Flash Flash Flash, the TV screen flashes "Breaking News", every journo is busy getting the story, the king of bollywood (at least he was a few years back) has been detained at US Airport for 2 hours, that too on our Independence Day! Sigh! How can they do this to Shah Rukh Khan??
This is the question in our minds, this is the question on front pages, this is the question on TV chat shows and this is what SRK had to say " I told them I am an actor who has shoot for movies in US, I am a celebrity and .... how can you detain me?". Come on SRK, for all your wit and charm couldn't you muster anything different from a whinning rich kid saying " You don't know who my father is?". His first call was to an MP to call the Indian consulate and have this sorted ASAP.
Many Indians must be facing the same trauma at US aiports and many other global airports, it is part and parcel of being a brown global traveller and having a muslim identity just makes it worse. We know it. It is a fact, we are aware and one we live with. So why does the media go in a frenzy everytime a high profile person is stopped? Yes, it is news worthy and it does let you finish news print, garner TRP's, rattle debates etc. Somewhere in our celeb-idol worship country we feel more offended when our celebs are stopped rather than us being stopped. Why does the media not look at it any differently..why?
Why can't we laugh at the incident, and say "Ha! Ha! SRK I have been detained thrice, and I went through it more calmly". Why can't our consulate ask "what percentage of Indians or Indian Muslims are being subjected to this on US airports?" rather than asking "Why was SRK detained, don't you know he has powerful friends?". Why are we not asking how many normal Indians are detained, questioned, harassed etc and how many of them have an MP a call away.
No, I am not being intellectual or righteous or raising any deeper issues. I am not asking any deep questions of why are browns stopped, and is it nor rascism? No, I am not asking that. I am ok with what they do, they are securing their borders, just like we want to do by looking at every Pakistani with a beard as suspects. In our country, mulsims sometimes have a problem booking an appartment or securing a land, as the housing society objects. Therefore, I don't expect USA to give answers to questions which plague my part of the world, and questions which we ourselves cannot answer.
All I am asking is, is the media so unified in its thought? is it so univocal or so monotonous that it could not think of asking any more relevant question than " Why was SRK detained?". Did no one had any different approach to the story and presented "How are we detained?", "What to do when detained at International Airports?", "10 quick fixes out of detention", "What not to say when detained". Why not a story which makes me want to read or remember, with a headline screaming "SRK detained", I really don't need to read the rest of the text. But if it said "What to do when detained?" or if you gave me the right consulate numbers, I would have loved it.
This is a question not just for the media but also the consumers of media, on why are we not asking the questions we ought to? Why are we so idol struck? When will we move beyond bollywood and cricket? When will we stop singing "Jai Ho" and rather sing "Dil Se", Get Real India, Get going......
