My first run-in with official corruption.

Living here in the States gives us a simplistic view of corruption. We
assume that politicians are corrupt, and that bribes & kickbacks happen
behind closed doors with a "wink and a nod". But, things are a little
different outside the US.

I had just spent 24hours on two flights getting me to India. I was
tired, miserable, and totally clueless how things worked, but just the
same I found myself in the Mumbai Customs line. I was standing behind an
Indian guy who was now living in the US. At his turn he casually walked
up to the counter, handed his american passport. The guard thumbed
through it, half mindly, turned half-an-eye to the emigre "Where is your
INL-71 stamp?" This caught my ear because I DIDNT HAVE such a stamp.
Sh1t! What do I do?

Unfazed the emigre said "I dont have one. Where do I get it?"
The gaurd looked annoyed. "I issue it. $100."
The emigre sighed, and plopped out $100 worth of Indian ruppee notes.
The guard looked even more annoyed. "Whats your problem? Do I look like
a bank to you? I dont take these," pushing away the stack of bills with
disgust. "American Notes Only!"

I didnt have $100 on me - I had converted my at-hand cash to Rupees back
in JFK so that I'd have currency when I arrived. Would he take American
Express Travelers Checks? Sh1t!

Unfazed, the guy took back his notes, then gave the guard four crisp
$20s. Pacified the guard returned the passport. The emigre grabbed his
things and went to the exit. Not angry, not suprised, no stamp, just
moved on like it was standard procedure. I then realized that there was
no such thing as an "INL-71" stamp.

"NEXT!" he announced with the same indifferent-annoyance. I shuffled up,
handed my passport. He thumbed through it, more carefully this time. He
searched through the pages until he found the Indian-Visa page. He
examined it slowly, deliberately, and carefully. 'Here comes the
squeeze' I thought. "Proceed" he said and handed back my passport -
indicating all was well.

Go figure! I think the shake-down is done on Indians who choose to live
abroad, but not on regular tourists. In all the countries I have
visited, this was the only one where I got a real taste of corruption.
[Italy was a close 2nd]

Anyone else have similar experiences ?

Well I had something similar to that but in tha U.S over in San Antonio
Tx. My brother in law had several tickets out due to speeding, and just
driving like an idiot. So finally he got stopped at an itersection and
the cop pulled up his tags on the his data base and he saw that he had
unpaid tickets. The cop did his standard procedure and he had him in
hand cuffs. He called his mom to go pick up his car and when she got
there the started talking and it turns out that the cop would let my
brother-in law go for about 2,500 so my mother-in-law spent 3 hrs.
getting money from different a.t.m machines all over the city. So she
finally got the money. Paid the cop and he let my brother-in-law go. To
surve, and protect yeah right!

<<Mike>>

Oh I thought you had that experience in the Philippines, LOL.

.... nah nah nothing. :-)

How much would it have been for him to just pay his outstanding tickets
off?