I have been in receipt of the following comment on my article on Prejudieces Against Minorities from a US-based Indian.I would like to add that the retired Muslim Major of the Army seems to have had an unpleasant experience not with the CISF, which is responsible for airport security, but with some members of the security staff of Spicejet--B.Raman
A personal incident: Couple of years ago while travelling
between two major metros in India by air I was stopped by the airport security right after the
x-ray machine scanned my handbag. The CISF officer requested me to open the bag which I
followed duly. I could see from his name tag that he belonged to a minority community.
Certainly he did his job professionally, and gave me a smile back after checking my handbag. It
was a collection of about 25 old audio cassettes neatly stacked which might have looked
like a bullet belt on the screening monitor. Before departing the security area I smiled
at him and asked him where he was from. "Kashmir" - came the pat reply. I had a pleasant
emotion. We hear all the news about violence in Kashmir, and some Kashmiris' perceived
disloyalty to the Indian state, but here is a security officer from that place taking
the air security so seriously. But I imagined that some of my close friends, who are over sensitive
on religious matters, could have misconstrued my personal incident in a completely different
way, and would have given it a communal tone. Because those twenty five old cassettes contained
spiritual/devotional songs. It takes a little patience, a little tolerance and a little
clarity of mind from all sides to overcome communal misunderstanding which may spin out of control. I am sure every airline in India recruits people from all communities and treats them
equally. Sometimes some passengers as well as ground staff behave rudely, arrogantly
and/or insensitively which triggers misunderstandings. Often, while flying between Kolkata
and Delhi, I see people belonging to minority communities in large numbers as my
copassengers, but haven't seen or heard any discriminatory incident. Even if there is
any stray incident I hope the sane minds of all communities will come together to diffuse
such tensions.
A personal incident: Couple of years ago while travelling
between two major metros in India by air I was stopped by the airport security right after the
x-ray machine scanned my handbag. The CISF officer requested me to open the bag which I
followed duly. I could see from his name tag that he belonged to a minority community.
Certainly he did his job professionally, and gave me a smile back after checking my handbag. It
was a collection of about 25 old audio cassettes neatly stacked which might have looked
like a bullet belt on the screening monitor. Before departing the security area I smiled
at him and asked him where he was from. "Kashmir" - came the pat reply. I had a pleasant
emotion. We hear all the news about violence in Kashmir, and some Kashmiris' perceived
disloyalty to the Indian state, but here is a security officer from that place taking
the air security so seriously. But I imagined that some of my close friends, who are over sensitive
on religious matters, could have misconstrued my personal incident in a completely different
way, and would have given it a communal tone. Because those twenty five old cassettes contained
spiritual/devotional songs. It takes a little patience, a little tolerance and a little
clarity of mind from all sides to overcome communal misunderstanding which may spin out of control. I am sure every airline in India recruits people from all communities and treats them
equally. Sometimes some passengers as well as ground staff behave rudely, arrogantly
and/or insensitively which triggers misunderstandings. Often, while flying between Kolkata
and Delhi, I see people belonging to minority communities in large numbers as my
copassengers, but haven't seen or heard any discriminatory incident. Even if there is
any stray incident I hope the sane minds of all communities will come together to diffuse
such tensions.
1 comment:
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airport security x ray scanner
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