Khan(t) digest it!

Just the other day, I heard news ‘break’ on the idiot box. A certain Mr. Khan had been detained at Newark airport for security reasons for over an hour. And trust the Indian media to blow things out of proportion! It’s like second nature to us! I mean, what’s the big deal? Just so you guys know, I don’t really feel sympathetic or anything towards him. But news channels just kept showing the damned thing on television the whole day. It was Independence Day for godsakes! Poor Manmohan Singh and his speech were relegated to the sidelines. No patriotic ‘specials’ or visuals of the flag-hoisting or ‘walks’ down memory lanes.. not even those depressing (and repetitive) stories on swine-flu…It was all ‘King Khan’ on Saturday.

Actually, that’s exactly the problem with us Indians. We carve out gods from mortals! (as if we had any less gods to pray to already!). We worship them and elevate them to the grandest of pedestals. That's when they begin to believe they are above the rest and don’t deserve to be subjected to mundane stuff like this. They detest being packaged with the common man and being treated like any other ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’. So what if Shah Rukh had to undergo an hour-long grilling at the hands of American authorities? So what if the Americans are paranoid about their national security? Isn't that precisely the reason why they haven’t let another 9/11 happen again? If that’s the cost a few must pay in order to keep an entire country safe.. well, so be it! In fact, I would suggest that India learn something from this, start taking its security seriously and implement such kind of practices at its airports as well(Plus, we’ll get a chance to hit back at those Americans!). After-all, we’re at a much larger threat from terror strikes.

And, by the way did anyone even notice what transpired in the news in July. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was apparently frisked on 24th April this year by the ground staff of Continental Airlines at IGI airport(in dilli). This was clearly a violation of protocol and they apologized later. But the point to be noted is that Mr. Kalam(for whom, by the way, I have immense respect) didn’t make any fuss about it. He quietly let them frisk him just like an ordinary passenger. Did the media give this case even a fraction of the importance it gave to Shah Rukh? Wasn’t this a bigger shame to the country? SRK, on the other hand seemed all upset and disturbed and angry. Come on, SRK grow up! You know as well as we do, there’s no VIP culture in the US. Nobody is exempt from security checks! No use taking the support of Islam and getting too philosophical. Thousands are detained at international airports for being muslims. You didn’t exactly raise your voice then, did you? For all the love, praise and adulation that people shower upon you the world over, you really better be prepared to take such things in your stride! And hey, what are you cryin’ for anyways man.. Al Gore, Edward Kennedy and scores of other senators and sport-stars are frisked and detained day in and day out at American airports.. That’s a pretty illustrious company to be in, ain’t it ‘King’?!
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