During my trip from North Macedonia to Greece, I met a few immigrants trying to enter Greece illegally.
The first case was that of an Albanian guy, who was detained at the Greece border. In broken English, he told me he was struggling financially and wanted to move to Greece to earn money, so that he could take care of his family. I can still remember the desperation in his voice. When our passports were taken for inspection by the officers, the anxious look in his eyes told me he knew his game was up. Greece is very strict on immigrants arriving from Albania and without fool proof documents, he stood no chance. A few minutes later, he was asked to step out of the bus and an officer accompanied him to the other side of the border. As our bus moved past the checkpoint, I looked back at him and hoped he will find a way to survive the tough times he is facing. It is unfortunate how a line on the ground can dictate the fate people face - just a few miles here or there can change one's nationality and be the difference between misery and happiness.
However, this incident was just a trailer of what was to come in my train journey from Thessaloniki to Athens. I met a couple of Pakistani guys from Gujranwala who had run away from their home towns and along with a few Bangladeshi men, were smuggled by agents into Turkey. Once in Turkey, these guys started doing odd jobs for whatever money was thrown their way. They tried to save a bit, so that they could send some money back home to their families. Side by side, they were also working with their contacts (and agents) in various European countries to find a way to move to Germany, Belgium, Holland etc. For them, that is where the real money is and life is much better too.
The guy I met had married a Turkish woman to ensure he could settle in Turkey. But, he was now running again to a different country in search of more money (& a new wife. His agent had smuggled him into Greece for 3 lakh Pakistani rupees. He says he entered Greece via the jungle route. I do not know whether it is an actual jungle or through the refugee camps which are sometimes referred to as the "jungle". The modus operandi is the agents dropping a group of people near the border, who wait amidst the trees till it was dark and then they made their move across the border. In the past, his friends had taken the same route but were captured by officers patrolling the area. However, they were released after a few days in prison and sent back across the border. The guy who was sitting beside me had survived a couple of days in the woods without food and had now managed to escape to Thessaloniki (located near the North Macedonia - Greece border). He was hungry and thirsty, his clothes were torn, he was beaten up by guards and had scratches all over his body. Still, he refused my offer of chocolates, which was all I had to share. Maybe, it was the adrenaline after the escape or the nervousness for what his fate had in store for him when he reached Athens. All he knew and cared about was that the conditions in Greece are much better and the currency exchange rate (with Pakistani rupees) is very good too. His plan was to slip into Serbia, where he felt sympathy for Muslims is more. After getting money or a new wife in these countries, his final destination is Belgium. He truly believed that his family or contacts would help him in finding a way to enter these countries, where he wanted to work and once settled, get his family members to join him as well.
I was struggling for words when he asked me what I was doing in Greece. I did not have the heart to say I was on a vacation so, I just said that I am here to study (I don't know whether it was better or worse!). He replied, "Indians are good in studies and they go everywhere legally". I am not sure about that, but I did not argue with him. His efforts to talk about Kashmir or Modi did not get him anywhere as I just said "I do not want to talk about politics". After having this long and heavy conversation, I tried to sleep. But, with a niggling doubt in the back of my mind about the safety of my backpack, I did not have a sound sleep. When I woke up in the morning, he was preparing to get down at a station close to Athens.
Once he disembarked, I kept thinking of how lucky I am to travel to different countries in the world and experience new cultures, whereas some people struggle to even fill their stomachs. The world is sometimes not fair, as how your life turns out depends so much on the country or family you are born into. It's like your fate is almost sealed right at birth !
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