Monday, August 17, 2009

Shove it, SRK!

Frankly, I’m bewildered that SRK”s detention made the news. Nobody writes about it when ‘ordinary’ folks get detained. For crying out loud, I’ve been taken aside for a ‘secondary check’ on a domestic American flight in 2004 , though given the chaos of a summer travel weekend at Atlanta Airport, me and my friend Sid, were grateful for the check as it allowed us to skip the line and rush to our gate for our flight to Newark. Mind you, I was punch drunk on Absolut Kurant at the time.
However, SRK’s crying because he wasn’t afforded VIP treatment at Newark is puzzling to say the least and Ambika Soni’s hissy-fit of tit-for-tat reprisals is scary given that the woman actually ‘controls’ the media infrastructure in the country (was that the reason for the bizarre coverage?) My cousins have been stopped, my cousin brother, a British citizen was stopped at Newark for two hours because he kept on coming to the US (to meet his brother in New York). My cousin brother mind you is short and slightly plump. The only thing he could potentially attack in the US is a Doughnut stand. My cousin sister, born and brought up in Texas is constantly stopped, now, she is 5 foot nothing, a Doctoral student and well, pretty docile. But her reasoning is that her name is ‘Geetanjali’ and ends with ‘Ali’.
Listen, I find it bizarre that we are crying about this. Most people who cry would jump at an opportunity to move to the US, movie stars who crib would die to work in a Hollywood production. Some like Mallika Sherawat have decided that taking off all clothes (or wearing bizarre ones) is more productive there than here. The moral high ground statements coming from people who don’t face an iota of security in India stinks of bullshit, just as our cricketers refusal to the WADA tests on ‘privacy’ grounds.
Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, the US is a far more egalitarian society than India. C’mon would you see a half-Muslim half-Hindu become Prime Minister of India? Or a Dalit for that matter? Not anytime soon. But the Americans, despite their rednecks and the racists did elect Barack Obama. They don’t ban smut or TV shows on the basis it is ‘destroying society’. For crying out loud, can’t people see the irony in these statements.
I respect Shah Rukh Khan immensely, I am terribly proud of the fact that I went to the same school as he did. But our ‘V.I.P’s’ need a lesson in humility. Next time round, the Americans should stop Robert Vadra. Of course, that will have the entire Gandhi coterie up in arms, and you’ll see the Prime Minister forced to make a statement on the issue. The only thing I was grateful for is that I did not watch an iota of silly TV news yesterday.
PS: Amazing publicity for his new film which talks about just the same thing. Hmmm…

15 comments:

Critical Satirical said...

I agree with u 100% and the same concerns are reflected in my bog too.

Its preposterous, as to how some Indians expect the same preferential treatments abroad too, that they get in India.

Anonymous said...

I am curious to know what your thoughts are on Abdul Kalam being questioned by Continental Airlines.

essbee said...

Another typical rant on the lines of - everyone has to undergo so-and-so, so why should our celebrities be exempt? Whatever happened to the concept of taking a stand on any issue based on logic and reasoning?

You do not see the stupidity of detainment of your docile cousin for no other reason except that her name ends in 'ali'. Worse, you support this kind of stupidity over common sense using strawman argument of 'ordinary folks getting detained'. This kind of idiocy is keeping U.S. safe from another 9/11 attack? give me a break!

What's preventing terrorists from entering US through its hundreds of miles of porous Mexican borders? Are you aware that US hosts largest number of illegal immigrants in the world? (nearly 20 million!!)

Moreover, are the idiots who man US airports smarter in detecting terrorists than local embassy staff who give visas only after a thorough background check? Whats the point of detaining someone who has been provided visa by your own government?

Mohan said...

Well said I agree that too much fuss was made about SRK! But having said that, I don't think the Americans would have liked it, if Bill Clinton was frisked and detained at an Indian airport if he came on a private visit. I would like to see their reaction and then I'll agree with you about their "egalitarian society"

Akshar said...

Spot on Buddy!
I am surprised that the panic among public due to shahrukh's detention is much more than what they felt about Kalam's detention.

Random Red Fire said...

"The only thing he could potentially attack in the US is a Doughnut stand." - Funny!!

Anonymous said...

http://thevigil.in/2009/08/16/and-here%E2%80%99s-my-advice-to-vir-sanghvi/

Anonymous said...

maybe all the media brouhaha was engineered to give some free PR to his upcoming film 'I am Khan' which talks about racial profiling.

How coincidental that Khan was pulled aside when he was traveling to promote a movie about racial profiling and terrorism while he'd never been pulled aside on any of his previous trips here.

Am sure he was deliberately behaving like a douchewaffle at the airport which caused him to be pulled aside for questioning and all the subsequent media frenzy.

Vipul Kumar said...

Mr Mohan - Bill Clinton and SRK are different. 98% of the US population do not know who the guy is and dont give 2 hoots about him. Neither should they. Ms. Chopra's stupidity in her 'global icon, Get real' twitter message is at a pathetic level. If anything, she needs to get real.
Then there are the headlines of - 'I dont want an apology!' For goodness sake, Mr. SRK needs to shut up. He should realise that even if he did ask for an apology, he'd get the finger from the US.
And finally Mr. Chidambaram and his comment that the US ' overdid it'. Again, for goodness sake, I would love and pray that India 'overdid it' sometimes so that we dont have blasts in major cities every 3 months.
We never learn do we. India's over inflated ego (we are the next superpower fantasy, coupled with moon mission program and rising sensex!) needs just a tiny prick and every vein blows up!

The fact that the US doesnt give a shit - dont like it, deal with it. I'm tired of spoilt Indians making all of us look bad.

ramesh said...

haha bloody robert vadra getting frisked .. that would make my day ..

GBO said...

Doughnuts are now corporatised and listed company products. Their security is essential for the American economy and people.

Anonymous said...

But our ‘V.I.P’s’ need a lesson in humility.
-very good point you make

===
"C’mon would you see a half-Muslim half-Hindu become Prime Minister of India?"

-may be some more information would help to change this opinion.

Rajeev Gandhi was half Hindu & Half Muslim. read below, copy pasted from Yahoo! Anseres. But you can find evidence of this in abdundant places.

Indira Gandhi, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, became prime minister of India in 1966. Mrs. Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 to Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. She was named Indira Priyadarshini Nehru. She fell in love and decided to marry Feroze Khan, a family friend. Feroze Khan’s father, Nawab Khan, was a Muslim, and mother was a Persian Muslim. Jawaharlal Nehru did not approve of the inter-caste marriage for political reasons
(see http://www.asiasource.org/ society/indiragandhi.cfm). If Indira Nehru were to marry a Muslim she would loose the possibility of becoming the heir to the future Nehru dynasty. At this juncture, according to one story, Mahatma Gandhi intervened and adopted Feroze Khan, gave him his last name (family name/caste name) and got the name of Feroz Khan changed to Feroz Gandhi by an affidavit in England. Thus, Feroze Khan became Feroze Gandhi.

GBO said...

New theory - so who were the organisers for SRK's show, what sort of visa did SRK have (visit or work?) and similar issues, as well as taxation related.

Hmmmm . . .

Anonymous said...

Some people couldn't get ride of slavery mentality so they think if a powerful one or "country" did any thing even if a shameless error against human rights they say why not it's his right to do that ! . Detention of innocents people without proofs regardless their position is wrong & questioning of them without defender is also wrong & silence on these acts are not only wrong but a sin !

Anonymous said...

"Some people couldn't get ride of slavery mentality so they think if a powerful one or "country" did any thing even if a shameless error against human rights they say why not it's his right to do that !"

Yup! If an American celebrity had been treated similarly at an Indian airport, they would have whined about how stupid, ill-mannered and bureaucratic our custom officials are!

Now after Indian cricketers refusal to sign WADA clause, cricketers from white-countries too have revolted against it.

The WADA clause has been dropped and forgotten, but our media clowns have quietly buried the story.

People inflicted with slave mentality can't digest that Indians can be more right than the whites.