placards with either his name or the company’s name written. The little processing that his brain could do, told him that he should contact the company again and ask them about the representative. The only problem now was that there were no public telephones on the airport. So S found this African guy and asked if he could use his cell phone. He refused saying that he didn’t have any balance left. So S offered him money in exchange and wallah…there he was making calls again, collecting telephone numbers of people he had never met, calling them, and giving descriptions of himself. Finally, a young gentleman from the company came to his rescue and got him out of there. During the ride, he asked S what had happened and after hearing S's story, told him that he made a mistake by telling the authorities that he was here to work. He said that Indians don’t have a very good reputation around the world as they emmigrate all over, wherever they get an opportunity, and hence S got caught up. Instead, S should have said that he was here for business meetings and would attend a couple of conferences etc. He made S realize that in today’s world honesty has no place.
At the end of the day, when S sits back and thinks about the whole thing, he feels that he has changed over a period of time. He realizes how patient he had become. Had he been in the same place 3-4 years back, he would have gone up to the cop and punched him in the face. Probably even a year ago, he would have at the least shouted his lungs out. But here he was, sitting peacefully with no worries. He was worried, and may be even nervous, but rather than getting upset and crying over the whole situation, he was thinking of ways of getting out of it. He was thinking of the positive side of life, not that there were many, but thoughts like may be he won't have to go to work in Siberia any more, did come to his mind. Life is all about learning and such experiences only make you stronger. You become more prepared for tougher situations in life. After all, unless we face the unpleasant situations in life, we would never be able to cherish the beauty of life and how much easier it is on a normal day.
S is sure that all the people close to him are shocked and worried about my state of mind after going through the so called hell in those 24 hours, and to them he says, YOUR BOY IS MUCH STRONGER THAN ALL THIS. IT WILL TAKE A LOT MORE TO BRING HIM DOWN TO HIS KNEES (unless it’s a gal, though in which case I think it should be the gal going down on the knees.... ahem...). HE’S STILL SMILING THE WAY HE ALWAYS DOES, AS IF NOTHING BIG HAD EVER HAPPENED.
His friends often ask him, “WHY ALWAYS YOU??” and his reply to them is that may be I’M THE CHOSEN ONE… THE ONE. Just kidding….
The entire Life of S series is a true story, with only the names changed and a few details left out. The story was originally written by my very dear friend S, and then edited and published on this blog by me. The story is in no way a reflection of Russia as a country and how things happen there (it could have happened with S any where). He has several such anecdotes up his sleeves, and hope fully we will see a few more on this blog.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Life of S ~ The Russian Roulette ... Vol. IV
continued from here
As he opened his eyes, S realized that his watch read 8 in the morning and he had an hour left before he could make things happen in his favor, or atleast give it a try. His thought process at that time didn’t let him realize that it had been 18 hours that he had spent at the airport. He was only concentrating on his plan of action. He knew that he had to contact SP in India to ask what the progress was, and before that find out from the cops what was it that they wanted from him, before he would be let free. He tried to smoothen down his hair and look as fresh, neat and presentable as possible. He thought that the cop who got him into all this was probably off duty by now, and it was kind of a fresh start with only one problem; now he had to start from inside the prison, which was not going to help him much.
But he had no choice left but to keep trying. His eyes were on his watch and as it struck 9 AM, a cop entered again. S asked his translator to talk to him and he was told a new story this time. He was first asked his nationality again. On hearing India, the cop said that he could be let free if his company representatives came to the airport to pick him up. "Damn you!!" Could you not say this in the first place!!! S would have tried to get this done right from the beginning. Anyhow, now he got the feeling that there was a future and he could get his ass out of there. The next problem was that the public phone was no longer public. So S had to find a new resort. His Kazak friend was like a walking-talking database of all the people in the room. He told S that there was another lady who had a cell phone and now again each call would come at a cost. With no choice, S made two calls @ USD $5 per call. The first call was to SP, informing him about the new situation and telling him what was needed to be done henceforth. S then called up Svetlana, a lady at the Company office in Moscow. The language problem was bound to arise again and so he asked his dear old friend, the translator, to tell her about the situation.
Interestingly, the translator didn’t know S's name. So S showed him a bracelet with his name written on it. S was so thankful to his friend PC for this wonderful gift on his previous trip to Mumbai. Finally things started falling in place when Svetlana told us that she was aware of the situation and she was writing a letter to the Passport Control Office. She told S that it was only a matter of time before he would be out of there. This was really motivating!! Soon, at around 10.30 AM, S received a call from one of his managers, Edmund. He was very concerned about the way S was being treated and the way S spent the night at the airport. It felt nice to know that the company he worked for was concerned and that they were trying to do their best in getting him out. He told S to relax, something he was already doing by then, and that not to worry. S will be out of there very soon. S just replied, “Take your time!!” because another hour or two would make no more a difference to the time he had spent there. He was cool as a cucumber at that stage and his sixth sense told him that he will be out of there in a couple of hours in the worst case.
Thereafter, S plugged in his IPod into his ears and decided to take some rest. Each time the cops opened the door, S hoped that it was to call him. On one such cameo by the cop, he told S's Ethiopian friends that they would not be allowed to catch their flight to Cuba and instead would be sent back home. What a pity!! As for S, destiny had something else in store. He was not the first one to leave. First, an elderly man got the call. S was not sure whether he was being sent on a flight back home or whether he had someone waiting for him outside!! Nevertheless, the old man was happy to leave either ways. As he moved out of the room, he bid good bye to all the new friends he had made in this encounter and there was an emotional touch to the whole situation. Most of the people in the room envied him on one had, and at the same time felt happy for him as he left the prison. There were others in the room who had spent a week there and had found themselves a new home.They didn’t care less about anyone entering or leaving the room. The had their luggage spread in one corner and were getting comfortable to the life out there, watching air-planes land, people getting off the flights, new people getting onto the flights and the planes leaving.
to be continued...
As he opened his eyes, S realized that his watch read 8 in the morning and he had an hour left before he could make things happen in his favor, or atleast give it a try. His thought process at that time didn’t let him realize that it had been 18 hours that he had spent at the airport. He was only concentrating on his plan of action. He knew that he had to contact SP in India to ask what the progress was, and before that find out from the cops what was it that they wanted from him, before he would be let free. He tried to smoothen down his hair and look as fresh, neat and presentable as possible. He thought that the cop who got him into all this was probably off duty by now, and it was kind of a fresh start with only one problem; now he had to start from inside the prison, which was not going to help him much.
But he had no choice left but to keep trying. His eyes were on his watch and as it struck 9 AM, a cop entered again. S asked his translator to talk to him and he was told a new story this time. He was first asked his nationality again. On hearing India, the cop said that he could be let free if his company representatives came to the airport to pick him up. "Damn you!!" Could you not say this in the first place!!! S would have tried to get this done right from the beginning. Anyhow, now he got the feeling that there was a future and he could get his ass out of there. The next problem was that the public phone was no longer public. So S had to find a new resort. His Kazak friend was like a walking-talking database of all the people in the room. He told S that there was another lady who had a cell phone and now again each call would come at a cost. With no choice, S made two calls @ USD $5 per call. The first call was to SP, informing him about the new situation and telling him what was needed to be done henceforth. S then called up Svetlana, a lady at the Company office in Moscow. The language problem was bound to arise again and so he asked his dear old friend, the translator, to tell her about the situation.
Interestingly, the translator didn’t know S's name. So S showed him a bracelet with his name written on it. S was so thankful to his friend PC for this wonderful gift on his previous trip to Mumbai. Finally things started falling in place when Svetlana told us that she was aware of the situation and she was writing a letter to the Passport Control Office. She told S that it was only a matter of time before he would be out of there. This was really motivating!! Soon, at around 10.30 AM, S received a call from one of his managers, Edmund. He was very concerned about the way S was being treated and the way S spent the night at the airport. It felt nice to know that the company he worked for was concerned and that they were trying to do their best in getting him out. He told S to relax, something he was already doing by then, and that not to worry. S will be out of there very soon. S just replied, “Take your time!!” because another hour or two would make no more a difference to the time he had spent there. He was cool as a cucumber at that stage and his sixth sense told him that he will be out of there in a couple of hours in the worst case.
Thereafter, S plugged in his IPod into his ears and decided to take some rest. Each time the cops opened the door, S hoped that it was to call him. On one such cameo by the cop, he told S's Ethiopian friends that they would not be allowed to catch their flight to Cuba and instead would be sent back home. What a pity!! As for S, destiny had something else in store. He was not the first one to leave. First, an elderly man got the call. S was not sure whether he was being sent on a flight back home or whether he had someone waiting for him outside!! Nevertheless, the old man was happy to leave either ways. As he moved out of the room, he bid good bye to all the new friends he had made in this encounter and there was an emotional touch to the whole situation. Most of the people in the room envied him on one had, and at the same time felt happy for him as he left the prison. There were others in the room who had spent a week there and had found themselves a new home.They didn’t care less about anyone entering or leaving the room. The had their luggage spread in one corner and were getting comfortable to the life out there, watching air-planes land, people getting off the flights, new people getting onto the flights and the planes leaving.
to be continued...
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