Getting Hacked by King Khan Fans in Geneva

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I had a very interesting experience in Geneva yesterday. I take pride in the fact that I am an avid traveler and have been to various "so called" dangerous countries in this world like Iran, Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon and so on. When I went to these so called dangerous countries, I was advised by well wishers about things to do and things not to do, what to watch out for and what to overlook and the rest of the safety routine jazz. Yesterday I flew in from Amsterdam (one of my favorite cities in the world, but I will leave Amsterdam stories for a later time) to Geneva, Switzerland. Geneva is a beautiful city. It is home to several international organizations like the United Nations, Red Cross, WHO, ITU and many others. Geneva is a beautiful European city. It's very clean, pretty, and perfect, everything is in place etc. Its so picture perfect that it almost seems like a hospital...everything is sanitized and made perfect for you. In the middle of the city there is a huge lake and in the middle of the lake there is a huge fountain (called Jet d'Eau) that sprays water many hundred feet into the air and at night looks beautifully adorned in different color lights. In the backdrop you have the beautiful snow covered Alps. So like any other tourist yesterday I decided to take a walk around the lake, click some pictures and then go to the shopping district near the lake. One can't visit Switzerland without buying a Swiss made watch and maybe some chocolates. Anyways, while I was walking around the Jet d'Eau, out of the blue in this sterile safe environment, suddenly this Arabic guy came up to me and showed me a knife and asked me hand over everything I have. I quickly looked around and realized that like most other European cities there was nobody to be seen on the streets, especially given the fact that it was a cold rainy winter day. So getting help was out of question. Unfortunately, life doesn't prepare you for situations like these. No college, no degree, no James Bond flick, and no anything can prepare you for moments like these when you are put in a spot of bother. At this instance I had a number of things going on in my mind. I could maybe run for it, but then that could potentially be fatal. I also realized I had my 700$ blackberry in my pocket and my 300$ camera with all Europe photos in my pocket taken over the past 8 days. I also incidentally was carrying my passport with all my visa stamps in them since I was planning to take a tour of the UN later on and you need a passport to go inside. Plus in preparation for my shopping spree, I was also carrying my wallet in which I had my US credit cards, Indian Credit Cards, my Indian Drivers License, my International Drivers Permit, my Jet Airways card and other random loyalty cards and of course cash.

Maybe I could fight my way out. However, this Arabic guy looked quite well built and had another Arabic guy (his accomplice) standing guard behind him and more importantly the first guy had a knife pointed at my neck. So I thought to myself that there is no way I want to lose my blackberry, my camera with photos, my passport or my credit cards coz I still had to visit 4-5 countries in Europe before getting back to India. Knowing that I had not many options and my new found friends seemed to be in a hurry, I decide to reason with the Arabic guy...I put on my Arabic accent (the many hours of being the mastermind behind prank calls in college clearly helped) and started to negotiate with him. I even played the Arabs and Indians were originally "from the same tribal group" card, which I doubt had much effect on him. In my Arabic accent and broken Urdu/ French/ English I offered to give him whatever cash I have in my wallet, but in return of my nice gesture he lets me keep my other stuff. So I basically had to give him the 150 Euros and 80 USD cash I had in my wallet. So yeah surprisingly Geneva turned out to be more dangerous than Bogota, Beirut, Mexico City, Guatemala or Sao Paulo for me. If that wasn't enough almost as if to rub salt on my open wound, just as the two muggers were walking away...one of them turned back around and asked me: "Indi?" As I nodded my head in agreement, he replied "Shah Rukh Khan. Shah Rukh Khan" and broke into an impromptu dance step from Om Shanti Om. Don't know whether he was trying to be friendly or mock me. But I felt humiliated. I felt small. I felt helpless. I felt the power of Bollywood. I felt the realization that SRK is the King. I felt like boycotting SRK films.

With these mixed feelings, to make myself feel better I took some more photographs of Geneva on my still-safely-in-my-hands camera, I bought myself a fancy Swiss Watch, got a funky haircut and bought some random stuff. Felt good to at least have my camera, my blackberry and my credit cards still with me. Don't know what I would have done if I had lost all of that too, I still had another 4-5 places to visit in Europe before getting back to India. And oh yeah...it was nice to still be in one piece. One good thing I did was...while he was showcasing SRK's dance steps to me I surreptitiously took a hazy photo of him on my cell phone and then filed a complaint with the Swiss Police. Not that it's going to help but still. Now that I have a police complaint with me, I am going to check if my "supposedly comprehensive" travel insurance covers robbery as well. Lol. :) 3 hours later in the evening was my CEO training in Geneva. It went off well. Tomorrow I am going to Monte Carlo in Monaco...where apparently Vijay Mallya recently bought an island for a few million dollars. Life moves on.

(Ankit Fadia, 23 years old has written 16 bestselling books on computer hacking, delivered more than 1000 talks in 25 countries, received 45 awards, runs cyber security courses & provides consulting solutions to Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. He was recently voted one of the MTV Youth Icons 2008. For more information about him visit his website.)