Wednesday

Continental Airlines Outrages Indian modesty

The Rajya Sabha rocked yesterday about an incident that happened on Apr 24th. Ex-Indian President Abdul Kalam was frisked at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi by US based Continental Airlines.  Learning this, Members of the Rajya Sabha cutting across party lines expressed outrage and were controlled from turning violent in the face of this crisis. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel flexed the Indian muscles: “Not only the preliminary inquiry has been ordered but we also have a preliminary report on the basis of which Continental Airlines has been issued a show cause notice why action for willful violation should not be taken”

Not to be left behind, the opposition also jumped into the fray to express how more “insulted” they were than the the ruling party. Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said “It is an issue which puts the whole nation into shame”. Jaitley said whenever a American dignitary visits the country, the government provides exemption from security rules and they are honored. But the Indian dignitaries are not accorded the same respect in US. Understandably,  when an American President visits India, the govt appoints officials to wipe their asses. But shockingly Indian leaders are asked to wipe their own asses while in US. Janeshwar Mishra of the Samajwadi Party said the government should send a strong message to the US that India will not tolerate such incidents.

Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist wondered whether the frisking was triggered because the system showed a terrorist alert. I strongly suspect that the system must have shown a fashion-alert. It is well known fact that western world does not have the fine taste to appreciate the truly Indian ethnic hair style of our President, sorry ex-president.

Blatantly exposing their foolishness, Continental Airlines implied on Friday that former President A P J Abdul Kalam was not exempt from frisking before boarding the aircraft. “TSA (Transportation Security Administration of US Department of Homeland Security) requirements impose a final security check in the aero-bridge just before boarding the aircraft. This procedure is followed by all carriers flying to the US from most of the countries in the world and there is no exemption to this rule,”

There are unconfirmed reports that that the pilots flew the plane sitting leisurely in their seats, even while the ex-president was flying in the plane. In India, Such arrogance would have been punished by expelling the pilots immediately from a flying plane. Indians are aghast that if encouraged Continental might even frisk Amitabh Bachan, Shahrukh Khan or Rajini Kanth. This is not the first time Americans have been insulting to the Indian psyche. In a  sly expression of their haughtiness, they even refused to watch IPL-20 Cricket final between Hyderabad and Bangalore.

While all this was rocking India, an unperturbed Mr. Abdul Kalam was seen ordering large French fries at Mc Donalds in US. As an outcome of high-level Rajya Sabha discussion of this crisis, the government is reportedly mulling announcing a one-day bandh in India.

Reference:

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?663031