I write this from Melbourne. A lovely place I wish I could stay for long and go around. But my trip is short and I have to get back to Sydney tomorrow.
I was on my way to airport. It was a very normal day and everything was going just fine. I was all excited about meeting my brother at Sydney that I ended up using an expired ticket in the bus and earning a ridiculous stare from the 'perfect' people in the bus. I duly apologized and took out my other ticket and got into the bus. I reached the airport in time.
I had no luggage except for my backpack. I checked in, got my boarding pass and started walking towards Gate 56. And a smart dressed officer with a friendly smile stopped me. His grin vanished as he explained that I was 'randomly' selected for an explosives check and handed to me a notice which had a passage written in Arabic and English. 'What a privilege!', I thought to myself as he was giving me instructions and making it clear that it was 'random' and i needed to 'cooperate'.
'Random, huh?', I asked the officer with a wicked smile. He smiled back with an instrument in his hand which clearly said, 'mess with me and I'll Bite!'. Not like I was given an option. I have to cooperate here or I cooperate elsewhere! So I stood there still ready to follow orders. They ran a scan just to make sure I was clean. I could read boards that said,' Airport security is no joke. Jokes made about it will be taken seriously.'
So I was put through the test and the word was out. I was clean! For a minute I was skeptic as I realized I was the only brown guy with a beard around! I would've got freaked if I saw myself in the mirror. I took it in the funniest way possible. My bags were checked and the officer thanked me being so cooperative. I thought again to myself, 'do I have a choice?'.
As I walked off I had a mixed feeling of embarrassment and victory. Embarrassed to be stereotyped and proud to have showed them that they were wrong. Now the question is is this justifiable? I don't wish to comment on that. But I do wish to tell the world that if we are late for an appointment, we have a solid reason. Extra Security Check.
Do i see a SRK in u? ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't see what the problem with that is. The only significant threat airlines faces in the present is from Islamic jihadists. All they did was give him an extra scan. It's not like they jailed him and beat him up just out of 'racism' (Islam is not a race).
ReplyDeleteI get extra scans at times, since I fit the 'profile' - young, male, bearded (until ... Read Morerecently), bearing the name Mohammed. Yet I don't complain. I know I have nothing to hide. In fact I am thankful for the diligence of security officials.
Many of those who pretend to complain are just doing so because they are jihadist sympathizers who feel the least they can do is give airline officials a hard time.
Well I second that, my friend. I don't complain either. I just took time to see the lighter side of it. If what I said is more like a complaint, I guess I have conveyed a wrong message. I was smiling all the way and it doesn't bother me in any way. I am a great fan of comedy and have seen muslim comedians joking about airline security. When this happened to me, all I could think of were the jokes. :)
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