It was in October 21years ago that I first left the safe shore of home and the first foreign land that I touched down was Kuwait. Again I was back in the same land for a two-day business trip. An uneventful and empty flight brought me into the city. Uneventful, yes until the bumpy touchdown. I did my regular routine, done it at least 10 times in the past decade and half, of rushing to the Visa counter and picking up a number from the token machine. The next part of the process is anybody's guess - your number appears on the screen and you go to the counter and hand over the paperwork along with the cost of Visa and get a paper that allows you entry into the country. So here I was at the counter when my number came up and the polite lady after some checks on the computer screen asked me to take a seat as she had to check more.
Now, this was an unscripted activity. A different activity from the usual. After a decent wait of over 30 mins, I got called by an in-charge with stars on his shoulder. He said 'you have a fine'.
Not fully understanding what he said, I replied 'yes, I am fine'.
Then his next comment slowly sunk in 'no you are not fine. You have an outstanding fine'.
That was an Oops moment for me and I asked 'what fine'.
His response was ' I don't know, telephone, electricity, anything!'.
'But I left this country in 2000. 16 years ago. While I have come back at least 10 times on short visits and never once have I been told that I have some dues'. the response was a shrug of shoulders and a request for me to sit and wait.
After a lot of 'please wait for one minute', actually after two hours I was informed that I had a due from a traffic accident.
That eventful morning then flashed before me, the grey wintry morning when I had an accident on the fifth ring road. Yes it was in 1999 December, almost 17 years ago. I recollected the white smoke that billowed out behind my car as the rubber burned the asphalt or was it the other way around. Either way, I had hit the car in front and I was unhurt. Couldn't say the same about the car, as I had to exit from not my usual exit door. In two minutes a police car reached me and was controlling the rush hour traffic around us. I felt more important when I saw the police helicopter hovering over us but then it disappointed me by flying away. The gentleman whom I hit, let me rephrase that, the person driving the car which my car hit, drove me away from the accident site. I do recollect us going to the police station and sorting out all the paper work.
But now, after 17 years the incident had come back on the screen of an official. I expressed my willingness to pay and another chapter of the saga was opened. They, the officials, did not have a clue about the process to accept this payment. It took another two hours before a genius appeared on the site and took me to a different counter where the payment could be accepted through a manual transaction. Paper, pen technology saved the day for me.
As I write this I still am sure I had paid this fine 17 years ago!
