A Mistake in Manali

May, 2010

My travel application to Manali cost 5000 rupees ($100) and since I was going so far away up north and close to the semi-porous border of Nepal, I had to pay a 25,000 rupee bond ($500) and get what’s called a “local surety”, like I had to for my initial bail.  This is a local person of good standing who is basically vouching for you.  Seems crazy to me as how as a foreigner am I supposed to know someone well enough that they would help me like this?  Well, money fixes that.  For 5000 more rupees, some stranger will willingly do it so it cost me $200 for the permission plus $500 tied up with the surety that ironically I couldn’t be “sure” if I would get back.

I took a 24 hour train from Goa to Delhi and then had to wait until the following evening to catch a bus up to Manali.  Many backpackers stay in a district close to the train station called Pahar Ganj.  I grabbed a tuk tuk from the station and of course the driver immediately wanted to take me to hotels where he would receive a commission for bringing them a guest.  I quickly realized that this guy was going to have his work cut out for him.  Having no passport and visa, just a set of court documents, I was refused accommodation at the first couple of hotels.  Soon a couple turned into 8-10 hotels that this persistent driver took me to.  Finally we found one that was a bit sympathetic and after about half an hour of consideration and finally consultation with the manager I was given a room.  Whew.

While in the capital, I decided to visit the British High Commission to see if I could find out anything else they might be able to help me with.  Surprisingly the lady recognized my name so there can’t be that many other British Nationals in this predicament.  Unfortunately as I previously mentioned, there’s not much that they can do to help me at this stage.

In Manali I stayed at the Purnima Guesthouse which is owned and operated by the brothers that run the Olive Garden Restaurant in Goa where I was arrested.  On my first day I went with the manager and my friend Manu to the police station to get my court papers signed.  Manu was taking in photocopies of passports and visas (including mine) of his newly arrived guests, a task he performs every few days.  It was nice to have Manu there to talk to the officer to get my papers signed. 

What we didn’t think of was that we didn’t include a copy of the court paperwork with my passport and visa copies.  My 6 month tourist visa for India had just recently expired so eventually some other police officer going through them raised a red flag when he saw mine.  Three days after I arrived in Manali I was relaxing on the balcony outside my room enjoying the view of the river, forest and mountains.  Suddenly Pinku, the front desk guy who was also a waiter back in Goa at the Olive Garden, popped around the corner with a distraught look on his face.  “Dave, do you have anything on you?” he asked.  I immediately knew what he was insinuating and jumped up and into my room.  I had purchased two tolas (20 grams) of charas, ironically from the same waiter from my Goa episode who worked in one of their restaurants in Old Manali.  My logic was to buy once for my stay in Manali to minimize risk.  Well that was a mistake.

Two plain clothes officers came around the corner behind Pinku.  I met them at the doorway of my room, not having been able to dispose of the contraband in time.  They were inquiring about my expired visa.  I told them in a shaky voice that it was due to me having a court case back in Goa.  I showed them the paperwork and once they read that it was about charas they backed me into my room and closed the door, totally not legal but my heart was racing and my mind was not functioning correctly.  How stupid can you be Dave?  Caught again within 6 months.

“Do you have any charas here in the room?  If so, you’d better produce it before we begin to search.  If you give it to us now, you can stay outside.  If we search then you’ll be going inside.”

I nervously pulled the hash out of my bag under the bed and handed it to one of the cops.  The same guy asked again “So do you want to stay outside or inside?”  I realized this was the hint to pay baksheesh, a bribe.  I grabbed my money belt and proceeded to hand one of them three 1000 rupee notes (a total of $60).  The policeman waved his hand signalling that it wasn’t enough so I handed over another 1000.  He looked at the other cop who nodded and then incredulously they handed me back the charas and left!  Now why hadn’t it happened like that the first time?!?

This little episode with the expired visa made me realize that I wasn’t going to be able to travel to other areas of the state as we had only listed the Purnima Guesthouse in Old Manali in the application.  My lawyer Caroline had told me that it wouldn’t be a problem staying elsewhere and it hadn’t been in my previous trips as my visa was still valid then, but it’s a different story now.  It’s going to make any future trips out of Goa much more difficult too.