So you guys think we are making this up ? Ok read on.
December 29th, 8.30pm: We catch a cab back to the airport. Each time we make the trip between the airport and the apartment, it costs us 20 Euros. Not that the place is the Sheraton either. Every time we venture out, we always see two men holding hands, or 2 women kissing. Seemed like a very liberal area. There was this poster on a wall near the taxi place that Saru and I admired, inspite of the predicament we were in. It was in Spanish, but there were these 3 gorgeous women in it. We don't know what they were advertising for. What ever it was, they definitely caught our eyes.
9pm, and we were in the airport. Immediately, Saru and I went about trying to talk to a policeman. There were these cops directing traffic near the arrivals. Coming to think of it, we never ventured to the departures section at all. Weird. We met the driver at the arrivals, and figured that's where he might be. We figured if there were any chances of running into this fellow again, it was at the airport. The city was bigger than NY City in area. No way we could have run him down anywhere else. One of the 2 cops, Raoul, there spoke a little bit English. He seemed like he was willing to listen. To make sure we understood him correctly, he took us to the Europcar car rental kiosk inside the airport and had the nice lady there translate for him. He reiterated what Elizabeth had told us- Go to the Lost and Found department in the airport and in the city. He also warned that chances of getting back the stuff was slim. We told him we were going to be on the lookout for the driver at the airport, no matter how much time it took. He seemed surprised by our resolve, and told us to only note the taxi's number and let him know. He warned us not to talk to the driver. Turns out he was a cab driver, before he became a cop. He knew a few of the drivers. We were beginning to realize that the police and he cab drivers never really got along, and neither did the airport authorities and the cabbies.
Now that that was settled, Saru and I went outside and started patrolling the taxi stand for the driver. Seeing these suspicious-looking guys loitering about the gates, a few cab drivers started giving us the stink-eye. Some ventured to ask us what we were looking for. We told him, in broken Spanish and a lot of dumb charades that we had lost the laptop. We used the letter Elizabeth had written for us in Spanish. That and I re-enacted the entire scene of the driver noticing that the radiator was overheating, then lifting the hood of the car, then the incident with the laptop etc. At one point, he even screamed "Help!!" to the drivers to make them understand our state of mind. While funny on one hand, it was mostly a pathetic attempt. The drivers just shrugged and went back to playing foosball! While we were talking/gesturing to the drivers, some wise-ass set off a fire-cracker right behind us. We jumped, they laughed. Again not a very good omen. The drivers were just using us as comedy punch bags. We were convinced we will either get shot or mugged if we stood there any longer.
Meanwhile, Vamsee and Kala were patrolling the Lost and Found offices inside, and talking to the airport services people. There were a couple of nice people in the airport services office who called quite a few taxicab companies. It slowly dawned on us that the cabs were either owned by a particular cab company or privately-held. Slowly, Vamsee remembered that the cab in question was privately-held. The longer the night dragged on, the more despondent we all got. The driver was not showing up, and neither were the other cab drivers of any help to us. We knew a few of the cabbies by face. A few of them seemed sympathetic. All said the same thing: The laptop may very well have been taken by the next passenger, as it was left in the backseat. The driver hardly looks there.
11.30pm, and the driver still did not show up. So we decided to call it a day and take the last bus back to the city. While waiting to get a taxi from the cit center to our apartment, a taxi passed us by and the driver waved to us. We noticed it was one of the sympathetic cabbies. We reached home by 12.15, and tried to fall asleep. The landlord Pepe's pregnant cat started crying at 1.30am. Holy crap did that scare the wits out of me!! No one slept. Saru claimed he had to tell himself we would get the laptop back in the morning, to make himself sleep. Kala wheezed all night, and slept maybe for 30 minutes. I listened to the cat cry all night. Then soon, I could hear Saru in the room upstairs, walk to the bathroom and pee. The walls and the ceiling were very thin. Then I saw a hole in the bathroom ceiling through which Saru's talking and singing could be heard. Do you guys know that he sings like he talks ? Quite interesting. At 5am, I am left wondering all this. Soon everyone gets up, and we realize there's hot water enough for only 2 people!
We take the cab by the 3 pretty ladies poster again to the airport. The cab driver is by now familiar with us. We reach the airport by 9am. We have a quick cup of coffee. Then Saru and I go out and patrol the arrivals entrance for our cab driver. By this time, the number of cabs have multiplied. Every time a flight arrives, the crowd gathers and taxis start moving fast. We had to make sure we saw the cab driver. Saru and I had a routine. The passengers could board the taxis only at one point. All taxis lined up to that one point. This made our jobs a lot easier. Our routine was to walk up the taxi lineup, and bend down and look at each driver. This pissed off many drivers. Some would lift their chin up as though asking "What?? You have not seen a cab driver before?". Some were a little friendly and ask in Spanish "Any news or updates?". By this time I had mastered their shrug. Its an interesting expression. You shrug the shoulders, and open out the hands. At the same time, you roll your eyes upwards, while uttering an "Eh!". They seemed to understand that expression very well. I learnt to use that a lot. It means a lot in the Spanish communication. I used it for "Nooo. No luck", "How would I know?", "Sorry got no money", "Hey! What do I know?" to "When in Spain, do the Spanish".
After 1 ½ hours of this, we finally met Pasqual. He was this gigantic pillar of a cab driver. He spoke some English. His stature seemed to be as that of Rajnikant in Basha. He seemed to sympathize with us. He advised us to go to the Police department in Seville, where they kept photos of all the cab drivers of the city. We probably could pick out the driver there. Problem was only Kala and I knew the guys face well.
Saru came up with a good strategy. He and Kala would go to the police department. Vamsee and I would stay behind and try and nab the cab driver. We would leave each other messages on Vamsee's voice mail every 2 hours. Saru and Kala left for Seville by bus at 10am. Vamsee and I kept up the patrol. From 10 to 2pm, we did the patrolling in 5C cold. Vamsee was so tired by then, that she sat down on the bench on the sidewalk and fell asleep sitting down. She made such a sad sight, some of the cabbies seemed visibly upset.
Little did we realize that this was going to be one hell of a long day. Saru and Kala's one little police department trip became a full 8 hour ordeal...
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