Today I left Lebanon!! Beirut to be specific and also I loved every part of it !! I also found out that I has overpaid for the hotel charges and decided to wisely invest that amount of money on some cds and books!! I didn’t want to be the major contributor to the piracy revolution in general.Recently I had read 4 books in the twilight series and was in the whole reading groove suddenly and wanted to read as much as possible!!! So after investing in some good books I came across this amazing book called “How to lose friends and alienate people” by Toby Young which supposedly produced into an amazing book and I was immediately intrigued > now 79 pages into the book ands finding it extremely interesting on the terms that what satirical humor stands for I now realized that how much I am enjoying this when I took the time to write this blog as something happened while going thru customs and immigration. Let me start from the beginning about my visa related issues!! My visa was issued from the Lebanese embassy in Kuwait which was for 15 days and I had overstayed 7 days and expecting a fine I came pretty early to sort out the issues at the airport. It was then I was going thru the usual immigration issues and the immigration officer found the fault and took me to his supervisor who in turn gave me the old very very dirty eye until he saw my nationality.

“Do you know Shahrukh Khan???”

“Yes”

“Do you know Aishwariya Rai??”

“Yes”

“Do you like Biriyani??”

“Yes”

“Spicy??”

“Yes”

“Did you like Lebanon”

“I loved it “

“Good. Good.I love India very very much !!!!” he exclaimed in his thick Lebanese accent.

That’s when I relaxed.

“Where did u go in Lebanon??”

“I went to Monet street,Gemayzeeh,Forum de Beirut was all I could muster”

“You didn’t go to the mountains “ he said as if I had committed a crime.

“Well I ran out of money”

“Well you spent it in all these places”

Then he exclaimed that “Well I hope you had a good time and are coming back soon”

I asked him “What about the fine??”

He said something I will remember for the rest of my life “You didn’t have enough money to see the mountains how can I take money when you didn’t have enough money to see my country. Next time you come go to the mountains and come with an extended visa”

I was stumped and touched. He told me go on and this is the one of the most chearished memories I carry of Lebanon.