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."
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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!
