Sunday 11 December 2011

Mission Impossible: crossing the border.

Ok so we got up reasonably early this morning, threw breakfast down our throats then to wait for our rickshaw at the homestay that was going to take us to the Keralan border, where a driver (Mr Bahal) was supposed to be waiting for us on the other side in Tamil Nadu ... however ... whilst waiting at reception, Mr Bahal calls to say he is about 60k away from the border and would call when he gets closer, fair enough ... however, Sumash - one of the guys that works at our homestay who was also our rickshaw driver - came over to say that there had been more trouble last night with people throwing stones at the buses crossing the border to Tamil Nadu so the police weren't letting any transportation through. Our only choice left was to walk across the border then for another 7k up the winding hillside (with our heavy rucksacks on our backs!!) and Mr Bahal will meet us there, but first he will have to check with the Keralan police that that would be ok and off he went.
We sat and waited for about half an hour, the day was getting hotter and hotter and the thought of a 1k walk laden with back packs was starting to freak us out, let alone a 7k one!!
Sumesh returned smiling, explaining that everything would be ok, he had spoken to Mr Bahal who was going to try to get a hold of a motorbike and bike down the 7k pick us up and bike us both and our backpacks up the hillside pillion style, to his car!! I burst out laughing and Claudine went white.
Then Sumesh took another call and informed us that he was going to to take us by rickshaw to the border at the bus depot, the Keralan police would then escort us over the border and hand us over to the Tamil Nadu police who in turn would take us up the hillside to our driver!! Again I burst out laughing and Claudine turned white!
We piled into the back of the rickshaw with our two large backpacks, two mini backpacks and one bag each and drove off to the bus depot as I hummed the theme tune for Mission Impossible.
On arriving, Sumesh climbed out and told us to wait as he went to talk to the police again.
This time he returned shaking his head, explaining that they said it was too dangerous and wouldn't let us through.
Claudine and I walked over to the police to find out what was going on, as we kept hearing conflicting reports, was it dangerous or not, were we allowed over or not. On our way over Claudine had called a Brigadier she knows in North India and handed the phone over to the chief of police to see if something could be settled. Meanwhile, the news reporters were there taking our photos and filming us!!
Finally, Claudine was allowed to step over to border and talk to the Tamil Nadu border police, she explained our situation, that we were traveling through from the UK and we had a couple of hotels and train journeys already booked and paid for ... he smiled at her and said it should be ok, but would go and check with his superior. Apparently as soon as he had walked away, the reporters walked over to Claudine and told her not to trust the TN Police, that they were bad and it was dangerous. There were about a thousand protestors on their way over and it would not be nice!!
At that point she turned on her heel and made her way back to me guarding all our bags at the rickshaw. I have never been so pleased to see her as I had been wondering where she was, why was she taking so long and had she been kidnapped, if so what was I going to tell her parents!!
To cut a long story short, we spent the rest of the day still here in Periyar, trying to work out what to do and have settled on taking a bus down to Trivindram in the South of Kerala then a coach up to Trichy in Tamil Nadu and continue with our tour.
What a pain in the arse!!! So near and yet so far!! Claudine had touched Tamil Nadu soil with her feet but was not allowed any further and so we are now going to have to spend the next 48 hours traveling to a place that would have only taken 3!!!
All part of 'The India Experience'!!!

1 comment:

  1. Just read this while watching a Tamil language film and talking about the dam situation with our interpreter. Hope by now you've actually made it into Tamil Nadu and avoided the riots - tis all the fun of travel! We had riots and stone throwing in Peru when the teachers went on strike - bit more radical than our own strikers!! Hope you've found some hair gel too - could you try some sort of cooking oil? That'll calm your frizz down and come in handy at dinner time. Take care. Fingers crossed I can actually get this to post! Karen xx

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