After a good
night's sleep, I was awakened around 7:30 in the morning
hearing that we were about to cross the border into
Yugoslavia. A Romanian customs man asked me if I had
something to declare with respect to the luggage that I
was carrying. "Nothing to declare"
--
I
replied inviting him to look into my luggage. "No, that
will not be necessary" --he responded as he went away to
the next passenger. After some 30 minutes, we crossed
into Yugoslavia. A Yugoslavian border man entered the
train checking for passports and stamping the day into
each --April 13, 1969. Everything went smoothly as
expected. In about four (4) more hours, we reached
our final destination for this train --Belgrade,
Yugoslavia.
As the train
approached the Station, I looked through my window for my
two Yugoslavian friends to whom I had sent a few days ago
my telegram informing them of my arrival. To my relief
and joy, I was able to spot one of them and we briefly
waved to each other. As we met in the Station, we
embraced each other and engaged in some small talk
conversation. As we left the Station, right outside I saw
a giant black limousine (a Russian Chaika model)
with two (2) small flags attached: a Romanian flag
and a Yugoslavian flag. As I was staring in dismay at
this car, my friend was advising me (in Russian --our
common language of communication) that "this car is
waiting for you!".
Stunned
by what I had just heard, I stopped moving! I was
numbed and in total disbelief. My friend immediately
continued by saying:
"When
we received your telegram, we informed our Director
of your arrival. This is our car from the
Observatory and this is how we greet our foreign
visiting scientists."
Recovering from the
shock, I advised my friend that I was not here in any
official capacity representing the Romanian Observatory
but that I was here on my vacation. To this, my friend
responded that from my telegram there was no way for them
to determine this, and that they assumed that I was
coming to Belgrade to do research. Then my friend,
patting me on the back, continued:
"In
any event, everything is now arranged and you need
not to worry about it. Let's go!"
"Go WHERE?" --I
asked him in bewilderment. "We are going to the
Observatory where we have reserved for you the
Observatory's guest apartment, that is where we are
going!" was his answer. Still not believing what I was
hearing, we entered into the waiting limousine which
drove us to the Observatory. Once there, my friend went
with me to the guest apartment that was reserved for me.
Catching my breath with these totally unforeseen
developments, I asked my friend if we could meet here in
a few hours around 5 PM. He agreed, telling me that he
would bring with him his colleague and my other friend
who was unable to come to greet me at the Station. We
said goodbye and there I was, all confused, not knowing
where all this was going to lead.
Since I had not
eaten for quite some time and I was starving, I looked in
all the cabinets of the apartment to see if I could find
anything to eat. I was unable to find anything except a
big bag containing sugar. I boiled some water and I put
some sugar in it, and this was my first "meal" in
Belgrade. Somehow it stopped my hunger! I had very little
to unpack from my suitcase as almost everything in it was
filled with presents. (In fact, the only thing that I
unpacked from my suitcase was a suit and a white nylon
shirt. The nylon shirt was extremely practical as you
could wash it in the evening and have it ready to wear on
the next morning!)
I was determined
not to use my available 200 Yugoslavian dinars on food or
other necessities of life as I had no idea where I would
be needing that money for my escape to the West. Aside
from the presents that I brought with me, I had smuggled,
inside a pack of cigarettes, 5000 Romanian "lei" which I
knew to be worthless currency here. And that was
everything that I had at my disposal. Aside from this
precarious situation, I was enormously concerned that my
whereabouts somehow would be discovered by someone from
the Observatory in Bucharest. I did not like at all the
situation in which I had been boxed into. There were too
many factors and variables outside of my control which
could have brought everything down to an abrupt end.
Well, it was 5
o'clock in the evening and my friends arrived. I was
genuinely glad to see my second friend, who I
particularly liked. I gave him a nice Romanian tablecloth
as a present. He immediately invited me and his colleague
to dinner in his house as he was eager to show to his
wife the new tablecloth he received. Boy, I sure was very
glad of the invitation as my hunger was coming back. On
the way to his house, I asked him if he could arrange
first thing in the morning to see the Observatory's
Director as I needed to explain to him that my visit here
was that of a tourist and not of a scientific exchange
purpose. He was somehow surprised to hear that, but he
assured me that as a matter of protocol the Director
would see me first thing in the morning.
Next morning, this
second friend and I went to see the Director. After
thanking the Director for the hospitality and the guest
apartment that was arranged for me, I asked the Director
for a favor stating to him in the presence of my
accompanying friend this:
"You
see I am here on my vacation, and I would be very
grateful if you would not mention this to my
Director in Bucharest. You see many people back
home would be jealous that I have money to travel
abroad and afford to have such a beautiful
vacation."
"That is no
problem" --the Director replied, "but I am glad that you
told me this as I inevitably would have mentioned this in
my correspondence to Bucharest." Somehow relieved of the
assurances received, my accompanying friend and I left
the Director's Office with a tiny smile.
The rest of the day
was pleasant as I became acquainted with many of the
members of the Observatory, learning a little bit about
various scientific projects that were in progress. As a
result of another present given to one of the fellows
that I met, I got invited again for supper. What was to
be my next move towards my escape still eluded me. I
needed a good night's sleep!
