The 2009 chemistry Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan in an interview with Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta for NDTV’s Walk the Talk programme, :
“For long I used to sport a thick, full beard because I was too lazy to shave. At airport security, they used to “randomly” pick me up for screening each time without fail.
“My friend and scientist John Kurien, also of Indian origin, said it was because of my beard. I refused to believe him. He said, ‘You are a scientist, go ahead and check it out yourself.’ ‘So I experimented and took it off and I haven’t been “randomly” screened since.”
Photograph: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan delivering the centenary lecture at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on Tuesday (Karnataka Photo News)
churumuri 
nijavagalu saabruge tumba anyaya agta ide ivattina prapanchadalli. naavella serkondu enaar maadbeku
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Interestin!!!
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Venky’s friend is a true scientist!!
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I don’t think when it comes to security, we would be doing wrong in screening certain stereotypes… It isn’t like saying all Bearded/Brown/Muslim (or Muslim sounding named) folks are terrorists. These folks are just subject to an additional scrutiny.
I have frequently been flagged for Random Pat-down search in US. Perhaps this happened because:
– I am a foreigner
– I am between 15-45years of age
– I was flying a one way flight (without return tickets) within US
The above conditions in a way stereotyping too, Just as religious and Nation based stereotyping – but they aren’t discriminatory. Statistics show the above types tends to have higher representation in any security related incidents around the world, it is only fair for them to be searched.
The pat down search isn’t really insulting. They are well trained and polite. They even ask “Do I have your permission to touch you sir”. While it causes some degree of discomfort in having to remove shoes and have someone intensely scrutinize your person, I won’t want it any other way.
Oh, there was a debate about this yesterday on TV (I think on NDTV). And Manishankar Iyer was saying something like “While they are advanced technologically, we can teach them a thing or two about civilizational advancement”.
While I would have normally agreed with him, I couldn’t in this case. I was thinking about Rathore-Ruchika situation, and how Congress and BJP-supported govts, kept promoting this guy, who is the epitome of civility!! Besides, denying a higher statistical probability isn’t a civilizational thing, it is just stupidity.
At least in US even a foreigner isn’t harassed the way Ruchika’s family was in their own country for no mistake of theirs!! Makes me feel sad about the state of our governance.
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NSR
That was very funny:)
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I wonder if the proposed full body scan would solve this problem of discrimination. I do hope so. When every single flier goes through such body scan without any exception or selection, there won’t be any need for profiling (atleast the overtly done type) and cries of discrimination.
It’s absolutely necessary that the safety and security is given the highest importance. However the current mode of achieving it may have adverse effects in the long run. It could cause more heart-burn and quite a few neutral folks may cross over to the hostile party. Afterall it’s not really fun when one gets all the special attention from the security folks under the voyeuristic gaze of fellow passengers who have been ‘randomly’ left out of this drill.
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Anshuman:
You are right that ideally each passenger should be patted down, which automatically puts paid to the cries of discrimination. But, it is not practical. It was implemented in US in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 but the queues were so long and time consuming that it became impossible to manage. I remember standing in the queue for 2hours.
If they need to improve the speed, then the airports will need to be redesigned to have more security check points and also have far more personnel doing the security checks. This will push up the cost of Airport Administration and thus air-travel, making the entire industry collapse.
So, patting down risky passengers is an middle way. Lets not forget, in last 9 years, we haven’t had any major terrorist attack on US, for all the talk of Discrimination etc. So, US is certainly doing something right…
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I travel very frequently and have been through most of the airports in Europe. Each one of them has thier own way of dealing. In Dublin where I fly out of from there are no random searches, eveyone is searched regardless of thier color or race, so if I am asked to remove my shoes everyone else is asked to the same. In the UK there are random searches but to make sure that you dont feel odd they search the person in front of you as well as the one behind you regardless of what race or color or age the person in front or behind me is. I was once behind a a very old lady who probably was n her late eighties and she was all upset that she was being checked, poor lady didnt understand that they were trying to get to me and not her. In main land Europe you see random checks and 9 out of 10 times I am random. So these days before they speak to me I tell them they should pick me up as random. There are times when you feel insulted becasue of being picked up among a crowd of people but look at it with humour and it wont be that bad. Harkol is right in his comments about fitting a certain profile and a majoirty of recent incidents involving that profile.
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@Amazing Head Villager!
I would rather suffer a heart burn than endure a ‘body burn’ later:) You mean to say if some folk are patted down they start developing aversion toward the regular society in general?! Then it is a short cut to the mountains of AF-PAK for further training? Nice logic.
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The fellow on the united airline was prevented from doing damage to the plane by his own ineptness and by fellow passengers bringing him down.
Not by anal probing etc. at the airport.
Wonder what the next set of probes and searches would be, when the next wanna-be martyr tries another stunt on an airplane again.
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@Doddi avre Budhhi(?) vantre,
Lemme first do a LOL @ your take on my name and I like it:).It’s really funny n hilarious and I mean it! But I just wish if the rest of the world we inhabit could be as linear and definitive. It’s not.
It’s seriously not funny when you get singled out. Be it in Airport or in a temple. I am a heavy traveller and I hate it in spite of being a true blue Hindu. Well I can easily blame it on my brown colour and Asian heritage. It does leave a bad taste, believe me when hundreds of other seemingly passive co-passengers take in that sight.
Pl. desist from reading between the lines. I am all for heightened security and all. But would it really serve its purpose in the long run. Do you really believe the fanatics would fight shy? Haven’t you heard of Kannada adage ..Chhhape kelage..Rangoli Kelage..? How long this cat n mouse game would go on? Do you think these jehadi jokers would roll on and play footsie now that you have ‘stringent’ measures? Then my friend the joke is truely on you and you would have lived upto your pseudonym.
As AG mentioned, do you know a suicide attempt was made in Africa with the bomber hiding his lethal stuff in his anus? So would you like your sensitive nether part to be fingered every time you board the plane? Not unless you are a freak right?
The irony is we are so much after treating the symptoms and the disease has a field day. Like the swine flue virus it just mutates and keeps spreading. Think about it.
Agreed that it’s utopian to think that all grievances (perceived or otherwise) would be solved at the flick of the fingers so that terrorism subsides. But it’s equally utopian to think that rigorous and much rigorous security measures will keep us safe forever.
It’s like having a blanket in a stone-house on a wintry night. You can very well forget the fact that it’s deuced cold out there. But cold it is and if for some reason if you are forced out of your house you would know. And you would also know, Things happen.
Rambling as this post is, let me re-iterate dude, I am all for security and I do emphatically agree with the current evidence of a particular community being the main perpetrator. Where I differ is in the means adopted to stem the rot.
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AG:
Here is the statistical reality. Each new set of security check makes the job of a hijacker/terrorist more difficult. That’s all it does.
First thing you learn about security is that you don’t have to be fool proof. You just need to be more difficult to penetrate than some other easier subject. So, in reality airport security is tightened to divert the targets of terrorists to more softer targets (perhaps railway stations etc). This is a way of safeguarding the elite, by making the ‘common man’ an easier target.
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Sisya–
Gaddakke benki hatthidaaga baavi thodalu shuru maadidaranthe. Profiling is wrong, wrong, and wrong.
Saabaru maathra gadda beLasuva jana alla. Namma Art of Living Ravisankra engavne nodi.
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Tigers Whiskers the Ultimate,
Arty Ravi should most certainly endure extra profiling to show solidairty with the profiled peoples!
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Just curious to know – Is the percentage of Muslim males with beards higher than what was before?
A cursory look at the Pakistan cricket team would lead me to say Yes, but what do the frequent world travellers in this board think? If Yes, does it mean the fundamentalism among Muslim men is on the increase?
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@Goldstar,
Yes. A casual observation around does seem to suggest that more Muslim men are sporting beard, skull caps etc. Infact I have observed a great deal of increase in Muslim women wearing hijab in my own hometown in coastal Karnataka.
However I wouldn’t equate it with fundamentalism. Piety need not be equated to extremism. One can sport all those symbols and still be liberal and vice versa ie a clean shaven english speaking guy could turn out to be a lethal weapon. This is the problem with stereotyping/profiling.
But I would also say that I have been increasingly noticing more jews sporting the skull caps and the beads. Sardars have been around with us in all their crowning glory and very distinctive religious markings – Kirpan, Kara etc.
Probably you would have also noticed many Hindu politicians of all political hues sporting large tilaks of late as compared 80’s-90’s of last century. Would we consider that as the rise in fundamentalism?
PS: Reg. Pakistan cricket team – Yes, probably Inzie driven Tablighi Jamaat thingie might have prompted more beards in their team. But as one cricket commentator noted it is more a reflection of the changing composition of the team than anything else. ie more rural folks are getting into the side – eg. Inzie, Shahid Afridi, than public school types from Lahore, Karachi a la Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas etc.
You could notice similar shift in Indian cricket team composition too. More RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Yusuf Pathans who hav come from muffusil areas with little knowledge of English as compared to suave cricketers like Gavaskar, Prasanna, Amarnath who mostly came from Urban/metro areas.
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Airport security is a sham. The security checks begin beyond a certain point in the US. Upto that point it is free for all and their uncles.
It should be like Indian Airports, where you are not allowed inside without a valid air ticket.
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Goldstar and A. Patel,
Your observations are sharp. If we look around, there is no shortage of encouragement for men to grow hair in Hinduism. The ancient rishis were all shikhaamanis and long bearded. Ravindranaatha Tagore was one of them. In the north, most so-called holy men sport long, unwashed beards. I guess the lice don’t bother them because they are happily blissed out on ganja and its derivatives.
The rishis were all hirsute, but I wonder why the gods including Shiva don’t show any seven o’clock shadows.
At least in urban Bengaluru, a gadda is badge for many intellectuals. Men grow scraggly beards and women cut their hair to balance the situation.
Since the Taliban have pretty much decided that there will be no men without hair on their faces and women without burqas in Pakistan, wonder what life is like there for the counterparts of our own Savitha Samaaja.
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@Goldstar and Anshuman Patel
Read the article below. Well written.
http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/219991.html
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If a guy spent even a few days planning to pull of some stunt on an airplane, the first thing he would do is shave off his beard.
Checking only those with muslim names might cut down some of the cost but what do you do with a person like Headley?
Agree with kavitha on the security checks. But such simple steps will take away money made on costly monitoring, checking and security.
Whether you like it or not, anal probes will eventually happen and make DB a happy man.
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Kavitha: Indian airport security is far better than anything that happens in US, inspite of the technical advantages US has. I like the fact that they insist on a pat-search and compulsory manual handbaggage check when alert levels are high in India (for everyone). It is a bit more time consuming, but better be safe than sorry.
And you are absolutely right about US airports. A person can walk in with a gun (Even an automatic one) in to an airport, till the security check level. Not so easy in India.
However, where US scores over India is in the process. I always found it ridiculous that Indian airports use this stupid Baggage tags to identify checked baggage. What purpose does that serve??
I can always have a cheap bag checked thru, get it stamped and use the same tag on much more sinister bag (if I can somehow get that in)…
Why have a ridiculous tag, if it doesn’t serve any purpose?????
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@Prashant,
Thanks for the link.
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‘X’ Guy,
….”Whether you like it or not, anal probes will eventually happen and make DB a happy man….”
You should stop involving others in your lurid fantasies.
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Prashanth, Goldstar, Anshuman:
> http://www.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/219991.html
When a liberal society allows us the liberty to follow our own convictions, most people do not conform to what a powerful minority says. But, when such liberties are taken away, majority will start conforming to the views of the powerful.
In Pakistan, even the judiciary fears to tread on the path of Mullahs and Army, both of which in varying degrees totally radicalized. Over the decades, the only folks who feel safe are the ones who seems to be on the side of Mullahs.
It is somewhat similar to what happens in Bangalore. Even guys who have barely seen any Rajkumar/Vishnuvardhan movies will have their photos stuck to the windshield of the buses/cars with a Kannada flag, on days when there is some turbulance in Bangalore.. With the hope that they will be left alone…
Even the cops won’t stop them!!
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Harkol,
Baggage tags are a universal phenomenon, and is not confined only to India. Once you xray your check in luggage and it is tagged with a baggage tag, it is the responsibility of the airlines to ensure that it is not tampered with or exchanged for another luggage. There is always a possibility of someone adding a extra luggage on the conveyor belt after the luggage has been checked in.
I guess Indian’s use their common sense more than the TSA to screen non-passengers and prevent them from entering the airport complex. This saves a lot of money on manpower and technology. But Indian airports do have a major flaw, in that the porters who carry your luggage and load them into vehicles have a free access to the airport and I have seen them walking in and out of the airport without any problem.
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@Amazing Head Villager,
My comments within “//” marks:
….Lemme first do a LOL @ your take on my name and I like it:).It’s really funny n hilarious and I mean it! But I just wish if the rest of the world we inhabit could be as linear and definitive. It’s not. //Thank you
…It’s seriously not funny when you get singled out. Be it in Airport or in a temple. I am a heavy traveller and I hate it in spite of being a true blue Hindu. Well I can easily blame it on my brown colour and Asian heritage. It does leave a bad taste, believe me when hundreds of other seemingly passive co-passengers take in that sight. //Why? Whatever happened to scientific temper? Do you wear dirty jeans, or have an unkempt beard or look like someone who is on tabs or look wild-eyed or simply resemble a famous terrorist? If yes, they will single you out. May be you walk like a retard? Also, why do you care what others think? Air travel is a privilege not a right. Passengers have some responsibilities! BTW the very fact that your are a ‘heavy’ traveler might make you a suspect in most airports given the current climate of distrust. Also coming from a coastal town you are probably shunning suits in favor of comfort and may be you are dressed too casually for a serious traveller? Are you being singled out in all airports? Domestic and international? Just wondering. Also the travels you have undertaken earlier might be verging on suspicious behavior? Any number of reasons such as above should make you think.
…Pl. desist from reading between the lines. I am all for heightened security and all. But would it really serve its purpose in the long run. Do you really believe the fanatics would fight shy? Haven’t you heard of Kannada adage ..Chhhape kelage..Rangoli Kelage..? How long this cat n mouse game would go on? Do you think these jehadi jokers would roll on and play footsie now that you have ’stringent’ measures? Then my friend the joke is truely on you and you would have lived upto your pseudonym. //Again, just because there are crimes happening, you don’t abandon regular policing however imperfect the system is! BTW the airport security is probably more sophisticated than you and I think. The plains cloth officers will always be monitoring you. We are concerned more with the general public than the “well-meaning” intentions of a few folk as to what happens to their state of mind and so on if they are body searched before air travel. These zombies are spotted during routine checks.
As AG mentioned, do you know a suicide attempt was made in Africa with the bomber hiding his lethal stuff in his anus? So would you like your sensitive nether part to be fingered every time you board the plane? Not unless you are a freak right? //Once again you refuse to take off your PC glasses. If somebody does that he is blowing up his ‘brains’ seriously. Apart from the rude method you just mentioned, it is quite possible to spot these ‘lower brain’ types.
The irony is we are so much after treating the symptoms and the disease has a field day. Like the swine flue virus it just mutates and keeps spreading. Think about it.//Again you don’t cut off your nose if you catch cold.
Agreed that it’s utopian to think that all grievances (perceived or otherwise) would be solved at the flick of the fingers so that terrorism subsides. But it’s equally utopian to think that rigorous and much rigorous security measures will keep us safe forever. //Again, you betray your rural heritage. Nothing can make us safer except common sense. Why do you worry about the ‘other’ side? If you are innocent you have nothing to hide, right?
It’s like having a blanket in a stone-house on a wintry night. You can very well forget the fact that it’s deuced cold out there. But cold it is and if for some reason if you are forced out of your house you would know. And you would also know, Things happen. //Again I cannot follow this rural metaphor. May be this is a famous saying in your area?
Rambling as this post is, let me re-iterate dude, I am all for security and I do emphatically agree with the current evidence of a particular community being the main perpetrator. Where I differ is in the means adopted to stem the rot. //Once you board the plane safely and land safely you are welcome to make these courageous remarks.
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DB,
//I bet you can request for an anal probe for yourself. Since you are so keen on it, on your next flight, go for it I say! Maybe that will make you courageous enough to take the flight.
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