1967 Border Jump

So, we made it through expressions of hate and crowds of demonstrators to the Pakistan/India border by horsecart.

There are about six of us. I knew none of the others as German Peter had returned home. So, I continued my journey East.

At the border we were informed that we needed Exit Permits and no amount of discussion or bribery was going to change that.

We handed our passports to a Danish guy and he went back to Lahore to get the permits we needed. Not a smart decision by post-9/11 standards but back in those days such actions were fairly common.

Anyway, we settled in as it would probably be the next day before our passports came back to us. We had no food but the border guards very kindly shared what they had with us.

At night the guards advised us to be very careful as Cobras were in the area. The guards had their Charpoys to sleep on which raised them off of the ground. Charpoys are wooden-framed, string-laced beds that are used throughout the area. Since we would be sleeping on the ground the guards advised us to sleep like spokes on a wheel, heads on the outside so that we could detect any approaching Cobras. Also, they gave us a lantern to sleep by so that oncoming cobras might be seen.

I drifted off to a uneasy slumber....

I awoke in the middle of the night to something moving on my sleeping bag. Shouting, I must have set a new world's record for exiting a sleeping bag and everyone woke up.

It was only a frog. I hope the guards had a good laugh.