In2-MeC

Prague, Czech Republic
11 June 2004

After a much-delayed arrival yesterday, I am settled in at Prahlada-Nrsimha's place. The reason for the delay was double trouble at the German-Czech border. First the German border police did a random "shakedown" of 8 or so passengers, out of about 40 total on the bus. Guess what? I was among those chosen for careful scrutiny in the back room of the customs office. But it amounted to nothing except an hour-and-a-half delay. Back on board the bus, we drove a few meters over the border to the Czech customs house. There the police brought sniffer dogs up to check all the luggage. Two young women were caught with drugs. This meant we all had to wait a much longer time than on the German side. The chief inspector of police or whoever he was had to drive to the customs house from wherever he was to interrogate the girls and whatever else he had to do. In the end the bus drove off leaving the two unfortunate ladies behind.

For all you hear about German efficiency and no-nonsense police work, the Czech way of not fooling around with random spot-checks, just immediately bringing in the dogs, was the tactic that got results. The Germans just wasted our time and found nothing. Besides that, they looked and acted like dopes. The Czech cops were all charm and smiles. But they knew exactly what they were doing.

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