The Bag... We reached Chicago’s O’ Hare airport well in - TopicsExpress

The Bag... We reached Chicago’s O’ Hare airport well in time for our 4 pm flight back to India. Despite the long hours Ive spent travelling, I remain a nervous traveler. Earlier in the day, we had carefully packed and weighed our luggage. We ensured that each bag was within the 50 lbs per bag limit. When we weighed the same bags at the United Airlines check-in counter though, we discovered that bathroom weighing scales can’t always be relied on (weight watchers, are you listening?) “Your bag is 8 pounds over the permitted weight Sir” said the lady clerk whose expressionless face made me even more nervous. I placed the 2nd bag on the scale. “”Two and a half pounds too much. You have to remove some of the stuff in there,” said expressionless face. “How much can we carry in our cabin luggage?” “All you can.” “Sure about that?” She shrugged and with a “Yea”, walked away to another counter. Mallika looked deeply concerned as she handed me the remaining bags. To our delight, we found that both bags tipped the balance at less than 46 lbs. We quickly transferred whatever we could grab through the half-opened heavier bags to the lighter ones. The check-in counter- front was a mess of half-opened bags. In between, we were struggling to use the electronic check-in system. I prefer the time-tested manual check-in any day. There sure was one stressed-out Indian couple at O’Hare that afternoon. I placed the first bag on the scale again – and it was exactly 50 lbs! Expressionless nodded, and before I could say “Is that Ok?” she heaved the bag with practiced ease on to the conveyor belt. Just as the bag disappeared around the corner and beyond retrieval, Mallika dropped a bombshell – “I don’t know whether I locked that bag” she whispered. “Too late. Don’t worry” I reassured her, not feeling so certain myself that all would be well. We were carrying some clothes and a few toys for the boys back home. Some were gifted by loved ones and others bought with hard earned Rupees. We knew that things often disappear at airports even from bags that are securely locked. I sent a silent prayer upwards and I’m sure Mallika did the same. When we picked the bag off the baggage belt at Mumbai, we noticed that the bag was NOT locked. Moreover there was that nasty depression on one side – clearly, something had been removed from there. Too busy to check the contents of the bag right away, I prayed again that the bag would be just as full as it was in Chicago. When we finally reached home and unpacked at 4 am- guess what? Not a single item had been removed. The depression was caused by our attempts to transfer the contents to another bag. We do serve a mighty God don’t we? An unlocked bag had passed through the hands of three sets of baggage loaders and reached Mumbai intact! If He can take time off for such mundane matters as an unlocked bag, why do we worry about our ‘big’ problems? Nothing is too small or too big for Him. Praise God for that!