Good Times..

A good times episode in sunny california for a change .. It was thanksgiving weekend and my friend Goally was just raring to take his Pontiac Grand prix for a loong drive .. Anu my wife was looking forward to doign some serious shopping, but Goally was like .. " I am going whether you guys come or not .. I will hit 880 South in the morning and will not lift my foot till the car reaches L.A. . Oh, By the way, I heard Thanksgiving deals are better in L.A" ... I think that last statement, clinched the argument for Goally cos she agreed to come ..

We hit the highway and by evening reached L.A.. We holed up in an inn in Torrance. In the morning we got up to go to Universal Studion, and during breakfast, made friends with the receptionist who was a sweet indian girl whose husband worked in TCS. After some chit chat, we started forUniversal Studios.. after all the rides and show's, in the evening we met up with Sreejith and Saneeja and saw Dhoom 2 in a theatre..

The next day we were planning to go to Disneyland.. But somehow we got feed back that it was more kiddish stuff. After wondering what to do for some time, we decided to go to San Diego.. With a small stop at Queen Mary, we started for San Diego, and reached by night, took a hotel room, and hit the Gas Lamp downtown district. There we had a couple of rounds in the Hard Rock cafe, after a stroll through downtown, retired for the night in our hotel room..

The next day we were debating on whether to go to Sea World, but Mexico's proximity was quite tempting, and with the usual Indian mentality, reaching the sign-board that read "Welcome to Mexico" and taking pic's, was an attractive proposition. Anyways we started for the border and in an hour reached a sign that read "Last US Exit".. Goally was quite apprehensive as he was on I 94 which meant that if he left US Soil, he will have to go to a US Consulate and stamp his passport to reenter the country. We took the exit and reached a tourist information center.. We asked the lady there if it was possible to cross the border without passports.. She asked us if we have US Driving Licences. We replied in the affirmative and she said "No Probs" .. One small piece of information we forgot to tell her was that we are not US Citizen's, which meant that any entry into Mexico was illegal.. Anyways we thought we will just reach the border and take a snap and come back .. We continued on the highway and reached the border. There was a huge sign that read "U-Turn into the US". We decided to turn back there.. Once we crossed the border, we found that the gates blocked our view to a sea of vehicles waiting at the border to enter the US. There was no way to take a U Turn, and we entered Mexico.. People say that if we enter Pakistan throught he Wagah border it feel's like India itself.. a la the song "Jaisa Des hai tera, waisa des hai mera" .. In this case it was like " Jaise Des hai tera, Ulta hai des mera. " Total chaos .. Dogs crossing .. Hawkers on the streets.. Welcome to the town of Tijuana in Mexico .. absolutely no signboard's we drove around for some time to find someone who knew english .. In the end we saw a police officer.. We were like

We: Hi Officer, we are from US.. we accidently crossed the border and would like to go back. Can you tell us the way.

Mexican Officer: You accidently crossed the border .... Hmmm

He speaks something in spanish to the guy standing next to him and they both laugh out loud.

we were wondering what was so funny because we didnt feel like laughing at all..

Mexican Officer: you guys go straight take left, then right , then go further ........ ( the guy went on for a few minutes and we were totally confused )..

We: Ok Sir . Thank you ( In our mind we decided to ask someone else)

As we strolled towards the car the officer said "Wait !!"

Mexican officer: This car does not have permission to enter mexico. Come with me to the police station. ( Luckily he thought we are US Citizens and didnt know that we ourselves were illegal entries ) .

We were like " Officer, Please officer .. it was an accident .. we didnt know there was no U Turn back into the US.. There was a sign but there were too many cars at the border .. blah blah blah .. " ...

Mexican Officer: Okk Okk .. I can let you go, but at the border, there will be the Mexican Border guards, and they will screw you royally if they catch you .. They are known to be very dangerous..

We : Oh oh .. what do we do know..

Mexican officer: I will get you to the border .. Thats a favour .. So what favour will you do for me in return.

We saw where he was getting at, and used our years of experience with the Bangalore and Chennai police and started negotiating. We agreed at $ 100 for a trip back to the border.. We found out how bribes are paid in mexico.. He asked me to put the money in the trunk of the car.. After I had done so he started walked towards the car and started talking loudly..." Open your trunk, let me see what you are carrying". Then he took the money from the trunk and said loudly" Okk Guys carry on" .. He started his bike and we followed him. When we saw the mexican border guards, we realised that without the police officer we would have been dead meat, even if we had found our way. He talked to the guards and i guess they entered into some sharing agreement for the $ 100 cos, they let us go.. Then we reached the 4 mile long queue of vehicles waiting to get into the US. We called up Shain who was in L.A at that time, if he knew anyone had crossed the border and were let it .. especially without passports. Shains quick check up with his contacts revealed one thing. The only thing certain on the Mexico Border is "Luck" if the guards turn you back to mexico, you are royally screwed.. Me and goally started saying all our prayer's . But in between all these incident's Madam anu is real cool .. She was looking at the stuff the mexican kid's were selling in between the queue and looking at the other's in the queue. I guess she didnt realise the danger we had just escaped, and probably might end up in .. At last after hours of waiting, we reached the border, and to our luck, the guard at our gate seemed quite tired, and he just took a look at my california license and waved us in .. It was once we reached the Freeway that we heaved a sigh of relief. We shuddered at the thought of spending a night in a mexican jail .. That was the end of our small Mexican adventure ..