Frisking

A curse on these VIPs! Their cavalcades, their red lights flashing on their white ambassadors, their offensive security staff, their refusal to stand in queues, their refusal to obey traffic rules, their constant demand for special privileges, our republic is blighted by VIP culture. American diplomats and politicians routinely travel by bus or taxi in London. But Indian politicians and diplomats abroad always have to have a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce!

Why should anyone be exempt from security procedures during air travel? Particularly because hijacked or a bombed plane is such a favorite terrorist target? Is India's "national honor" so fragile that it is undone simply because a former head of state is checked at an airport? Our politicians seem to think so. An FIR has been filed against the airline staff and Continental Airline has had to apologize. Our national honors should rest on fighting poverty and illiteracy, not on the empty ridiculous rituals of official importance and hierarchy.

A personal anecdote. On a flight to Sri Lanka a year ago, I saw a very familiar looking British gentleman and a friend standing a few places behind me in the security queue. After the gentleman's bag was checked, the rather brusque staff at IGI airport even asked him to open it. He did so without demur, packed all his things away afterwards, smiled at the staff and stood in the queue again to board his flight. The gentleman was none other than former British Prime Minister Tony Blair! A lesson for our VIPs?