[anekho]

Come on Deky, don't leave us hanging!!!

Fantastic 'logue!

[tsk1979]

C'mon! this is not a way to interrupt a travelogue. We are waiting to find out what was in your luggage!

[_raVan_]

Maybe you kept 2 deodorant bottles together, thereby in the Xray machines it seemed like a stocked dynamite? I have faced the same problem

[sudev]

.....this is suspense. Last I was on edge like this was reading Alfred Hitchcock in my younger days.

[subs]

Deky

What a place to stop the narration....!!

Come on Deky ALfred Hitchcock, dont keep us hanging on for too long.

Subs

[noidea]

Weird sense of humour you have , my friend!!
Taking pleasure in holding people in suspense.

Excellent write up though,
Thanks

[pawan_pullarwar]

oh.. what happen next, common fast dekay. I am damn sure it is some toy you must have bought for gift.

[deky]

@BaCkSeAtDrIVeR; goingout; n.devdath; anekho; tsk1979; _raVan_; sudev; subs; noidea; pawan_pullarwar

Thank you. Next part follows.

ARRESTED IN SPAIN- Last part

Going a few months back when we had visited Barcelona on the ship, whilst on shore leave and walking on the La Ramblas I had found a cute little replica pistols in one of the road side stalls. The replica was a marvelous piece of art and looked exactly like the pistols they show being used by the cowboys in the western movies. And since it was going very cheap I thought it would be a nice wall mounting at home, thus bought it. I got it to the ship, wrapped it nicely in clothes and closer to the date of my leave I packed it nicely in my suitcase and forgot about it till now. And it was this stupid pistol that became the root cause of my problem this time.

The barrel, the trigger, the hammer and the grip could be easily seen in the Xray machine. I was trying to explain it to them that the pistol was a fake, but they didn’t seem to understand a word of what I was saying. But after a few seconds of deliberations between themselves, eventually they opened my handcuff and signaled me to unlock my luggage. I was so nervous that even my mind blanked out and the code for the number lock was also hard to remember. Somehow I managed to open the lock and was told to step back. They opened my suitcase and slowly started to look inside for the pistol. It was one of the biggest Samsonite suitcases available in the market and it was packed till the maximum with lots of clothes and other things that I had collected over the last 6 months. They were finding it difficult to locate the pistol, wherever they were putting their hand they could only feel the clothes but no pistol.

After a few minutes they looked at me puzzled. I gestured to them if they want me to locate the pistol for them, to which they agreed. I saw the position of the pistol in the suitcase on the screen and moved forward to dig my hand inside the suitcase. As soon as I did that, from the corner of my eye I could see all the cops reaching for their handguns in their holsters. They still took that gun in the suitcase for a real one and were ready to use theirs just incase I took mine out and started to fire.

I moved my hands very slowly and was trying to act as confident as I could. They were watching each action of mine very closely. Finally I located the gun nicely wrapped in different layers of clothes. I took it out and kept it in front of them on the table, without unwrapping it and moved back. I told them this was it and now do whatever you want to do with the gun but just let me go. They unwrapped the pistol and looked all around it checking each and everything thing including the trigger and the hammer and the barrel. It was very obvious that it was an imitation; even the ivory on the grip was fake ivory.

Once satisfied that the pistol could not have caused any harm even to a rat, the tension in the air released. Though the cops had been courteous all this while but still maintained a very straight face, were also smiling now. Someone gave me a glass of water which I badly needed. I was told to relax whilst they packed my suitcase again. Infact they packed my case just like how they had unpacked it, folding everything properly and putting it right in the place from where they had removed it. Finally they thanked me and what I understood of their Spanish even apologized to me for all the trouble. I didn’t want their sorry or thank you’s, I just wanted to get back on the plane and also wanted to make sure they load my luggage into it too.

This whole incident just took about 15 minutes and that seemed like an eternity to me. The plane was waiting and I quickly re-boarded it and it took off. I was on my way home.

Now at my home the pistol is put exactly where it intended to go, up in a frame on a wall!!

[jaguar.runs]

Wonderful experience deky!

And your attention to detail narration keeps us waiting for more. Now for the next part

[MX6]

This pistol is similar to the one Rajnikanth used in a song in the movie Sivaji.

US TSA saw the telescope in my luggage in JFK through the x-ray machine and mistook it to be a small time missile launcher or something like that. Who'd carry telescopes in the biggest size suitcase one gets in chakala naka in mumbai back from US? I did.

They asked me to leave the luggage unlocked and move away from the "crime scene".
When I landed in Mumbai, I found that my baggage was packed the same way I'd packed it and the locks were all in place. I'd left it unlocked and taken the keys with me. They locked it with what ever they had!
But then till they ascertained it was just a telescope, there was tension in air.

But the eurolines issue was more troublesome. Brings me so much of old memories deky.

But the most hilarious incident I ever had was during one of my many trips between singapore and malaysia. In that trip, the immigration official mistook me for a singapore customs official. May be some day on some log all this will unfold!

[advaitlele]

Hats off to you Deky. Really to keep oneself calm and composed is very difficult. I cannot even imagine the situation when one is handcuffed and being taken away. Don't know what I would have done (as there was any choice ) if I was in that situation.

This also reminds me of Singapore immigration who mistook my tripod kept in my cabin baggage to be; "gun like object". I had to open it and show it by putting camera on it.

Now next chapter please. Waiting eagerly.

[pjbiju]

Deky, I loved the way you have relived your stories for us. It was a scary situation. But all is well that ends well.

-Biju

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by deky

This whole incident just took about 15 minutes and that seemed like an eternity to me. The plane was waiting and I quickly re-boarded it and it took off. I was on my way home.

Now at my home the pistol is put exactly where it intended to go, up in a frame on a wall!!

Why did they arrest you? Your luggage was checked in. Its not a crime to carry firearms in checked in luggage.

In US, TSA would not le you carry even scope of a air rifle in carry on baggage. But never faced any issue with it checked in.

[unoczar]

HEY! The Mexican!


Btw, there's a trek in western ghats this december Deky.. u game?

[sudev]

That is a nice one Deky.
In fact this thread should become contribution thread where every one can write in their "jana tha japan pahunch gaye cheen" experiences. I may make a contribution or two also.