Red Hot Chili Peppers – Gigography
Live in Indjija
I turned around, in disbelief, just to see a whole bunch of taxi cabs and busses all lined up in the opposite direction, instead of heading toward the train station and out of Indjija they’ve been all turned toward the field itself and the city center, which didn’t make sense. ‘What the hell where they doing’, I began to wonder, but it didn’t seem like I’d get the answer any time soon.
-It’s not too bad – I said trying to cheer up my friend – we are wet, and it is cold, but as soon as we get in the bus, we’ll just sit and wait and we’ll get to the train station eventually.
She nodded, and we got out of the field and on to the road. We were not the only ones; there were plenty of people around us, carrying the bags above their heads, trying to protect themselves from the rain on any way possible. Some even had the umbrellas! Yep, they used those as parasols during the day and now they’re using them again. How smart one has to be to get the idea like that, I thought and wished it crossed my mind…
We hurried down the road with the crowd, trying to keep close, just so we could warm up and prevent heat loss. It worked alright, and it felt good to be in this group of people as the loudest ones seemed to be in the good mood, they’ve been singing, turning the bad weather into a joke, laughing and reproaching everyone who’s been complaining. Even though I thought their jokes were stupid and I hated them for being so happy back at the time, they have managed to keep our morals up and that was enough because becoming discouraged was something we mustn’t let happen.
-God, I’m freezing – I muttered, as we were approaching the line of taxi cabs and buses, hoping we’d be able to get in any of those and just sit and wait till we reach the train station.
-You girls are lucky – called out a guy, who obviously heard me complaining, while passing by – You have the towels!
-The towels… – I said cursing, now only to myself, while noticing the towels we had around our shoulders. We used them to dry ourselves after the first rain shower – You want the towels? ‘Cause they’re all wet anyway…
We continued our way and as the rain was getting harder, and the wind stronger, the first lightning struck somewhere near, illuminating this horrible sight. And I couldn’t help picturing a scenario of yet another ‘end of the world’ type of movie. It looked just like that: a huge amount of people flooded the highway, there is that long, really long line of vehicles that are unable to move, chaos and panic everywhere you look and we only needed an earthquake or some other disaster so that the earth could fell open and swallow us all.
By the time we approached the first bus, it all became clear: we’re not getting into any of those. Even though the first couple of buses were empty people just kept going, and I could sense something wasn’t quite right.
-Please, are you heading toward the train station? – my roommate knocked on the window herself and asked the driver that’s been sitting in an empty bus
-No. No way – he simply told us – People have made reservations for this one, and it’s going to Bosnia.
-Bosnia?! – I screamed – Oh, no…
Our running with the crowd continued and whenever we approached another bus we posted the same question, and to our regret we kept getting the same answer, or no answer at all, just a simple ‘go away’ hand motion. I didn’t want to believe we’d be going to the train station on foot cause I knew it was a 20-30 minutes’ walk, which was pretty unthinkable to pull out under such circumstances. There were no cars to go in the right direction, just one bus passed us by but the driver wouldn’t let us in because the bus was already full. I couldn’t think of why all the vehicles were lined up in the opposite direction. And to make it all worse, the rain just wouldn’t stop but it was getting harder instead and I couldn’t stop shivering because it was so cold so I began questioning my decision to keep moving. It was too late to think about that though. While running between the buses that were going everywhere but to the train station, there we saw one taxi cab, then one more, then a whole lot of those…No one wanted to take us in, however, so we kept running helplessly and as we were moving away I heard a girl begging: “Please, let us in, we’re freezing, please, we’ll get into the trunk just let us in, please!”
Nothing seemed to work as they were already full so they just ignored everyone, pretending not to hear or see what was going on. Yes, that was the easiest thing to do. I wished I could have been an observer instead of being an actor in this adventure. People became hectic, even mad, when they realized that our last hope just shattered in front of our eyes. There was nothing we could do but keep going, and that didn’t seem good enough. Where were all the people in charge for this mess? Why there were no authorized people to say something… anything! It’s like they all disappeared – no organizers, no policemen, no security stuff – no one!
We didn’t lose our hope though, and so we continued asking the bus drivers if they’re going to the train station. What we saw next, was quite unbelievable, but it felt like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel – it was our way out, our salvation! All of a sudden people started getting into a bus and luckily, we’ve been very close to that group of people. More precisely, we’ve been right next to the guy that entered first. He just jumped in screaming, and calling out:
-Come on guys, get in, I’m doing this for you! I can’t hold the door any longer! For Christ’s sake just get in before everyone else gets in, we won’t find a place to sit. I ain’t holding the door because of the other people; I don’t care about anyone else really!
It all happened in a split of a second. He kept shouting something and all I could tell was that he was really upset. We didn’t hesitate, even though we didn’t know what was going on, we jumped in, found ourselves a place to sit and decided to wait and see what would happen next. I knew nothing, but didn’t want to know anything either, I knew just that I was somewhere safe, somewhere dry and that I was sitting, after many hours of standing and running. And I knew it felt good and that was just about everything I wanted to know anyway. Soon enough, the bus got filled with people, many of them were standing, but that didn’t seem to be a problem as no one complained. Everyone’s been lucky to just be here, as having a roof over one’s head felt so good for a change. The guy moved from the door, turned toward the driver and shouted:
-Now close the f* door, and just drive us to the train station! – his voice was upset, mad, and it became obvious that he was ready to do anything to get the bus going, which really scared me.
-I’m not going anywhere – the driver shouted back with serenity in his voice, trying to calm the guy down – I’ve already told you, this bus IS NOT going to the train station now, and I’m not allowed to take you there, so don’t expect I’ll do it!
-Oh, you may think so – as far as I could tell he was on the edge now – You are going to take us to the train station, and you are going to do that right now! Can’t you see we’re freezing??
-I don’t care – he sounded more confident now – Who the hell are you to give me the orders? You know what? I am going to call the police if you all don’t get out of this bus right now!
-Hahaha, are you kidding me? – he said going toward him, almost like threatening him – Can’t you see how many of us are here? Now better stop talking and start driving, we ain’t getting out until we reach the train station… And make sure it happens fast.
Everyone got quiet in expectation and the sound that followed lured the applause with one big hurrah; it was that of an engine. The driver closed the door, maneuvered around the buses and continued his way toward the field, from which we ran away a few minutes earlier.
-Why can’t he just turn around? – I said more to myself – This must be a one way street, but can’t he see the situation we’re in? He could have just turned the bus around. Simple as that! – but I knew he couldn’t do that, as the street was too narrow and other vehicles in the line have made it impossible to turn. He’d have to keep going until he finds a crossroad or any part of the street that is wider than this.
I heard people murmuring about where he’s been taking us, and if he would drive to the train station in the end at all, or who knows where! But, as someone from the crowd jokingly pointed out: “we have occupied this bus, there are many of us in here, and he’ll have to play by our rules because he is totally overpowered so there is no way he’ll resist”. My thoughts didn’t travel in that direction but I also believed he would obey, just because he was human enough to understand our difficult situation and besides, he would gain nothing if he would act maliciously toward us.
And our trip to the train station began…
