Do you remember the scene in “Friends“ TV series where Ross runs to the Airport to tell Rachel that he loves her? Or let it be a Bollywood masala drama like “Jaane tu ya jaane na“… or let it be numerous other similar ending-films. Airports have served as an amazing platform to connect two people and have helped bloom several love stories, at least on screen. Everyone at some point might have fancied such kind of extreme adventure… running through the gates, breaching all security of the airport etc. well, you would love it too, won’t you? I was lucky enough to have similar experience in my real life… only difference was it wasn’t a love story per say… but it was a friendship story… what better day to write about it than a friendship day?
So, this is how it all started… I was leaving from USA and coming back to India… had a pretty long 8 hours layover at Frankfurt airport in Germany… It so happened that one crazy friend of mine stays close by Frankfurt and It was a great opportunity for me to re-connect with her after several years, if only I could get out of the airport in Germany. I duly applied for the specified visa, but they had earliest available data very close to my departure, which meant I was not going to get my visa in time for my journey… Based on the hearsay of on-arrival visa, i thought of checking out that possibility and get out to make most of my layover time.
And the day finally came… I asked my friend to leave from home only after I get my visa as she was just 20 minutes away. I landed at Frankfurt… very excited… and ran straight to immigration. Asked a guard about my situation and he simply pointed at the queue… I was happy that this might work out as there were many like me probably… My turn came and presented my case to the immigration officer and handed him all the documents… He asked me whether I have German visa… I said No and told him what exactly I was hoping… It sounded something like this to him- that he should let me into his country without having a proper visa (It sounded really stupid in my head too) … He got really angry, he was irritated already before I came to his counter. I told him the reasons I would like to apply for on arrival visa and that I have a USA visa… Hearing that, he literally threw my passport away and said, keeping his posture calm, “Sir, I don’t give a f*****g s**t about US visa… We don’t do this (on-arrival visa) anymore. Please go back to your transit area and make my day”… I realized how stupid I acted in excitement. While going back, I texted her not come as this is not going to work out… But rebel she is, did not listen and started off from her place hoping we still can try something out… I had left hopes and was already in airport transit train (skyline shuttle) to go to my next terminal, but looking at her confidence, I also tried searching for other options… She realized on reaching there that her entry inside is not possible as I was in international transit area… I remembered the train (skyline) I came in and asked her if she can get access to that train… She happily said yes… And hopes again were raised high… I came back to the station I got down at… She said she was there too. But we couldn’t see each other… She sent me her location on WhatsApp and this is how close we were at the moment –
I was really excited that finally we will meet being so near and we texted each other to come to the platform… And boom…! There we were… Across the platform… just two glass walls and rail line in between… All we had to do was wait for the train and when it arrives, cross the coaches… till then, we could just talk on phone.. This is how it was looking like..
On one side I was standing and on the other side, she was… And the announcement for the train was made.. Well , story doesn’t end here because to our surprise, an obvious thing happened.. Doors of the shuttle just opened on one side… there was a barricade to stop people from entering from the other side.. And again we went into frenzy, being so close.. There I thought that’s it, but again my rebellion friend had crazy ideas.. And we climbed down the steps to search if the stairs connect somewhere… but to no avail.. We both entered some unknown area and came back to same situation on platform. Looking at our movements, a guard on the platform asked me what’s going on.. I again repeated the story to him.. He thought probably we were a couple and trying to see each other… the way he reacted, he could’ve probably helped us, but he might’ve risked his job. Anyways, we went our ways and started thinking about other ways to handle the situation at hand. Now this crazy girl had another idea… of buying a cheapest ticket to somewhere and enter the airport to meet me… I was really startled with the craziness of this girl.. With my useless efforts to try and stop her, she now had a ticket to Barcelona in her hand and she was already entering the airport… it’s important to know the arrangements she made at the booking desk.. Smart she is, she cooked up a story of how we were a couple and hadn’t seen each other in really long years and how it really was important. This is how she convinced the person at desk to give her half refund when she would come out of the airport after meeting me and cancel the ticket. And there she was inside the airport, though I was little tensed about all this, there was obvious smile on face that we would see each other. Well guys, this story doesn’t end here either, because we had another big hurdle coming our way. She was in airport, but in domestic part of the airport for her, and I was in international transit area. Again, we were losing hopes of meeting but then I knew she wasn’t going to give up… and neither should I. She tried to search a way into the transit area, but she would’ve had to cross the passport control. Not just she didn’t have her passport, she didn’t have any ticket to the international flight. She tried her way with her PR, but to gain. We tried describing things around us to see a common place, and yes we did describe the same food court, but this time I started looking for things that could come between us rather than being optimistic about our meeting. To my expectations, airport security didn’t let me down and there was a thick glass between us, separating the two areas. Now we were really close, sitting just next to each other but talking on the phone with a glass wall in between us. Well, there was this feeling that we were really close and without wasting any time sitting there, she went on for searching another way. And the passport control officer was one of her worries if she had to cross in to the transit area. She used all her magical power and tantrums to make it happen. She asked the police who were running around. She spent significant amount of time hovering in front of that passport control officer pretending to be talking on phone, but giving purposeful intermittent smiles to the officer. With the story we had built up so far of us meeting after years was repeated to him, and God knows how, but she found her way inside and ultimately, we were literally under one roof. Excited we were, started looking for each other.. She came into the common area, I went down the escalators to another level and again we were locked out. But asking one of the policeman, he showed us the simple gate to be crossed and I could finally see her without any boundaries between us. I think after this long description of the course of events that led us meet, I have absolutely no words to describe the feeling at that moment. It was like we had achieved the world and finally crossed all borders between. Out of 8 hours of my layover, we had spent 4 hours in this hustle and we wasted no more time. Happiness was flowing through and those were the best 4+4 hours I could never forget. I didn’t do anything much more than anticipating how this story was going. All credit goes to this craziest and bold friend of mine, who could cross the barriers and take the risk of her lifetime. While we were talking, a police officer she had met earlier crossed and smiled at us saying “so you guys finally met!“… I can never thank her enough… I can never forget the experience of this day… this was my exact words on my Facebook status at that time:
What’s on my mind? The level of craziness this girl has in her.. Having such a friend is a bliss and a source of heart attack at the same time.. Had one of the craziest day with even crazier friend.. I’ll remember this for whole my life.. And How you can surpass anything in your way to make your life movie like.. Better than a movie..
To summarize this 3/4th of story, we managed to meet even after such tremendous hurdles and I don’t think I have been part of something this crazy ever. Next, the time came to see each other off and I boarded my flight. First thing I did after boarding the flight was to buy the internet for few hours because I knew it would’ve been difficult for her to get out of that place as well and I just couldn’t have waited till I land in Mumbai. It took some time for her to reply me. Just as I was afraid, she did have some trouble getting out, but there as well she made her way out after being questioned and held for some time. Till date, I do not know the exact story she presented their as to how she got in, but I was just absolutely relieved she made out of the airport successfully without any significant harm, else I couldn’t have handled the guilt.
I guess there are these kinds of friends who can go sometimes extra crazy and these are the ones who make our life a better and safer(? :p) place. It’s definitely good to know that they are there no matter what, even if it means crossing lines for good. I know now that this could be potentially dangerous situation to be in. I understand that I shouldn’t even write about it. After all, it’s about national securities and stuff like that we are dealing with. But beyond all these man-made borders, there still exist the humanity which values the true connection we all share, and more importantly, there are people who understand that connection. Like the person on the ticket counter, guard at the platform, passport control officer or even the police officer who tried to help… And probably many other people… they all understood the intentions of our struggle and made our way clearer at every step. I still decided to write because friendship like this is rare where you forget the boundaries set by humans and still make your way. As crazy as it may sound, we did this that day and I am happy that it happened. At the end, it reminded me of several movies where it’s been shown that these boundaries do not matter if your intentions are humane. We laughed a lot about it to be a revolutionary story to make a Bollywood film.. But ever since, fighting between the lighter and the serious parts of this, I always come to this weird grin on my face, filled with happiness of course, that no matter what, your intentions find you a way in any situation. I am not saying people have to break the laws and securities that are been made for our own safety, but everyone should have at least a day in their life where everything looks like a dream or fantasy coming true…
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