This is how close....

...I came to taking a picture of the Pentagon.












Yeaah Yeaah Yeaah..that's right..I managed to take a pic of the freaaaakin Pentagon Metro Station board!! I mean..it was crazy..there were signs and pictures almost every 10m to make even the most retarded person get it - NO PHOTOGRAPHY. What are they so freakin scared of that they don't even allow you to take pictures in the subway station! I walked around almost the entire perimeter of the Pentagon only to see more signs and hidden cameras everywhere!

Seeing all this security...made me (insanely?) even more determined to take a picture of the US Defence HeadQuarters.

And..nothing comes in the way of stan_da_man when he sets his mind on something.
Gulp..well almost...

You see...stupid-dumb-call-me-anything-you-want yours truly decided to go over to the entrance and try taking a photo...so I walked quietly to a good spot in front of the parking lot where I could get a good shot..I looked cautiously in all directions..didn't see anyone..guards especially...and ever-so-spy-like took out my cam.

And then...OUT OF NOWHERE...
A police car turned right into the parking lot! I hadn't seen better (or maybe worse, from my perspective) timing in my life.

Out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse the examiner turn and see you taking a chit from your neighbour during the final year University Exams. (Hasn't happened to me!)

You bunk a boring class and you try and sneak back after the class gets over. So you hide in the bushes nearby, waiting for the sir to leave the building. He gets out of the building, starts walking past, but SOMEHOW sees you hiding there and tells you to come out. (Has friggin happened to me!)

You're playing BZFlag with your project-mate during office hours when you're supposed to be working and then see a bad reflection - the relection of your PM on your monitor. He's standing right behind you. (No comments!)

Anyway, what I wanna say is...
Its one of those moments in life when you know you're done for. Khatham..Kallas...Finissssss.

I couln't hide my digicam...my gut-feeling was that the police officer had already seen me. Sure enough, the car took a U-turn and came straight back at me.

The police officer got out of the car, walked towards me and politely said, "Sir, I'd like to see your camera." Now that's another thing I've noticed here, the police are very very polite. I think even if they cornered Osama bin Laden, they would say, "Please Sir, please come this way..we just want to ask you a few questions. Its for your own security sir!"

I didn't know what to do, but suddenly decided to play dumb tourist. Smiling brightly, I said, "Oh you mean I'm not supposed to take pictures here?"...Even a blind person could not have missed all the signs, and both me and the officer knew it. "No Sir, you can take pictures of other places in DC like the White House, but not of the Pentagon sir. Now please show me the pictures you have taken sir. You will have to delete them or else I'll be forced to take your camera sir." I told him I hadn't taken any and proved it by showing him the pics in my cam. "See? Nothing!" "Ok ThankYou Sir, I was just jokin about taking the camera..but you should'nt take any pics here sir." Hmmmm...I don't know why I said the next statement, but I suddenly blurted out, "If I can't take any pics of the Pentagon, can I take one standing with you?" What the heck! "No sir!" he said, bursting out laughing, "you can't take pics of me either!".."Ohh alright then" I said smiling stupidly and he got back into his car saying, "Have a nice day sir". "You too!", I shouted back.

Yeahh..so that's how I got atleast this pic in the station after the incident. And you won't believe it, I got caught again! This time it was a lady guard, but luckily, she didn't ask me show her my cam, so I still have the pic! Yeaaah!

*****
PS: I deleted my "When Terror Strikes" post cos atleast 6 different people over here in the US told me to, citing reasons from bad humour to a FBI arrest! Well, I deleted it finally cos I was worried if it would hurt someone's feelings. If someone did get hurt, my apologies! :)