As it turned out, crossing the border into India by the first new bus was not just a great story for the hacks, even the genuine travellers knew they were making history. After all, for more than a year, the international border between the two countries had remained sealed off with troops and tanks. When the Delhi-bound bus arrived at Wagah in the morning, around the checkposts on the two sides of the border appeared a sea of security people, intelligence officials, and of course, dozens of journalists. For the passengers, this was indeed the worst phase of the trip. The immigration, customs and security checks by the two sides took more than three hours.
The customs and immigration on the Pakistani side was old-fashioned but certainly faster than the one on the other side. The Indian system was more sophisticated and technology-driven (scanning machines, computers, etc), but it was extremely slow and, at least for the ordinary passengers, full of harassment. They didn't dare to intimidate the journalists, but I heard a customs official asking a poor passenger why he was taking so many undergarments if he was to stay in India for less than 10 days.
