• I Paid A Bribe
• 14 years ago
• 605 views

I paid to enter my country.

• Customs, Excise and Service Tax
• Customs Check and Clearance
• Paid INR 4,500

I may not be the only person who has gone through this! But let me share my story with you all. My blood boils when I am narrating this story here, not because I lost the money, but because is this how an individual is treated?
Last time I had paid a bride to officer was in August 2006 to get my passport verified- Rs100 to the writer at Vidyaranyapura Police Station. I left to US to continue my studies in December 2006 and this was the first time I was visiting India after 4 years in November 2010. I could never plan a trip to India in between my studies, as I was still a student and trip to India means a lot of expense. It was only because I had a full scholarship from my university in US that I had opted to continue my studies. I am engineer with passion for photography. Whatever money I could save after my expense, I would send it to my parents in India or I opted to spend on my passion-photography. As of today I have a full gear of photography equipments which runs upto $3000 (Camera, lens, tripod, battery, filters cards etc..) All these are not brought at one go, but something I had collected over the years.
After 4 years, I planned to visit India to attend a family reunion and this is my first experience the day I stepped in. My flight was from Atlanta to Dubai and there to Bangalore. Most customs official are vigil to flights arriving from Dubai, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore you know for all the goodies our Indian buy from there. I had never ever realized this and yes, all I had with me for this trip was my one laptop, my camera gear and chocolates. Nothing beyond this! To my surprise, I was asked to go through red channel. One officer asked me ‘what was the cost of the camera I was carrying’? I said, ‘probably around $3000’ he was shocked and questioned back to me, ‘are you a professional photographer?’ I said not really but I do use it for my work as a research asst. in my university and photography was my hobby. He then asked me to go and declare the goods that I had and signed a small paper we carry after immigration. I met this officer and he for sure a Mallu and I am not familiar with his name. He was in total white and he took me to the red channel area and I was the only person there with him. He asked me to show the camera bag and he asked ‘do you the receipt?’ I showed a couple I had on my phone and said this is all I have. He then took his calculator and started counting and said ‘you need o pay Rs40,000 for you take the camera out’. I was shocked! I had never ever thought of this situation and all he was supposed to do was write on my passport that I was carrying the particulars and when I was returning if I was not carrying then I has to pay the tax for that. I told him, I am student and this is my first time to India and I need to take the camera with me and that I would take it back. If I had missed even a single cable, I would for sure pay all the tax! He was not in a mood to accept my promise and all he said was pay and take it. I explained my situation and showed him my passport, my I20, my return ticket and that I was not the rich guy who could afford to pay the money and was not a person who would get goods from US and sell it in India.
That officer did not accept any of my requests, after nearly 20 min of my negotiation all my mind was thinking was, I am here to see my family and friends and my mood was being spoiled by this officer. I said, ‘ok officer do you accept credit cards?’ he said ‘no’! I had around $500 with me for my expense in India and that would not total upto Rs40,000. I said, I am helpless officer as I have no money and I need my camera to capture my time in India. And hence forth of his arguments ********** me off- ‘Ask your dad who is outside to pay the duty tax, he can send you to US but cannot afford to pay?’ I was ********** as hell! For some reason, I hate Mallus from my school days as they most of them whom I came across act cocky. If he were to be outside, probably he would have a swollen face by now. I controlled all myself, I was not in a position to argue or to fight as my emotions to ********** my family and friend who were waiting outside was stopping my adrenalin rush to kick his butt and punch his face. I had not me or seen my parents for 4 long years and all that I was asking him was legally to endorse the goods on my passport! I was not carrying anything against the law nor in excess. He would not listen, finally I told him, ‘officer I my dad was pay this huge amount of duty tax, I would have visited India every year’. He told me the only option for now was leave the camera with them and on my way back to US, I could pick it up. I was ready to do that, even though I knew it will not be able to capture my time in India and all that I had dreamed off to do in India. He said, he will give me a receipt and that I need to show it to officer before I leave the country and then he said one thing ‘I cannot assure if all your camera gear will be there when you collect it later!’ I was like what?? He smiled at me and I was surprised to hear that from an officer. I knew he was eyeing for my pocket and asked him ‘ok, how much do you want?’ he replied ‘how much can you give?’ I replied ‘$100 and I do not have anything beyond that’, he replied ‘$200’ and I was in tears and this officer was using my emotions to earn his extra income. With tears in my eyes, ‘officer, I have worked hard to buy this camera. It’s my life and I am here to ********** my parents and loved ones and if I give you $200, I will be left with nothing’. Finally he agreed to $100 and I came out.
I did not have the joy or the energy to greet my parents and friends who were standing outside in cold for nearly 2 hours and have waited to see me for last 4 yrs. My stay in India was not memorable at all and everytime I was reminded of this incident. I even called my airlines to prepone my ticket and I badly wanted to be out of my country. I was pained and I realized why there are so many ‘Indian ants’ in US and elsewhere in the world, that’s because of lot of grasshoppers like these officers and corrupt bureaucrats.