Customs Clearance in Mumbai, India (Part 12)

The Joy Ride

I must mention that it had rained that afternoon and the floor of the tempo was all wet. I requested the tempo owner to at least spread a plastic sheet before putting my boxes that had magically survived till now. My wife had teased me about lining each box with plastic sheets when we were packing the boxes in USA. I had reminded her about the Mumbai monsoons and told her that there were several places where our boxes could be damaged before they eventually reached our home and it would do us no harm in throwing in an extra plastic sheet in each box. We both exchanged scared glances as the boxes were loaded on a patchy inadequate plastic sheet. My wife and I decided to make it a fun ride and we both sat on the long-enough front seat along with the driver of the tempo. I left the ACC Complex at around 4:30 p.m. and elated to have not paid any bribe that day.

As we pulled out of ACC Complex after showing the Gate Pass and clearance for the boxes, the rain started pouring in with increased vigor. This adventure was not yet over. Suddenly, I noticed that water was leaking heavily into the rear of the tempo pretty and over a few boxes. I requested the driver to cover them with something and he threw in a bigging mat over the boxes while waiting at a traffic light. The driver was not the tempo owner but just a local guy hired to drive that union member’s tempo. He too started bitterly complaining about the unfair and exorbitant charges and telling me of the high-handed ways of the union. I was feeling sorry to have stood up Rupesh and so I called him apologizing for the mistake for wasting his day (just because I didn’t know about the difference between the cargo and baggage sections). He gracefully told me not to worry about it and that it was not my fault since I was new to ACC Complex.

I asked the driver a couple of times whether he had to take another route due to the commercial vehicle restrictions as per traffic rules but he assured me that after 5pm, it was okay to take his chosen route. Inevitably a couple of Traffic Constables ( who are lovingly called Pandus in Mumbai by their victims) caught the poor driver. When he came back, I asked him what did he do wrong. He told the traffic cop that he was officially allowed to drive a commercial vehicle on that route after 5 p.m. and the cop still took a bribe of Rs.10 to let him go. Today, Mumbai has become so costly that even a beggar may return back Rs. 10 but it was pathetic to see that a traffic cop fleeced a poor boy for Rs. 10 (the driver was actually a young and poor lad and looked every bit so).

My wife and I heaved a collective sigh of relief after all the boxes were setup in our home. The boxes survived the ordeal and so did we. I was elated and informed all my well wishers that the boxes did arrive safely and that we did the Customs Clearance ourselves without any corruption or bribery. I was relieved to see decent people in the Customs Office who performed their duties diligently without any expectation of any bribes.

 

Part 11 Part 13

 

 

 

Tags: Bribery, Chai Paani, Corruption, customs clearance, mumbai customs, Relocate to India, Transfer of residence, USA to India