Security! The first thing every citizen wants to get from their respective government; every father wants to give to his wife and children, every girl wants from her partner before getting in to a relationship. So yes, it’s important. But sometimes it’s also very dangerous when the fear to get secure reaches to a certain level. Then it starts hurting others.
Is it fair to spread the fear among those people who visit your place in the name of security? In last few years there are instances of people detained at international airports for hours due to their surname; color or wear is something got highlighted in media many times.
I hope the number of instances is going to be much higher than the stats shows. But those people who did not add to the list of people who were detained due to some reason or other in the name of security check, might not be that much important to get a place in headlines; because they are common people and anyone can do anything with them. May be they are habituated to these kind of things now. Things like these are somehow now part of their lives.
As per the reports- Here is the list of the People (well known) who got detained in USA airports due to various reasons-
Shahrukh Khan
- Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was detained at a New York airport for over two hours by immigration officials after arriving from India in a private plane with Nita Ambani(Wife of Business tycoon Mukesh Ambani), to address students at Yale University here. This is not the first time that SRK has been detained. He was grilled for more than 2 hours way back in 2009.
- Another Bollywood Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh, detained while he went there for shooting of a movie called New York; because the Officials could not believe that Neil was an Indian, because he was so fair.
- Former Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam was once detained and frisked at JFK airport in New York.
- Hardeep Singh Puri was also detained because he did not agree to remove his turban.
- One more bollywood actor John Abraham, was detained because his passport was showing he visited Afghanistan. (He went Afghanistan for shooting of a movie called “Kabul Express”).
And the list continues……
I do not want to increase the word count of this post of mine by inserting few more name who were detained. Obviously there are few more.
Now the question is- is it alright to detain someone in the name of security check for hours? If you will ask me, I will say- “Yes, I would not mind, if someone would detain me for few hours; until & unless he is not going to allow me to visit toilet after this 22 hours journey, Or tell me to remove my pant & shirt in front of officers, who believe I look great when I stand nude; or if he/she would give me a look as a 1960 hollywood movie’s villain. “
To be honest I would not mind, if someone would check my details without misbehaving with me or treating me as a suspect. After all, everyone wants to see this world as a secure place. So why would anyone complain? But the thing is that, how the officials are doing it! Are they doing this whole process, by caring about the emotion, self respect, integrity and belief (it may be religious or non- religious) of those people who come under the scanner?
If I would be In case of Hardeep Singh Puri, I would have done the same. Why should I leave my tradition if I am not guilty of anything If I have not done anything wrong in my life. But what if there is a common man like me, who would be told to do so! Might be I had to quit to the system. The reason is that old one, which some of you have ever experienced in your life, which is- I am a common man; and I can’t fight against the system alone. So there, it is wrong. You can hurt someone’s sentiment without any proof or evidence.
But the most highlighted issue was Shah Rukh Khan detained for twice (Here again the reason is very simple, anything about the actors and cricketers are best sellers in India). But I would be in place of him; I would be fine with that. If people can stand for hours in a queue to get a ticket to watch his movies in a theater, then why can’t he sit for two hours for the security of millions of people? What’s the issue here? Why do people like him, always expect to be treated as a star every where? Be a man; rather I would say be a common man; because- at the end of the day everyone’s root belongs to that only. Stardom, Fame, Position can never live for a lifetime.
May it’s all due to the country where we live in and the system which works here. Every place has two queues and a no queue. When I say two queue, One is for the common people and the other is for officials and the when I say “No Queue” it means for VIPs (Very Idiotic Personalities) there is no need of queue. They can enter anywhere. May be the hour & minute hands running in their watches have lot more value and ours do not. So they are not habituated to be treated as a normal person.
So it’s all about the game of mind set. No one does not matter what he achieved in life or to what position he reached he must be prepared to be treated as a common man; and the authorities must make sure they are not crossing the limit in the name of security.
Once, Henry Miller said- “The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble.”
So yes, security is good and it’s also important; but we must make sure the process of getting security does not hurt someone to a great extent. Most importantly we all need to think, what is the impression it’s creating on common people like me & you (Who are not VIPs).
Being Arindam.. 
Cassie's world
May 3, 2012
Sometimes it’s not understandable how they pick the people in security checks. Me and my boyfriend got picked once. First we had to wait several minutes in a special bordered area marked with an X. Felt a little bit embarrassing, but ok. Then they we got extra-checked and so was the luggage. Nothing wrong with that. But the thing was: they had given us an earlier flight – with marked tickets. So we were the last to board after running to the gate. I don’t know what would have happened if we missed that flight! Not very logical to give people an earlier flight and then let them be double checked!
But as you said, dear Arindam, it was not so much the why, but the how: the bordered X was a little bit to dramatic. They could have just ask us to sit down at the side, where we got checked later. So it felt like being in a fish bowl!
Arindam
May 4, 2012
Cassie, You said it perfectly, when you said- “It’s not about why, but the how. ” Absolutely, no one really worried about why officials follow such a process; but the question which is really important is- “How they do it!”
Just think how embarrassing it for a person who has to stand at a place mark with a “X”. This is what I want to say through this post. There must be a line, which no one should cross at the name of security check. I some how feel it’s some how bit disappointing and arrogant.
Let’s hope the trend will change soon.
amira
May 4, 2012
Once again, a very cool post. yes Sharukh Khan or whoever … should have a little patience for the sake of security …
the best part about this post is the totally handsome photo of SRK 😉 😆
even Neil and John 🙂 awesome picture.
and also, what you’ve done with your blog theme is also nice. that photo of yours[?] is also v v cool 😀
Arindam
May 4, 2012
Thanks a lot for finding the photo of mine is cool; but I hope I am going to change it soon. 🙂
And the best part for you in this post has very little to do with me. I did not take those pics; so I can’t take the credit.
As always nice to see you here Amira. 🙂
winsomebella
May 4, 2012
I am old enough to remember the days when we dressed up to fly, everyone was served a meal inflight, all baggage checked free and there was no such thing as airport security. I remember feeling a bit like a V.I.P. myself.
Arindam
May 4, 2012
You are lucky to experienced such peaceful Journey. I just hope that those old days would be back soon and we could travel as a VIP.
magsx2
May 4, 2012
Hi,
My husband and I got held up with security once, they thought I was carrying a large knife, and we were pulled aside, I was getting upset as we only had 30 mins to our next connecting flight, we were in a line with others, so by the time they went through my carry on bag, and found nothing, they again put it through x-ray and the “knife” was the edge of our travelling iron, we missed our connecting flight, we had already been flying for 19 hours, and on our way home from a great holiday.
When you travel from Australia or to Australia it is always between 18 to a 24 hour flight, we got held up in Sydney airport and missed our flight to Brisbane (home)
Arindam
May 4, 2012
The knife was the edge of your travelling iron. It was really funny. After hearing this story, let me tell you- the next time you will board a flight do not forget to take care of that edge of your travelling iron. 🙂 Some times things like these are really irritating.
Bella
May 4, 2012
With the terrorist acts that have taken place, I can understand the need for heightened security but I think we have to draw the line somewhere. Like you mention, it’s acceptable to be pulled aside for a security check as long as we’re not treated as suspects. We have to find a way to keep our airways safe without subjecting passengers to such strict measures.
Arindam
May 4, 2012
Bella, I am going to completely agree with you. We all understand the need for the security check, but it’s all about drawing a line at a certain point. No one has the rights to embarrass a person or hurt someone’s emotions if that person is not guilty of anything.
We all need to realize that issues like these equally sensitive as our security concerns.
Damyanti
May 4, 2012
Great analysis. But I think everyone wants Not to be the common man—including the common man.
I like that Henry Miller quote.
Arindam
May 4, 2012
Yes no one wants to be the common man; but the truth is each one of us falls in to that category.
Thanks for the visit & comment Damyati. Nice to see you here.
mj monaghan
May 4, 2012
Very good post, Arindam. Always thought-provoking, are you!
Security is a diverse topic with so many sides to the issue. People should be detained if suspect, but not if there’s no reason. Unless of course the checks are totally random.
Arindam
May 4, 2012
Thanks a lot Mj.
Yes security is very sensitive issue; yet the process must be done with taking care of people who are neither culprits not suspects. People must be ready to go through the checking process, with out having any fear & bad feeling in their mind.
Shakti Ghosal
May 4, 2012
A very relevant post indeed and you ask a very incisive question, Arindam.
At the end of the day, any structure designed to secure us from an uncertain environment is bound to impimge into our freedoms. Can there be any other way except catching intentions in advance?
Shakti
Arindam
May 5, 2012
There must be some way other than catching intentions in advance; it must be a difficult one though. Each one of us is ready to sacrifice little part of our freedom for the system that will make us feel secure. But what I am concern about is if those officials who are part of the system, spreading fear among the innocent people in the name of the system.
Thanks a lot for taking your time to read this post and sharing your thought here.
Mod Eye Moody
May 4, 2012
I did not know about Hardeep Singh Puri. Kudos to him, for not bowing down to the pressure. 🙂
I know an instance where famous Lavani dancer Surekha Punekar was detained and had to perform lavani in front of the officials to PROVE that she is really a dancer. How lame is that!
Arindam
May 4, 2012
Kudos to him for sure. Why should he bowed down, if he is not guilty of anything.
I was not aware of this event which you shared here. It’s really shocking & disappointing at the same time. I am going to google more about that event for sure. Thank you for sharing it.
island traveler
May 5, 2012
Somehow we all became a prisoner of our own fear. The media blares death and destruction every day. It seems that there is no safe place anymore. No security or alarm system of our very homes can totally give back that sense of absolute physical and mental peace. I just wish one day peace and goodness will prevail, if not during our time at least on our children’s generation. For now, we have to do our best to overcome the fear. The mind is a powerful tool. It command our whole being that everything will be alright. And it will. Thanks.
Arindam
May 6, 2012
Yes we all want peace and we all want this world to be a safe place. Let’s hope thing will work in a better way for our next generations. We all are now living a life with the fear in us. As always thanks for sharing your thought bro.
writingfeemail
May 6, 2012
It isn’t limited to ethnic appearances. My son was detained at the ripe old age of thirteen. I’ve been pulled aside and ‘wanded’ from head to toe and had residue checks on my baggage. I bought some letter openers in Australia with lovely little kangaroo handles. But the x-ray mistook them for knives. Don’t even want to discuss that interrogation. And the TSA ruined the zipper on my luggage when I went to Rome, taped it back together and the whole thing came limping down the carousel with half of my belongings missing and the other half hanging out embarrassngly. And I have a US Federal ID. So trust me, these people are not the only ones. And I do agree with you. The harassment almost makes the journey not worth taking. I want security without the fear as well.
Arindam
May 9, 2012
Renee the same thing happened with one of my blogging friend (Magsx2) from Australia. The X-Ray machine detected the rod of their travelling Iron as Knife. May be it has something to do either with the Australian Iron or those X-Ray machine at Australian Airport. Yes These things happens at other international airports also. But the thing is that, as some high profile people of my country detained at USA airport due to these invalid reasons which I mentioned in this post; so we only come across these stories via our media. Even my brother live in your country; and as per my knowledge he never faces any such problems.
Sunshine
May 7, 2012
Thank you for writing about this topic and it’s a fine line. As you said, we all want security but many times our actions are misread and either we are detained or pulled over for the wrong reasons. This is when our life journey gets rough and hopefully we can sail through it on our strong faith on the good works we set out to do each day.
I agree with Island traveler as well, ‘the mind is a powerful tool’ and we should use it often.
Arindam
May 9, 2012
Yes we all want security but many times our actions are misread and either we are detained or pulled over for the wrong reasons. But other than this sometimes this also happens that, a person is detained because an Indian is so fair or a person passport shows he traveled to Afghanistan. These things are really disgusting. Let’s hope one day things will work in a much better way.
Thanks a lot Sunshine for taking your time to read this post and & sharing your wonderful thought here.
Sunshine
May 9, 2012
It’s a pleasure Arindam. 🙂
Arindam
May 10, 2012
🙂
Maxi
May 8, 2012
It’s one thing to do a security check; it’s another to have overly zealot inspectors who go too far. Blessings – Maxi
Arindam
May 9, 2012
Absolutely true Maxi. The balance is what missing in this case.
jakesprinter
May 9, 2012
Sometimes the color blind the people never realize what`s really inside first go for it my friend 🙂
Arindam
May 9, 2012
Absolutely true my friend. We all need to realize what lies inside each of the human being; irrespective of color, religion or citizenship. Thanks a lot Jake for stopping by. 🙂
shamasheikh
May 13, 2012
The issue of security, specially for international travel cannot be emphasized enough…however, after saying and understanding that…it is the uncanny repetition of the random check…the insidious bias for particular denominations…the lack of genuine discernment…which is then carried out with utter disregard for sensitivity is what is objectionable and needs tweaking to meet and cover the issues at hand…
Like winsomebella I remember an era of a more gracious dispensation of elegance, charm and ease in the realm of travel…and miss it…
Very relevant post and discussion Arindam…
Arindam
June 13, 2012
Shamajee, it’s a wonderful thing that you experienced an era, where things are much simpler in this world. I wish & really do hope that, that era will come again. I completely believe in the saying that, “Everything comes & goes in a circle”. For example- the fashion trends of 60s are back again. So let’s see if things will be much simple again or not. As always thank you, for taking your time to read this post and sharing your valuable thought. I am really sorry for the late reply. 🙂
eof737
May 29, 2012
Terrible that some of the guys were detained before and found innocent and then detained again… ridiculous!
Arindam
June 13, 2012
Yes, Elizabeth that’s what I wanted to point out through this post. Somehow, it’s creating a fear among all those people who are innocent. I hope & wish that the security professionals will figure out something for this kind of situations.