I Am Neither a Bomber & Nor a Smuggler | Funny Incident

Two years back, I visited the airport for the first time and had my first flight experience. Everyone around me, my friends, colleagues, knew I was flying for the first time. Of course, they will know. I had started announcing to them and sharing my eagerness with them a week ago in advance! In addition, my parents used to say how pretty the earth seems from the top. Literally like a fairyland. “Going through the clouds and over the sky should definitely be enjoyment!”, I wondered.

All my dreams got wings, when I, all due to my exam ending, I could not accompany my parents to Gujarat (India) for an occasion. Therefore, I left the idea of 20+ hours of bus or train journey, and knowing how desperate I was to fly, my parents decided to book the plane tickets for me. 2 weeks after they were about to travel.

You know, when you have an occasion and you have to join a family function, but you are late to join them, you are going to the location behind them after a week, your luggage will definitely increase. In India, all the celebrations are enjoyed as a grand festival. All the stuff that they missed out, they will order you to bring along. The same was the case with me. The occasion was a small but important family gathering at our place in Gujarat.

The place where we live in Gujarat has (probably) no flour mills nearby to my area. Sweets, desserts, and puddings are just like an important part of any ceremony, my mom needed powdered sugar (We called it Buru in our local language) and besan (Gram flour) very badly. (I know, there are plenty of sweet shops there, in Gujarat, but Mumma prefers homemade sweets because she believes there is love and homeliness stuffed inside them). On top of that, a heartwarming occasion came up at another close friend’s place, scheduled just a few days later I was to arrive in the IT hub. My Mom asked me to purchase some housewarming presents for her. I decided to buy a night lamp. It was mind-blowing with stars, spaceship, and planet-type objects, when we run it, all the stars were moving inside a room’s wall – a total space kind of feeling. I got it nicely packed in a blue gift wrapper and added it to my already overloaded luggage along with the besan (gram flour) and powdered sugar. When it was time to put the add-ons to my luggage, I found this lamp in danger. So, I decided to put it in my carry bag (handbag).

My flight was scheduled for 9:00 AM. Dad had requested his office colleague to drop me at the airport. I remember I had woken up at 5:00 AM that day, all the result of fretfulness. My Dad’s friend came to pick me up at around 6:00 AM and the roads being deserted at this hour of the morning, We reached the airport in less than 30 minutes from my house, which implies, I was left there to watch the flight-notice of all the flights arriving and departing between the given time period.

I had submitted my all documents, my boarding pass, and all my luggage for the security check except my handbag and was roaming around nervously with full of curiosity. I had already inquired about my flight, where I was supposed to go. In short, almost every individual surrounded there nearby me, they all knew where was I going to! LOL!

I was having coffee at Starbucks (This is also the first time I visited Starbucks, they have bitter coffee that I was not used to consume!) when I suddenly heard the security personnel ask me to go with him, I said yes, and went behind him where he wants to take me. He was holding my lamp bag in his hands.

Hindi Conversations with security personnel

“Kya hai ismai,bulb hai?”

“Haa. Night Lamp hai.Kyon?”

“Yeh packing apko kholke dikhani padegi.”

“Par kyon?”

“Bulb detect hua hai.”

“Toh?Mai bata rahi hoon na,Lamp hai!Kisiko as a gift dena hai.”

“Bomb banane ke liye bhi bulb ka logic use kiya ja sakta hai? kya apko iss baat ka pata hai?”

Translation in English

“What is it inside, is it a bulb inside it?”

“Yes, it is a night lamp. Why?”

“You need to show me the packing and what is inside it.”

“But why?”

“We detected a bulb inside it.”

“So what? I am telling you that there is a lamp inside it, I packed it up to give someone a gift.”

“Do you know, To make a bomb, a bulb logic can be also used?”

I was like, “OMG! Am I supposed to be a Bomber or a Hijacker here?”

I opened up the gift wrap smoothly but with some hesitation and showed the officer how pretty the gift was! But murphy’s law decided not to leave me so easily as always. Just after I somehow packed everything back, and after a few minutes there came a new twist! Another security personnel holding my trolley bag. “The same overloaded trolley bag.”

Hindi Conversations with another security personnel

“Yeh aapka bag hai?”

“Haa, Ab kya hua?”( I was already annoyed!)

“Yeh bag aapko open karke dikhana padega!”

“Ohh! ‘itna bada’ bag kholke dikhana padega?”

“Haa. Isme Kuch powdered material detect hua hai!”

Translation in English

“Is this your bag?”

“Yes, what’s the matter? (I was already annoyed)”

“You need to show me, what is inside it?”

“Ohh! The bag is so huge! Do I really need to open it?”

“Yes, we detected some powdered material inside it!”

I was so angry with my mommy later on; Who gave the idea to send her the powdered sugar and besan with me?

“Look at this! This is powdered sugar and this is besan flour (Gram flour)”, I said holding both the packets, one in each hand.

That officer allowed me to keep the gram flour back in my bag but took away the sugar powder for testing in their lab department.

I asked the other one, who had checked my lamp, why sugar was being discriminated.

He said so nicely, “Drugs may have the white-colored, too!”

And I was yet again left dumbstruck. OMG! First, a terrorist and now a smuggler?

I saw that officer and his assistants were seriously checking sugar powder with some machine and they are smelling or tasting it too. Then the officer came back to me and asked me to pack everything back in the bag.

Also, I can’t forget such moments, the people around me were looking suspiciously at me!

Did my nervousness send out wrong signals to them?

Can somebody’s first flight incident be better than this?

When I said such an incident to my cousins, colleagues, and relatives – they all are laughing at me about such an incident! What a horrible thing was that!

This story was republished on vocal media by the author.