The Narrow Escape

by KRITI RANJAN (India)

A leap into the unknown India

"The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." --Nelson Mandela Jordan had been in my bucket list ever since the day i started travelling. Seeing new places, meeting new people gave a stir to the monotony. But this was something different, uncalculated, unprecedented, a day that got etched in my memory forever. We decided to meet in the lobby of our hotel to plan our visit to Jerusalem. Visiting Jerusalem meant we had to cross the Israeli border, that too with a single entry Pakistani passport which was a bigger risk than we had ever imagined. We decided to go through the small but developed port city, Aqaba in Jordan. Bilal took the driving seat, we opened the Google map, recited the name of Allah and headed towards the border. In just ten minutes of driving the scenery changed from malls, restaurants, shops to wires, grills and barricades. Israel was on our left and we were driving in Jordan towards the check post of the Israel-Jordan border. We had rehearsed our backup plans incase things went downhill. But what happened later was something we had not thought about. It was a sunny day, the checkpost on the border was at a very secluded place with almost no vehicles or even visitors except the two border security forces with their guns. "Assalamualaikum" we greeted. "Walaikum assalam" they greeted back in response. The two of them seemed from a lower rank of the army and they barely understood any English, which later proved to be a boon for us. We sat inside our car for ten minutes, trying to make them understand our intentions of visiting our holy sites in Jerusalem, all in vain. We showed them our passports and asked if there was any way we could do it. They seemed puzzled and confused. Not everyday they'd encounter people trying to cross the Israeli border that too with a Pakistani passport. They kept nodding their heads in denial, only telling "No no no". We showed them hand gestures, tried to use Arabic jargons we knew, we did everything we could to convey them our message. After about ten minutes of denial, one of them went inside the checkpost. Our hearts started pounding faster and our faces turned pale. Anything could happen to us. Seconds later a major came out. We had previously decided that we would never hand our passports to them no matter what, since if they stamped it, or perhaps tore it in anger, we'd be in big trouble. He somehow realised that we were trying to cross the border, which was when he took Bilal's passport in his hands. We could see his face suddenly turning red with anger. He screamed pointing at six of us: "One two three four five six passport passport." From here the situation started slipping from our hands. Haroon uncle who was sitting at the back seat started uttering "Let's shift" which was our code to call off our plan. The major abruptly pointed his gun at us screaming "Give me your passports and go back to the car." We dropped our idea of visiting Jerusalem and the only purpose left now was to go back to our hotel safely. The major banged the door open. Alia screamed in fear, showing him our hotel card and keys and suddenly started pretending like we were lost. We started repeating "We're lost, we were going to our Hotel, Double tree Hilton." It was when we saw a car heading towards the border. Perhaps Allah had listened to our prayers and sent a blessing in disguise. They looked like diplomats since they were easily crossing the border. They stopped realising that something was wrong. We showed them our hotel cards. He said something in Arabic to the Major. He was convinced that we were lost. "Do you have any idea what you were trying to do!" said the diplomat. The major handed Bilal back Bilal's passport, guided us towards our hotel and said, "Go straight on this road and don't come back." "Shukar Alhamdulillah" we cried in unison.