Background:
Sunday, 30 November 2008, our date of travel back home after a stay of eighty two days in Warsaw, Poland. We were traveling to Bangalore with Paris as transit. Same route had brought us to Warsaw from Bangalore. Kumar and me were equally excited with the great feeling of returning home and of-course with our plans of visiting places and shopping during the gifted nine and half hours of transit, almost more than a whole night at Paris.
But as usual, destiny was
waiting with a surprise. Before getting in to the situation that was unexpected
by me, I feel a little background would be effective. So here it is -
After spending, a year and half
in the industry, I had an opportunity to accompany the then Associate
Architect of project - Kumar, in technical consultation of our installation at
client location. Client claimed to be one of the leading telecom service
providers in Poland. Kumar's company to me was more like an elder brother than
a senior throughout the stay, which, as expected, was very hectic most of the
time . We had shared the apartment and most of the time were trying our skills
at cooking together, which would end up with curd-rice often... :)
If you are a strict vegetarian
and would like to continue being, you must be prepared with options, including
ready to starve sometimes in such countries which are less explored by Indians,
specifically the vegetarians. I was warned well in-advance by
thankful-vegetarian colleagues who had visited Warsaw already, with
what's available and what not. So, Kumar and me shared the list of food-items
to be carried mainly spices and masalas.
Apart from - some hectic hours
of work; missing of dasaraa-sweets and diwali-crackers, our stay
was quite peaceful. No much of roaming-around was possible due to the
weather, though had a lifetime chance to explore the "Phoenix" city. It was chilling cold and snowing most
of the time. Had never experienced snowfall before, thus making it something
exciting over our usual routine of fixing issues with the installations sitting
warm indoor. Even though not much, still managed to visit few places like Old
Town, the Palace, the Botanical Garden and few renowned shopping malls. Old
town is a part of Warsaw that was rebuilt just as it was before it was ruined
to soil during Second World war. Could not explore much of Palace as we
visited on a Sunday afternoon. Botanical Garden surprised me, there were
stone-carved statues of almost every Indian God in it, some that I had never
seen.
On previous Sunday of our
travel, after returning to apartment, temporarily concluding our shopping for
back home, I was little tensed checking my passport while packing my luggage.
Matter was with the visa expiry date and travel date being on same day . I had
raised concern to my Manger in Bangalore immediately when I had my tickets in
hand and requested to get my ticket at least a day prior. But he convinced me
saying - it is not at all a problem if one departs from a country of visa just
before it expires and as per my flight time, I was leaving five hours before
the expiry time. But this thing was bothering me all the time when I had a look
at my passport. So this time, it could not stop me from discussing this with
Kumar and two more colleagues who had then arrived to take-over us. All had a
combined opinion - "Its not at all a problem in my case". This made
me believe the fact with slight residue of doubt which was kept just to myself,
as had no other feasible option.
Next two days, I was trying to
convince myself that my concern is just a fiction. Four days prior to travel,
Wednesday, 26 November 2008 - day that an Indian can never forget, last
hour at work, one of our colleague checked www.timesofindia.com as he was done
with his day and waiting us to wind-up. He said with shocked voice -
"Random firing all over Mumbai....!". This sentence attracted all
three of us in front of his laptop. By then we had already called our taxi, so
had to hurry. But first thing done, reaching apartment was to get BBC World on
TV, one of few English channels that kept us entertained throughout our stay.
Now we were glued to our seats for next two-three hours till one of us realized
that the same news is repeating and other that we are hungry. Before getting in
kitchen, I thought of calling home to check status of our relatives in Mumbai
and confirmed that all are fine. All this havoc had removed my little
tension off mind. Now, had lot of things to be done both at work and off-work
as had only three more days left to travel.
Scene at Airport:
I assume here, this little background describes enough highlights of my travel. Getting back to the day of return journey, Sunday, 30 November 2008 -
As per our plan, after bidding farewell and handing-over the charge to the next batch, we started at around 5:00 PM, about two and half hours before our flight time. The drive to airport was about 45 minutes. That day being Sunday evening there was not much of a traffic but it was raining. Sitting in back seat of the Taxi, viewing outside, I was wondering with a silly thought - Why is it raining???? when Kumar said - "So hows it feeling being at day zero of count-down??", I responded with a lighter smile on face. By now, I was flooded with mixed feelings catalyzed by rains - excitement of going home, slight fears of take-offs and landing, my passport thing and few more.
In this state-of-mind, we
reached the airport. We were much ahead of the check-in time. Kumar had a
coffee and by the time he finished it, it was time to check-in. We submitted
our passports and luggage for check-in, Kumar's bag was over-weight by about 2
kilos, so were shifting some stuffs from his into my luggage. At this moment,
lady handling our passport said - "Excuse me...! One of you cannot travel
with us." We stared our each others faces tensed and moved towards her
counter, she handed the passport and said, - "Person with this
passport." - Obviously, it had to be mine.... :)
As you are expecting, my
reaction here was asking - "Why?? What is the matter??".
Now, if you are thinking here
that the reason for this situation is the visa expiry date, then you are wrong.
Reason mentioned by Airline
authority in action to me was - " Sir, you don't have a Schengen Visa to
travel to Paris.We are sorry for this."
My reply to this - "
Your airlines have no problem for me entering Warsaw, Poland through a transit
in Paris with this Visa and now when returning you are objecting. This is not
acceptable.I wish to talk to your higher authority on this."
The lady was kind enough to get
me to here higher authority. She explained him about the situation, I think it
was in French. He came to me and said the same words telling why I cannot board
with them. Kumar and me were tensed now.
I asked him - "So as per
you, what can I do in this situation? I can cannot stay back. I have to travel
in next 5 hours as my visa expires today."
He replied - "You could
have consulted the passport expert here for help but as its Sunday, he is not
available. I really don't know what you can do now. I pity on our
situation."
This reply made me upset. But
may be, he had a real pity on the situation because immediately after saying
this he said this - "May be you can try to fly from some other route, we
had one flight at 6:30 PM to Uzbekistan and it do not require any visa in
transit, but the flight is full and I am not sure if you have any flights from
there to your place. You have few office on first floors of different airlines.
Just check them."
By now Kumar said - "Better
we inform our Managers first. Let see if they have any better ways."
I had about 1000 rupees in my
Airtel prepaid that allows international roaming. But I can have outgoing SMS
but not calls. Incoming SMS was free and incoming call did cost about 100 rupees/minute.
Before we use this, we checked that time was 6:32 PM and decided to by a
calling-card and inform our Managers - back home and the one at client
location.
With some tensed search we
could find a person who could translate our English to Polish and help us
buying a calling card. Later, he also helped us in following procedure of using
the card to call. Partially, understanding the situation, Manager back home
asked - "One who has no problem in travel, travel. Lets check what can we
do with other." and hung-up. Some moment later, when we were on our way to
the first-floor to find some other airways, I got a call from Manager at client
location, asking about the situation. He had no different suggestion. By now I
had consumed all my money in my cell.
It was 6:45 PM now, Kumar was
in deep dilemma for his next act. I realized his situation and decided to let
him go. I convinced him about taking care of this situation myself and told him
to proceed. He found himself really helpless and with a half-heart, agreed.
Gave me a hug and said, he wants all his chocolates those in my bag, at any
cost back-home with a smile and moved to check-in counter. I wished him -
"Safe-journey" and turned to make my journey.
How I reached Moscow?:
Standing on the escalator step,
reaching the first floor, I saw two offices just in-front, one was the office
of an airline that had put me in all this trouble. At this view, never bothered
to notice what was other. Just walked into the office to try my luck again. But
the people there were simply having one united response for my situation.
Disappointed, was walking out with all depressing thoughts - never seeing home
again, getting my-self into jails, etc,. Just before stepping out of their
office, a voice hit my back asking to check for an option in the neighboring
airlines - Russian Airways.
Sensing a hope and with an
artificial smile on face, I turned to him with my luggage in left hand and
raised my thumb to him. He smiled back and wished me luck. Entered the Russian
Airways, saw a mid-aged guy sitting on counter just waiting for me. I explained
him my situation. He checked in his monitor and said they have two flights to
India from Moscow - one to Mumbai and other to New Delhi. I cross-verified if they
require any transit visa in Moscow.
By then, I felt as if, he
was the only person who understood this situation well and had a fix for it. I
asked him to check the itinerary for Mumbai, he said I shall have about 22
hours in transit if I want to go to Mumbai. Then was to check for Delhi, it was
better, 17 hours of transit. Had to agree for Delhi, asked him for the amount
to be paid. He wrote on a piece of paper - 2751 in local polish currency. I
nodded for it and with full confidence handed him my HDFC Bank International
Debit Card. He swiped it few times and turned to me with disappointed face
saying its not processing. Had no other source other than that card at that
moment. Starred at him for a moment when he suggested with soft voice to get
the cash from Banko-mat downstairs.
What is Banko-mat? is the same
question which hit my tensed brain at that moment. So asked him. He said go
down and you will find. It was the series of ATM machines... :)
Inserted the debit card and
requested for the exact amount he had stated in the nearest machine I found.
Machine shouted some error in Polish and threw the card on my face. Worried
tried same thing in the next and reaction was no different from its
neighbor. Now was thinking my next act, when it provoked me to attempt to
understand the error. Only then I realised that the amount typed by me was
2751. Now tried with 2800 and machine was so humble giving me ten hot-crunchy
notes. Took the notes, my card and receipt of transaction, ran to Russian
Airways, handed over to them. Exactly in 3 minutes he handed over me the ticket
and the change promptly. Then he hurried me to the check-in counter carrying my
luggage himself. It was already 7:35 PM and flight time was 7:55 PM.
He got me check-in done. Had
checked-in my luggage to Delhi. No he held my hand and dragged me with him to
the security section. Got my security cleared, and it was a run of about 7-8
minutes when we reached the terminal. Trying to control his rapid breath and
wiping sweat on his forehead, he wished me "Safe and happy flight", I
thanked him from my bottom of the heart, appreciated all his efforts and
entered the flight. I remember his victory-smile even today as I moved in the
flight.
"This is only a beginning,
wonder what waiting next" - I said to myself as entered the flight.
I was welcomed as if only I was awaited for take-off. Found my seat, pushed my
hand-bag into the box and sat-down as if I had never sat before in my life. My
seat was a middle seat, with business men on either side. One of them welcomed
me with smile and other stared as if he wanted to scold me for being late.
Flight took-off smoothly, I was feeling bit relaxed and thought of having a nap
to prepare myself to handle situations after landing Moscow. Just was about to
close my eyes, when air-hostess approached to serve. I was really thirsty and
asked for water and some juice. Finished the juice quickly and pushed my-brain
to sleep.
It takes two hours
to fly from Warsaw to Moscow. But Moscow is two hours ahead of Warsaw.
Now the air-hostess started
approaching each one, asking if they will be in transit in Moscow or will stay
in Moscow. Depending on responses, she was handing over a form which queried
few basic details for those who would enter Moscow. As I was to be in transit,
I was not given this form. Both of my neighbors took it. The neighbor who had
smiled earlier now asked me - if I can lend him the pen that was stuck in my
shirt pocket. I proudly gave it to him to fill it. Meanwhile, noticed other guy
was very self-reliant and busy filling the form. Now while returning my pen, he
started the conversation asking my destination. Replying him my destination
introduced myself to him. He also introduced himself and asked me what
made me to fly in this route, as he wondered it to be a common route to travel
India from Warsaw. He was a marketing executive by profession and this made
him travel across the globe. He was from Crackow, the royal capital of
Warsaw. Kumar and I could not turn our plans to Crackow into reality.
The night begins:
Flight landed Moscow, Russia at 00:00 hours Monday, 1st December 2008. Coming out of flight, it was too chilling. I was clueless to proceed. Only then I realized that it was only me who was to be transit in that crowd who came from Warsaw with me. Some how I managed to follow the people till the airport building from run-away. Then I tried to check with the security personal on the entrance of building asking him which way to go. But, soon realized that he can communicate only in Russian. Lost, nervous, bit scared was thinking what to do next stood there praying and staring the moving crowd. Suddenly, the marketing guy who sat beside me in the air-plane looked at me and approached me asking whether there was any issue. Worriedly, I explained him the situation.
Flight landed Moscow, Russia at 00:00 hours Monday, 1st December 2008. Coming out of flight, it was too chilling. I was clueless to proceed. Only then I realized that it was only me who was to be transit in that crowd who came from Warsaw with me. Some how I managed to follow the people till the airport building from run-away. Then I tried to check with the security personal on the entrance of building asking him which way to go. But, soon realized that he can communicate only in Russian. Lost, nervous, bit scared was thinking what to do next stood there praying and staring the moving crowd. Suddenly, the marketing guy who sat beside me in the air-plane looked at me and approached me asking whether there was any issue. Worriedly, I explained him the situation.
Listening to me he responded
with a quiet smile and...
He spoke to
the security personal in Russian for a while. Turning to me he said -
"Now this guy shall call up the transit
officer and then you can wait in transit for your connecting
flight. This is my card. In case of any trouble do not hesitate to call me
anytime. All the best and wish you a safe journey." and walked away
his way. With a chocked voice, I thanked him a ton.
Waiting for the transit officer
at the out-door chilling transit counter in that air-port, analyzing all
that happened so far, I felt... GOD exists and prayers are listened.
Transit officer, a fat mid-aged
lady, came-in half-awake on the other side of the counter. With a frustrated tone, she asked me for my passport and tickets. Pretending
to verify them, she stamped the seal. Opening the door, asked me
to get-in. It was warm inside and I felt like all the cold from
my body that was deposited while waiting outside was sucked by the room as
soon as stepped-in. She quickly had a look at my hand-bag and hovered the metal
detector over it. Opening door on the other side of room, she muttered that I
can wait here and started walking. I tried to ask her - " Mam, can I get
some place to stay tonight.... Any lodge...." But my words did not even
touch her back. She just walked away as if I never existed. By then, I was on
other side of the locked door.
Interaction with
hunger-thirst:
Coming out of this, saw the
place where I was standing was a long corridor on either sides with plenty of
chairs located wall-sides. One end of it seemed to have some shops and other
end was kind of decorated. Either of the ends were not clearly visible as it
was quite far and even light was just moderate. I could not see even a single
human being on either sides. Transit officer too disappeared There
was a pin-drop silence except for those horrifying sounds of
wind occasionally.
By this time, I had put myself
on positive mode. Daring to face, whatever came-in.
I felt a bit exhausted and
thought of having a nap on one of the many chairs. Randomly choosing a chair,
sat on it. Making my hand-bag a pillow, rested my head on it. Tried to unlink
my brain from my thoughts to get some sleep. But soon felt it impossible.
By now it was 01:30 AM. Feeling bit hungry and thirsty decided to find
some stuff to eat-n-drink. Stood-up, wore my glasses, lifted my bag starring on
either side of corridors, decided to walk towards, the decorated side. Getting
closer towards end of this side, I saw it was christmas decoration. But found
no evidence of any human existence, nor any shops.
So started walking on opposite
side of the corridor. After about 100 meters, I could see some human existence.
Suddenly, noticed a janitor coming out of restroom for men. Thought of getting
fresh and entered the restroom, it was no better than our usual restrooms at
any ordinary Indian Railway Station or Bus Station. Quickly threw some Russian
water on my face and felt proud to have experienced water from yet another nation.
Resetting my hairstyle got out
of the restroom in search of some restaurant or someplace where I could find
some stuff for my hungry stomach. After a quick scan around, amid those
glittering material shops, I could find a small counter with some water bottles
and packages placed on it. It was managed by a mid-aged short-thin lady dressed
with woolen clothes. With great excitement, I approached here and asked for a
water bottle. While she woke-up and saw me as a customer, I tried to scan
through the packages to find something vegetarian where I failed miserably. All
packages had non-English text over them, may be it was in Russian. To keep safe
my vegetarianism, I dropped idea of having any of them. With hands in my
pocket to take my wallet out, I asked how much the water bottle costs?
Half-awake lady replied 20 Rubles. I showed her a 100 Euro note when she showed
me a slate hung over the counter that had “Only Rubles accepted” chalked over
it. I requested her to accept Euros but she was not interested at all.
Ignoring me she went asleep again.
After this I could only put
back the big note into my wallet and get lost from there. All around, it was
like a shopping complex with plenty of shops shinning with wonderful lighting
works. Most shops had decorated as it was going to be a festive month. But how
could all these entertain me when hungry-thirsty-tensed mindset.
