The VIP syndrome...When will we get over it?

India appears to be humiliated and outraged and the reason??? One of our most popular figure of recent times, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam was frisked by Continental Airlines officials before boarding the aircraft. The print media as well as electronic media are up with arms in criticizing the 'incident'. There was ruckus in the parliament over this issue and our govt has lodged FIR against the 'guilty'. Frankly speaking, I am not amused. We have a history of beating around the bush on all the non-trivial issues in the world but will refuse to admit this ostensibly uncovered truth.

Personally speaking, I do not see anything wrong with the frisking of Mr Kalam. Like most of my fellow Indians, I also admire him and have high respect for him. However, considering what has happened in recent past, I think it is high time that we come out of the VIP syndrome. Why do we have to treat a VIP as some sort of God? Afterall, isn't a VIP a human being in the end ? To allow him to fly unchecked is a threat to the security to other fellow passengers. India has seen the Kanishka bombing and IC-814 hijack case...so why to take a risk? Or are we waiting for a VIP to hijack a plane before we accept our mistake and then make up laws stripping VIPs of this privilege. We have often heard of the criminal-politician nexus and a sizable number of our MPs and MLAs have criminal background. Treating them as the privileged ones is like playing with lives of people. Someday, we as a country have to learn to be tough, be proactive and to treat all its citizens at par.

Human life is of paramount importance and once lost, the void in the lives of relatives/friends can't be filled. If I was travelling in a plane, I would want EACH and EVERY passenger checked, whoever he/she may be. I do have a right to care about my own life..don't I...or have the VIPs have snatched away that also?

Getting a feel of Mumbai

After spending last 2.5 yrs in Hyderabad, last month I shifted to Mumbai. Reason: Study!!! There is a stark difference between two cities. Hyderabad is a very laid back city while Mumbai is always in a jiffy. It rains a lot more over here than it used to do in Hyderabad. So much so that it has been raining here everyday since June 25- the day when monsoon reached Mumbai. I love rains and so I'm quite happy.. I haven't seen such an awesome rainy season since my childhood. So, I'm enjoying my bit here. Needless to say, the 1st habit that this city has cultivated in me is to carry an umbrella whenever I venture out of
my hostel room...be it going to campus or to the nearest bazaar, an umbrella is a must.

I have been occupied with one or other thing in past one month..haven't got really any time to explore Mumbai and its surroundings. However, last week, I went to Lonavala along with my complete batch. The place was beautiful. It was raining for all 5 days...the mountains had a green carpet all over them, lot of rivets travelled down the hills forming water pools from which clouds used to form repeating the whole process again and again. It was fascinating experience..a sight to behold. I never knew western ghats were so beautiful!!!

And yeah, yesterday I saw 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' at PVR, Juhu. The movie sucked.. I dunno what David Yates had in his mind when he created this movie.. Probably, he should read the novel again and also watch all 1st five parts just to understand what a Harry Potter movie should be all about. My rating: 2 out of 5 for this movie.