Flying light

So you are an Indian citizen employed by a US firm, living in Bangkok and posted in Israel?8221; the El Al security agent asked, suspicion oozing out of every word. 8220;Can I check your e-mail on your laptop?8221; 8220;And while you are at it,8221; he continued relentlessly, screening me for tell-tale signs of untruth, 8220;give me the phone number of your last Israeli contact so that I can call that person.8221; These were the early 1990s, long before those dreaded 9/11 or 7/7 dates, and I was just going through a routine airport security check, just like everyone else. It was still the Age of Innocence, and the word 8216;terrorist8217; still lurked only in the confines of CIA handbooks.

To me, travelling around the world has always meant enduring security checks. In this ruthless domain, there was no political correctness. 8216;Sir8217;, 8216;please8217; or 8216;may I8217; seemed to be the privilege of the 8216;civilised8217; world. One of my 8216;security check8217; stories borders on the fantastic. I once spent an hour that seemed like an eternity, sitting on a charpoy with a Sri Lankan visa official in an interrogation room 8212; who first made himself comfortable by divesting himself of his shirt. Tenacious to the end 8212; he made no bones of the fact that he was hunting down Tamil Tigers 8212; he wondered why the Tigers had commenced operations in Bangkok.

That was a while ago. The sultans of security recently dealt another blow. These days I have become quite innovative in packing for a business trip. Dreading those luggage waits, I try to carry only hand-baggage. Squeezing out smaller portions of shampoo and cologne into vials and cream and toothpaste into sachets, I have assembled several 8216;mini8217; travel kits. I check these in my luggage, and leave one kit behind in our branch offices. This allows me to make all my subsequent trips without checking in any luggage.

However, recently, while visiting an important client, I committed a faux pas. After my meeting, I handed him one such parcel thinking that it would come in handy should I visit him again. He thanked me profusely for my 8216;gift8217;, and invited me out to dinner that evening. Embarrassed, I then had to tell him what the contents were.