It’s rather ironic that the Indian Government is keenly advertising the buzz words caption “Incredible India”, in an effort to promote tourism to India. But, be warned. I hope you don’t get unlawfully thrown in gaol, like recently happened to me, at Chennai Airport. There is a familiar wise principle we all know: “If you give a person a fish, you feed them for a day. If you teach a person how to fish, you feed them for life”. On this basis, I occasionally leave my normal business as a Private Building Certifier with AAA Building Consultants and travel into India and Sri Lanka. While sightseeing on a tourist visa, i also like visiting friends in our United Church of God and many other people who seek education in values that will help them to obtain or make productive work and have a better life for themselves and their families. Teaching them to “fish”, if you know what I mean. Recently, I flew out of Australia, thinking that I had a multi-enty Visa to fly into Chennai, India, every 2 months, only to find out to my chagrin that the Chennai Customs Official interpreted my passport differently. So, I had to abort my entry into India as a tourist, and pay for another air ticket to divert me to Colombo over a week earlier than I had planned to visit there. Prakash, meantime, (my experienced Indian travelling ‘brother’, who i planned to meet in Kolkata, India), flew on bravely into Mizoram in far North Eastern India, where we had planned to visit and help over 60 people in Kolasib and many scores of people in Aizawl. After having paid for my diversion air fare at the Custom’s Office, from Chennai, India to Colombo, Sri Lanka, I sat down peacefully on some nearby seats, to await the 6hrs before my Jet Airways plane was to depart. You can just imagine how I received quite a shock when an armed guard suddenly appeared, took me and locked me up in the Chennai Airport “clink”! However, as he was taking me to the Airport gaol, I filmed him with my video camera, while he was closing the cell door and locking its padlock. If you think this is far fetched, just check out my YouTube of him locking me up, at: youtube.com/​watch?v=Kqy3Vsi5pgM Being a student of the Bible, I remembered a similar bad experience that the Apostle Paul had, being unlawfully locked in gaol and so I asked the armed guard my paraphrased Apostle Paul's question: "Why are you locking me up in gaol, when there is no legal charge laid against me, and I have broken none of your India laws? I wish to appeal to the Australian Consulate here in Chennai." (see my YouTube at: youtube.com/​watch?v=Kqy3Vsi5pgM) While I was in their Chennai airport gaol, held captive away from my luggage, they picked the padlock on my suitcase and stole all of my India and Srilankan currency i had in a money belt, under the lid of my suitcase, (about $AUS500). Over an hour later a young soldier had pity upon me being in the cell with no toilet facilities or food, so he opened the padlock on the gaol cell and let me out. Then he sat beside me on a bench seat in an open room area, as an armed guard, with his gun at the ready. Now i understand how Paul felt to some degree, being thrown in gaol for no legal charge. Streams of people coming off incoming flights into Chennai, walked past me and their body language to me was anything but nice, as they probably considered I was some sort of criminal. It was all set up to try to be as big a humiliating experience for me as possible. They would not let me go to the Jet Airways lounge and await my plane as the other normal passengers were allowed, and they would not give me my Australian passport, which was a huge concern for me. In fact, I was not allowed to have my Passport back until I my plane landed in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Needless to say, I am applying now for a replacement of my Passport, because I am worried that someone may have counterfeited it during my 6 hour ordeal at the Chennai Airport. After all, they brazenly stole my money, why wouldn’t they have been operating a “passport sting” operation as well? After four hours later, after being let out of gaol, I flew out of Chennai, India to Colombo, Sri Lanka, where Customs officials actually smile at you, remember you, and make you feel welcome. I headed for the Ramada Hotel and sadly, it wasn't until I was in my hotel room and opened my padlocked bag, that I found my tampered empty money belt hanging from its net pocket inside the lid of my bag, minus my $AUS500. So much for Jet Airways India airport security in India. Even if you have your bags padlocked they will find a way of picking into them. I have since written to Jet Airways, about my ordeal, but haven’t heard back from them. In Sri Lanka I experienced happy days and nights of extraordinary visiting experiences with our United Church of God, Good News readers and their relatives and friends, just as in parallel, my Indian friend Prakash was also doing in Mizoram, North East In

• published: 16 Aug 2011
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