On my First Trip Abroad
I was very elated when a research paper of mine was accepted for presentation at the University of Bonn in Germany. After all the hassle and a load of documents which were required for the Schengen visa, I was very happy that my visa was approved within 4 days when the usual duration is about 2 to 3 weeks and that too, the German Embassy was kind enough to grant me the visa without having to pay any fee for it. This was my first trip out of India and obviously, I was very excited and a little nervous too. When I reached the IGI airport in Delhi, I stood in a queue as was the norm for a boarding pass to Air India flight AI121 flying directly from Delhi to Frankfurt. Oh, well all was fine until this young man at the counter asked me where is the luggage that I would like to check-in. All hell broke loose. I prefer traveling light and as usual, I was only traveling with hand baggage which was about 5.9 kg. I think for the man at the counter, this was not a usual sight and was p...