Frisking of Kalam – Is it a ‘Salam’ or an ‘Alarm’

This blog has been sometime coming thanks to the overload of work suddenly.

Let me build the context, which most of you would have already read about in the Newspaper’s or seen it on television – today, all the news channel just need ‘any’ story to run through a week of programs. The news channels are really becoming an absolute no brainer, with dead stories. Mr. Abdul Kalam, the erstwhile President of our country was frisked by an American Airline on Indian Shores.

So what – this is one of way looking at this issue. He is like any other traveller for the airline and as per the norms of the airline they frisked him. But for god damn – he was the ‘President’ of this country, the highest office in the country, though we all know it’s just a rubber stamp, so what ? I would have not bothered if it was any other Babu in his place, but lets give it to Mr. Kalam as everyone knows, how different he was / is to all the other Babu’s who run our country. This man is a genius and what has he not done for this country’s scientific movement and this is the reason for me write about him and the issue into a blog.

In India, if we receive a head of a state of any other country we drive through into the tarmac to receive them. So is it not basic to underestimate the treatment Kalam received. Also, lets be realistic to the fact that, the airline was just being American in their approach – so rigid and do not care attitude that they posses, that they feel there exists no other country apart from the states. Man !, he was escorted by jawans and is that not evident that he is a VIP in this country. Also please explain to the world the ignorance of the staff in the airline not only, in not identifying the VIP (Cause all Babu’s have this clout – will even give this to the airline) but not identifying the ex president, who sports a rock star hair style which is so identifiable or Kalam – able.

Having said all this, what was the aviation ministry doing about it – did not disclose this issue for more than a few months after the incident had happened. Then it woke up to ‘SALAM’, ‘Kalam’ and Babu’s on the issue and created a huge furore. The timing of this furore has been perfect, especially looking at the restructuring of the national carrier and the bail out issue of 20000 crores hanging like the Damocles sword over the ministry. Praful Patel has always been a shrewd player, and his timing on this one has been perfect. The public suddenly have turned their attention to the Kalam issue and we only see Praful delivering interviews on this issue and the TV channels have forgotten about Air India. The choice to ‘Salam’ was brilliantly executed.

Over and above all this, there is an underlying issue which the media certainly have not picked up in detail. Sitaram Yechury made a statement in the parliament – ‘he stated that Kalam’s name resembles one of a Muslim and that could be a reason for his frisking’. A very valid point considering the fear with which the Americans live with respect to the Muslim world. Irrespective of Obama embracing the Muslim world through his speeches across and in the Middle East this fear will linger long. The American airline could have very well done the frisking on the same basis, the basis called fear. If this is the case --- then we are in real trouble in India.

The simple fact that India boasts more Muslim’s in a country outside the Islamic world and the instance of frisking every Muslim traveller is astonishingly idiotic.

This certainly is the ‘ALARM’ India needs to wake up to and look at this issue with a microscopic eye and dig into the context of the airline frisking Kalam.

Whatever said and done and written by me, this fiasco is a certain grey mark on the aviation industry and more on the aviation ministry.

Please for heaven’s sake give some respect the seal of the country, the head of the nation and the seat called the ‘President of India’.

Michael Jackson – An ode to a Maverick

MJ as he was fondly called is a true reminiscence of my childhood. As I grew up in the early 80’s and 90’s, the only thought of western music would always be MJ, the album thriller or his poster with BAD written on it. Be it for my generation or the previous or the one immediately after me, he was next to god (Not taking it away from the other generations). He revolutionised music from the western world. We had no Google to understand the different genres of music or torrent to download. We never grew up with trance, lounge or remixes. All said POP was the in thing and we were often reprimanded verbally from the elder members of the family for listening to them, as they were bad western influences. (Today majority of the things we do, wear or talk is western. For e.g. you are reading a blog, my blog, A blog is a western idea, the internet is a western technology, I can go on …)

Un-till the mid 90’s, till MTV came in through cable television, atleast I had no clue of what was POP, Metal, Heavy Metal was or even the other bands, singers, musician etc. MJ was my king of that world called English music. English music meant the music from the movie the ‘The Sound of Music’. No exposure at all till the King arrived. I still remember trying my best to save 30 rupees to by the BAD album. It was an era where you had to listen to MJ to be socially – the happening kid. Listening to Illayaraja or RD Burman, you were termed too Indian and not acclimatising to the western culture and you would be left out – peer pressure.

Who can forget the man who created break dance for us, I can call him “the father of Break Dance” as I saw him first doing those inordinate dance steps. Can you forget the man who caught his crotch, so often, publically, that you would be embarrassed to the hilt and that’s not all, would then shriek his lungs out holding on to them as if he was committing hara-kiri. Man!!!, he created a cult – don’t know what, but a culture that changed the world. Can we forget him doing his famous moonwalk – the smooth movement of his body backwards that stunned viewers globally and we were all in awe of something stupendous. Men and women would cry out loud at every instance of spotting him, he was god to him.

Haven’t the world copied many a dance step from him. The Indians too did it and we did not miss even this opportunity to copy and wasn’t an era where we had to copy the western side of this globe to most of what we wanted to do in life. Don’t we remember Javed Jaffrey, Anand Babu (The Tamil movie dancer, son of actor Nagesh who had returned from the USA and created ripples with his dance) and the so called ‘The dancer of Indian Cinema’ Prabhu Deva – who was slated as India’s answer to MJ and break dance. WOW what nostalgia this man’s demise has brought forth to me – my childhood.

Am not going to write the negatives or the so called scandals, because we have read this in the past and will read it again and again in the present and the future. But we got to give this man the due respect of being a genius, a maverick and creator of a genre of music and dance that is distinct to MJ, that the world revelled on it and will never let it die.

He ‘thrill(er)’ed us with his music, he ‘beat it’, he wanted the to ‘heal the world’, wanted the ‘Bad’ and ‘Dangerous’ things to end, no ‘blood anywhere not even on the Dance floor’. He did not want any ‘Smooth Criminal’ or even a ‘Stranger in Moscow’ and all he wanted was one world – ‘We are the World’.He and his music and his life will be penned in ‘Black and White’ into the books of ‘History’. Let his soul Rest in Peace. We will miss you MJ and we will “Remember the time”.

LALGARH – Is the Indian Government a LULL GHAR

Maoists :The basic tenets of Maoism include revolutionary struggle of the vast majority of people against the exploiting classes and their state structures, termed a people war Usually involving peasants, its military strategies have involved guerrilla war tactics focused on surrounding the cities from the countryside, with a heavy emphasis on political transformation through the mass involvement of the basic people of the society.

Does this definition from the web a good enough start to identify how the Indian Government present and past have dealt with the various security issues in the country and across different states. The Indian government made up of the two houses is certainly a Lull Ghar in my opinion and in my limited knowledge have seen no pro-active measures rather only reactive actions.

Why is the government waiting for major events to take place before it acts, its always lull and waits for the storm. Be it the Maoists in Bengal, Jharkhand and other states or the Naxals in AP and nearby states. The catastrophe of the 26/11, the un-equipped Mumbai Police, who had ammunition which is not only outdated but worth placing them as artifacts in any India museum. A real shame for a country who boasts as a hub for international IT and research areas, boast of 90% of the urban youth available to take world projects, but sit like a duck waiting to be hunted when it comes to security.

Also, security regulations imposed are not consistent across the country and anyone can infiltrate the system. Pick a few airports across India apart from the major hubs and you can get away with all the rules broken. Even in the major hubs the rules for men and women are different. Women can carry deodorants and liquid in their handbag but men can’t carry any in their cabin bag though the rule does not permit anyone from carrying it, though internationally, the permissible limit is 100 ml per passenger, subject to scanning of the liquids or the gels. We want to try and use the international rule which is great, but where is the consistency. On international flights, passengers especially in the western countries are allowed to carry one cigarette lighter, whilst in India it banned, but you can get away thanks to fantastic frisking the security guards do. My last trip to the Trivandrum airport to board an international flight, I saw passengers with match boxes lighting their energy stick after the security check – amazing.

A few days back, there was an article stating the improved facilities available to the Mumbai police, like bullet proof vehicles etc., but for god’s sake where are those multi functional, state of the art ammunition. Every infiltrator who wants to cause damage has ammunition generations ahead of our police force. The government is absolutely lull about it. We budget crores of rupees for the defense, where is it spent and on what is it spent – damn it’s my tax also which goes into that budget.

I can keep penning stories upon stories on how the government is so reactive than being an action oriented responsive state unit. The government is certainly a LULL GHAR.