I'm Sorry, Mr. S.R.K. but that was a Cheap Publicity Stunt!

16th Aug,2009, 8am:A normal,socially aware Indian is in a holiday mood(thanks to the pleasant coincidence of Independence day preceded by Janmashtmi Holiday and succeeded by a Sunday). Sitting in his living room, he takes out the rubber band from the newspaper and unrolls it, only to be encountered by these headlines.





What would your reaction be? The natural answers would be anger, disgust, pain, patriotism, revenge and their synonyms but the most important one would be "Sympathy", wouldn't it? If you've read till this point I request you to go ahead and read the ENTIRE post because I have some evidence of backing up my views.

So, SRK, in his own words, was "frisked" at the Newark airport. I'm sure he meant it as a verb and the dictionary meaning for "frisk" as a verb goes like this:"the act of searching someone for concealed weapons or illegal drugs". So, first of all, there's no big deal in anyone being "frisked" at an airport. We all are "frisked" before entering multiplexes, malls, Metro trains and, of course, airports,right? SRK has repeateadly alleged that it wasn't a normal "security check" but it was frisking. I'm not sure of his vocabulary level but my limited knowledge of it tells me that the security personnel are being paid to frisk passengers, aren't they? After all, they have to ensure that no one is carrying weapons or drugs with him.

Secondly, Mr. SRK alleges that the checking took more time than normal and the personnel deliberately made him wait for two hours. The reason for this was mentioned very briefly in one of the newspapers but most of them just carried SRK's side and they never bothered to get the entire picture. Now that the incident seems to have been forgotton by the media, I decided to do some research on the facts and here is what I came up with.

The real picture:

Mr. Shah Rukh Khan was detained at the airport because his baggage had not arrived due to the airline's fault. Hence, he was made to wait until it arrived and was checked. I read it somewhere that the airport officials have claimed that the period of detention was exactly 66 minutes. However, I'm not sure of that so let us assume that it was 2 hours, as came out in the papers. Can someone please tell me where the airport officials went wrong if they detained a person for 2 hours because of the fault of the airline? Obviously, they could not have let him walk away without the baggage and then check it later. The other point of contention is regarding the popularity of the icon. I would excuse a security officer in Newark in the U.S. if he doesn't recognize a person who is such an icon back in India (just like people in Holland didn't recognize Sachin Tendulkar on the streets when he went there for a 3 match series)and frankly, even if he did, he would still have gone through the entire security procedure. Hence, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Airport security for International flights is a major issue and sometimes we will have incidents such as frisking of former President APJ Abdul Kalam(more due to the negligence of government in pre-informing the alirline) or an SRK.

It is unjust for anyone to pass judgement on an entire community and the fact that 9/11 has really changed the way Muslims are being treated around the world is really sad. In an ideal world, it should not happen and everyone should be treated equally. The sad part is that suspects of all the major terrorists activities around the world, be it serial blasts in Delhi, in London, in Madrid or the 9/11 itself belong to the same community and that is the conundrum. This is one incident in the U.S. but it does happen day in and day out to the common Muslim here in India as well. And clearly, it'll never happen to SRK here coz everybody knows him. So, before blaming the U.S. we have to set our houses in order. That said, the best we can do is to cooperate with security people all around. There's nothing to fear when we are right and when we demand a terrorism free world, the least we can do is to cooperate with the security agencies around the world rather than crib and complain.

And, Mr. SRK wants to frisk Angelina Jolie when she comes to India.... its fine if he was joking but there won't be many who would see it purely as a joke and the message conveyed looks more like targeting people from the U.S. in return,which is not the best way to respond.

Out of this entire incident, SRK has managed to cash in on the patriotic mood of the nation in promoting his upcoming movie,which is based on the same topic(I don't even want to name it). No matter how much he keeps on saying the now-familiar pharases such as "I don't need publicity", "I don't need these things to promote my movie",etc, fact of the matter is that publicity always helps and there's no limit to it. How can we forget that this is the same actor who would go to T20 Cricket World Cup in South Africa wearing a black shirt engraved with "Om Shanti Om" in golden colours prior to release of his movie? He would keep taking on an Amitabh Bachchan at an award ceremony or make comments on Amar Singh, Salman Khan and anyone else for that matter.

SRK no longer the icon he used to be for me:I grew up watching and liking SRK movies and I've always been his fan. However, such acts from him in the recent past has maligned his image and I now see him as a conceited, arrogant egotist. Success has got to his head and one such incident was prior to the IPL when Sunil Gavaskar criticised the Kolkata Knight Riders' "multiple captaincy theory". SRK pitched in for his coach(which was justified) by saying that I would stand by the decision of Mr. Buchanan(again, hats off to you for showing faith in your coach prior to such an important tournament) and those who disagree with it can buy their own franchisees and implement their ideas on them(perfectly unjust). Probably he tried to show that he has got the money to buy a franchisee and Mr. Gavaskar hasn't. For your information, sir, the day Sunil Gavaskar wants to buy an IPL Franchisee he won't run short of financers. Why does he forget that his domain is movies and he should not interfere so vociferously in subjects out of that domain. And taking on someone of the stature of Gavaskar was really uncalled for. Lately, he has been projecting himself as the "good face" of Islam, which is again, a creditable act because not many people have had the time and guts to do that. Aamir Khan hasn't done badly at all in this industry and the reason I value the person so much is for the way in which he does his work and raises his voice when he needs to(The Narmada cause). I loved it when he had a banter at SRK regarding the name of his dog in his blog. May be it was undignified but when we talk of SRK, we no longer need to be dignified. This country has got its hands full of crisis at present and we don't need gimmicks like these from our revered stars to distract us, do we??

Driving Woes in Delhi

Driving a car has been one of my less ambitious and more practical childhood dreams (few others being flying the MIGs and SUKHOIs and taking on the Taliban on my own, bombarding the terrorist camps in Pakistan, captaining the Indian Cricket Team to a World Cup win, winning a Grand Master title in Chess, becoming a multi trillionaire.... ok ok.. billionaire and taking jibes at that school time crush of mine for turning me down........ let's come back to the original topic!). It got realised rather smoothly, as last summer I learnt the art and managed to negotiate my way to a permanent Driving License without any fuss, thanks to my father's contacts. A broken number plate, two scratches, 12 months and about 1500 kms later, I can say that I'm about as close to being a perfect driver as a normal person who doesn't harbour dreams of taking up driving as a profession can get. The saying that one is never happy with what he has been proved true for the zillionth time, as I don't want to pursue my "dream" any more, unless I'm being pursued by an elder and more powerful family member(which unfortunately all of them are) to pursue it! Obviously, there are reasons to it and this post is intended to uncover them to my non existent readers.

Negligent pedestrians: This breed can easily be found here, especially on comparatively cramped roads(which are at least 16 feet wide anyway!). The idea of sharing the road with anyone else doesn't amuse them one bit. No matter how loud, continuous and irritating the horn gets, these runts continue the stroll in their backyards. I met one such person about 7 hours ago, while on my way to the Sarojini Nagar market and that is when the idea for this post originated(at least the person did something constructive). My honkings fell on deaf ears, as he and his friend were walking side by side, arms on each others' shoulders, probably celebrating the legality of homosexuality when he was struck by the bonnet of a Santro(deliberately slowed down to 20-30 kmph) right behind his kneecaps and he barely managed to avoid falling on the ground. He tried to give me an "Angry young man" stare but before he could put up a look to back up that stare, I was shouting at him, questioning the existence of his ear-drums, fully aware that we were in "my area" and there would be shopkeepers to help me out if the intended war of words turns leads to something more physical. However, it did not get to that and the fellow stepped aside rather quietly. This was a surprising case because the pedestrian was a male. Normally it is the fairer sex of Delhi for which the words "ancestral property" and "roads" seem synonymous. When you cannot predict whether that speeding car or yourself would win the race while crossing the road, the protocol is to keep your eye on the car and change your plans mid way,if needed and keep crossing. However, the ladies/girls would simply turn their backs on you and start crossing, forcing you to do the entire thinking, i.e. calculating speeds, checking them out, calculating the probability of escaping alive if you dare hit them, etc, etc.

The mindless honkers: This breed is no less irritating than the previous one. The reason being that they think they can achieve something by honking at my car when even they can clearly see that there is absolutely NO WAY OUT of the jam/red light we're stuck in. I recently found a way of dealing with such people. I simply stick out my hand and indicate it to them to overtake me through the non existent space. It is my way of telling them, "Idiot, if you can see any space available, be my guest and take it."

The careless bikers/drivers: The rule of the traffic jungle is that there is more than a fair chance of you getting seriouly injured for no mistake of yours. One sudden lane change by the driver ahead of you is sufficient to bring down curtains on your healthy life and hence, this requires luck and emphasises the need for lane changes.

Hurried idiots causing and worsening jam situations: It will take some explaining.. imagine a 6 lane road, with 3 lanes meant for traversing either direction, separated only by a yellow line after the 3rd lane. Red light is on and cars start stacking up one behind the other in the three lanes. Now there will be one impatient idiot, who will cross the yellow line and take up the first position in the queue, hence blocking the lane meant for traffic coming from the other direction. In a matter of seconds, cars stack up behind this one and then there will be people thinking of occupying even the fifth lane!! This halts up traffic from the other direction and consequently everyone will be honking at everyone, including the person who started the whole thing! This will lead to the conditions mentioned above and there will be total chaos. "Money can't buy you brains" is perfectly examplified here. I do feel like walking up to such drivers and questioning their common sense, but somehow I've resisted till now.

PARKING WOES: The capital letters should be enough to mention its importance. I read some time back that lakhs of new cars hit the roads of New Delhi every year and it is no surprise that despite the efforts of the NDMC and MCD by building multi level parking lots, the problem keeps on sky rocketing. You are required to leave the keys of the car with the workers at parking lots and that does raise a few eyebrows. In fact, it surprises me that how can one trace the car, in the event of the parking lot guy running away with it?? I guess you can hold the concerned authority responsible for it(NDMC) in most of the cases but still, one should be able to do without these troubles.

I really hope The Almighty blesses the diseased people of Delhi with some common sense. That would want me to drive more.

Un-tagging myself!

I was convinced that I had successfully evaded being tagged by Aditi , but that was only until two hours ago, when I got an e-mail notification telling me that I had been tagged. Not for a moment do I mean to sound unhappy and curse her. It's just that I wanted all to know how reluctant I am to be doing tags. But now that I've started, watch out!

So, this one is meant to be about "FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MYSELF." I would like to apologise for sounding arrogant or any other remotely synonymous adjective. Here I go:

1. Upbringing and moral values: I was born in a middle class family in Patna, Bihar and spent 16 years of my life there before my family moved and settled in Delhi. I am proud to say that I possess the best of both the cultures and I can't thank my parents enough for that.And now I can say that we're more into the upper middle class but thanks to The Almighty, none of us are too showy about it. I firmly remain footed on ground, I say my prayers regularly and thank God before each and every meal I eat. I've been lucky enough to be brought up by parents who taught me the importance of self respect and honesty, parents who still belive that if you are good to others, God will see to it that you're all right. And yes, a lot of the credit for my Nanaji, with whom I spent the most formative years of my life(years 1 to 4). Unfortunately, he left us forever two months back.
2. Diverse interests(sports, reading,etc):I am interested in a lot of things, including reading, cricket,music, interviews, chess, football, newspapers, writing, watching television, travelling and yes, studying used to be on the list till the first half of this decade too! I know others see these hobbies of mine as a waste of time but I know how much I have learnt from these experiences and I take a great deal of pride in it, irrespective of what others think.
3. Typing speed: This might look out of place in all these goody goody stuff that I've written but trust me, typing while looking at the keyboard is a real headache. I thank myself for the effort I put in right after my tenth boards and now I'm at a stage where I can EASILY clock more than 60 words per minute and when I'm really into it, it goes over 90 :)
4. NEVER SAY DIE ATTITUDE:I uncovered this aspect of my character in the last four years that I spent in Manipal, trying to negotiate a degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering. In an attempt to gain sympathy,let me tell you that it is considered a 5-yr branch, as in the olden days hardly anyone managed to clear it in the stipulated 4 years without missing out on the college masti. I did not want to miss out on the enjoyment of college days so I knew I was in for something serious. There have been times when I've had to cover a 300 page book 12 hours before the end semester examinations and those were the same troublesome topics that fetched me 2 or 3 marks out of 20(repeatedly) in the internal examinations. There have been countless such papers but I have managed to come through the degree without failing in any subject. I know that's no big achievement when you look at it from outside, but if you consider the amount of time and effort I have put in, it's really worth appreciation. There are papers that professors have taught for over 50 hours in the classroom and I've cleared them by putting in about 10 hours in the entire semester :). Apart form academics, I've realized that there's an exceptional sense of cool in me in all situations. Be it while arguing with my elder brother or parents, be it the time when we just came to know about Nanaji's death and no one had a clue how we were to proceed with things or be it the times when people laugh at you about your academics or stuff like that. I quietly say it in my mind that "My day will come whenever I put in the effort" and I still belive it. I never lose my temper or shout at anyone out of angst. I guess playing chess has helped me evolve as a human being.
5. Analytical ability:I am able to sit down and analyze a practical problem and then decide upon which is the best possible measure to be taken, rather than shouting in a panic situation and spreading panic.And, what more proof than the fact that I can proudly boast of an IQ of over 125, after taking tests on various websites.Given that a normal person has IQ of 100, it's not too bad, is it??

Whoa... so much of bragging about myself ends this tag. Thanks Aditi, for tagging me, as I had never sat down and thought about my positive qualities so much!