Enter the Dragon
TweetI presume every self-respecting English speaker out there has seen the Back to the Future trilogy. I know I’ve seen it. A few times. Alright, alright – Many times. Don’t tell me you haven’t. After years of sedentary living, my flaccid arteries can’t handle that shock. I might simply choke & keel over. Just haul your butt off that couch, rent the DVD & enrich your brain.
The hero, Marty McFly, is the only normal, sane character in the movie. Everyone else is quirky, eccentric or plain weird. Now Marty’s all ship-shape till someone utters the “C” word. “What are you, Chicken?”. A Double-Doggy Dare. That’s all it takes for Marty to unravel. “What did you say?” he demands swerving, beady-eyed & foaming in the mouth.
Each of us has a trigger, a set-point. If that’s breached, we all become as wild as a Bronco with a fly in its ear. We prance around whinnying till the madness passes over. I don’t dig horses: they look dumb. They aren’t in the least terrifying. If its all the same to you, I’d prefer to morph into a savage creature with a fearsome aspect.
Insult me. And I transmogrify into a Fire Breathing Dragon. Sparks fly from my eyes, nostrils & assorted orifices. I cast aside the cloak of decency, daub my face with war-paint & become a primordial beast. Take a hint, drop the offensive & talk about the weather. If you can’t – or worse, won’t – stop bullying me because you’re glacially slow on the uptake: Get ready to tackle Ze Dragon.
It all started because of Shah Rukh Khan. He was en route to North America, but he was detained by US Immigration. For being a Muslim. The fact that Khan is more tolerant than most people in the world (his wife is a Hindu), that he has received death threats from Islamists for integrating with India’s fabric – was lost on them.
Racial profiling is galactically stupid. Roughly 23% of the people in the world are Muslims. What’s the grand plan of the Immigration officers – stop every 4th person that passes through? What, all of a sudden, traveling under an assumed name has become improbable? If you think US Immigration used a “process” to zero in on Khan, think again. Recently, they detained another Khan – Irfan Khan. The enormously talented actor was on his way to receive an award. Don’t forget Aamir Khan: He was strip-searched & interrogated.
So, sorry to bust your bubble. No glorious, air-tight, Space Shuttle-Worthy, Lunar Module algorithms developed by NASA are at work here.
Khan is an internationally well known artist. Measured by the prevailing (and astonishingly appalling) standards of Indian movie-goers, he has even attained eminence. He’s from India, a country well-known for promoting its kitsch to the wider world. I expect everyone to do their home-work & this includes US Immigration Officers. How can you not know famous people, that too from a prominent country, when your job is to patrol, safe-guard & secure your nation’s borders? At best, that’s sloppiness. At worst – I’ll come to that later.
I tweeted about this & all hell broke lose.
How dare I call the officers ignorant? Not knowing SRK isn’t ignorance! You naïve woman. How can you fill your lolling head with stinking tripe from the mass-media? So SRK was detained – Big deal! Ex-President Abdul Kalam was frisked in New Delhi & we never heard a peep from him! People with Hindu names have trouble with immigration, how about that? Stop blindly parroting the news channels. How can you assume the officers don’t have a process? Are you even reading my responses? Shut your trap, will you? Woman?
These knights in shining armor, defenders of the officers in distress, were not American. They were Indian. Tamil. I found the stridency in their responses interesting. I don’t have a problem with disagreements or heated debates. Discussions are enjoyable & educative when decorum is maintained. People verbally lash out when they can’t land a stinging slap on your face. Its par for course when sensitive topics – religion, God – are discussed. I’m amazed that this vehemence was manufactured while debating the detention of an actor.
My personal opinion? I didn’t lose any sleep over “King” Khan’s detention. I don’t particularly care about him. In fact, I don’t even like him. He over-emotes, which is a polished way of saying “bad actor”. He takes himself way too seriously. He seems to think he knows more about cricket than Sunil Gavaskar. He thinks he has already filled thespian Amitabh Bachchan’s over-sized shoes. I think he sports a brand of arrogance born out of ignorance. But, he was a harmless, essentially decent, innocent man on his way to an event.
And yet: “People with Hindu names are stopped routinely”. What of it? Can you spell “Racism”? Immigration Officers in most developed nations can. To be fair, some of them can’t tell Arabs & South Asians apart. They blindly target “Muslim Looking” people, which in their mind involves a brown skin. That’s superbly dim-witted. Arabs are not the only Muslims in the world. Turks for e.g. are Caucasian. Arabs from Lebanon or Syria can be very light skinned.
But some aren’t that innocent. To them, its a God-given opportunity to parade their Xenophobia. “Damn foreigner, setting foot in my country. I’ve taken an intense dislike to you without any basis because I’m a douche-bag. I have the power, so let me taunt you, play Cat & Mouse with you. What are you gonna do? Call a lawyer?!”. So it goes.
I don’t expect most Americans to know SRK: Only people who need to know, such as officers at the port of entry. He has a wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s in London. He was a presenter at the Golden Globe this year. I don’t expect them to know the who’s-who of Indian glitterati. Only those who have a global footprint.
India, China, Russia and Brazil are the emerging powers. Their citizens travel more to developed nations, so I merely want the immigration officers to have some General Knowledge on these countries. And I demand that they make at least a half-assed attempt to review the paper-work of the visitors.
Back to my bug-bears. In retrospect, I wonder how much of their nonchalance was attributable to their inability to identify with SRK. Let’s up the ante. Would they be this insouciant, if their people – whoever that is – were stopped? Or would they thrash & moan about the ignorance of America? Would they lament that the Indian Government was in cahoots with the enemies of the Tamil Cause? The answer is mired in our views of identity & clan behavior.
Maybe my views are all wrong & I’m a bungling idiot. Perhaps I’m a sock puppet manipulated by the media. But that’s irrelevant. Those are my views & I have a right to air them. Your discomfort over my views is not my problem. If my opinions irk you, don’t read them. Its that easy. Your disagreeing with me doesn’t give you the right to slam me. You can’t verbally abuse someone because they published their thoughts in a public forum. If you think you can, you have an Anger Management problem, coupled with Chronic Hostility. You need help.
Nasty people hide behind their Digital Avatars. They know fully well that they can’t diss you face-to-face, you’ll tear them apart & make ribbons out of their innards. But, what can the Dragon do about online meanness, in twitter? You can put your foot down. But if that doesn’t work – Its a good idea to take the high road & not stoop to their level. Oh, un-following & blocking are good too. Dragons don’t reconcile.
Jerks teach us a lot, if you’re willing to learn. They’ve taught me how not to treat people. So I let sleeping dragons, broncos & buzzards be. I try not to trip on their tails. Working them overtime just won’t do.
What do you think about Shah Rukh Khan’s detention & Dr Abdul Kalam’s frisking? Do you think racial profiling works? And how do you handle meanies online? Tell us!
Good post Priya. I think most people misread the SRK episode as a celebrity tantrum. I wonder how they missed the subtext.
In the post 9/11 world i was always “randomly” selected. i tried to make light of it but it is hard to get rid of the feeling that i was being racially profiled. The immigration department definitely needs a better process other than a “stop all brown skins and islamic names” rule.
To be fair, i have come across quite a few smart immigration officers. One time, one of the officers looked at my passport for a minute and dug up some obscure fact and asked me about it. I was impressed and i must have conveyed that with my expression and he said “hey i get paid to dig up the facts about people”. I wish the person who reviewed SRK had that type of attitude.
As for meanies, my approach is to just ignore them. At the first instant that i realize that someone is insulting, i completely ignore and don’t respond. A no response completely disarms the verbal/virtual attacker.
Sukumar – Thanks for your comment.
Its interesting what you say – people missing the sub-text. Reducing people & circumstances to caricatures makes it easy for people to pronounce a judgment & move on. The alternative – thinking things through – takes too much time & sounds like work.
Yes, many immigration officers are decent people & quiet a few of them are smart. But like you say, I’ve been “randomly” selected for further questioning too.
The classic cold shoulder! An effective way to deal with meanies.
Priya,
A very nicely written post!
Firstly on the Shah-’rukh’ episode, The Americans have been known for this pomposity of theirs for quite some time. And hiding all their insulting behaviour behind the cloak of ignorance just wont do. Kamal, Mamootty, now the khans – the list of Indian actors and definitely other persons they have frisked is quite long and all one can say is that if they choose to remain moronic, idiotic and as ignorant about the world as a bat is about eyelashes, well…..god help them! It shows what sorts of people actually can get employed up there and go about exhibiting their power. this thing about exhibiting the power they possess is generally done by the most narrow minded people who somehow find it gratifying to make life difficult for the ones they come in contact with.
And this thing about getting personal on somebody online because of their views is pure rot if you ask me. These are exactly the same people who can be called intolerant and the fellows who run about with blinkers up their eyes. Maybe it gives them a high – but it definitely makes them look like the grizzlies. What is the point of these people visiting online forums etc is what I dont understand -they are not gonna agree to different views anyway and on top of it spoil the decorum one implicitly is expected to maintain. The ones who crave for attention if you ask me.
You do best when you ignore them like. maybe they will stop.
Once again….I must say I like your language and the way you put your thoughts.
Back to the future? I think I have heard of it…
About the shah rukh khan detetion, I don’t really think it was a big deal but I agree with you when you say that the officers should have known khan and should have tried to expedite the process instead of playing the fool (Maybe it was a process flaw, maybe they made a mistake, but we can never say until the complete truth is out there) and yeah Racial profiling is just BS.
Priya,
Here is my take on the subject. You said – “I don’t expect most Americans to know SRK: Only people who need to know, such as officers at the port of entry. He has a wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s in London. He was a presenter at the Golden Globe this year. I don’t expect them to know the who’s-who of Indian glitterati. Only those who have a global footprint.”
I do not agree with this. I have no issues if an immigration officer does not know anything about Indian actors, however famous they are. This is like saying Indian immigration officers should know about Meryl Streep just because she is a gazillion Oscar award nominee and winner.
I would rather that everyone be given equal treatment irrespective of their stature in society. If it were someone with diplomatic immunity, I would understand the hue and cry. But actors, celebrities etc. – they should be treated like you and me.
I agree with other things you have said – Any kind of negative profiling is based – whether it is based on looks, skin color, last name, the fact that in is wearing a beard etc. But, we should also let the officers do their job and not making an already difficult more irksome. I think this was much ado about nothing.
Now, about the folks who have responded in an obnoxious manner – there are some whose comments are only obnoxious and you can perhaps have a conversation with them. There are others who as themselves are obnoxious and you simply unblock them. No use trying to straighten a dog’s tail.
(This topic reminded me of the movie “The Peacemaker” where a person with diplomatic immunity smuggles in a nuclear weapon to blow up Manhattan. Yes – it is a silly movie, but is the plot that preposterous??).
Goofy – Thanks for your comment & kind words.
Bats have eye-lashes? Guess we live & learn
I didn’t know Mammooty was detained too. Kamal Hassan, if I remember right, was detained in Canada. I wouldn’t squarely blame the country for what its officers did. Dealing with the govt in any country is difficult & India is no exception. About wielding power in meaningless ways, worse people get employed in developing nations – as anyone who wants to get a ration card in India can attest.
And you’re right, there’s no point in connecting with grizzlies.
I can understand the feelings of millions of million people in India, but questioning an actor is not a big deal. I think any thing related to USA is a big impact on Indian ( in that case ROW also ) minds. SRK is well known actor,super duper guy but bollywood is always famous for underworld and some links with terror, some one told me Sanjay Dutt also from same bollywood, those things are stored in database.
A good post Priya.
I too agree that there should a good process and this racism is a worst behaviour… However i don’t think the Immigration should know all the popular or so called VIP Indians… I second Ganesh in this. Though he is a wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s in London and a presenter at the Golden Globe this year, that doesn’t mean every US Immigration officer should know him.
@ Sukumar,
// A no response completely disarms the verbal/virtual attacker. //// Great thoughts…. Salute…..
Ganesh – Thanks for your comment.
SRK & Meryl Streep: I wouldn’t compare the 2 in popularity. Perhaps his popularity is on par with Michael Jackson’s on his hey-day? Only at a smaller level. Indian immigration officers better know Tiger Woods & Brad Pitt. In any case, I expect slightly better behavior from developed nations.
I don’t expect celebrities to get preferential treatment – I don’t recall alluding to that. If people follow a meaningful process, if they’ll apply their rules equitably – no problem, they can get away without additional knowledge. But if they rely on wonky ideas like racial profiling, they better know who need not be subjected to a strip-search.
In a site like twitter, we’re lucky if we know 10% of the people we follow. We may meet a few more in tweet-ups & befriend them. The rest are strangers. In such weak relationships, there’s no way to tell an obnoxious comment & an obnoxious commenter apart. If the exchange was very acrimonious & I don’t have any other ties with that person, I un-follow & block them.
Jass – Thanks for your comment.
You haven’t seen “Back to the Future”? ACK! {Falls down in a fainting fit}
Yep, its no big deal that it was SRK that was detained, but as you say, racial profiling truly rankles.
Subba – Thanks for your comment.
I don’t know if SRK is a super-duper guy. As I said, I don’t care. Yes, the Hindi Movie Industry has links with the underworld. According to you, because of 1 Sanjay Dutt, its perfectly OK to detain everyone from the Hindi Film Fraternity? This line of thinking makes no sense to me.
I’m Tamil, Velupillai Prabhakaran was Tamil, so I can be detained for a robust round of questioning?
They have it all in a database, but it doesn’t tell them who SRK is?
What’s the intent? That if you throw the net wide enough & question, oh, 4 billion people, you’ll eventually find Osama bin Laden?
Priya,
The whole SRK episode was both, celebrity tantrum on one hand, also an exhibition of the colossal meanness on the part of American customs in particular, the people in general.
SRK was detained for a little over an hour, ostensibly, happens with most people, but none of us go around shouting hoarse that we were treated like dirt. We come to expect of it. Moreover, our media was only waiting for one such incident – that includes ‘eminent’ columnists (Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra and the likes).
Now the most interesting part – the Americans. Have a great quantum of misplaced fears – a morbid fear that every man/woman/animal from Asia/Africa/Eastern Europe sets foot on their holy land to blow it up. African Americans they are supposed to call a strata of their citizens, wonder how many of them are yet to get over the words “nigger” or “black”.
We, The Indians. Born in India, call ourselves Indians (yeah, South Indians, North Indians, Bengalis, Tamils – but yes, all Indians in a way, only in the name, not in thought) Wonder what in the distant land enchants them so much, that they forget where they are. A leading newspaper runs editorials that all is well with China and India need expect no fear from them. Surely the commentors on your tweet must’ve been of this genre.
Racial profiling? Hmmm.. well, if I’m an average half-educated US drunken labour working at the local meat store, I’d shoot down every non-white human there exists in my neighbourhood. If I’m a customs official, well, I’ve gotta think a little. And online perverts, God bless them. We better ignore.
I just love the tone you use Priya.
Thanks for the kind words Srividya.
Srividya – Thanks for your comment.
If the officers followed a sensible process, instead of relying on half-assed methods to weed out “threats” to their nation – I would agree with you. They could have checked his papers, seen that he had been to the US before, wondered if anything other than his surname made them view him as a threat.
Racism is paraded under the garb of Racial Profiling. As you say, that’s terrible.
We like it or not, Immigration system works that way. I was “detained” at BLR airport by immigration officer because my passport is from Trichy, he told me Trichy is main center for LTTE. I was then transferred to some main cell, they inquired me for 1 hour then released me. One of my previous project,USA embassy rejected my team member visa because his name is same as 1 of Sep 11th terrorists. What to do it is life here after Sep 11th?
Priya,
\\Bats have eye-lashes? Guess we live & learn \\
The point is – They don’t right? And definitely they oughta be ignorant about eyelashes for they dont have eyes and hence no lashes
Now if someone sent a link proving that bats do have those lashes…..I admit my ignorance
Priya, great post. Very topical at this point it seems. Where do I even begin on this..
I am not sure I will be able to post a very well story-boarded comment so I am just going to talk out loud.. please bear with me..
1. Have you seen the movie – New York? Same topic, same arguments for and against racial profiling. Its hard to decide one way or the other (maybe not that hard for the person being profiled)..
2. Life is all about probability. Eveything is possible, however some things are more probable. Fundamentally, what is wrong about choosing an approach that focuses on probability than possibility?? I call it the mosquito effect. If you get bitten by a mosquito, you go out and try to kill all mosquitoes that come into your house. You do not tak a random sampling of mosquitoes, gnats, ants and then kill them in the hope of preventing mosquito bites.. same theory. The odds that a person with brown skin, belonging to a certain community is involved in a certain type of activity is higher for one segment than another. I am all for racial profiling as long as there is justified basis.
3. Indians in general are a celibrity adoring people. In addition, we happen to be generally more well read than several other cultures. In the US, they are somewhat self occupied and have very little time or patience for anything that is not soaked in ‘Americanism’. I remember vividly (and could not control my laughter) when George W Bush did not know who was the prime minister of India when he was running for his first term. The odds that an Indian (especially those that travel internationally) knows Sarah Jessica Parker is far higher than the average American knowing who Simran is. That’s just the natural order of things.
4. Our celebrities just cannot digest the fact that they be treated any lesser than they expect to be treated. They need to understand that this evokes two kinds of reactions. One to be completely servile and treat them as God. And the other the kind of people who would take sadistic pleasure in giving them a hard time. They have to deal with both, such as the common man does based on other things like race, sex, age, the colors of their shirts, etc.
5. How coincidental that this so perfectly fits his upcoming movie ‘My Name is Khan’ and is based on racial profiling. Someone smell anything curiously funny here?
Balajee
Racism is a killer i would say…
Priya you alwayz rock wit ur words and am a great fan and staunch reader of your post..
So wen are you gonna publish your book???
waiting to read your book soon….
Srinivas – Thanks for your comment & kind words.
Yes, the media likes its 3-ring circus. Let’s not set store by them. Let’s say it wasn’t SRK, but an average, decent human being. There wouldn’t have been any tantrums or hoopla, but the meanness remains.
Have you seen the movie “Rendition”? It narrates the story of a normal man & how CIA treats him – for being an Egyptian. There’s scant evidence against him, what’s there is tenuous – but hey. He’s Egyptian.
There’s a lot of paranoia in the world after the spate of terror attacks. I understand that. It will take the African Americans a little more time to forgive America, for what has been done to them.
Regarding India, urban India, the differences that you cite are fast disappearing. Indian nationalism is definitely on the rise. But urban India ain’t the whole of India.
Not all under-educated people in developed nations are racists & trigger happy. Only some are. I’ve met many wonderful people, who didn’t have much money or education, but had large hearts. Some of my fondest memories of the US/UK are about such people.
Ignore insolent people online – Hmm, that seems to be the prevailing opinion. Makes sense too.
One clarification – point 2 should read – ‘I am all for profiling.. not racial profiling’
The point I am making is that in order to have certain things, destructive testing is the only way. If the profiling is done out of prejudice, then it is a problem, but if it is done out of probability.. so be it.
Agree on your assessment of the bashers.
Let me add a perspective on immigration officials when it comes to Actors being detained. [CE - I am sure some of it is a hangover from too much Thriller fiction] As I understand, some of these celebrity actors travel frequently to US via Europe and directly. Earlier, we had spies traveling in similar patterns (frequent multi-stops) under diplomatic channels. In today’s world, terrorism is the key problem and it works in a distributed fashion. They operate in “cells” – what they need to succeed are 2 items: A. Cash flow (meaning raising cash as well it flowing to the right cells) B. Conduits that relay information.
For people who are trying to catch spies, continuous (unbroken) background info is the comfort zone. For those who fall into the travel pattern that can facilitate the above 2 items and for whom the immigration folks do not have unbroken background info, they could get jittery. This COULD be one reason why actors from India and APAC get detained.
Subba – An immigration officer detained you – because you were from a city that had many LTTE terrorists?! Sounds downright arbitrary & stupid to me. Does that make them think they’re getting some work done?
The world after Sep 11th. We can’t justify everything, including Guantanamo by citing Sep 11th. I’m all for security, but implemented through meaningful steps that can yield results.
Goofy – Let the weekend arrive, I promise you I’ll seize some bats & look for eye-lashes. Till then, mate. Till then
Priya,
In our company, there was a strict rule, that even if the CEO comes to a particular office, the security officer should follow the process outlined for him.. and i heard, that all our top managements adhere to the norms, and voluntarily give themselves to security check..
If that is the case, which we cherish as part of our corporate culture, why are we adopting a different standard for public life?
Secondly, i dont think, how SRK’s detention would lead to racial profiling, because neither indian nor muslim was attributed to race here..
Also, do you have any statistics of how many indians were detained at US airport, and out of that, how many are muslims? only then, we can conclude whether SRK’s incident was specifically targetted or NOT..
I remember, even our former external affairs minister jaswant singh being frisked at US airport. So as many other people, from different parties..
Balajee – Thanks for your comment.
I haven’t seen New York, thanks for the recommendation. I’ll rent the DVD. I’ve seen “Rendition”, with a similar theme.
I think profiling makes sense. FBI uses it. The police have psychologists churning out probable profiles of criminals, for e.g. I’m all for profiling if sufficient thought goes into it. I like people chasing probabilities, not possibilities.
>>The odds that a person with brown skin, belonging to a certain community is involved in a certain type of activity is higher for one >>segment than another.
The above is what I call casting the net too wide. If you’re stopping Muslims or people with a brown skin & that’s the only reason you have to stop them, you should have some method to figure out if they’re innocent or not. If not, you’re not swatting mosquitoes, you’re bashing anything that flies. Not a sound algorithm.
The Indian society is more hierarchical & there’s a huge gap between haves & have-nots. So, we’re obsessed with celebrities. As I said, I don’t care what celebrities think or how they wish to be treated. The US immigration dept needs to find a way to detect terrorists better.
>> My Name is Khan
LOL – That would be truly diabolical
Annapoorani – Thanks for your comment & kind words.
My book – after hiring a body-guard, maybe? Just kidding
Thanks for your encouragement.
Priya,
first of all for whole SRK episode: Well I really stand by your thoughts.
what the whole episode brings to fore is we as a nation have double standards … if it happens wid any of our citizen even our Pesident..we say “chalta hai…” and if the same happens wid any US or European our officials would have gone head to toe on it…
We keep our self steem low which we need to change.. we are no more submissive to any damn nation of world.
to handle those who keep the opinion of indifference and arogance just one golden rule :
Never argue with stupids.First they will bring you to their level and then they will defeat you by their experience.
Hari – Thanks for your comment.
I was speechless when I read your explanation. It was like a kick to my solar plexus. Very out of the box. {Complete Silence for 5 minutes, except the tick-tock of the clock}
{Wakes up suddenly}And very James Bond. All it needs is Daniel Craig to strut his stuff
But this is interesting stuff. I mean, wouldn’t there be other people with a similar pattern of traveling? Top Brass in big companies, for e.g?
Senthil – Thanks for your comment.
I don’t expect special treatment for celebrities, nor do I condone their tantrum throwing. I’m all for everyone following the rules. But we are not talking about that.
Half-baked, ill-formed, ad-hoc, discriminatory procedures that serve no purpose need not be accepted. “Interrogate aggressively anyone who has a certain skin color” cannot be accepted as a legitimate rule.
If “Muslim with a Brown Skin” isn’t Racial Profiling, I wonder what is. You can argue that “Brown skinned Muslim” is not a distinct race, but they (US) don’t know that. To them, many of us look like Arabs. And they have a simple rule of thumb: Arabs = Bad. Poor Arabs, most of them are harmless & normal, like people from any country.
Its OK if they question suspicious people more. But detaining them solely for their skin tone or name sounds bad.
They stopped actor Neil Nitin Mukesh recently & I thought they had some logic behind stopping him. He’s very light skinned for an Indian, so they wondered if his passport was forged. They let him go after ascertaining he was who he said he was.
Priya,
This I agree with – “The US immigration dept needs to find a way to detect terrorists better. “.
At one point, I started wondering if you were just offended by the fact that the American immigration officers did not know that Shah Rukh Khan was a big India celebrity, which I am sure you would agree is silly
But, looks like that is not your grouse. Glad to hear that.
Also, I do not believe that just because SRK has been to US multiple times should be used as a criteria to not detain him. *IF* there were sufficient reasons to detain him, then the officers were simply doing their job. If it is based on an incorrect system, the system should be corrected, which we all agree with. The pendulum has swung the extreme way after 9/11. It will take some time and public opinion to force it back to the center.
Priya – you being speechless for 5 minutes… thats quite figurative.
Yes, there would be other people such as execs. Again, I suspect, the overlap of such pattern with lack of b/g info will point towards rich & famous in non-US/Canada/W Europe/Australian world.
Priya, Excellent writeup.
I remembered back in 2003, after the security check, the officer asked me to strip. I was speechless. Then it was a joke. For someone with a bad sense of humor and very tiring journey, it was irritating at the best and frustrating at the worst.
Coming to SRK, I dont care. But I think we have better procedures now like Fingerprint scanning etc which are quite effective. Not sure what triggered the flag. I dont believe it is just Khan or Shan in his name.
BTW, one of my friends was stopped at airport in security scan, he had a blade (old style Topaz blade). After second screening. they found another blade this time under the hardplank of the duffel bag. They had to strip frisk him. He gave no choice, I guess.
BTW Sukumar, you gave ultimate remedy to tackle irritants and allergens. Our life is too valuable to be bothered by them
Rupesh – Thanks for your comment.
What you say is interesting. India is a very hierarchical society, it has a well entrenched class system. So, some people are more equal than others, as Orwell would have said. This is manifested in our need to have heroes. We deify them
& entrust them with the collective pride of the nation. Diss them, you’ve dissed us all. Hence the furore over celebrities ill-treated in foreign nations.
The good news is, the educated, urban people are disgusted by this & are moving away from hero worship.
>> Never argue with stupids.First they will bring you to their level and then they will defeat you by their experience.
This is a gem – Absolutely love it
Ganesh – Why would I be offended if the US immigration officers did not know Indian celebrities? I’m surprised the post gave you that impression. Had India meaninglessly detained a well known quarterback from the US, my post would have been the same.
I was pained – not offended – when Kalam was frisked. Not because he was the ex-President of India, but because he’s a humble, venerable person.
I was irritated by the SRK incident. Because – people did their jobs stupidly. I hate hare-brained rules that don’t yield results. Not just in immigration – everywhere.
When I said the authorities should have looked at SRK’s travel records – it is in conjunction with the prior statement – that no meaningful process was used to detain him in the 1st place. If I thought he was detained with sufficient reasons, I wouldn’t have written this post.
Yes, it will take some time for the paranoia to go away. Then, the pendulum would have swung in the opposite direction
Thanks for your kind words Vamsi.
Ganesh, don’t you think the SRK episode is a good opportunity to force a discussion on what are the “rules” being used by US Immigration and swing the pendulum to the middle? If a tom-dick-harry was detained, there would be no discussion obviously.
I remember Brazil introduced a tit-for-tat fingerprinting system when the US introduced it [ http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1231-02.htm ]. Not that i particularly support what Brazil did, but it points to the rising clout of the BRIC countries. This is not the same world that existed 20 years ago, notwithstanding 9-11 which seems to justify all manner of privacy violations, renditions and detentions.
I hope the SRK and Kalam episodes force the US Immigration Authorities to rethink their policies.
Vamsi – Thanks for your comment.
>> the officer asked me to strip
Wow. You were just frustrated. As a prim & proper conservative Indian woman, I would have had a nervous breakdown.
I wonder if they would have detained someone with a non-Muslim name for grilling, given the same trigger (whatever that is).
I feel sorry for your friend, but they do warn us not to carry blades, knives etc. We can’t carry such “weapons of destruction”
Priya,
1.On the rules changing, I guess that will only happen in Authorities don’t brand these events as “Collateral damage” and want to work on improving this.
2.A lesson learnt recently.
a. Similar to prev comments. – Fight with a pig in mud. It enjoys it and you don’t.
b. If you sing to a ping 2 things happen – 1.it does not understand it, 2.It gets annoyed.
So strategy stay away from pigs.
Kumaran – Thanks for your comment.
On the rules changing: I agree with you, the chances of it changing are slim. To none.
About your lesson: ROFL
You made laugh so hard that I dropped the laptop 
Priya,
Glad that we are on the same page. This is what confused me a bit –
Khan is an internationally well known artist. Measured by the prevailing (and astonishingly appalling) standards of Indian movie-goers, he has even attained eminence. He’s from India, a country well-known for promoting its kitsch to the wider world. I expect everyone to do their home-work & this includes US Immigration Officers. How can you not know famous people, that too from a prominent country, when your job is to patrol, safe-guard & secure your nation’s borders? At best, that’s sloppiness. At worst – I’ll come to that later.
Sukumar,
Agreed that this could be used as a lesson to edge the pendulum to the middle.
Rupesh,
Loved your “Never argue with stupids..” comment.
Thanks Ganesh for agreeing with me.
If Tiger woods had come to India and Indian immigration officials had detained him for one and a half hour, stripped him and asked him questions to the effect -”’liberation TIGERs of tamil elam” flashed in our screen. who the hell are you”..our own news channels would have mocked at the ignorance of Indian officials
Immigration officials ought to treat with some courtesy,atleast the person their own diplomat in India has hailed as a global icon.. they should also show some sense to know what happens in other countries and cultures …may be they don`t have any G.K tests
for immigration officials, like ,’which is the film industry that produces max no of films per year in the world’ or ‘who among the following is an Asian actor who has his statue unveiled at Madam Tussaud’, the MCQ ones which we will have even for a clerical job—whose job may be only tallying some numbers or sales figures. 
This needs to be linked with the general way airline and immigration officials are behaving, particularly the Kalam episode was really serious showing no regard to protocols we wanted everyone to follow. As Sukumar said if a tom-dick-harry was detained, there would be no discussion and I think it was the right time for the govt to take the matter strongly with the U.S.
Arun – Thanks for your comment.
Excellent point
If they had done this to “Tiger” Woods in India, we would be the laughing stock of the world. US & world media would have skewered us. Our own media would have been merciless.
For my part, I would have written a post dripping with venom. This post was rather mild & sedate by my standards. Then, I would have become really angry.
Yes, officials who are in people facing roles should know how to balance courtesy with harsh action. But such a balance in the port of entry means, immigration officers need to use their noodle. Everything can’t be explained away by 9/11 & a bunch of ill-conceived rules.
While I agree that the GK of govt officials needs improvement, I hardly think India is a shining example
Many Indians have a poor understanding of the West or its culture. Forget the West, I think most Indians know very little about their neighboring states or other religions practiced in India.
Yes, the diplomatic circles should take up this issue. Perhaps we can also do some soul searching to see if we treat people well in our ports of entry.
I am not sure where to start –
1. Racial Profiling: It is inhuman. It should be acted upon seriously. It must be taken up by the US govt. and by the UN only too seriously. But they aren’t doing it. Why? Maybe because the now too cliched ‘All Muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims’. Maybe because they do not ever want another 9/11 to happen. What is India doing in this regard? Are we pushing the UN to look into this? Are we taking a tough stand with the US on this? The ‘this’ of course not limited to the King Khan incident. We aren’t taking a stand. Why? Maybe because we can’t afford any dent in our relationship with the US. I have my doubts if the Indian govt. would have stayed mum if it were a smaller country in which we vest lesser economical interests. And, moreover we can’t open our mouths maybe because we discriminate. We profile people racially too. Don’t we?
2. Famous Personality: Probably the security should have known. But apparently they did not. Or maybe, just maybe, they have been educated too well about the ‘Bollywood-Underworld’ connections? Sanjay Dutt? Ram Gopal Varma? Who was that with drugs? Some tapes of talks with Dubai? I am not saying there is any amount of truth in any of this – but doesn’t that lift the blame off them? At least a bit? And I wouldn’t blame the educators too – better safe than sorry, no?
3. Indian Stand: India wouldn’t take a stand on this, like it does not on any other issue of international significance (except for the NPT). We wouldn’t care less if SL is going down. We won’t say a word against Iraq invasion. I don’t expect us to spill a word here too. Let’s face it – we can’t do w/o American support. We need them to be with us. Or at least, we can’t have them against us. Heck, no one seems to oppose them.
4. Americans: I really don’t see this as a national/ international/ racist issue. There has been NO terrorist attack in America after 9/11 – and that, in the current world, seems commendable. The world has had to pay, true. Muslims continue to pay. True. But as a nation, US has taken a step – it has made its own country secure. Indians, I don’t know, have had what 5 attacks in Bombay-Delhi in the past 6-7 years? Can any of us tell with any amount of confidence that Bombay or Delhi wouldn’t be attacked again in the next year? And I am not even considering Kashmir and the N-E.
So, in all – and I know I haven’t been really coherent and have sort of stuttered in stating my thoughts, still – I feel that what US is doing is probably not acceptable – but, as a govt. it is effective and has made life peaceful for its citizens, in a sense. I understand what you are trying to say – and I sort of empathize with your PoV too – but can’t really agree to squarely blaming the security for this incident.
And, let me say – what a start to the post.
Brilliant writing…
/** Half-baked, ill-formed, ad-hoc, discriminatory procedures that serve no purpose need not be accepted. “Interrogate aggressively anyone who has a certain skin color” cannot be accepted as a legitimate rule.
**/
I think, its too far a conclusion to arrive.. while i normally do not support US in many aspects, i feel, this issue is blown out of proportion by our media.. I dont know how it is discriminatory? Is it discriminatory, because SRK is frisked?
They are doing their job, and we need to judge, only based on how they are discharging their duties w.r.t their rules..
I quoted our corporate culture, because, the understanding is that if CEO is left out of frisking, it will create a negative culture of leaving off preferred people from frisking..
Similarly, in US, if SRK is being left out for popularity, wont it set a negative example of many other people?
I think, we are over reacting to this incident..
Very well written post.
As for the main issue, maybe an important point is that not everyone appointed to a role can do that consistently without guidelines, so they have to issue some, including arbitrary ones, like harassing brown skins and folks with last names of Khan. In theory, racial profiling is bad, and so is being misinformed about the details related to your job. But c’mon, with the general lack of GK of anything outside of their borders in the US, how many well-informed immigration officers are we going to find? So the system HAS to rely on process, not judgment.
I am not defending the officers by any means – but the alternative, which is to have the officers use judgment on who to detain & frisk, and who not to – would be fraught with other risks. It is pretty much the same system that disallows us from taking water from outside into planes because it could be a bomb! How insane is that?
As for ‘Back to the future’ … love it, seen it many times. And the main premise of flipping on an insult – well, it has been the staple of many a Hindi and Tamil movies too, with entire ‘epics’ being based on an unsavory remark on the hero’s mom or sis. And loved some of them too, honestly.
Senthil – I’m not sure you understood the point made in this post. Forget the media, they’re over-reacting, since they’re after TRPs.
Nowhere does the post say – “Treat celebrities with kid gloves. We want processes circumvented for them”. I’ve clarified my stance in the post, as well as in my responses to various comments. Please see Ganesh’s comments & my responses to him.
>> I dont know how it is discriminatory? Is it discriminatory, because SRK is frisked?
Let me repeat myself – I don’t care about SRK. SRK was detained – not frisked. That may be unimportant. But it brings to light what is done to ordinary people. Forget discriminatory, the pressing concern is – the rules used don’t work. Please read on.
>> They are doing their job, and we need to judge, only based on how they are discharging their duties w.r.t their rules..
Well, I’m questioning how those rules were arrived at. There are a set of well thought-out guidelines & rules – which we agree with. Then there’s a whole set of ill-conceived “rules” that were put together hastily, post 9/11.
Please see my post & responses to comments again. These hasty rules are half baked. They are not well thought out. And some people in immigration use it as an outlet for their xenophobia. Additionally, it makes authorities chase possibilities instead of probabilities. Which isn’t a good algorithm. If they tweak their rules meaningfully, I’ll accept them gladly. Proper profiling makes sense.
If you still disagree with me: You have a right to your opinion. We have to agree to disagree.
Priya,
your thoughts on the following news..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Heat-on-SRK-was-because-of-scanner-on-Bollywood-shows/articleshow/4916759.cms
It details about why srk is detained, and it also shows, that he was NOT detained for two hours as claimed..
Who is right and who is wrong in our media?
There seems to be hell lot of intellegence data that’s NOT available to common public like us.. in such case, how can we come to instant conclusion..
I was to post the same link here Senthil.
Anyway, Priya – I agree to ~ These hasty rules are half baked. They are not well thought out. And some people in immigration use it as an outlet for their xenophobia. Additionally, it makes authorities chase possibilities instead of probabilities. Which isn’t a good algorithm. If they tweak their rules meaningfully, I’ll accept them gladly. Proper profiling makes sense. ~
But then, what’s proper for you – ain’t necessarily proper for someone else. Right? Can we have a ‘proper’ profiling algorithm? Some parameters or variables that probably we might put forward? Till which time we could come up with a ‘proper’ algorithm to suggest, validate and implement – I think we have to live with the improperness.
In other words, I agree this is not the right way – but I somehow can’t say so till I can figure out a better way. And @xenophobia – we all,in some form or the other, have it, don’t we?
Thanks abhinav..
There is no rule in this world, that is perfect and universal.. what americans do is unquestionably for protecting the security of their nation, and they dont mind, if there is any one or two such cases.. after all, the furore is only in india, and the americans never considered these noises in our indian media as worthy..
We need to learn from them, on how determined we should be on the national security.. ofcourse, they could not afford to take the risk of another 9/11.. we often undermine the very gravity of 9/11
Senthil – When someone says “Let’s agree to disagree”, that means they politely disagree with you. It also means they are not interested in discussing that issue with you further.
You’ve made your point & you are entitled to it. Thanks for your views. If you have some other point that you have not made so far, you are free to make it. Otherwise – Please move on.
Priya,
We agree to disagree.. that’s fine with me..
But you have made a serious accusation in a public medium against american officials that SRK was detained because his name ends with “Khan”. and i pointed out a latest news report, that SRK was detained because of the controversial links his sponsors in US had.
If you feel accountable for your accusations, you may offer an explanation w.r.t the latest news.. Else, if you want to have the privilege of indian medias (of accuse but no need to answer) , then i will leave it to you..
I will end my point here..
Senthil – Thanks for the link. But, please note that Subba already pointed out possible underworld connections, so the point you made is not new.
Let me repeat myself: This post is about a pattern of behavior, not about this incident per se. Anyone who travels to US or other developed nations will have a 1st hand experience of what this post says. I’m also speaking from personal experience.
>> But you have made a serious accusation in a public medium…. If you feel accountable for your accusations… etc
Let me gently remind you of something: You make many accusations in your blog posts. You haven’t defended most of them to our satisfaction. That doesn’t stop you from making further accusations & you haven’t provided enough of what we consider evidence. I think this is the same as “not being accountable for your accusations”.
But we think that’s OK. You have the right to your opinions. Which brings us to the topic of freedom of speech/expression. Let me repeat this point – its already mentioned in the post:
Just because something is expressed in a public medium doesn’t mean the author has to satisfy everyone who disagrees with him/her. Perhaps the other person refuses to understand. Perhaps the topic is difficult for the other person to comprehend. That’s not the author’s problem. And in some cases, maybe the author is wrong. But s/he is entitled to his/her opinion.
There is no law against expressing one’s opinions in a public medium. If anyone has the right to take umbrage at my views, its the US immigration. They don’t need help from anyone to defend themselves.
And this is precisely what agreeing to disagree means. Freedom of speech & expression. We disagree with you, we may post some comments on your blog post, then we move on. Even though you haven’t satisfied us. We take your right to express yourself seriously, even sacred.
Thanks for ending this line of discussion.
Abinav – Thanks for your comment & kind words.
Yes, India is no shining example on how to treat people. Our govt doesn’t take racial profiling seriously. This probably doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of their priorities. And I think that’s OK.
Please see my responses to Subba above. Just because there are 1 or 2 infamous characters with dubious links with the underworld – doesn’t make everyone in the Hindi Film World guilty or suspicious. That’s as bad as suspecting every brown skin or Muslim. Isn’t that racial profiling? You’re entitled to your opinion. But, I respectfully disagree.
Randomly stopping brown skinned people/muslims on the ports of entry has not made US a safer nation. Investing in their security forces & making meaningful changes in their administration – that helped them. Their armed forces & law enforcement departments use up-to-date equipment & they are technically savvy. Whereas, we have very little people & too few boats patrolling our coasts, along the Arabian Sea & the Indian Ocean. Even our fearsome Black Cat NSG commandos botched their operation on 26/11 due to poor organization.
I’m all for meaningful processes, so I want the immigration departments to tweak their entry procedure a little bit. We don’t have an option but to live with the rules imposed on us, meaningful or otherwise. But that need not stop us from questioning them.
I’m not at all Xenophobic – I love all cultures. I can’t speak for my compatriots – nor am I bound by their actions. I’ll speak against racism & xenophobia wherever I encounter that. If Indians show these streaks, they aren’t exempt from my criticism either.
Arvind – Thanks for your comment & kind words.
All jobs need guidelines. As an Engineer, I appreciate processes, frameworks & rules. But I disagree that arbitrary rules are “process” & I don’t think they work.
Let’s say most officers don’t know that Indonesia is a largely Muslim country, with increasing fundamentalism. If they use a half-baked Racial Profile (such as “Stop Brown Skinned Men”) – Will they pause to question Indonesians? Will that rule accomplish anything – Other than irritating South Asians?
I don’t mean to say Indonesians are dangerous, that’s not my intent. I just used that to illustrate how arbitrary rules don’t work.
Yes, Immigration Officers may not have much GK. Which is why they need solid guidelines & rules – instead of arbitrary rules. The solution is for the Immigration Departments of developed nations to have a better thought out process, that has more precision to identify truly dangerous people.
Priya – We have the right to question alright, no one’s stopping us; no one can. I am quite with you on raising the questions – but raising a question is one thing and concluding the baselessness is quite another. I am a bit wary of terming the American procedure as baseless or random, unless I know what the defined process, if any, is. And I am sure making a security check process public would be the most ridiculous thing to do.
But yes, as much as I hate to, I guess this is a case where I have to be content with your agreeing to disagree…
Keep posting…
@Back to the Future: I was meaning to respond – I saw all the 3 parts on Star Movies bang during my final year Engg. examinations..!
Entertainment at its best…
Abhinav – Shashi Tharoor has written an article in Huffington Post. Perhaps you’d like to read that. He talks about his experience in racial profiling & how he was “randomly” selected for screening, repeatedly. There’s a phrase in Tamil: You don’t need a mirror to see the wound in your palm.
Here’s how I read your comment – We can’t conclude the process is baseless without knowing the process. We can’t know the process since they won’t go public with it. Ergo, we can’t conclude it baseless
But, suspending judgment on the US immigration officials is a fair, unbiased position to take & I respect your position. Let’s agree to disagree.
You saw the movies during your semester exams?! ZOMG
And yes – Star Wars is wonderful. Remarkable imagination!
Great Post Priya and as usual it took some time for me to understand
I am not in favour of Racial profiling and US has reached its pinnacle of Xenophobia…
Its not fair to single out people with Islamic identities as terrorism has no religion….this has been proven in Ireland and East Timor and even in India.
I am even more diasppointed in on more thing they just questioned King Khan instead of actaully strip searching him the..the officer has failed in his duty:)
On serious note ,I guess we need to give his due to Shah Rukh as makes the most of his publicity out f any event ( he has a movie release based on 9/11 this year).I feel in a way we need to appreciate this guy’s sales promotional talent .