SRK faced immigration issues

[ivar]

-- Deleted ---

[sk2006]

SRK detained at US airport for being a Khan - India - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/SRK-detained-at-US-airport-for-being-a-Khan/articleshow/4896236.cms)

Guys we often discussed about facing problems at Port of entry. People being questioned for hours or rumors about people being sent back. I was surprised by reading this news today. This country is going crazy about stopping people just because their surname is "Khan" even if the person has travelled to US earlier. With experience i expect people to get smarter but these people are getting dummer.

Why should it be a surprise?
How do PoE officers know if he is a film star in some foreign language movies?
Even if they knew, why is SRK so special that he should not be checked?

There was an instance when a pop singer from India(Daler Mehdi) was accused of smugling illegal immigrants disguised as musicians. Point is, if somebody is a celebrity, that does not make him/her un touchable?

[ivar]

-- Deleted --

[leoindiano]

for 2 hours, Sharukh Khan may have felt like common man. WOW.

Yes, it does look stupid, every guy with name KHAN looks like terrorist for homeland security officers.

Other officers recognized him within 15 minutes, This particuler officer did not listed to them. Yes, there are some officers who think they are "Sharukh Khan"s of US immigration system.

I agree, they have every right to question him, not for 2 hours though...

Looks like this is going to help his upcoming movie with publicity.

[Roger Binny]

Try detaining any of their top Hollywood Heroes at an Indian airport for 2 hours and see how USA media and people will react to it.

You people have no respect for your own motherland and always think everything American is good than your own country. Learn to stand up for your motherland. Just because you want your greencard does not mean you forget your roots. Anti-Immigrants (read racists) of this country will still call you slumdogs even if you are a citizen of this country. But your own country people will never forget you and will accept you as their own even if you have lived here for 50 years.

Learn to love your motherland.

Excellent reply.

[rb_248]

All this seems like racial profiling to me. Albeit, such episodes are coming down after Obama took office......in my opinion.

[acecupid]

Try detaining any of their top Hollywood Heroes at an Indian airport for 2 hours and see how USA media and people will react to it.

You people have no respect for your own motherland and always think everything American is good than your own country. Learn to stand up for your motherland. Just because you want your greencard does not mean you forget your roots. Anti-Immigrants (read racists) of this country will still call you slumdogs even if you are a citizen of this country. But your own country people will never forget you and will accept you as their own even if you have lived here for 50 years.

Learn to love your motherland.

I completely agree with you that we should never forget our roots or our motherland. India is far better than US when it comes to family values and many other things. However, this story has nothing to do about standing up for our own country/motherland. Every person who has a common name with terrorist names has had troubles at POE since 9/11. So who cares if he is SRK or anyone for that matter. When Colin Powell was the chief of security under Bush administration he had to go through airport security just like any other common person. The TSA here in US treats everyone the same. Do you think ministers or celebrities in India follow any security procedures ? Every now and then you hear of ministers and celebrities involved in smuggling scandals.
There are good and bad things about every nation. IMHO, security procedures in US are the far better than India and apply the same way to everyone unlike in India. If you are so concerned about standing up for your motherland, what are you doing in the US ? Should I be calling you a traitor ? My point is, this case of SRK has nothing to do with loyality to motherland or racism. It is an unfortunate aftermath of 9/11 and we all know its been happening at POE.

[acecupid]

Collin Powell incident is America's problem. Even after the civil rights movement and equality to Blacks, they are still having discrimination. Just ask Black people in America and how they feel in their daily life.

So according to you by coming to America we should forget India because you will call us traitor? Have you heard how Jews in America are so strong and care for Israel even after becoming US citizens?

The fact is Indians are responsible for their own problems and greencard woes. They want to live in this sorry state and blame everyone else around them except themselves. They do not have any pride in their roots and thus flee their own country. They do not come to this country for betterment of their skills, education and experience but because they want to flee the country. There maybe exceptions but this is what I have seen in Indians who are on H1B or who have become US Citizens.

The TSA security rules apply the same way to everyone. Why is that so difficult for you to understand ? There was sarcasm in me calling you a traitor. I guess you didnt get that. I never said there is no racism or discrimination in US. Ofcourse there is, look at the crazy people at the healthcare townhall meetings calling the president a Nazi and what not. But do you see any kind of racism or discrimination for security ? Most of the people of the terror list are muslims and I do agree there is a bit of racial profiling as well but that is for good reason. I would rather be safe than be blown away by some psycho terrorist.

What makes you say H1Bs from India are fleeing to come here ? They come here because America needs them and the US DOL certifies there skills as much needed in the US. Btw, why is your profile information empty ?

[acecupid]

Btw, why is colin powell an american problem ?

[deepakjain]

I am sure the immigration officers might have got news about people from India make illigal entry into US when they come as part of some drama, dance, shows.

Many "extras", dancers, musicians have vanished after landing in US.....check any local desi Indian resturant, kirana stores those desi working there are all illigal immigrants....it is not only mexicans but many from northern India states are here as illigal immigrants ....

the easiest way to make entry into US, Canada is landing here as part of a show troop....few famous Indian personality have been detained and proved that they were tainted in human traffacking....Ministers, Movie Stars, SInger, Musical show organizers ....

Many Desis have vanished in UK, Germany, Holland, US, Canada.... {I am not saying SRK is involved in Human Traffacking ...but Indian are and show is the most common option}

[deepakjain]

If we those who have worked here, paid taxes , abided the law, followed the law of land once we return from India many of us have been questioned. Though as per us nothing might have changed like employer, salary, position, residential address etc etc... still many of our friends are detainted and asked to proved documental proof....{If we who have stayed here for years are detained} then why not SRK or any other person.....

After staying here for 9 years, I was detained in 2007 for 1 hour for questioning.....that way US has more proof about me for past 9 years then SRK or any other Indian bollywood stars....

[acecupid]

Collin Powell incident is America's problem. Even after the civil rights movement and equality to Blacks, they are still having discrimination. Just ask Black people in America and how they feel in their daily life.

So according to you by coming to America we should forget India because you will call us traitor? Have you heard how Jews in America are so strong and care for Israel even after becoming US citizens?

The fact is Indians are responsible for their own problems and greencard woes. They want to live in this sorry state and blame everyone else around them except themselves. They do not have any pride in their roots and thus flee their own country. They do not come to this country for betterment of their skills, education and experience but because they want to flee the country. There maybe exceptions but this is what I have seen in Indians who are on H1B or who have become US Citizens.

Why is your profile info empty ? Have you forgotten your motherland or where you came from ?

[ivar]

--- Deleted ---

[Amma]

Why so much ruckus for SRK ?. After all he is a actor in India. So many actors are having connections with Dawood Ibrahim. So , nothing wrong for extra questioning.


But Indian immigration will not do such things to foreign delegates. They treat them like gods.Everything will be bypassed.

This is the difference between us and US

[shreekhand]

Couldn't have agreed any more than this:

Don't make a big deal of Shah Rukh's detention:One For The Road:Anand Soondas's blog-The Times Of India (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/onefortheroad/entry/don-t-make-a-big)

[americandesi]

I am surprised that this is even a headline news in TOI. SRK detained at US airport for 2 hours. So what? Big deal. TSA didn't ask him to sing or dance, but just questioned him on the purpose of his visit, which is part of their job.

US has got every right to protect her homeland and no one has got any right to question their procedures when it comes to national security. Because of such stronger measures there hasn't been a single terrorist incident in US since 09/11. The least we could do is to learn from them and implement such stronger measures in India, which by the way has become a playground for terrorists and anti social elements.

[rayoflight]

Well it is a big deal for all Indians. I am not talking per se about SRK but as a fellow Indian. Does it take 2 hrs to ascertain his identity when he was here as a guest to the Indian Embassy as a Cultural Ambassador of India to participate in the Indian Independence Day Celebrations!!!

Some of you raised excellent points like would the US Media keep quiet if a Hollywood star is treated out this kinda treatment in India or any country?

Would it keep quiet if:

1) Their ex-president is searched by an airline staff

Our ex-president Shri Abdul Kalaam was searched by Continental

2) Hollywood star is strip searched in a foreign country

Amir Khan was strip searched in Toronto Airport

3) Hollywood star is questioned about their nationality because they dont like American

Neil Nitin Mukesh was questioned in 2008 whether he was Indian since he didn't have features.

and many more incidents...

- Rayoflight

[Rb_newsletter]

Why are you guys talking about human trafficking? In this case SRK was not detained for that. He was detained only for his name match.

This is an atrocity of one particular officer. TOI article posted by OP says "There were other immigration officers who even vouched for me but this particular officer did not listen to anyone". You have to notice the gap here. SRK was detained for identity check because of his last name. When other officers vouch why he was still detained.

Thing we should be worried about is, if SRK - who has MPs and other big shots behind him to prove him - needs 2 hours to prove his identity, think about commoners like us. We may get lost without help.

[sk2006]

Try detaining any of their top Hollywood Heroes at an Indian airport for 2 hours and see how USA media and people will react to it.

You people have no respect for your own motherland and always think everything American is good than your own country. Learn to stand up for your motherland. Just because you want your greencard does not mean you forget your roots. Anti-Immigrants (read racists) of this country will still call you slumdogs even if you are a citizen of this country. But your own country people will never forget you and will accept you as their own even if you have lived here for 50 years.

Learn to love your motherland.

Where is the question fo MOTHERLAND here?
Did Indian media not raise hell on this issue? That is how the thread started.
AajTak and Sahara Samay new channels kept showing it for a day.

SRK is just like any other Indian. And how do you know he did not show ATTITUDE in those two hours to cause the interrogation to run 2 hours?

Everyday many people are inquired by immigration officers. Should we start a new thread every day?

[sk2006]

Why are you guys talking about human trafficking? In this case SRK was not detained for that. He was detained only for his name match.

This is an atrocity of one particular officer. TOI article posted by OP says "There were other immigration officers who even vouched for me but this particular officer did not listen to anyone". You have to notice the gap here. SRK was detained for identity check because of his last name. When other officers vouch why he was still detained.

Thing we should be worried about is, if SRK - who has MPs and other big shots behind him to prove him - needs 2 hours to prove his identity, think about commoners like us. We may get lost without help.

What did the officer do wrong if the name matched.
Do you know there is a CNN reporter who is a white guy and his name matched with some name on the security check list and the guy was harassed multiple times on different airports within USA.
If a known person in USA can get such treatment, SRK IS NOTHING.
SRK Fans think the is someone special!

[Rb_newsletter]

What did the officer do wrong if the name matched.
Do you know there is a CNN reporter who is a white guy and his name matched with some name on the security check list and the guy was harassed multiple times on different airports within USA.
If a known person in USA can get such treatment, SRK IS NOTHING.
SRK Fans think the is someone special!

Your argument sounds like "Yes we do harass our own people here. So there is nothing wrong in harassing other country people"

[sk2006]

Your argument sounds like "Yes we do harass our own people here. So there is nothing wrong in harassing other country people"

Yes people feel harassed but security norms are there for a reason.
They are not magicians who would look at the face of the person and find if he is a good guy or not. Are they?

Read this link:

Don’t make a big deal of Shah Rukh’s detention:One For The Road:Anand Soondas's blog-The Times Of India (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/onefortheroad/entry/don-t-make-a-big)

quote from this link:
"Interestingly, the same day that SRK was detained in Newark, there came news that the great Bob Dylan, who was wandering around Long Branch, near New York City, sometime back, was asked for an ID by two cops too young to know who he really was. When he couldn’t furnish one, he was taken right back to the resort where he was putting up and staff there vouched for him. And America is Dylan’s own country."
.
.
"There are two layers to the SRK incident and we must peel them off with care. One, it is quite ridiculous that Indians feel their icons and superstars are everybody’s icons and superstars. What the heck? If Jet Li came to India tomorrow, the man on the street here would probably call him ‘`Chinky’’ and not give a second look. For that matter, what if Gérard Depardieu came travelling. How many would know him? Matt Damon was here recently and there wasn’t a traffic jam in Delhi. These guys are huge back home. Moreover, America doesn’t have a culture of fawning the way India has. Mike Tyson was treated like a common rapist and spent most part of his youth in the slammer. Winona Ryder was sentenced to a three-year probation for shoplifting. Chinese born Hollywood actress Bai Ling was fined US 200 dollars for petty theft.

More importantly, we are actually aggrieved because we are ``not like them’’. Well, guess what. It isn’t a virtue. We should be like them and take the security of our country and its people with solemn, no-nonsense professionalism.
.
.
We are just whimpering over here like hurt puppies because we feel, ``Oh, but we don’t do it to them’’. Oh no, we don’t. And it’s a scandal. We should.
.
.
So instead of making SRK’s detention an issue, we should think of upgrading our own security set-up.
There’s a lesson in this. And it is a positive one. A day after our own 26/11, there was hardly any security at CST in Mumbai. It can’t get worse than that. The bottom line: Stop fawning, shed the colonial hangover and make no compromise where the country’s safety is concerned."

[sk2006]

Your argument sounds like "Yes we do harass our own people here. So there is nothing wrong in harassing other country people"

Not at all. That is not the point.
Point is, they have some rules and security setup(You can argue whether it is flawless or not!) and it applies equally to all. No matter who he is.

This is really good.

In India Cops will not dare touch a celebritiy or a politican or Son of a big guy.
Here if they pull over somebody and it comes out be a celebrity, he/she would still get a ticket. While in India, Cop will salute him/her, probably take an autograph for his kids, appologize to the celebrity for the inconvenience and let him/her go. That is the difference.

[fairman]

The question doesn't arise because he is SRK or APJ or in future Manmohan singh. The point is does it take TWO HOURS to find the identity of the person. How did you feel when you were questioned for an hour at the POE even after staying here for 9 years and stay in US legally and paying taxes etc.. can't they have better immigration procedures in place to identify legal from illegal (LIKE biometric finger printing, etc). They have this sophisticated computer information network.. if you give your SSN they can find any data they want.. about your employer, about your pay roll, your taxes etc.. then why this delay at POE to idenfity geniune people from entering US. These actions look totally racist to me. Don't you think these (US) people know how to improve this system.. they can but there is no will to do so.. Just look at priority dates how they swing +5 years to -5 years every year (2000 to 2005). It looks like someone just picks any year between 2000 to 2005 based on his mood. Can't this developed country have a software system to predict visa number availability or to predict how the dates should advance and by how much... this is want really sucks.. this so called developed country doesn't have a system in place for immigration issues.. Just look at the people who got their green cards who's priority dates were 2006 and people from 2002 or 2003 are still waiting.. how can their system (software) allow people with older dates to wait while someone with PD 2006 get their GC.. Things can be better managed and controlled with total transperancy but there is no WILL to do so.. i am not sure if IV can play any role in pushing some reforms to have a better system in place. There was another thread discussing about IO officers visting to employee office to find geniune applications and for more details.. this is simple waste of money and resources with SSN can give you almost 90% of the details.... overall the frustration is about the System and not about SRK or APJ.


USCIS software system is quite old !

[sk2006]

Why so much ruckus for SRK ?. After all he is a actor in India. So many actors are having connections with Dawood Ibrahim. So , nothing wrong for extra questioning.


But Indian immigration will not do such things to foreign delegates. They treat them like gods.Everything will be bypassed.

This is the difference between us and US

Agreed. Makes sense.

[belmontboy]

Welcome to our troubles Mr SRK.

Nobody cared for hapless NRI's all these days.
One fine day, Mr SRK gets the treatment, and suddenly everybody starts jumping.

Nice to see every Brown skinned being treated the same way.

[amitga]

There is different view to the whole story:

washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/15/AR2009081501595.html)

Meghnad Desai , an Indian-born economist, a member of Britain's House of Lords and the author of books on Indian cinema and globalization, joked in an interview in New Delhi that the whole thing seemed like a publicity stunt for the new film.

"The U.S. government was an inadvertent accomplice to 20th Century Fox, which is investing millions in this movie," he said, chuckling, referring to a joint venture between Hollywood and Bollywood to distribute the film. "This was a no-no for India-U.S. relations. Anyhow, there will be no bigger story in India tomorrow. Or maybe for the next few days."

read more at : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/15/AR2009081501595.html

[Green_Always]

Why should it be a surprise?
How do PoE officers know if he is a film star in some foreign language movies?
Even if they knew, why is SRK so special that he should not be checked?

There was an instance when a pop singer from India(Daler Mehdi) was accused of smugling illegal immigrants disguised as musicians. Point is, if somebody is a celebrity, that does not make him/her un touchable?



I agree 100% simply Indian Media make more of this. I know only one face of SRK, who knows such big guys what they are into ?

[12Karan]

Indians are masters in creating unnecessary ourage. Look what a big deal the Indian media made of students being attacked in Australia. Indians declared Australia as a racist country and they branded Britain also as racist when Shilpa Shetty episode took place. Now also they are making a non-issue as a big deal. It seems that Indians thinking is buillt around that all the world is racist and biased toward India. But, when it comes to showing ourage to genuine issues they are always silent. So many horrible things happen to millions of Indians everyday but no body cares about them. Also, when chinese think tank published a report last week about breaking India in many states, there was no outrage. As compared to this news SRK news is nothing. The reason is simple chinese will shut Indians out because they know what works while dealing with Indians.

[sk2006]

I completely agree with you that we should never forget our roots or our motherland. India is far better than US when it comes to family values and many other things. However, this story has nothing to do about standing up for our own country/motherland. Every person who has a common name with terrorist names has had troubles at POE since 9/11. So who cares if he is SRK or anyone for that matter. When Colin Powell was the chief of security under Bush administration he had to go through airport security just like any other common person. The TSA here in US treats everyone the same. Do you think ministers or celebrities in India follow any security procedures ? Every now and then you hear of ministers and celebrities involved in smuggling scandals.
There are good and bad things about every nation. IMHO, security procedures in US are the far better than India and apply the same way to everyone unlike in India. If you are so concerned about standing up for your motherland, what are you doing in the US ? Should I be calling you a traitor ? My point is, this case of SRK has nothing to do with loyality to motherland or racism. It is an unfortunate aftermath of 9/11 and we all know its been happening at POE.

I think this is a very good post.
To add to this:
This incident has nothing to do with India. It just happened that SRK was from India.
After 9/11 we all know security measures are tight and rightly so.

For them it does not matter if it is
1. SR Khan who works in movies or
2. XYZ Khan who is a computer programmer or a cab driver.

If the name flashes in the computers they do the required checks.

Do you feel people with Muslim sounding names are targeted more?
No wonder, it is likely. DO NOT Blame USA TSA for that. Blame Osama Bin Laden for putting innocent Muslims through this.

[poorslumdog]

SRK detained at US airport for being a Khan - India - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/SRK-detained-at-US-airport-for-being-a-Khan/articleshow/4896236.cms)

Guys we often discussed about facing problems at Port of entry. People being questioned for hours or rumors about people being sent back. I was surprised by reading this news today. This country is going crazy about stopping people just because their surname is "Khan" even if the person has travelled to US earlier. With experience i expect people to get smarter but these people are getting dummer.

I dont understand whats so special about SRK...is he god or what. TSA/IO has every right to question any one entering the country. Its their job. Indian Media is making it big issue about this just to get more attention from public. This is cheap advertisement for them. Our country is so corrupt...if you are celebrity and Politician you can get away with any system.

If you people do not like the way the american doing business give them the same reply in your/our country or stop doing business with them. Whats the big deal.

[gcfordesi]

I know its not easy or possible in USA to get a Immigration officer to make some scene deliberately at airport . Here is what i observed .
He was in CA a month back june/july for his movie shoot nothing popped that time.
But he signed a 100 crore INR deal with FOX for his Forth coming movie My Name is Khan i think couple of weeks back dose it tell something ?
So with this incident he is on Top 10 news in CNN today - Btw this news was at number 7 few hours back and now number 2.
Nice way to create awareness of Shah Rukh Khan and the Movie.

Just my 2 cents ....

1. 1 When an insect sting turns fatal
2. 2 Bollywood star detained at airport
3. 3 Tropical Storm Ana forms
4. 4 Britain seizes control of islands
5. 5 Bob Dylan a complete unknown?
6. 6 Australian granted right to die
7. 7 Lockheed Fire scorches 6,800 acres
8. 8 Run 135 miles across Death Valley?
9. 9 Arctic Sea 'ransom demanded'
10. 10 Missing boy last seen near car

[Humhongekamyab]

We all know how media wants to make new so that they can get more hits on their webpages. Maybe is name randomly got selected and that is why he got grilled - we don't know what did he tell the officer which lead to all this. We all now know about "teachable" moment with the Harvard professor. The facts were not what they appeared initially.

Just because one pays his taxes to the IRS does not mean s/he cannot be audited - even if he is Bill Gates. IRS computer randomly selects people for audit - irrespective of their status in life.

It may be one of these occurrence - we will know with time and let's not speculate until then. Moreover he is an ordinary citizen without any diplomatic privileges. If you or me can be interrogated why can't he be. Every country has a right to protect itself and to set standards for it irrespective of the status of the individual.

[gbof]

I think this is a very good post.
To add to this:
This incident has nothing to do with India. It just happened that SRK was from India.
After 9/11 we all know security measures are tight and rightly so.

For them it does not matter if it is
1. SR Khan who works in movies or
2. XYZ Khan who is a computer programmer or a cab driver.

If the name flashes in the computers they do the required checks.

Do you feel people with Muslim sounding names are targeted more?
No wonder, it is likely. DO NOT Blame USA TSA for that. Blame Osama Bin Laden for putting innocent Muslims through this.

Add to this:
Not even a single incident happened on american soil after 9/11 and credit for this goes to EFFECTIVE security system in place and this will stay in place because no body will interefere on this

America is still fighting 2- wars (yes, Iraq and Afganistan mess is not over yet) BUT its citizen are still having very normal life - credit goes to home land security

[Aah_GC]

I think we should take the SRK-the-global-icon factor out of the equation and just focus on the ridiculous system that is in place. There were other immigration officers attesting SRK's identity, he showed the officer his event invitation -- what else do you need? Does the whole Muslim world have to pay a price for 9/11? Should the airports around the world put in a 2 hour interrogation for anyone with last name as Bush?

[poorslumdog]

I think we should take the SRK-the-global-icon factor out of the equation and just focus on the ridiculous system that is in place. There were other immigration officers attesting SRK's identity, he showed the officer his event invitation -- what else do you need? Does the whole Muslim world have to pay a price for 9/11? Should the airports around the world put in a 2 hour interrogation for anyone with last name as Bush?

I warn you not to start the Muslims vs rest debate here....I would say most (not all) people are fanatics will do any attrocity in the name of religion. Blame it on your fellow fanatics for this mess. Yes, you need to pay the price for 9/11. DHS and TSA are created to protect the innocent civilian and its their duty. If you dont like dont come to USA.

What SRK - global icon you are talking about. He is not a leader of the nation...he is just an actor. He might be a god for you and he does not need to be the same for others. Think logically everyone is coming here with invitation only. For the IO at POE, he is just a visitor and if needed should be treated in the same way like any other visitor. When it happened to Mr.Kalam, yes we need to protest as he was a former Head of State. But that Noble person did not even speak about it. But this poor SRK saying his self-respect is hurt. What a loser.

[Aah_GC]

I warn you not to start the Muslims vs rest debate here....I would say most (not all) people are fanatics will do any attrocity in the name of religion. Blame it on your fellow fanatics for this mess. Yes, you need to pay the price for 9/11. DHS and TSA are created to protect the innocent civilian and its their duty. If you dont like dont come to USA.

What SRK - global icon you are talking about. He is not leader of the nation...he is just actor. He might be god for you and does not need to be the same for others.

You might want to read this warning to yourself. I am not a Muslim myself, but solely pointing to the obscureness of the system. Even Kamal Hassan payed a price for his name, it's high time this changes, and this routine harrasment is very comparable to the H1B experience at POE.

[Aah_GC]

I warn you not to start the Muslims vs rest debate here....I would say most (not all) people are fanatics will do any attrocity in the name of religion. Blame it on your fellow fanatics for this mess. Yes, you need to pay the price for 9/11. DHS and TSA are created to protect the innocent civilian and its their duty. If you dont like dont come to USA.

What SRK - global icon you are talking about. He is not a leader of the nation...he is just an actor. He might be a god for you and he does not need to be the same for others. Think logically everyone is coming here with invitation only. For the IO at POE, he is just a visitor and if needed should be treated in the same way like any other visitor. When it happened to Mr.Kalam, yes we need to protest as he was a former Head of State. But that Noble person did not even speak about it. But this poor SRK saying his self-respect is hurt. What a loser.

Also I expressed to take the "Global icon" tag out of the picture and focus on the system itself. Make sure you read and understand posts before rhetorical reactions.

[poorslumdog]

You might want to read this warning to yourself. I am not a Muslim myself, but solely pointing to the obscureness of the system. Even Kamal Hassan payed a price for his name, it's high time this changes, and this routine harrasment is very comparable to the H1B experience at POE.

I dont see any Harashment...They are not beating you. Just its extra verification. If you dont like that you are more than welcome not to come here. Everyday hundereds of people going this process and no one is crying foul and why only this time.?

[poorslumdog]

Also I expressed to take the "Global icon" tag out of the picture and focus on the system itself. Make sure you read and understand posts before rhetorical reactions.

The system is working very well the way it was designed. As some one already pointed out blame it on osama bin laden. Not on the DHS

[Aah_GC]

The system is working very well the way it was designed. As some one already pointed out blame it on osama bin laden. Not on the DHS

Alrite bud, you win I lose. Most Americans still think Legal immigration is a rose-garden that needs to be revamped to their benefit. You do have a point about what-needs-to-be-done-should-be-done but that turns the very foundational principles of this country upside down.
POE experience is rotting with time, most Indians with H1B don't walk that alley anymore fearing deportation and there is more to come with this attitude.

[ivar]

-- Deleted ---

[gc_wow]

Bollywood should first pay taxes, none of these icons, pay taxes legimately in India, remember them dancing in the partys of mafia, which is tied to terrorists, I think the agent did a great job in nabbing this guy. The VVIP mentality should end in India. Stupid illeterate politicians are over playing this, Ambika Soni should do what she is supossed to do in her office.

[gbof]

The original post was not about SRK detention.. but it was giving an idea of US immigration system. Well everyone here is singing praises of US immigration system.. if anyone of you will be detained if simillar name flashes on their computer and detained for hours and sent back then i hope you guys don't change your tune.. Thanks for all your reds.. looks like some people over here are interested in green or red.. crazy guys!!! go get a life.

I gave you green...
You know america will care and care only US interests...and will defend its actions. We all have suffered inexplicable delays in NC/BC (donot know if they honor 180 day rule) but who cares for immigrants....
...peace...

[snathan]

Bollywood should first pay taxes, none of these icons, pay taxes legimately in India, remember them dancing in the partys of mafia, which is tied to terrorists, I think the agent did a great job in nabbing this guy. The VVIP mentality should end in India. Stupid illeterate politicians are over playing this, Ambika Soni should do what she is supossed to do in her office.

Then India would become a well developed country and will rule the world. :D

[snathan]

I gave you green...
You know america will care and care only US interests...and will defend its actions. We all have suffered inexplicable delays in NC/BC (donot know if they honor 180 day rule) but who cares for immigrants....
...peace...

Thats how every country should behave...unfortunately its not happening in our beloved mother country. The terrorist asking for mutton briyani...in other countries he would be made as briyani by this time...:D

[fairman]

I believe visitors get finger printed and photographed . Isn't that in the system ?
If they felt suspicious on this 'khan' they should have pulled the records from computer .
Dealing with USCIS ( and the service center Information Officers ) , they are either arrogrant or idiots. They also hate computers.

[Aah_GC]

Thats how every country should behave...unfortunately its not happening in our beloved mother country. The terrorist asking for mutton briyani...in other countries he would be made as briyani by this time...:D

Every country should protect it's interests and we should be proud that a terrorist has the gumption to ask for Mutton Biriyani in an Indian prison. Why should he not? He is a criminal and then he has his own desires. Cutting to the gist, he is a 20 year old misguided young man, poverty led him to take up arms and am sure he did not realize what he was up to when he did what he did. He is a freak who doesn't know the distinction between right and wrong. Why morph him into a demon? Don't you think there are other rapists and murderers making other unimaginable demands in prisons?

[snathan]

Every country should protect it's interests and we should be proud that a terrorist has the gumption to ask for Mutton Biriyani in an Indian prison. Why should he not? He is a criminal and then he has his own desires. Cutting to the gist, he is a 20 year old misguided young man, poverty led him to take up arms and am sure he did not realize what he was up to when he did what he did. He is a freak who doesn't know the distinction between right and wrong. Why morph him into a demon? Don't you think there are other rapists and murderers making other unimaginable demands in prisons?

Wow what a good definition for a terrorist...can we let him go free? Ask the people who lost their loved ones. Only in Indian prison he can ask for mutton briyani. Because of Govt and politician are so corrupt and spine less. Try the same with Soudi Arabia or anyother Arab countries. Even after 8 years the GOI is not able to hang Absal Guru...its a shame.

Yes, ofcourse he is a demon. There are hundereds of thousands of people are dying without food. Not everyone is taking the arms and killing innocent people. He is a fanatic. He deserves nothing less than death. He should be cut into pieces and should be a lesson for other terrorist.

[chanduv23]

Wow what a good definition for a terrorist...can we let him go free? Ask the people who lost their loved ones. Try the same with Soudi Arabia or anyother Arab countries.

Yes, ofcourse he is a demon. There are hundereds of thousands of people are dying without food. Not everyone is taking the arms and killing innocent people. He is a fanatic. He deserves nothing less than death. He should be cut into pieces and should be a lesson for other terrorist.

Ok, if Kasab is cut into pieces - it does not help in anyway. Kasab is a "reqruit" and personally does not have a give/take on this.

[snathan]

Ok, if Kasab is cut into pieces - it does not help in anyway. Kasab is a "reqruit" and personally does not have a give/take on this.

Can we let him go then...? is there any guarantee they will not recruit more and massacre more? If its Israel already mosat would have taken the preparators. If its US, Pak would have been reduced to rubble.

But India is only good to serve the mutton briyani...God save India.

[chanduv23]

I just read through this thread and made some interesting observations.

We all have our own opinions and I am bringing all this into context by considering the fact that most people on this thread are people of Indian origin.

So here is my opinion too.

Looks like there is a process followed by the security officials that flags people based on certain factors.

Now, we can talk for hours and discuss and debate - but we really don't know how such a system is working. It might be working great in the POV of some people who claim that it helps with filtering out the terrorists.

If it is a frequest occurance and is affecting everyone - then there is definitely issues with such a system - but do we hear such stories regularly? We don't. We hear stories of Abdul Kalam or Shilpa Shetty or Sharukh Khan because they are celebrities.

It might be happening quite often and we never know.

It looks like a lot of "discretionary" power lies in the hands of these officers and at times they may just not listen or heed to anyone.

In my opinion a "discretionary" power is something that needs to be associated with good judgement. Rules and systems are in place to "help with things in a good way" and need not be the other way.

If someone feels bad about something - it is not their fault as one cannot control one's feelings. This is exactly what President Obama explained at the "beer summit"

In the modern world the definition of racism has changed. There is nothing called racism or discrimination which relate to their original meanings. For eg.. Indian students in Australia not necessarily be attacked by a particulal race - most time they are attacked by a mob of different kinds of people.

In reality "all of us are living in today's world where there are issues - some are vocal about it, some deny it, some supportit and some oppose it.

Lets think like a cynic - cynical people are good thinkers because all those cynics out there have become so due to series of different experiences the eventually changes the way they think.

[Aah_GC]

Can we let him go then...? is there any guarantee they will not recruit more and massacre more? If its Israel already mosat would have taken the preparators. If its US, Pak would have been reduced to rubble.

But India is only good to serve the mutton briyani...God save India.

US knows that Pakistan is the mother of Terrorism, doesn't look like with all the aid flowing in, that it is being reduced to rubble. Terrorism is a deeper debate, and it borders on uneven economics, social structures, global imbalance to name a few. We have quite a few terrorists in India too, just look up Sikh riots of 1984 and Gujrat riots of 2002, the culprits walk scott free. You talk about Israel, how safe is Israel? Would you settle in Israel given a chance? The same is with the US, in the pretext of 9/11 the residual racism is now emerging in these situations.

Whether we like it or not, Kasab will be hung to death. He is definitely a criminal, and it shines on our judicial system and independent media (both are screwed in their own ways) that we can tell that a terrorist hasn't been reduced to a weakling to not demand the food of his choice.

[gcfordesi]

huge publicity stunt for the movie... the movie runs on the same lines...
they already archived their goal as every news paper in India has this in front page ...
why waste our time on discussing politics and system here ...

[Aah_GC]

Yes, ofcourse he is a demon. There are hundereds of thousands of people are dying without food. Not everyone is taking the arms and killing innocent people. He is a fanatic. He deserves nothing less than death. He should be cut into pieces and should be a lesson for other terrorist.

Poverty is the reality of our subcontinent, the reason Kasab took arms was out of ignorance not due to deliberate fundamentalism, even if latter were true, it is all desperation. The thousands of hungry dying people you point out might just take up arms if they had a choice to beat poverty.
How bright were we when we were 20 year olds? I am in no way supporting Kasab, he will meet his end eventually. But we need to open our minds to the root causes of terrorism, when we do that we have an opportunity to leave our children with a better world. Cutting someone into pieces won't fetch you much, that is no different from Taliban's approach of stoning infidel women, singers and anti-shariats.

[snathan]

Poverty is the reality of our subcontinent, the reason Kasab took arms was out of ignorance not due to deliberate fundamentalism, even if latter were true, it is all desperation. The thousands of hungry dying people you point out might just take up arms if they had a choice to beat poverty.
How bright were we when we were 20 year olds? I am in no way supporting Kasab, he will meet his end eventually. But we need to open our minds to the root causes of terrorism, when we do that we have an opportunity to leave our children with a better world. Cutting someone into pieces won't fetch you much, that is no different from Taliban's approach of stoning infidel women, singers and anti-shariats.

It doesnt mean that we need to take arathy for Kasab. He needs to meet his end soon. Poverty used to be a cause for terrorism once up on a time. I dont think people are starving in Saudi Arabia. I dont think Absal Guru was dying for good. But still was commiting terror against innocent people.

[snathan]

US knows that Pakistan is the mother of Terrorism, doesn't look like with all the aid flowing in, that it is being reduced to rubble. Terrorism is a deeper debate, and it borders on uneven economics, social structures, global imbalance to name a few. We have quite a few terrorists in India too, just look up Sikh riots of 1984 and Gujrat riots of 2002, the culprits walk scott free. You talk about Israel, how safe is Israel? Would you settle in Israel given a chance? The same is with the US, in the pretext of 9/11 the residual racism is now emerging in these situations.

Whether we like it or not, Kasab will be hung to death. He is definitely a criminal, and it shines on our judicial system and independent media (both are screwed in their own ways) that we can tell that a terrorist hasn't been reduced to a weakling to not demand the food of his choice.

If you are soft state they will after you...How come Israel surviving with all hostile neighbour....Do you know the seven day war. Do we have the guts to do that with any country who are launching terrorist into our land.?

Yes...US is not attacking Pak...because Pak is living at US mercy.

[Mr. Brown]

The question doesn't arise because he is SRK or APJ or in future Manmohan singh. The point is does it take TWO HOURS to find the identity of the person. How did you feel when you were questioned for an hour at the POE even after staying here for 9 years and stay in US legally and paying taxes etc.. can't they have better immigration procedures in place to identify legal from illegal (LIKE biometric finger printing, etc). They have this sophisticated computer information network.. if you give your SSN they can find any data they want.. about your employer, about your pay roll, your taxes etc.. then why this delay at POE to idenfity geniune people from entering US. These actions look totally racist to me. Don't you think these (US) people know how to improve this system.. they can but there is no will to do so.. Just look at priority dates how they swing +5 years to -5 years every year (2000 to 2005). It looks like someone just picks any year between 2000 to 2005 based on his mood. Can't this developed country have a software system to predict visa number availability or to predict how the dates should advance and by how much... this is want really sucks.. this so called developed country doesn't have a system in place for immigration issues.. Just look at the people who got their green cards who's priority dates were 2006 and people from 2002 or 2003 are still waiting.. how can their system (software) allow people with older dates to wait while someone with PD 2006 get their GC.. Things can be better managed and controlled with total transperancy but there is no WILL to do so.. i am not sure if IV can play any role in pushing some reforms to have a better system in place. There was another thread discussing about IO officers visting to employee office to find geniune applications and for more details.. this is simple waste of money and resources with SSN can give you almost 90% of the details.... overall the frustration is about the System and not about SRK or APJ.

While proponents would mask this whole backlog issue as something purposefully done by the "system" I don't buy it. It is a proven disaster.

As far as the software goes clearly their programmers suck. They sure could use some help from the more efficient H1B's.

[unseenguy]

Why should it be a surprise?
How do PoE officers know if he is a film star in some foreign language movies?
Even if they knew, why is SRK so special that he should not be checked?

There was an instance when a pop singer from India(Daler Mehdi) was accused of smugling illegal immigrants disguised as musicians. Point is, if somebody is a celebrity, that does not make him/her un touchable?

So shall we strip search Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton on their next visit to India? They can also be accused of bringing something illegal, isnt it?

[unseenguy]

Indians are masters in creating unnecessary ourage. Look what a big deal the Indian media made of students being attacked in Australia. Indians declared Australia as a racist country and they branded Britain also as racist when Shilpa Shetty episode took place. Now also they are making a non-issue as a big deal. It seems that Indians thinking is buillt around that all the world is racist and biased toward India. But, when it comes to showing ourage to genuine issues they are always silent. So many horrible things happen to millions of Indians everyday but no body cares about them. Also, when chinese think tank published a report last week about breaking India in many states, there was no outrage. As compared to this news SRK news is nothing. The reason is simple chinese will shut Indians out because they know what works while dealing with Indians.

Anti.... welcome to 21st century assertive Indianness. We fight for our rights!

[snathan]

Don’t make a big deal of Shah Rukh’s detention:One For The Road:Anand Soondas's blog-The Times Of India (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/onefortheroad/entry/don-t-make-a-big)

One For The RoadDon’t make a big deal of Shah Rukh’s detention

After a long time actor Salman Khan has come up with a real gem. On hearing about Shah Rukh Khan being questioned by US security at Newark, New Jersey, he said it’s good that the country has such a tight set-up. And that ``there has been no attack after 9/11 because of this.’’

Salman has a point. SRK might be an icon to Indians and many in the subcontinent, even to the desi diaspora spread across the globe, but to America he’s just a visitor. We may be convinced he cannot be involved in anything that’s remotely violent, but the guard given the responsibility of stopping something like 9/11 from happening in his country again will want to take no chances. And what is the possibility that he’s a die hard fan of the Khan and Bollywood? Very slim.

Interestingly, the same day that SRK was detained in Newark, there came news that the great Bob Dylan, who was wandering around Long Branch, near New York City, sometime back, was asked for an ID by two cops too young to know who he really was. When he couldn’t furnish one, he was taken right back to the resort where he was putting up and staff there vouched for him. And America is Dylan’s own country.

Was there a furore? Not that I know of. Not even a little blowin' in the wind.

SRK says he’s ``upset and angry’’ because it was his Muslim name that caused all this. Thousands of Muslims are made to go through extra security checks everyday in America and a host of Western countries. Is he equally upset at that? He's probably just pissed that it happened to him, India's mega star. We all know how a lot of Muslims have been subjected to prejudice around the world because many countries see terrorism as an Islamic phenomenon. Yes, it is uncalled for, unjust and maybe wrong. But America is a country that takes the killings of its people with the seriousness it deserves, unlike India whose record on this is shameful, to say the least.

Also, because most of the perpetrators of 9/11 were Muslims, America thinks it has to be doubly careful where they are concerned. Had the terrorists been Jews, perhaps it would have looked at Jews with similar suspicion. I was much more aggrieved at President Kalam being frisked. But that’s a dated debate.

There are two layers to the SRK incident and we must peel them off with care. One, it is quite ridiculous that Indians feel their icons and superstars are everybody’s icons and superstars. What the heck? If Jet Li came to India tomorrow, the man on the street here would probably call him ‘`Chinky’’ and not give a second look. For that matter, what if Gérard Depardieu came travelling. How many would know him? Matt Damon was here recently and there wasn’t a traffic jam in Delhi. These guys are huge back home.

Moreover, America doesn’t have a culture of fawning the way India has. Mike Tyson was treated like a common rapist and spent most part of his youth in the slammer. Winona Ryder was sentenced to a three-year probation for shoplifting. Chinese born Hollywood actress Bai Ling was fined US 200 dollars for petty theft.

More importantly, we are actually aggrieved because we are ``not like them’’. Well, guess what. It isn’t a virtue. We should be like them and take the security of our country and its people with solemn, no-nonsense professionalism. Frisk Brad Pitt when he lands in India next. Give Tom Cruise the same dose. Don’t spare Bill Clinton either. Isn’t he an ex-prez just like Kalam? Who’s stopping you and what’s stopping you? Colonial hangover? Or is it plain lethargy and callousness. Looks like both.

We are just whimpering over here like hurt puppies because we feel, ``Oh, but we don’t do it to them’’. Oh no, we don’t. And it’s a scandal. We should. I’ve seen white men – and women – get away in India with murder. Indian women can’t get into some discos wearing a sari. And bouncers will frown at you if you are dressed in a kurta. Have you seen what some of these firangs have on them? No one bats a eyelid.
So instead of making SRK’s detention an issue, we should think of upgrading our own security set-up.

There’s a lesson in this. And it is a positive one. A day after our own 26/11, there was hardly any security at CST in Mumbai. It can’t get worse than that. The bottom line: Stop fawning, shed the colonial hangover and make no compromise where the country’s safety is concerned. Can we do that or is it too much to ask from a country that’s been free for 62 years but was ruled by white sahibs for 200?

[go_guy123]

Don’t make a big deal of Shah Rukh’s detention:One For The Road:Anand Soondas's blog-The Times Of India (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/onefortheroad/entry/don-t-make-a-big)

One For The RoadDon’t make a big deal of Shah Rukh’s detention

After a long time actor Salman Khan has come up with a real gem. On hearing about Shah Rukh Khan being questioned by US security at Newark, New Jersey, he said it’s good that the country has such a tight set-up. And that ``there has been no attack after 9/11 because of this.’’

Salman has a point. SRK might be an icon to Indians and many in the subcontinent, even to the desi diaspora spread across the globe, but to America he’s just a visitor. We may be convinced he cannot be involved in anything that’s remotely violent, but the guard given the responsibility of stopping something like 9/11 from happening in his country again will want to take no chances. And what is the possibility that he’s a die hard fan of the Khan and Bollywood? Very slim.

Interestingly, the same day that SRK was detained in Newark, there came news that the great Bob Dylan, who was wandering around Long Branch, near New York City, sometime back, was asked for an ID by two cops too young to know who he really was. When he couldn’t furnish one, he was taken right back to the resort where he was putting up and staff there vouched for him. And America is Dylan’s own country.

Was there a furore? Not that I know of. Not even a little blowin' in the wind.

SRK says he’s ``upset and angry’’ because it was his Muslim name that caused all this. Thousands of Muslims are made to go through extra security checks everyday in America and a host of Western countries. Is he equally upset at that? He's probably just pissed that it happened to him, India's mega star. We all know how a lot of Muslims have been subjected to prejudice around the world because many countries see terrorism as an Islamic phenomenon. Yes, it is uncalled for, unjust and maybe wrong. But America is a country that takes the killings of its people with the seriousness it deserves, unlike India whose record on this is shameful, to say the least.

Also, because most of the perpetrators of 9/11 were Muslims, America thinks it has to be doubly careful where they are concerned. Had the terrorists been Jews, perhaps it would have looked at Jews with similar suspicion. I was much more aggrieved at President Kalam being frisked. But that’s a dated debate.

There are two layers to the SRK incident and we must peel them off with care. One, it is quite ridiculous that Indians feel their icons and superstars are everybody’s icons and superstars. What the heck? If Jet Li came to India tomorrow, the man on the street here would probably call him ‘`Chinky’’ and not give a second look. For that matter, what if Gérard Depardieu came travelling. How many would know him? Matt Damon was here recently and there wasn’t a traffic jam in Delhi. These guys are huge back home.

Moreover, America doesn’t have a culture of fawning the way India has. Mike Tyson was treated like a common rapist and spent most part of his youth in the slammer. Winona Ryder was sentenced to a three-year probation for shoplifting. Chinese born Hollywood actress Bai Ling was fined US 200 dollars for petty theft.

More importantly, we are actually aggrieved because we are ``not like them’’. Well, guess what. It isn’t a virtue. We should be like them and take the security of our country and its people with solemn, no-nonsense professionalism. Frisk Brad Pitt when he lands in India next. Give Tom Cruise the same dose. Don’t spare Bill Clinton either. Isn’t he an ex-prez just like Kalam? Who’s stopping you and what’s stopping you? Colonial hangover? Or is it plain lethargy and callousness. Looks like both.

We are just whimpering over here like hurt puppies because we feel, ``Oh, but we don’t do it to them’’. Oh no, we don’t. And it’s a scandal. We should. I’ve seen white men – and women – get away in India with murder. Indian women can’t get into some discos wearing a sari. And bouncers will frown at you if you are dressed in a kurta. Have you seen what some of these firangs have on them? No one bats a eyelid.
So instead of making SRK’s detention an issue, we should think of upgrading our own security set-up.

There’s a lesson in this. And it is a positive one. A day after our own 26/11, there was hardly any security at CST in Mumbai. It can’t get worse than that. The bottom line: Stop fawning, shed the colonial hangover and make no compromise where the country’s safety is concerned. Can we do that or is it too much to ask from a country that’s been free for 62 years but was ruled by white sahibs for 200?

Well said and perfect....in India there is a culture of babu where VIPs are not checked at all....otherwise the wrath of the high officer will strike on the junior officer.

[ivar]

[QUOTE=Mr. Brown;689396]While proponents would mask this whole backlog issue as something purposefully done by the "system" I don't buy it. It is a proven disaster.

--- Deleted ----

[ezee]

What use is this thread? How does it serve the purpose of IV. I see emotions flaring up time and again with every "incident" that media sensationalizes. Its high time administrators here took control of our messaging otherwise anti-immigrants are soon going to pounce on this. I sense an under-current of hatred in some posts as well. I am going to stop coming here if this mindless stuff does not get stopped from being posted. Personally I don't even think that forum should be on the home page.

[sk2006]

The original post was not about SRK detention.. but it was giving an idea of US immigration system. Well everyone here is singing praises of US immigration system.. if anyone of you will be detained if simillar name flashes on their computer and detained for hours and sent back then i hope you guys don't change your tune.. Thanks for all your reds.. looks like some people over here are interested in green or red.. crazy guys!!! go get a life.

Can you point to a single post praising the immigration system.

[snathan]

Can you point to a single post praising the immigration system.

He is confused immigration with security system

[ivar]

He is confused immigration with security system

I agree security system and immigration system are two different things but they are closely related. What procedures we follow after landing with our I-94 form are immigration procedures and not security checks. Well i guess i need not extend this topic any further.. because as one post above says that this thread is not leading to any fruitful discussion. I assume forums are a place to discuss and exchange views and ideas and what better place than IV to discuss immigration issues.. i don't understand. Still if this thread doesn't serve any purpose i will edit and remove all my post on this thread. Thanks everyone for sharing your views.

[ivar]

What use is this thread? How does it serve the purpose of IV. I see emotions flaring up time and again with every "incident" that media sensationalizes. Its high time administrators here took control of our messaging otherwise anti-immigrants are soon going to pounce on this. I sense an under-current of hatred in some posts as well. I am going to stop coming here if this mindless stuff does not get stopped from being posted. Personally I don't even think that forum should be on the home page.

ezee,

Well i guess i need not extend this topic any further.. because as your post above says that this thread is not leading to any fruitful discussion. I assume forums are a place to discuss and exchange views and ideas and what better place than IV to discuss immigration issues.. i don't understand your point. Still if this thread doesn't serve any purpose i will edit and remove all my post on this thread. Thanks everyone for sharing your views. I have edited all my post and marked them as DELETED. Its really difficult to figure out which is a good discussion and which is not, anyways i will stop here.

[GreenCardLegion]

I am a patriotic Indian. Why the hell cant this Khan guy go through the same ordeal as an ordinary Indian or any other passenger. Why all the fuss? Is he god??? Hell NO...I would just tell him to shut up and carry on with life. He is an idiot and just doing this for more publicity. How many Indian muslims go through this shit everyday? Why cant he tolerate this 2 hr ordeal like an ordinary Indian muslim or for that matter hindu? Racial profiling is for everyone who is colored and non-US citizen. He is not a good guy as he cant even take a 2 hr ordeal as an ordinary citizen because he thinks he is GOD...when in fact he is as ordinary as anybody. Just because he has money, name and fame should be become god? no way. I dont mind if the Indian airport security frisked Tom Cruise or any other actor. Who cares!! Its our countrys security, but you know what India wont do that as all the airport officials incl. security are so corrupt and also if they see white skin they will just allow them freely thinking they are god!! thats our stupidity not the americans???

I am glad this happened to the so called "King Khan" as he is king only in his mind. Not for me because for me he is a talented actor other than that he is not GOD but just a mere human being..

[unseenguy]

To all the wannabe americans and GC aspirants, dont forget where you came from. You are nothing but 21st century cheap labor. Just do the right thing!

[hiralal]

I am a patriotic Indian. Why the hell cant this Khan guy go through the same ordeal as an ordinary Indian or any other passenger. Why all the fuss? Is he god??? Hell NO...I would just tell him to shut up and carry on with life. He is an idiot and just doing this for more publicity. How many Indian muslims go through this shit everyday? Why cant he tolerate this 2 hr ordeal like an ordinary Indian muslim or for that matter hindu? Racial profiling is for everyone who is colored and non-US citizen. He is not a good guy as he cant even take a 2 hr ordeal as an ordinary citizen because he thinks he is GOD...when in fact he is as ordinary as anybody. Just because he has money, name and fame should be become god? no way. I dont mind if the Indian airport security frisked Tom Cruise or any other actor. Who cares!! Its our countrys security, but you know what India wont do that as all the airport officials incl. security are so corrupt and also if they see white skin they will just allow them freely thinking they are god!! thats our stupidity not the americans???

I am glad this happened to the so called "King Khan" as he is king only in his mind. Not for me because for me he is a talented actor other than that he is not GOD but just a mere human being..
I sort of agree with the above - why all this fuss - it should be an eye opener to him that he is a human after all. maybe he should become more charitable to poor Indians like hollywood stars are if he wants to earn my respect. there is too much of hero worship in India and they sort of think themselves as god (it is not just SRK but even cricketers like Tendulkar etc - they are just not charitable like steve waugh etc)

Read SRK's latest comment "'King' Khan stunned the large number of Indian-Americans when he told them that he does not feel like stepping on the American soil any more, but it is the love and affection of millions of his fans in the US which would bring him to this country again and again. "

it is like saying - I don't like Cake - I hate it --- but I will eat it again and again --hopefully he will face ordeal like this again and again :D

[leoindiano]

SRK is an idiot guys...

In his movies, he wears and promotes US brands half the time. In his stupid movies from 1999 and 2005, he wore US flag on his clothes. He got houses in London, Dubai. He presents himself indian because that sells. Dont loose sleep over this issue. He is trying to publicize his upcoming movie. Do you think he is going to stop that?

I couldnt sleep when Mumbai was burning on CNN. But, why would SRK care about that?

Salman Khan was very sensible in his comments about the issue. Salman, i will watch your next movie in theater for looking from common man perspective. I will make sure, i will not watch SRK movies in theater anymore.

[Humhongekamyab]

Wish we had US' work culture: Cop - India - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Wish-we-had-US-work-culture-Cop/articleshow/4898121.cms)

[raydon]

What's the big deal about Shahrukh Khan getting interrogated? One of the top Malayali actors Mammooty had to go through the same experience because of his Muslim name, but he didn't make a big deal about it. Security procedures need to be followed, whether you are Shahrukh Khan or anyone else.

[weasley]

To all the wannabe americans and GC aspirants, dont forget where you came from. You are nothing but 21st century cheap labor. Just do the right thing!

Is this what anti's call us? I think most of us are not just cheap labour. Definitely paid more that the average wage levels.

[pointlesswait]

simply racial profiling.

i dont think SRK is over reacting.. many desis who are accepting that its a way of life suffer from "Slave Mentality".

When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?

To all the jocks who argue "its part of life"..my advise grow some balls and realize one thing.. no matter how long u live here.. no matter whether u have GC or PC...u will always be treated like third class citizens.

In the end its the color.. do you know beta.

for the record.i am no SRK fan.

Mamooty.. who is he?


What's the big deal about Shahrukh Khan getting interrogated? One of the top Malayali actors Mammooty had to go through the same experience because of his Muslim name, but he didn't make a big deal about it. Security procedures need to be followed, whether you are Shahrukh Khan or anyone else.

[snathan]

I never worship any actor. But now I dont even have any respect for this stupid SRK. If he doesnt like to step on american soil again, I am very glad. This moron thinks american economy will plunge into recession again if he is not coming to america. Atleast salman kahn makes some sensible comment.

[acecupid]

simply racial profiling.

i dont think SRK is over reacting.. many desis who are accepting that its a way of life suffer from "Slave Mentality".

When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?

To all the jocks who argue "its part of life"..my advise grow some balls and realize one thing.. no matter how long u live here.. no matter whether u have GC or PC...u will always be treated like third class citizens.

In the end its the color.. do you know beta.

for the record.i am no SRK fan.

Mamooty.. who is he?

This is racial profiling no doubt, but for good reason after what happened on 9/11. This is an unfortunate aftermath of 9/11 and IMHO a welcome one. If it wasnt for this kind of security we would have had many more 9/11ish incidents. I am glad this is a "part of life" now, otherwise I am not have a life. When you ask "When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?", that is a big problem with the state of security in India. Not just US diplomat or US socialite even our own Indian ministers and celebrities dont get frisked or detained. You feel that is right when you hear about so many scandals of the underworld-bollywood nexus or politician-mafia nexus ? Forget about the nexus, its not right even if there was no connection with mafia. Rules should apply the same to everyone.

The balls you need to grow should be to ask politicians and celebrities to go through security like everyone else back home in India.

[snathan]

simply racial profiling.

i dont think SRK is over reacting.. many desis who are accepting that its a way of life suffer from "Slave Mentality".

When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?

To all the jocks who argue "its part of life"..my advise grow some balls and realize one thing.. no matter how long u live here.. no matter whether u have GC or PC...u will always be treated like third class citizens.

In the end its the color.. do you know beta.

for the record.i am no SRK fan.

Mamooty.. who is he?


Is it their miskate... Indian politician and police are so corrupt and do not have balls to do that.

No one cares Mammoty...but he is muslim and when he was frisked no one was erupting. Why only for SRK...? Doesnt it show the real picture...? When going for stamping how many hours people are wiating in line. If he is waiting for 2 hours in line whats the big deal. He is not Abdul Kalam to be supported. He was a noble person and Former Head of State. He himself is going through the security check that too in india. He did not even speak a word about that issue. But this moron SRK saying 'Doesnt feel like steping on american soil again'. I bet $10000 if he is not steping on american soil again.

[snathan]

Is this what anti's call us? I think most of us are not just cheap labour. Definitely paid more that the average wage levels.

He is talking about himself....dont worry.

[snathan]

So shall we strip search Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton on their next visit to India? They can also be accused of bringing something illegal, isnt it?

Does our people have the balls to do that?

[snathan]

To all the wannabe americans and GC aspirants, dont forget where you came from. You are nothing but 21st century cheap labor. Just do the right thing!

Dont think everyone is like you...:D

[sk2006]

To all the wannabe americans and GC aspirants, dont forget where you came from. You are nothing but 21st century cheap labor. Just do the right thing!

So what has that to do with supporting SRK here?
He is saying he is hurt and he even said there were fans calling him and still the officers did not understand he is SharRukh Khan. Now that is funny.

That sounds like if some xyz is detained and people start calling him by his name POE officers should understand who he is!

[fairman]

.....

Mamooty.. who is he?
One Mallu actor ( got national award etc.)

[go_gc_way]

This is racial profiling no doubt, but for good reason after what happened on 9/11. This is an unfortunate aftermath of 9/11 and IMHO a welcome one. If it wasnt for this kind of security we would have had many more 9/11ish incidents. I am glad this is a "part of life" now, otherwise I am not have a life. When you ask "When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?", that is a big problem with the state of security in India. Not just US diplomat or US socialite even our own Indian ministers and celebrities dont get frisked or detained. You feel that is right when you hear about so many scandals of the underworld-bollywood nexus or politician-mafia nexus ? Forget about the nexus, its not right even if there was no connection with mafia. Rules should apply the same to everyone.

The balls you need to grow should be to ask politicians and celebrities to go through security like everyone else back home in India.


May be this is not the forum , but as I saw this I was unable to stop my self from writing here...

With respect to every one, SRK is no comparision to Dr. Abdul Kalam

When I think of Dr. Abdul Kalam , all that comes to my mind is the unselfish life that he has dedicated to India. We all know , he is Great Scientist, Great Intellectual, Social Worker and a Great Indian. He is unmarried and still serving society after ex Presidency India..

I would not be worried of what happend to SRK..SRK is no comparision, rest is typical politics.

[unseenguy]

Is this what anti's call us? I think most of us are not just cheap labour. Definitely paid more that the average wage levels.

No. I am comparing apples to apples. An american with your skills and qualifications would be paid more than you are being paid, at most places.

If you are comparing with average wages, it doesnt make sense. Are you being paid more than americans with same skills and qualifications, if yes then you are not cheap but I doubt.

[unseenguy]

Does our people have the balls to do that?

Thats the problem, our people dont have balls.

[unseenguy]

So what has that to do with supporting SRK here?
He is saying he is hurt and he even said there were fans calling him and still the officers did not understand he is SharRukh Khan. Now that is funny.

That sounds like if some xyz is detained and people start calling him by his name POE officers should understand who he is!

Well, explain to me, if an american celebrity, such as Brad Pitt or George Clooney is detained at IGI for 66 mins, taken aside for secondary in another chamber, made to wait,

if robert gates (defense secretary), is asked to remove his shirt

if ex president bush or clinton is frisked for secondary, would that be acceptable to americans?

NO. We agree on the answer atleast. Do people in India have to KNOW them?

[americandesi]

Let's look at the following news items

"If Pepsi is banned in India, I would go to the US and drink it” - SRK in 2006. This shows that SRK is nothing but a money minded freak who'll do anything for big bucks.

"SRK was cleared in 66 minutes, say US officials". This shows the true picture of the incident and whatever happened was routine and nothing was intended to single out SRK.

"I was questioned for two hours"- SRK. This shows the dishonesty and exaggeration of the incident, which the actor feels has hurt his ego. It's like "Mommy! US has pinched me OOOOO"

"I don't feel like stepping on American soil any more, but it is the love and affection of millions of his fans in the US which would bring him to this country again and again." - SRK. It's like "I don't feel like eating Ice-cream anymore. But since you all fans want me to eat it, I'm gonna eat it again and again"

"Cabinet minister suggested a "tit-for-tat" policy toward Americans traveling to India". This shows that we don't have any brains of our own and a "tit-for-tat" policy is intended more as a revenge rather than a matter of national security.

"Angry fans in the northern city of Allahabad shouted anti-U.S. slogans and burned an American flag." This shows the ignorance, illiteracy and hero worship that's rampant in India.

"India to take SRK detention issue strongly with US ". This shows that the govt. of India has got no better things to do, but feels that VIP treatment to movie stars is more important than nation's security. Moreover SRK visit to US was purely personal to promote his film and has got nothing to do with govt. of India.

"21 farmers end lives in 40 days in Andhra". Is anyone looking into this? Helooooo.

[Green_Always]

By taking on this subject we are providing good coverage for SRK and talking negative about US Immigraiton we are making them corrupt we should not put pressure on them ( US Immigration ) let them do there duty.

By putting pressure and talking about all these and getting influence from Obama and all is wrong our Indian govt and policies are corrupt and we are pushing these people there now by doing all these things.


Let us look at our future and Jobs over here. Let SRK resolve his headache himself.

Note -- I am not against SRK, I like him and I am fan of him and have seen his movies multiple times and I have full respect to him.


my 2 cents.

[valuablehurdle]

Thousands get 'Frisked'. It really feels bad when you are in that position. This has become a way of life here. Only when a celebrity is frisked, it becomes a news. Who will care about the thousands of silent ordinary people who are unfairly treated because of the color of their skin?


Btw: My name includes a 'Shiva' and Not a 'Khan'.

[sk2006]

Well, explain to me, if an american celebrity, such as Brad Pitt or George Clooney is detained at IGI for 66 mins, taken aside for secondary in another chamber, made to wait,

if robert gates (defense secretary), is asked to remove his shirt

if ex president bush or clinton is frisked for secondary, would that be acceptable to americans?

NO. We agree on the answer atleast. Do people in India have to KNOW them?

Question is why such things are not done in India?
Answer is: The security system there is like Swiss cheese -- Full of holes.

They would by pass the rules for celebrities!
Why do you expect USA to do the same?

[snathan]

Well, explain to me, if an american celebrity, such as Brad Pitt or George Clooney is detained at IGI for 66 mins, taken aside for secondary in another chamber, made to wait,

if robert gates (defense secretary), is asked to remove his shirt

if ex president bush or clinton is frisked for secondary, would that be acceptable to americans?

NO. We agree on the answer atleast. Do people in India have to KNOW them?

You are missing the point here. Americans are doing what they are supposed to do. Our babus are not able to do anything to even ward consuler or local MLA. Whoes mistake that is.

[unseenguy]

SK2006 and snathan:

I do not agree.

First, there is no "profiling" in India. Everyone gets frisked and security at airports in India is top class. Problem with US is "only select" people get frisked most often based on their skin color or names. This is a fact. I am a frequent flyer consultant , I have observed this many many times.

Second, Indians are doing what they are supposed to do. first, they show respect to dignitaries by not frisking or not stripping robert gates, george clooney or bill clinton or any other dignitary from any other country. Americans are not doing what they are supposed to do.

When geroge fernandes was stripped , he had a diplomatic passport. Everyone knows he was defence minister and there was a delegation with him. Secondly, abdul kalam was frisked, which I feel is also negligence of Indian authorities not to be assertive.

So Indians are not doing their job by not being assertive and taking care of its own citizens. and not pressing for their own rights,

I do not feel so bad about Shahrukh, although I think it is profiling, as I do for fernandez and kalam.

This is nothing but profiling and some stupid hot headed mentality. Let there be frisking of americans and stripping of them at Indian airports. Will americans accept it? If not why should Indians not make noise about it?

Rules are rules, provided they apply equally to americans and Indians. otherwise its profiling or discrimination.

[unseenguy]

Let's look at the following news items

"21 farmers end lives in 40 days in Andhra". Is anyone looking into this? Helooooo.

Well i want to see a day when you are held up in secondary for 1.5 hours and then tell us your opinion.

Your post is biased in the sense you trust everything thats coming out from immigration CBP but nothing that comes from Shahrukh. I want to know how did they count 66 mins accurately?

A) was it time from standing in queue to being released?
B_ Was it time of primary + secondary
C) was it time of secondary only?

Did they have stop watch from the time shahrukh entered the building?

[snathan]

SK2006 and snathan:

I do not agree.

First, there is no "profiling" in India. Everyone gets frisked and security at airports in India is top class. Problem with US is "only select" people get frisked most often based on their skin color or names. This is a fact. I am a frequent flyer consultant , I have observed this many many times.

Second, Indians are doing what they are supposed to do. first, they show respect to dignitaries by not frisking or not stripping robert gates, george clooney or bill clinton or any other dignitary from any other country. Americans are not doing what they are supposed to do.

When geroge fernandes was stripped , he had a diplomatic passport. Everyone knows he was defence minister and there was a delegation with him. Secondly, abdul kalam was frisked, which I feel is also negligence of Indian authorities not to be assertive.

So Indians are not doing their job by not being assertive and taking care of its own citizens. and not pressing for their own rights,

I do not feel so bad about Shahrukh, although I think it is profiling, as I do for fernandez and kalam.

This is nothing but profiling and some stupid hot headed mentality. Let there be frisking of americans and stripping of them at Indian airports. Will americans accept it? If not why should Indians not make noise about it?
Rules are rules, provided they apply equally to americans and Indians. otherwise its profiling or discrimination.


My point is Indians do not have the balls to do it. Forget americans....they can not even touch an indian MP. Every day lots common people going through this security check. Whats so special about SRK. He is king only in his mind/heart. For lot of people he is crap. No special treatment. Whats the big deal if he is detained for 1 hr. The world is not going to end

[snathan]

Well i want to see a day when you are held up in secondary for 1.5 hours and then tell us your opinion.

Your post is biased in the sense you trust everything thats coming out from immigration CBP but nothing that comes from Shahrukh. I want to know how did they count 66 mins accurately?

A) was it time from standing in queue to being released?
B_ Was it time of primary + secondary
C) was it time of secondary only?

Did they have stop watch from the time shahrukh entered the building?

Even if he is detained for sixty hours how its matter for GOI. Are they coming to rescue if you or me detained for 2 hrs...why only for SRK..?

[unseenguy]

My point is Indians do not have the balls to do it. Forget americans....they can not even touch an indian MP. Every day lots common people going through this security check. Whats so special about SRK. He is king only in his mind/heart. For lot of people he is crap. No special treatment. Whats the big deal if he is detained for 1 hr. The world is not going to end

Its just highlighting the profiling because of name of religion or skin color. I agree world is not going to end but Indians need to be assertive to protect their own dignity.

[unseenguy]

Even if he is detained for sixty hours how its matter for GOI. Are they coming to rescue if you or me detained for 2 hrs...why only for SRK..?

Timing is not in question, the poster's intent or conclusion is biased is all I am saying. I am just saying its profiling and we should make noise as it is unacceptable,

[leoindiano]

guys,

why are you behind balls? Someday, if someone reads these posts, one may think, SRK was frisked to see if he really got balls.....:):o:confused:

[snathan]

Its just highlighting the profiling because of name of religion or skin color. I agree world is not going to end but Indians need to be assertive to protect their own dignity.

In that case we have to do it everyday...not only when SRk was detained. are you doing that...no. Why?

[unseenguy]

In that case we have to do it everyday...not only when SRk was detained. are you doing that...no. Why?

There is difference between a common man and a celebrity. We did make noise about Abdul Kalam and Fernandez when the news came out. I think SRK was right to make an issue out of it.

I have been through secondary once and frisked about 4-5 times as a "singled out" case. Man I hated it, whole flight was watching what was going on. What if I make an issue? It will be dismissed as everyone goes through it.

When I went for secondary exam , I was released with 5 mins of questioning but was made to wait 30 mins. The secondary officer was nice, but the primary inspection officer was really mean. She picked on me coz I was smiling in the queue and talking to other people. and I laughed at the jokes cracked by other immigration officers.

3 out of 4 frisking incidents were insensitive and derogatory.

But voice of celebrity has more credence to it.

[weasley]

SK2006 and snathan:

I do not agree.

First, there is no "profiling" in India. Everyone gets frisked and security at airports in India is top class.

Rules are rules, provided they apply equally to americans and Indians. otherwise its profiling or discrimination.

In 2000 December, I was travelling to Sydney from Mumbai Airport. I was held and later interviewed separately by a Tamil Speaking officer. Just because my name resembled like Srilankan Tamil. They wanted to ensure that I am not LTTE/or refugee travelling to Australia. Well, I was not offended. I just thought if these idiots have been careful before then would have avoided assasination of Rajiv Gandhi.

[abracadabra102]

TSA/CBP officers are no angels and are known to be rude to passengers at times. Having said that, I think we are all over reacting to SRK incident. Even the famous American Ted Kennedy had to face similar situation. GOI should lay off this incident.

Sen. Kennedy Flagged by No-Fly List (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17073-2004Aug19.html)

Would Khan have fared better as Kennedy? (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Would-Khan-have-fared-better-as-Kennedy/articleshow/4899589.cms)

[h1techSlave]

Police treats an American celibrity like a commoner. Let us see, if the whole of the US is complaning against this.
You're Bob Dylan? NJ police want to see some ID - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090815/ap_on_en_mu/us_people_bob_dylan)

[unseenguy]

In 2000 December, I was travelling to Sydney from Mumbai Airport. I was held and later interviewed separately by a Tamil Speaking officer. Just because my name resembled like Srilankan Tamil. They wanted to ensure that I am not LTTE/or refugee travelling to Australia. Well, I was not offended. I just thought if these idiots have been careful before then would have avoided assasination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Sure. If its done in a respectable manner its fine with some humor and jokes added and officer can do his part to diffuse the frustration. But CBP officers in US are rude and its well known fact.

Indian customs officers are also no angels, Usually there is no profiling in India. I never ever faced a single question or treatment that was different than others. Nor did I see anyone being singled out.

When you frisk abdul kalam when you know he is ex president. When you frisk george fernandes when he has diplomatic passport , when you detain SRK when others are vouching for it, when you handcuff Gates. Its profiling. Once in a while incident that is done in respectable humorous way can be forgotten, not the rude ones. I am sure officer was damn rude to piss off srk.

[raydon]

How is debating about this detention going to do anything for immigration? And things could get worse for immigrants on the health care front if they lose their jobs, if this article is to be believed (the venom against immigrants in the comments section is just too much)

30,000 immigrants to soon lose state health insurance - The Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/15/30000_immigrants_to_soon_lose_state_health_insuran ce/)

[sk2006]

TSA/CBP officers are no angels and are known to be rude to passengers at times. Having said that, I think we are all over reacting to SRK incident. Even the famous American Ted Kennedy had to face similar situation. GOI should lay off this incident.

Sen. Kennedy Flagged by No-Fly List (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17073-2004Aug19.html)

Would Khan have fared better as Kennedy? (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Would-Khan-have-fared-better-as-Kennedy/articleshow/4899589.cms)

If Sen Kennedy can be flagged who the hell is SRK. He is nothing but an actor and there are thousands of them.

Imagine an Indian celebrity getting flagged in India or an indian Politician gets flagged and questioned.
The questioning officer would be suspended or transfered the next day.

[sk2006]

"India to take SRK detention issue strongly with US ". This shows that the govt. of India has got no better things to do, but feels that VIP treatment to movie stars is more important than nation's security. Moreover SRK visit to US was purely personal to promote his film and has got nothing to do with govt. of India.



Exactly.
This part amazes me most.
He is an actor on a personal visit and now govt of India has to intervene.

And look at the protesters.
There are thousands of more important issues in India and they don't bother them while detention of SRK makes them protest. Hight of stupidity.

[kiran_k02]

Exactly.
This part amazes me most.
He is an actor on a personal visit and now govt of India has to intervene.

And look at the protesters.
There are thousands of more important issues in India and they don't bother them while detention of SRK makes them protest. Hight of stupidity.

Amen!!

[sk2006]

It all makes sense now:

Questioning a Bollywood V.I.P. Named Khan - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/questioning-a-bollywood-vip-named-khan/)


" Mr. Khan is also working on a new film, “My Name Is Khan,” about racial profiling of Indian Muslims living in the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks."


What a way to get the publicity for the film.

Wow.
We are all tricked into this debate.
This is my last post on this thread. And I am not going to watch this film.

[digmetalq]

My point is Indians do not have the balls to do it. Forget americans....they can not even touch an indian MP. Every day lots common people going through this security check. Whats so special about SRK. He is king only in his mind/heart. For lot of people he is crap. No special treatment. Whats the big deal if he is detained for 1 hr. The world is not going to end

Maybe Indians don't have balls, but there is something called cultural exchange which every country share with each another. Now if SRK decides that US immigration has mistreated him and he decides not to enter US, world is not going to fall down. Recently I heard that HOLLYWOOD wants to come BOLLYWOOD to make investments, maybe out of bussiness sense HOLLYWOOD should support SRK. Big B recently refused doctorate from Aussie unversity in support of Indian students mistreated in Australia. Maybe Indians don't have balls but they have brains.

[digmetalq]

It all makes sense now:

Questioning a Bollywood V.I.P. Named Khan - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/questioning-a-bollywood-vip-named-khan/)


" Mr. Khan is also working on a new film, “My Name Is Khan,” about racial profiling of Indian Muslims living in the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks."


What a way to get the publicity for the film.

Wow.
We are all tricked into this debate.
This is my last post on this thread. And I am not going to watch this film.

It maybe fun for all the people in this forum to read and debate, it maybe a spoof that srk was mistreated at the entry point. but it is not spoof for all my friends with muslim names. I have travelled with them, and I know the reality.

[digmetalq]

Maybe Indians don't have balls, but there is something called cultural exchange which every country share with each another. Now if SRK decides that US immigration has mistreated him and he decides not to enter US, world is not going to fall down. Recently I heard that HOLLYWOOD wants to come BOLLYWOOD to make investments, maybe out of bussiness sense HOLLYWOOD should support SRK. Big B recently refused doctorate from Aussie unversity in support of Indian students mistreated in Australia. Maybe Indians don't have balls but they have brains.

Did I forget that we can light our bulbs.

[leoindiano]

read the comments here,

The Buzz Log - The Shah Rukh Khan incident - Yahoo! Buzz (http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92914?fp=1)

you will see what damage mr. selef-centered dumbie did with his stupid comments.....

[acepb]

I think he's using this as a great publicity gimmick to market his next movie 'my name is khan'

[kurtz_wolfgang]

simply racial profiling.

i dont think SRK is over reacting.. many desis who are accepting that its a way of life suffer from "Slave Mentality".

When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?

To all the jocks who argue "its part of life"..my advise grow some balls and realize one thing.. no matter how long u live here.. no matter whether u have GC or PC...u will always be treated like third class citizens.

In the end its the color.. do you know beta.

for the record.i am no SRK fan.

Mamooty.. who is he?

Read this before you pass comments. Even Al Gore (VP) and Ted Kennedy have been detained on US Airports. Who the hell is SRK? and just because he is an actor and looks all goody goody, you have all the sympathy. Would you have it for Mulayam/Lalu, if they had gone through the same ordeal?? No, then you would have laughed and said they ought to be. Would you be protesting the same way if Musharraf was being frisked? you wouldn't.

So in the end you are one biased person. You cannot take a justful decision, your decision is based on who is it for. :rolleyes:

Would Khan have fared better as Kennedy? - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Would-Khan-have-fared-better-as-Kennedy/articleshow/4899589.cms)

[fide_champ]

This is a country of law. If your name is flagged by any reason, no matter who you are, you are going to send for secondary investigation. There are thousands of peoples pulled for secondary investigation everyday. Are they all Khan? SRK, you lost your credibility on this issue.
In 2002, then President Bush's two teenager twin daughters were charged for producing fake ID to buy beer in the Texas bar. Instead of supporting daughter, President apologize.
In Baltimore, where I live, charged Micheal Phelps (winner of 8 gold medals in last Olympic) for having accident with expired Driving License.
When India will come out of "Celebrity worship"?

Does president OBAMA come through US port-of-entry and all the security checks when he lands on US from a trip abroad? or does he land directly in white house? Don't tell me the US officials don't make exceptions. Only the degree to which they do differs from country to country.

[maximus777]

This is a country of law. If your name is flagged by any reason, no matter who you are, you are going to send for secondary investigation. There are thousands of peoples pulled for secondary investigation everyday. Are they all Khan? SRK, you lost your credibility on this issue.
In 2002, then President Bush's two teenager twin daughters were charged for producing fake ID to buy beer in the Texas bar. Instead of supporting daughter, President apologize.
In Baltimore, where I live, charged Micheal Phelps (winner of 8 gold medals in last Olympic) for having accident with expired Driving License.
When India will come out of "Celebrity worship"?

The VIP culture and the sense of entitlement in India is sickening :mad: I would understand if George Fernandes had raised a fuss since he was travelling as a diplomat, but SRK is pure dung!! FFS, he is there only to promote his movie - like some one mentioned here, the world doesnt come to an end if he is delayed by an hour or if the movie flops or doesnt even see the light of day.

[gc28262]

IMO all this frisking and questioning at POE is nonsense. If SRK or anybody( including L1/H1/B1) was a security threat or matched a name check query, consulate should have done 2 hours of questioning before issuing the visa.

Why should a person considered a security threat be issued a visa let alone board the flight to USA ? Isn't he a security threat while he is flying ?

This is all ineffective/illogical bureaucracy at play.

[fairman]

The VIP culture and the sense of entitlement in India is sickening :mad: I would understand if George Fernandes had raised a fuss since he was travelling as a diplomat, but SRK is pure dung!! FFS, he is there only to promote his movie - like some one mentioned here, the world doesnt come to an end if he is delayed by an hour or if the movie flops or doesnt even see the light of day.

SRK is a god in North India. This cannot be done to SRK. President Obama should have
come to airport and intervened .

[sdeshpan]

The VIP culture and the sense of entitlement in India is sickening :mad: I would understand if George Fernandes had raised a fuss since he was travelling as a diplomat, but SRK is pure dung!! FFS, he is there only to promote his movie - like some one mentioned here, the world doesnt come to an end if he is delayed by an hour or if the movie flops or doesnt even see the light of day.

You nailed it brother! SRK is just another moron who thinks he owns the world! All things being equal, there is no reason for him to get any special treatment at all -- he is no diplomat or a guest of this country. If there was something wrong with his luggage and/or profile that made the CBP flag him and question him, I don't see anything wrong with that. I can't agree more with you on the stupid "VIP" culture that sits deep in the roots of these glorified-beyond-reality idiots.

And then there are people here comparing India and the US...what the heck! This is America and they can do whatever they like to keep it safe...who are we to say that our "star" deserves better treatment when they don't spare their own people? :mad::rolleyes:

[fide_champ]

You nailed it brother! SRK is just another moron who thinks he owns the world! All things being equal, there is no reason for him to get any special treatment at all -- he is no diplomat or a guest of this country. If there was something wrong with his luggage and/or profile that made the CBP flag him and question him, I don't see anything wrong with that. I can't agree more with you on the stupid "VIP" culture that sits deep in the roots of these glorified-beyond-reality idiots.

And then there are people here comparing India and the US...what the heck! This is America and they can do whatever they like to keep it safe...who are we to say that our "star" deserves better treatment when they don't spare their own people? :mad::rolleyes:

This is just a case of another innocent civilian getting affected for no reason. SRK has travelled to US many times and USCIS has his finger print and knows who he is. Still just bcs his last name was khan, they found reason to interrogate him for 2 hours. I just don't see any logic in what they did. We are not saying they should not have all these security checks but it should be consistent and should have some meaning.

[raydon]

Does president OBAMA come through US port-of-entry and all the security checks when he lands on US from a trip abroad? or does he land directly in white house? Don't tell me the US officials don't make exceptions. Only the degree to which they do differs from country to country.

President Obama travels by Air Force One and might not go through regular airport terminals like the rest of us. For the US, only heads of state of countries are exempt from security checks. So the current Prime Minister and President of India will not go through security checks. Note, this holds good only for current heads of state. Abdul Kalam was a head of State, but not during the time when he was searched by Continental.

Btw, the list of VVIPs in India is ridiculous, like the whole Sonia Gandhi family, including her son-in-law.

[Openarms]

These morons never learn lessons. He is insulting him self by bitching about it....the Officers are just doing their job to verify their system... Can you imagine that a foreigner coming to India might have to go through ordeal if Indian Official suspects that he is a terrorist just because his records show....He should not forget that US has such system to verify and let him go.... where is SRK and others showing some passion when similar thing happen to President Abul Kalam? where is SRK and others showing some passion when bombings happened and innocent people get killed time and time again in India. Did he called for such system in India??? Where is SRK and others showing some passion that we need to improve Education System so that we can be proud of as Indians again? These guys thinks every thing for me nothing for others. They got all the money in the world they want.. now what?? how much is enough for these guys....People like him should learn life lessons like this and try to change Indian peoples life so that they get respect around the world. I think that is better for all of us. As Indians we should teach them or remind them when they forget those values.

[chanduv23]

So, lets stop this here :)

SRK says - it is a procedure but it isn an unfortunate procedure. Which in my opinion is true.

I did go through secondary inspection once in Atlanta, GA back in 2004 and it was kinda absurd. My name did not flash on computer but here is what this officer told me "Something wrong with the Chennai computer they have not uploaded your visa information. Did you really get this visa from Chennai Consulate?". Well, being a software engineer, I did understand that it is a system glitch but what can I do? I showed him my i 797 and all documents including EVL etc..... and he said i have to go through secondary inspection. Then at thesecondary inspection they asked me if I picked my luggage, I was taken aback because u r allowed to pick luggage only after the clearance and I said "no". they had a separate "officials only elevator" to baggage claim and asked me to go through that and bring my baggage and I did that. They asked me to open my bags and I did that. Then asked me which service center approved my h1b visa? I said texas. they looked up on their computer for a while and then took my i 797, tore the i 94 portion folded it and stapled it along with the white i 94 card and said I can go. But I decided to get some clarification and I politely asked the officer, why did I have to go through this? She politely said "It is a process". I asked why did she tear the i 94 portion of my i 797 and staple it to my passport? Do I have to keep it and what is the significance. She wanted to get me off her shoulder without asking questions and said "Yes, it has to be there, it is a proof, thank you and do let me know if you have any more questions" and smiled.

While we all debate that procedures are followd in best interests of national security, at times we must also understand what these procedures are and how do they help.

Some argued that because of tight security another 9/11 could be averted.

Some argued that SRK is no VIP.

In my opinion SRK is "no matter what" a star and an icon. Those who trash him, must understand that people like him have capabilities that u or I lack and thest why he is such a star. They can win hearts of people "children, adults, youth" they can entertain you and make you happy and on top of it al for them it is life and career path and they are best possible candidates for ambassadors for anything ranging from peace to disease to unity etc.... everything because of their charm.

SRK managed to get DHS officials to speak and atleast give a statement which we as a community never managed to but we accept all this as part of life and think why should this guy not be treated like us.

Folks - it is not easy to become a star and gain all this popularity - it is challenging which includes a lot of dedication, efforts, luck, timing and so many different things people have to do. Life of stars is not that rosy as they "smile" and wave to people. For them every minute and second is a challenge - they are not like American Lawyers or Doctors who have ABA or AMA who control the flow and competition always keep theem rich.

The world is a small place and we all have to wake up to reality. Prof Gates gained such traction because he was having contacts with the president. Now if not for his incident, and not for the President vouching for him we would accept "it is how things are and live with it"

We accept everything and say "it is how things are" at workplaces, or anywhere we put ourselves down and say "It is a part of culture" we have to live with it.

The issue with us all is "We are highly educated and talented" but we never learned those lessons in schools where we stand up for causes - we are ready to blame and bash the victim - this is what exactly we do because first thing - we do not respect a victim, as it is not "us" and when it happens to us - we tend to live with it and not discuss it or do something about it.

So folks lets stop it here. Stop blaming SRK or CBP. If you do not want to see his movie, no one is forcing you to.

Things do happen for a reason, and it all depends to how you face situations like this in your life. Look at such incidents to get an idea of how to deal with things.

[fide_champ]

These morons never learn lessons. He is insulting him self by bitching about it....the Officers are just doing their job to verify their system... Can you imagine that a foreigner coming to India might have to go through ordeal if Indian Official suspects that he is a terrorist just because his records show....He should not forget that US has such system to verify and let him go.... where is SRK and others showing some passion when similar thing happen to President Abul Kalam? where is SRK and others showing some passion when bombings happened and innocent people get killed time and time again in India. Did he called for such system in India??? Where is SRK and others showing some passion that we need to improve Education System so that we can be proud of as Indians again? These guys thinks every thing for me nothing for others. They got all the money in the world they want.. now what?? how much is enough for these guys....People like him should learn life lessons like this and try to change Indian peoples life so that they get respect around the world. I think that is better for all of us. As Indians we should teach them or remind them when they forget those values.

let's focus our discussion on the immigration system only. There are many policy holes in the indian system which might take ages to fix but i think one day we will get there. let's remember that our country india is only 62 years old.

I wonder how come they ignored all other details and went only by the last name alone while interrogating SRK. it's a little strange and they are not telling us something here.

[chanduv23]

These morons never learn lessons. He is insulting him self by bitching about it....the Officers are just doing their job to verify their system... Can you imagine that a foreigner coming to India might have to go through ordeal if Indian Official suspects that he is a terrorist just because his records show....He should not forget that US has such system to verify and let him go.... where is SRK and others showing some passion when similar thing happen to President Abul Kalam? where is SRK and others showing some passion when bombings happened and innocent people get killed time and time again in India. Did he called for such system in India??? Where is SRK and others showing some passion that we need to improve Education System so that we can be proud of as Indians again? These guys thinks every thing for me nothing for others. They got all the money in the world they want.. now what?? how much is enough for these guys....People like him should learn life lessons like this and try to change Indian peoples life so that they get respect around the world. I think that is better for all of us. As Indians we should teach them or remind them when they forget those values.

Lets not bash or blame SRK for what he said or did. You are now blaming him for all the problems in India.

For India's problems - "All Indians are equally responsible". For world's problems " All people in the world are equally responsible"

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." -

-- Albert Einstein

Now tell me "Have you done anything to make this world a better place?"

[snathan]

So, lets stop this here :)

SRK says - it is a procedure but it isn an unfortunate procedure. Which in my opinion is true.

I did go through secondary inspection once in Atlanta, GA back in 2004 and it was kinda absurd. My name did not flash on computer but here is what this officer told me "Something wrong with the Chennai computer they have not uploaded your visa information. Did you really get this visa from Chennai Consulate?". Well, being a software engineer, I did understand that it is a system glitch but what can I do? I showed him my i 797 and all documents including EVL etc..... and he said i have to go through secondary inspection. Then at thesecondary inspection they asked me if I picked my luggage, I was taken aback because u r allowed to pick luggage only after the clearance and I said "no". they had a separate "officials only elevator" to baggage claim and asked me to go through that and bring my baggage and I did that. They asked me to open my bags and I did that. Then asked me which service center approved my h1b visa? I said texas. they looked up on their computer for a while and then took my i 797, tore the i 94 portion folded it and stapled it along with the white i 94 card and said I can go. But I decided to get some clarification and I politely asked the officer, why did I have to go through this? She politely said "It is a process". I asked why did she tear the i 94 portion of my i 797 and staple it to my passport? Do I have to keep it and what is the significance. She wanted to get me off her shoulder without asking questions and said "Yes, it has to be there, it is a proof, thank you and do let me know if you have any more questions" and smiled.

While we all debate that procedures are followd in best interests of national security, at times we must also understand what these procedures are and how do they help.

Some argued that because of tight security another 9/11 could be averted.

Some argued that SRK is no VIP.

In my opinion SRK is "no matter what" a star and an icon. Those who trash him, must understand that people like him have capabilities that u or I lack and thest why he is such a star. They can win hearts of people "children, adults, youth" they can entertain you and make you happy and on top of it al for them it is life and career path and they are best possible candidates for ambassadors for anything ranging from peace to disease to unity etc.... everything because of their charm.

SRK managed to get DHS officials to speak and atleast give a statement which we as a community never managed to but we accept all this as part of life and think why should this guy not be treated like us.

Folks - it is not easy to become a star and gain all this popularity - it is challenging which includes a lot of dedication, efforts, luck, timing and so many different things people have to do. Life of stars is not that rosy as they "smile" and wave to people. For them every minute and second is a challenge - they are not like American Lawyers or Doctors who have ABA or AMA who control the flow and competition always keep theem rich.

The world is a small place and we all have to wake up to reality. Prof Gates gained such traction because he was having contacts with the president. Now if not for his incident, and not for the President vouching for him we would accept "it is how things are and live with it"

We accept everything and say "it is how things are" at workplaces, or anywhere we put ourselves down and say "It is a part of culture" we have to live with it.

The issue with us all is "We are highly educated and talented" but we never learned those lessons in schools where we stand up for causes - we are ready to blame and bash the victim - this is what exactly we do because first thing - we do not respect a victim, as it is not "us" and when it happens to us - we tend to live with it and not discuss it or do something about it.

So folks lets stop it here. Stop blaming SRK or CBP. If you do not want to see his movie, no one is forcing you to.

Things do happen for a reason, and it all depends to how you face situations like this in your life. Look at such incidents to get an idea of how to deal with things.

People can not expect to be treated special because they are charming to some group or more. There are hell a lot of people with special talent and each and every one expecting to be treated in a special way...then there is no need for that procedure. If SRK is started crying when the common people going through the ordeal...well thats makes the difference between the real start and a moron.

[go_guy123]

Maybe Indians don't have balls, but there is something called cultural exchange which every country share with each another. Now if SRK decides that US immigration has mistreated him and he decides not to enter US, world is not going to fall down. Recently I heard that HOLLYWOOD wants to come BOLLYWOOD to make investments, maybe out of bussiness sense HOLLYWOOD should support SRK. Big B recently refused doctorate from Aussie university in support of Indian students mistreated in Australia. Maybe Indians don't have balls but they have brains.

Yes, actually needs to go to US as well for shooting. The main reason is that
Shahrukh khan takes the foreign distribution rights as compensation so that his
foreign income is tax free and keeps his Indian income in rupees lower (taxable).

One of the reason why he makes movies with storyline outside India and US being a big market he needs to go.
So as protest like Amitabh he should change his compensation structure so that he doesn't need movies with story line in US etc. Will he do it ?I dont think so !!!!!

[chanduv23]

It looks like a lot of "so called educated folks" are PROBABLY JELOUS :) :) of Mr SRK.

No matter what - he is a capable man and I appreciate him for whatever he is.

If he is not doing anything to reduce poverty in India - well then it is his choice, but you can definitely let him know "Mr SRK please use your popularity in a good way and reduce poverty and disease in India"

Folks - all the starts do have "value" When I say stars - they are public figures, right from mucisians to television anchors to actors or ramp models or anyone - they are what they are because of their destiny, so just because they cannot code or hold a sthethescope, does not mean they are bad.

In fact The then president of the US applauded 'Bill Pullman" for his fascinating speech in the Independence Day movie claiming he did something marvellous.

[chanduv23]

People can not expect to be treated special because they are charming to some group or more. There are hell a lot of people with special talent and each and every one expecting to be treated in a special way...then there is no need for that procedure. If SRK is started crying when the common people going through the ordeal...well thats makes the difference between the real start and a moron.

It is not about being treated special. First thing - if you do not go through unnecessary inspection "Does not mean it is special treatment" Lets get the slavery mentality out of us.

SRK is a visitor to the country and can vouch for himself and not for everyone sitting in that room.

[kanakabyraju]

Who cares about farmers. As per British, Indians are dogs and deep inside we are still dogs. We just bark at nothing. Otherwise this thread would have not started.

thanks
Kanaka


Let's look at the following news items

"If Pepsi is banned in India, I would go to the US and drink it” - SRK in 2006. This shows that SRK is nothing but a money minded freak who'll do anything for big bucks.

"SRK was cleared in 66 minutes, say US officials". This shows the true picture of the incident and whatever happened was routine and nothing was intended to single out SRK.

"I was questioned for two hours"- SRK. This shows the dishonesty and exaggeration of the incident, which the actor feels has hurt his ego. It's like "Mommy! US has pinched me OOOOO"

"I don't feel like stepping on American soil any more, but it is the love and affection of millions of his fans in the US which would bring him to this country again and again." - SRK. It's like "I don't feel like eating Ice-cream anymore. But since you all fans want me to eat it, I'm gonna eat it again and again"

"Cabinet minister suggested a "tit-for-tat" policy toward Americans traveling to India". This shows that we don't have any brains of our own and a "tit-for-tat" policy is intended more as a revenge rather than a matter of national security.

"Angry fans in the northern city of Allahabad shouted anti-U.S. slogans and burned an American flag." This shows the ignorance, illiteracy and hero worship that's rampant in India.

"India to take SRK detention issue strongly with US ". This shows that the govt. of India has got no better things to do, but feels that VIP treatment to movie stars is more important than nation's security. Moreover SRK visit to US was purely personal to promote his film and has got nothing to do with govt. of India.

"21 farmers end lives in 40 days in Andhra". Is anyone looking into this? Helooooo.

[ryan]

I cannot believe there are 9 pages (and counting) worth of sentiments, because some lame talentless guy was subject to security checks at an International Airport. I'm someone who was born India, but never lived there - however I'd think there are incredibly talented Indians here in America and worldwide compared to someone who's used to blatant exploitation / sell out of Indian culture. The guy is a disgrace. And some of you, please stop rolling over to play the 'victim' in any given post.

You do not need to 'stand-up' for Shahruk Khan. Stand up for yourself, for every - everyday Indian Joe & Jane who've travelled from their hometowns to make a living and for a future. Stand up for the hero in you - not clownish make believe bollywood heroes.

[snathan]

It looks like a lot of "so called educated folks" are PROBABLY JELOUS :) :) of Mr SRK.

No matter what - he is a capable man and I appreciate him for whatever he is.

If he is not doing anything to reduce poverty in India - well then it is his choice, but you can definitely let him know "Mr SRK please use your popularity in a good way and reduce poverty and disease in India"

Folks - all the starts do have "value" When I say stars - they are public figures, right from mucisians to television anchors to actors or ramp models or anyone - they are what they are because of their destiny, so just because they cannot code or hold a sthethescope, does not mean they are bad.

In fact The then president of the US applauded 'Bill Pullman" for his fascinating speech in the Independence Day movie claiming he did something marvellous.

No one cares who the heck is he...when dozens of people dying without food and because of drought, GOI has better jobs to do rather than going after the BCP for this moron. How many times Ambika Soni cared about normal people are suffered in security check. We are still struck colonial mentality and hero worship. This crap is happening only in india. They are expecting the same from US as well.

[snathan]

It is not about being treated special. First thing - if you do not go through unnecessary inspection "Does not mean it is special treatment" Lets get the slavery mentality out of us.

SRK is a visitor to the country and can vouch for himself and not for everyone sitting in that room.

I am not talking about what SRK is doing. How many time TOI and indian media reported about this. When you were struck at Atlant in 2004 did they report...? no. Did Indian minister condomn that ? no. Why...if the system is absurd...its absurd for everyone or only for SRK?

[chanduv23]

No one cares who the heck is he...when dozens of people dying without food and because drought, GOI has better jobs to do rather than going after the BCP for this moron. How many times Ambika Soni cared about normal people are suffered in security check. We are still struck colonial mentality and hero worship. This crap is happening only in india. They are expecting the same from US as well.

It happens everywhere. Politicans bank on these stars - stars get along well with businessmen, politicians fight and then kiss each other. Stars marry, divorce, remarry - and the list goes on.

Come on, it happens everywhere, not only in India. How many times do you not see 80 year old rich businessman marrying 26 year old beautiful model?

Look at how the bailout money has gone to those people who screwwed the economy.

The reason you think India has issues that other countries do not have is because you are still not stepping out of your Indian shoes.

Go out with your American friends for a drink and discuss these issues - for every issue you discuss - you will get a parallel American counter issue that is similar in nature.

There is nothing called "absolute" in this world and you will realise it now or later. Live in a country side with a constant income and you will find life peaceful because you are not bothered by what is happening.

Or try helping people - and do social service - you will realise that it is a dangerous and thankless job.

Democracy is "not exactly" how it sounds. Unfortunately, life is not fair to anyone and one has to live in within his/her means.

Crying foul over all such stuff will not bring changes. Working within parameters to bring about changes is "unfortunately" the only way how changes have come to the "Mother Earth"

snathan - you are a very strong vocal person and have great thoughts. You must utilize your "good hearted nature" not to point fingers but to see how best you can utilize and grab opportunities for betterment.

There are worse things happening in places like congo and African countries, small girls being raped , civil wars , and so many things.

Diseases are spreading, sanitation is bad, farmers are facing drought - so many things happening. Lets not blame SOME PEOPLE for all this. it is us collectovely who can bring about change.

[snathan]

It happens everywhere. Politicans bank on these stars - stars get along well with businessmen, politicians fight and then kiss each other. Stars marry, divorce, remarry - and the list goes on.

Come on, it happens everywhere, not only in India. How many times do you not see 80 year old rich businessman marrying 26 year old beautiful model?

Look at how the bailout money has gone to those people who screwwed the economy.

The reason you think India has issues that other countries do not have is because you are still not stepping out of your Indian shoes.

Go out with your American friends for a drink and discuss these issues - for every issue you discuss - you will get a parallel American counter issue that is similar in nature.

There is nothing called "absolute" in this world and you will realise it now or later. Live in a country side with a constant income and you will find life peaceful because you are not bothered by what is happening.

Or try helping people - and do social service - you will realise that it is a dangerous and thankless job.

Democracy is "not exactly" how it sounds. Unfortunately, life is not fair to anyone and one has to live in within his/her means.

Crying foul over all such stuff will not bring changes. Working within parameters to bring about changes is "unfortunately" the only way how changes have come to the "Mother Earth"

snathan - you are a very strong vocal person and have great thoughts. You must utilize your "good hearted nature" not to point fingers but to see how best you can utilize and grab opportunities for betterment.

There are worse things happening in places like congo and African countries, small girls being raped , civil wars , and so many things.

Diseases are spreading, sanitation is bad, farmers are facing drought - so many things happening. Lets not blame SOME PEOPLE for all this. it is us collectovely who can bring about change.

Do you mean to say if one american actor/actress is frisked away at Mumbai or delhi airport, americans will go to street and burn the indian flag..? GOA will go after the indian security and customs...? I am not blaming anything about SRK. I am blaming common man, GOI....most importantly the OP who started the thread for SRK....well this is my last post here and I dont want to waste my time on a useless issue.

[chanduv23]

I cannot believe there are 9 pages (and counting) worth of sentiments, because some lame talentless guy was subject to security checks at an International Airport. I'm someone who was born India, but never lived there - however I'd think there are incredibly talented Indians here in America and worldwide compared to someone who's used to blatant exploitation / sell out of Indian culture. The guy is a disgrace. And some of you, please stop rolling over to play the 'victim' in any given post.

You do not need to 'stand-up' for Shahruk Khan. Stand up for yourself, for every - everyday Indian Joe & Jane who've travelled from their hometowns to make a living and for a future. Stand up for the hero in you - not clownish make believe bollywood heroes.

Why do you think he is talentless? Just because he is not an ivy league or not a doctor? He is extremely talented. Belive me - getting into bollywood and becoming so big without any support is not easy. Most people in Bollywood are either offsprings of stars and they have strong support. SRK grew popular all over the world, not through any support but by himself. So he is definitely a star.
Do not disqualify such people. they have amazing capabilities, people listen to what they say. Look at all the good roles he has done in movies like Swades - though the credit goes to the director he is a "face" which people accept.
If we were a smart thinking group, we will utilize such publicity to better our cause. Instead we kept bashing everything around is claiming we "deserve" good things but we do not get it so we live with it and whats so special about him.

[fairman]

Most of the Bollywood movies are junk ( vulgar dances etc.) . As more and more people mature in the north, the market for stars like SRK will dwindle. I request everybody to follow classic Bengali/Mallu movies.

[chanduv23]

Do you mean to say if one american actor/actress is frisked away at Mumbai or delhi airport, americans will go to street and burn the indian flag..? GOA will go after the indian security and customs...? I am not blaming anything about SRK. I am blaming common man, GOI....most importantly the OP who started the thread for SRK....well this is my last post here and I dont want to waste my time on a useless issue.

Common man is common man everywhere. Star worship is something that exists everywhere. be it sportsmen or movie stars - these people win hearts of people and thats what matters which is most important.

Now you are blaming people for worshipping him. Thats how things are.

Do you know how crazy soccer fans are in some countries?

Thats how things are my friend.

[addsf345]

Why should it be a surprise?
How do PoE officers know if he is a film star in some foreign language movies?
Even if they knew, why is SRK so special that he should not be checked?

There was an instance when a pop singer from India(Daler Mehdi) was accused of smugling illegal immigrants disguised as musicians. Point is, if somebody is a celebrity, that does not make him/her un touchable?

who is SRK?

[chanduv23]

Most of the Bollywood movies are junk ( vulgar dances etc.) . As more and more people mature in the north, the market for stars like SRK will dwindle. I request everybody to follow classic Bengali/Mallu movies.

Does it matter? People love those movies.

Though we do see quality movies these days. the reason for junk is because the sheer number. They are high and thats why quality movies seem to look like they are few. Bollywood banks a lot on presentation of the movie and thats whjy they need to follow the "formula" which may look funny and absurd.

A lot of American movies are also crap, only few are worth watching.

Just like how everyone wants to code in Java, a lot of people want to get into the film industry and not everyone or everything is like what you want them to be.

What I say is "Lets stop junking things" Lets look at ourselves and see what we have achieved what the starts have not achieved

[sainwa]

has any one thought why did this happened at the same time when he is making a movie about a "Khan in US"?
See the things behind. he made fool of every body , CNN, media, US Immigration, you and me and got a publicity which he could have not gotten by spending millions of dollars in marketing the films.
and guess what? this was for free and he is in headlines in national news paper.

I think he wanted this to happen to get publicity for this upcoming film, now see after this incedent you, me and all of us know about this forthcoming film and will be eager to watch it.

[mchatrvd]

I agree with all of you that this is not worth talking. Instead channelize your efforts in supporting organization to contact lawmakers and make advocacy efforts.

[GCA]

Collin Powell incident is America's problem. Even after the civil rights movement and equality to Blacks, they are still having discrimination. Just ask Black people in America and how they feel in their daily life.

So according to you by coming to America we should forget India because you will call us traitor? Have you heard how Jews in America are so strong and care for Israel even after becoming US citizens?

The fact is Indians are responsible for their own problems and greencard woes. They want to live in this sorry state and blame everyone else around them except themselves. They do not have any pride in their roots and thus flee their own country. They do not come to this country for betterment of their skills, education and experience but because they want to flee the country. There maybe exceptions but this is what I have seen in Indians who are on H1B or who have become US Citizens.

There could be several reasons for people coming here. But most and primary reason is making some quick money and returning back. And a good portion of that money goes back to our motherland to prosper. People didn't flee the country. They flew out of the country because their skills are valued more elsewhere - its simple demand supply economics that made/makes our skills more valued outside - I don't want to eloborate more and hurt someone which definitely wasn't the intention.

IF we are after the GC, its purely for the mobility and assurity it provides and not for the path to citizenship. Though most of them want to return back, we still want the GC so we call the shots and not the INS. Long story short, no one is a traitor. They are just common 'smart' people - yah, they are common from the land we come from.

[fide_champ]

I agree with all of you that this is not worth talking. Instead channelize your efforts in supporting organization to contact lawmakers and make advocacy efforts.

How is the other one better than this topic?

[ryan]

Why do you think he is talentless? Just because he is not an ivy league or not a doctor? He is extremely talented. .

Due respect Chanduv23 - I believe there are a million and more who've done better and fought tougher battles. I'd think some of them are here on this very forum. I may not have had an opportunity to grow up in India - however, I'm pretty sure - in fact quite certain, the sort of b'wood trash dished out, is nothing representative of Indian culture and ways of life. Most of the stuff encourages ills of American pop culture and feels desperate to the point of being foolish wannabees - and you know what's really sad -- that people from a nation with such incredibly history & culture need the feel to ape ills of American pop culture and the likes. As for Shahrook Khan - the man CAN'T act - unless you think some sort of speech disability, lip-synching songs (sung by folks with actual talent) and running around foolish women in skirts is talent and form art?! I wish the admins would remove the silly post from the forum.

[fide_champ]

Due respect Chanduv23 - I believe there are a million and more who've done better and fought tougher battles. I'd think some of them are here on this very forum. I may not have had an opportunity to grow up in India - however, I'm pretty sure - in fact quite certain, the sort of b'wood trash dished out, is nothing representative of Indian culture and ways of life. Most of the stuff encourages ills of American pop culture and feels desperate to the point of being foolish wannabees - and you know what's really sad -- that people from a nation with such incredibly history & culture need the feel to ape ills of American pop culture and the likes. As for Shahrook Khan - the man CAN'T act - unless you think some sort of speech disability, lip-synching songs (sung by folks with actual talent) and running around foolish women in skirts is talent and form art?! I wish the admins would remove the silly post from the forum.

It doesn't matter. The topic is about what the immigration officers are doing to the innocent civilians. In this case it happened to be SRK who everyone knows but it is happening to everybody. Just because his last name spelled as khan, can they interrogate every khan in this world?

[gimme_GC2006]

I think this is blown out of proportion.

First thing what exactly "detention" means? Did they tie him up upside down for 2 hrs?

May be they took him to a room, where he waited along with the common man..in India politicians and filmli ones may get to jump the lines and get special treatment..so they never knew what it is like standing in the line.

SRK should use his common sense and keep quiet rather than making a fuss out of nothing..he is not APJ kalam to demand or deserve special treatment.

I remember last year, there was a news about SRK making noise in one of the European airports where he was not allowed to board the flight ahead of others and he argued with airlines staff that "I am SRK".

Note: I am not a fan of SRK..was never and will never be. I am Aamir Khan's fan :)

[ryan]

It doesn't matter. The topic is about what the immigration officers are doing to the innocent civilians. In this case it happened to be SRK who everyone knows but it is happening to everybody. Just because his last name spelled as khan, can they interrogate every khan in this world?

Please, they do not pull aside every 'Khan' in the world. Yes, things seem OTT every now and then with an amount of drunken patriotism -- and you may come across an occasional "Voldemort" from the INS. However, can you place blame solely on homeland security? We live in a global world / economy of nearly 6 billion and every day visitors with trade of varied kind - surely you cannot expect the avg Joe at homeland security to know every zero talented b'wood hero out there?! I'd also urge you to look at the brighter side of the coin - of the various programs in place to have African Muslims, Arabs and the Iraqis being moved into the US, by giving them jobs, homes and permanent resident status. Likewise with Afghans, and the visa diversity program. These folks have names like Abdul, Osama, Khalid and Khan. So please, tone down the b'wood inspired sensationalism - view things in context.

When you choose to visit America or any foreign nation, national security & well being override celebrity status - period.

Now, I find it interesting, whilst detained at EWR, Shahrook Khan called the Indian Media in 'protest'. Perhaps positive PR for his new movie - 'My name is Khan' that's apparently about racial profiling in America ..hmmm?! Alright, now that is talent. Unethical, perhaps, nevertheless, talent, I think.

[unseenguy]

Read this before you pass comments. Even Al Gore (VP) and Ted Kennedy have been detained on US Airports. Who the hell is SRK? and just because he is an actor and looks all goody goody, you have all the sympathy. Would you have it for Mulayam/Lalu, if they had gone through the same ordeal?? No, then you would have laughed and said they ought to be. Would you be protesting the same way if Musharraf was being frisked? you wouldn't.

So in the end you are one biased person. You cannot take a justful decision, your decision is based on who is it for. :rolleyes:

Would Khan have fared better as Kennedy? - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Would-Khan-have-fared-better-as-Kennedy/articleshow/4899589.cms)

This does not make any sense. If X was detained Y should also put up is not a rationale argument. Also Home land security chief apologized to Kennedy and Gore. He did so profusely.

So ..... who is going to apologize to Shahrukh , Kalam and George Fernandez?

If a similar tit for tat system is set up in India, how many americans would put up with that system?

[maximus777]

Well said. On a lighter not, maybe he got flagged because his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders has so many Pak players in it, I wouldnt be surprised if someone mistook it for Karachi Knight Riders. :D

[ryan]

[QUOTE=sainwa;701250]has any one thought why did this happened at the same time when he is making a movie about a "Khan in US"? QUOTE]

Exactly! And most Indians being the b'wood lovers they are - fell hard, as always.

[unseenguy]

Please, they do not pull aside every 'Khan' in the world. Yes, things seem OTT every now and then with an amount of drunken patriotism -- and you may come across an occasional "Voldemort" from the INS. However, can you place blame solely on homeland security? We live in a global world / economy of nearly 6 billion and every day visitors with trade of varied kind - surely you cannot expect the avg Joe at homeland security to know every zero talented b'wood hero out there?! I'd also urge you to look at the brighter side of the coin - of the various programs in place to have African Muslims, Arabs and the Iraqis being moved into the US, by giving them jobs, homes and permanent resident status. Likewise with Afghans, and the visa diversity program. These folks have names like Abdul, Osama, Khalid and Khan. So please, tone down the b'wood inspired sensationalism - view things in context.

When you choose to visit America or any foreign nation, national security & well being override celebrity status - period.

Now, I find it interesting, whilst detained at EWR, Shahrook Khan called the Indian Media in 'protest'. Perhaps positive PR for his new movie - 'My name is Khan' that's apparently about racial profiling in America ..hmmm?! Alright, now that is talent. Unethical, perhaps, nevertheless, talent, I think.

I just have to say one thing about you. You were born with a slave mentality in a third country. Its been passed to you from generations. You will go any length to prove your masters are fair and honest and its not your fault. You never experienced free, your own country by your own admission. So stop blabbering and justifying your masters, we dont buy it.

[ryan]

I just have to say one thing about you. You were born with a slave mentality in a third country. Its been passed to you from generations. You will go any length to prove your masters are fair and honest and its not your fault. You never experienced free, your own country by your own admission. So stop blabbering and justifying your masters, we dont buy it.

I think your words above, speak a lot about who you are and your ways of thinking. I feel sorry for you. Hope you find the 'importance' and the 'intelligence' someday.

Be well.

[Openarms]

This should not be a silly topic and won't be...I want to take this opportunity to bring the bigger issue here... things happen for a reason... we all need to understand that we have to make a positive out of this issue... Atleast all educated folks like us should be able to channel our wisdom to those folks who feels that they are above all... That kind of mentality should need to change in INDIA for people like SRK and politicians and lot of business tycoons.... I believe this incident is very good opportunity, one more time, once again for all those conscious folks who live here US and INDIA to make things better for life.

"snathan" do not disappoint when people disagree with you... I 100% concur with your thought process...


"chanduv23"

I like the way that you put things in a perspective called your own prism. I do agree lot of things that you say but you seem lack of very basic fundamental human touch...

World is a BEAUTIFUL PLACE... Mother EARTH is an awesome place to live... do not fall into a trap those who morons used and twisted great peoples words and made this place worse for political gains/reasons. Please do not twist/turn the great one and only Einstein words and his context is different.

My point here is "Respect should be given by that acts that you do in life...should not be given just by demand"

All I am saying is that "IN INDIA WE GOT SOOOOOOO MANY PROBLEMS TO SOLVE" why SRK cribbing about this incident... and innocent/ignorant and un educated folks going crazy over there.... instead he can do lot of better things in INDIA so that he can be recognized all over the world and given respect.


EDUCATION, EDUCATION AND EDUCATION is the only solution for all the problems in the world.

[Openarms]

Common man is common man everywhere. Star worship is something that exists everywhere. be it sportsmen or movie stars - these people win hearts of people and thats what matters which is most important.

Now you are blaming people for worshipping him. Thats how things are.

Do you know how crazy soccer fans are in some countries?

Thats how things are my friend.

Like you said star worship is every where but how about slums in Bombay, Delhi, Hyderabad??? they are not every where???? how about un educated farmers that they do not know beyond their farms and villages... Common man be realistic with human touch....

[chanduv23]

This should not be a silly topic and won't be...I want to take this opportunity to bring the bigger issue here... things happen for a reason... we all need to understand that we have to make a positive out of this issue... Atleast all educated folks like us should be able to channel our wisdom to those folks who feels that they are above all... That kind of mentality should need to change in INDIA for people like SRK and politicians and lot of business tycoons.... I believe this incident is very good opportunity, one more time, once again for all those conscious folks who live here US and INDIA to make things better for life.

"snathan" do not disappoint when people disagree with you... I 100% concur with your thought process...


"chanduv23"

I like the way that you put things in a perspective called your own prism. I do agree lot of things that you say but you seem lack of very basic fundamental human touch...

World is a BEAUTIFUL PLACE... Mother EARTH is an awesome place to live... do not fall into a trap those who morons used and twisted great peoples words and made this place worse for political gains/reasons. Please do not twist/turn the great one and only Einstein words and his context is different.

My point here is "Respect should be given by that acts that you do in life...should not be given just by demand"

All I am saying is that "IN INDIA WE GOT SOOOOOOO MANY PROBLEMS TO SOLVE" why SRK cribbing about this incident... and innocent/ignorant and un educated folks going crazy over there.... instead he can do lot of better things in INDIA so that he can be recognized all over the world and given respect.


EDUCATION, EDUCATION AND EDUCATION is the only solution for all the problems in the world.

Well - world is definitely a beautiful place. World is beautiful because of beautiful good people. Like there is a saying "How is house different from a home? House maybe be beatiful and big but it is a home ONLY if it is a happy place to live" and making the world our home lies in how we make sure that it is a happy place to live.

While your approach towards solving the problems is "education" in my opinion education does help, but that is NOT the only factor. Change happens gradually. Don't we all agree that the most educated people might be the biggest "problem creators"


WRT snathan - he is a personal friend and I know him. He is sympathetic towards poor and downtrodden and wants to fight against injustice etc.....

To snathan - to understand things in a better perspective, I recommend that you try this. Invite 30 hungry, poor, starving people to your house and provide them with food, education, good life and ask them to seek opportunities to better themselves. You may face the following

(1) People may get more demanding
(2) They may fight among themselves
(3) Some might steal from you
(4) Some might get into unethical activities
(5) Some might disrespect you and step over you
(6) They may show more respect to those who did not care for them and curse you for some silly reason.

You might find some good people who really do what you intend them to do.

Why I say this is - there is no GOOD POOR MAN nor BAD RICH MAN - different people behave different in different circumstances.

Did you know that India's independence struggle, American civil liberty struggle were all funded by rich businessmen - they trusted the leaders and gave a lot of money for campaigns for them to be successful.

[Ramba]

OMG. This useless news prompted for more than 10 pages. This clearly shows how Indians are victimized for cinema. This is a clear example to show popularity in cine field and money can do any thing in India. Millions of people suddenly back SRK. No one has bothered for APJ when he was frisked at Indian Soil. Now, millions of peoples, media, and government are backing this SRK, just for 2 hours interrogation that he faced in the airport. No one has bothered about thousands of innocent muslims they undergo similar checks at US airport, everyday. No one has bothered about some Mur”ali” from India has to wait additional 2 years for his name check to be cleared for his 485 approval. No one has bothered about millions of social security money contributed by H1Bs, that’s not ported to India when they returned.

Why SRK should be superior than other passengers for ICE officers at airport? Is it because he is popular in India or actor or having lot of money? If so, what about other scientists or engineers having more credential than SRK, that undergo similar secondary inspections, if they selected? First, he is not on diplomat visa, to give a proper treatment. If SRK feels that his self-respect was not allowing him for the introgrrogation, he should have not landed in US. After all, like many others, he came to US to fill his wallet on eve of “independence” day. Those who support SRK should learn lessons from US, how US is strict in their rules. Because of this kind of “no exception” policy, they did not experience another 911. In India, if any one says I am the son of MLA or relative of an actor, or if he is a friend of airport manager, then he/she will not get any checks. They can easily pass all the checks.

[Openarms]

Well - world is definitely a beautiful place. World is beautiful because of beautiful good people. Like there is a saying "How is house different from a home? House maybe be beatiful and big but it is a home ONLY if it is a happy place to live" and making the world our home lies in how we make sure that it is a happy place to live.

While your approach towards solving the problems is "education" in my opinion education does help, but that is NOT the only factor. Change happens gradually. Don't we all agree that the most educated people might be the biggest "problem creators"


WRT snathan - he is a personal friend and I know him. He is sympathetic towards poor and downtrodden and wants to fight against injustice etc.....

To snathan - to understand things in a better perspective, I recommend that you try this. Invite 30 hungry, poor, starving people to your house and provide them with food, education, good life and ask them to seek opportunities to better themselves. You may face the following

(1) People may get more demanding
(2) They may fight among themselves
(3) Some might steal from you
(4) Some might get into unethical activities
(5) Some might disrespect you and step over you
(6) They may show more respect to those who did not care for them and curse you for some silly reason.

You might find some good people who really do what you intend them to do.

Why I say this is - there is no GOOD POOR MAN nor BAD RICH MAN - different people behave different in different circumstances.

Did you know that India's independence struggle, American civil liberty struggle were all funded by rich businessmen - they trusted the leaders and gave a lot of money for campaigns for them to be successful.

You think like Donald Trump, start learning how Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and good many other folks think... Once they become who they are now they realized that they are bigger and able to do some good for their country/world. How about Trump, once he became Trump he just stayed there... So now when has to given respect who would you give respect?????

SRK, Politicians and Business Tycoons can learn in life try to do some good for their country / world so they can be respected and worshiped.

I do not want SRK to become a Mother Theresa, Bill Gates or even Warren Buffet all of a sudden.. he may never be able to after all...try to be at least a 30% of a man who himself portrays in his films as HERO - an ideal man.

[rajsenthil]

May be that immigration officer might have seen his stupid movie(s) and really got irritated. Finally when he got a chance, he let out his frustration.

[Ramba]

May be that immigration officer might have seen his stupid movie(s) and really got irritated. Finally when he got a chance, he let out his frustration.

Good:) joke..

[Openarms]

Well - world is definitely a beautiful place. World is beautiful because of beautiful good people. Like there is a saying "How is house different from a home? House maybe be beatiful and big but it is a home ONLY if it is a happy place to live" and making the world our home lies in how we make sure that it is a happy place to live.

While your approach towards solving the problems is "education" in my opinion education does help, but that is NOT the only factor. Change happens gradually. Don't we all agree that the most educated people might be the biggest "problem creators"


WRT snathan - he is a personal friend and I know him. He is sympathetic towards poor and downtrodden and wants to fight against injustice etc.....

To snathan - to understand things in a better perspective, I recommend that you try this. Invite 30 hungry, poor, starving people to your house and provide them with food, education, good life and ask them to seek opportunities to better themselves. You may face the following

(1) People may get more demanding
(2) They may fight among themselves
(3) Some might steal from you
(4) Some might get into unethical activities
(5) Some might disrespect you and step over you
(6) They may show more respect to those who did not care for them and curse you for some silly reason.

You might find some good people who really do what you intend them to do.

Why I say this is - there is no GOOD POOR MAN nor BAD RICH MAN - different people behave different in different circumstances.

Did you know that India's independence struggle, American civil liberty struggle were all funded by rich businessmen - they trusted the leaders and gave a lot of money for campaigns for them to be successful.

--- Do these things or ASK our SRK/Politicians/Business Tycoons to do -----
When I say education, you can not just isolate it from mother tree. It is root of the tree... all the branches grow from there...

Like you said give education for those 30 children born from today and come back after 20 years.. see how their lives would be different for better then those 30 unfortunate children who are unable to have education.


Give education for an entire generation of kids for 20 years....and let them figure out their problems...don't just feed them, don't just build homes for them...don't need to solve the problems for them.. let them figure out... that is what going on in USA.

You can not tie INDIA and USA together.... all you are doing is comparing apples to oranges... don't do that...India needs to learn sooooo many things from countries like USA... not comparing to them.

[McLuvin]

There was not much of a noise when Dr. Kalam was frisked in Delhi airport by Continental Guys... why so much noise abt SRK...

Com'on guys... They did what they had to do... Too much is being read between the lines...

BR,
Karthik

[belmontboy]

True greatness is shown by humility, not pride.

Al Gore, Kalam, etc are great personalities.
SRK nah!!

Thousands of South Asians have gone through same treatment.
Growup SRK, don't be such a baby :D.

I have never watched his movies, and i got one more reason not to watch "My name is Khan".

[ryan]

True greatness is shown by humility, not pride.

Al Gore, Kalam, etc are great personalities.
SRK nah!!

Thousands of South Asians have gone through same treatment.
Growup SRK, don't be such a baby :D.

I have never watched his movies, and i got one more reason not to watch "My name is Khan".

Nicely said mate. I cannot believe the kind of people who're on this forum. Some love to beat you up with all those reds for honest thoughts on someone quite insignificant, like an SRK. He is a guy who gives a hoot and remain oblivious to your dilemma or your struggles and in all probability used the alleged incident at EWR as a Public relations stunt for his new movie. Goes to show some of you truly have no self esteem in yourself. Unfortunate.

[matreen]

Excellent reply.

Excellent and brilliant answer and I agree to this.

[immigrant2007]

don't we have something better to discuss on this forum rather than shah rukh khan's personal issue.

[valuablehurdle]

I would rather discuss about Dr Koelhe than SRK:

Extraordinary Indians: The doctor who charges only Rs 2: Rediff.com news (http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/17/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians-ravindra-koelhe.htm)

Let us close this unnecessary thread....

[snathan]

I would rather discuss about Dr Koelhe than SRK:

Extraordinary Indians: The doctor who charges only Rs 2: Rediff.com news (http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/17/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians-ravindra-koelhe.htm)

Let us close this unnecessary thread....

Thanks for sharing this info...

[cpbaherwani]

People recommending lax security checks for so-called VIPs must not forget that IC-814 hijackers got bombs and guns on plane via VIP gates.

Information on hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft, IC-814 (http://www.indianembassy.org/archive/IC_814.htm#The%20Chronology%20of%20Events)

"A little while before the departure of IC-814 from Kathmandu, a Pakistan Embassy car (42 CD 14) arrived at the airport. Among the three officials who dismounted from the car and proceeded to the Departure Lounge was one who is believed to have supplied a consignment of RDX to a group of Punjabi militants in Kathmandu some years back."

180 passengers were held hostages, 1 killed. 3 terrorist were released, who went on attacking Indian parliament, killing Daniel Pearl, planning 9/11 and training new militants.

Indian Airlines Flight 814 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Airlines_Flight_814#Release_of_militants)

[alex77]

Excellent observation. You deserve a green!

Bollywood should first pay taxes, none of these icons, pay taxes legimately in India, remember them dancing in the partys of mafia, which is tied to terrorists, I think the agent did a great job in nabbing this guy. The VVIP mentality should end in India. Stupid illeterate politicians are over playing this, Ambika Soni should do what she is supossed to do in her office.

[rsdang1]

Excellent reply.



Guys,
In my humble opinion this is the best thing that could have happened!!! I feel bad for Mr. Khan suffering like a common man for a while but his suffering brought to light what we have to deal with every time we travel...

I think extreme cases bring home the point so I would encourage Indian government and the governments of all the south asian countries to take this up with the USCIS / Home land security and ask them to educate their staff...

Peace

[ryan]

Guys,
In my humble opinion this is the best thing that could have happened!!! I feel bad for Mr. Khan suffering like a common man for a while but his suffering brought to light what we have to deal with every time we travel... ace


"Everytime"?

I've been pulled aside once, in the nearly 7 years I've lived here. I've never had to go through any sort of 'suffering' -- nobody humiliated, beat me up or threw me in some dungeon, and likewise with any of my friends (and I have friends of different nationalities and religion)

I was asked the routine stuff - why I'm visiting the US - who I work for, where I live, how long have I been in the US and if I have family here. They asked, I respond - and that was that. The tone wasn't the most cordial nor was it demeaning. It's not a popularity contest. The key is to not take things personally. I have a lot of respect for President Kalam. He sure did Indians and people in general, proud. Now, please, give it a rest.

[ryan]

Guys,
In my humble opinion this is the best thing that could have happened!!! I feel bad for Mr. Khan suffering like a common man for a while but his suffering brought to light what we have to deal with every time we travel...

I think extreme cases bring home the point so I would encourage Indian government and the governments of all the south asian countries to take this up with the USCIS / Home land security and ask them to educate their staff...

Peace

btw...given some of the clowns on this form, I just want to say I haven't given you a thumps down (or an up). I respect what you have to say, even though we disagree.

[pappu]

I do not know why this issue is more important for people to discuss. Just because Mr Khan is asked to be a common man? He is not a world famous actor. He is a famous actor to a very very small minority Indian Community in USA. Why should USA give VIP treatment to any star actor from any country of the world? If he was an official ambassador/senior diplomat/Minister, it us understandable. He is simply coming to USA to make money. He will still come again to USA to make money even if he is strip searched again and questioned for more than 66 minutes. Indian government seems to have crossed the line by complaining. This VIP culture that is so prevalent in India needs to change.
If Indian government really wants to complain, why are they not complaining against the long wait periods for H1B stamping in India. Ordinary Indian citizens going to India for stamping sometimes have to wait several months in the name of security checks. This takes a toll on their life and job in USA. There are several other issues Indian Citizens face in USA. If Indian government has chosen to interfere with the internal matter (in this case national security) of USA, why is it keeping quiet on other matter of importance to its citizens? Indian government needs to stick to its policies and not bend its rules for VIPs.

As someone said, if his intention was to publicize his new movie and make more money from his share of profit, he may have succeeded.

[txh1b]

This thread is a drag and a waste of IV resources. I hope the admins lock this thread.

[thomachan72]

I do not know why this issue is more important for people to discuss. Just because Mr Khan is asked to be a common man? He is not a world famous actor. He is a famous actor to a very very small minority Indian Community in USA. Why should USA give VIP treatment to any star actor from any country of the world? If he was an official ambassador/senior diplomat/Minister, it us understandable. He is simply coming to USA to make money. He will still come again to USA to make money even if he is strip searched again and questioned for more than 66 minutes. Indian government seems to have crossed the line by complaining. This VIP culture that is so prevalent in India needs to change.
If Indian government really wants to complain, why are they not complaining against the long wait periods for H1B stamping in India. Ordinary Indian citizens going to India for stamping sometimes have to wait several months in the name of security checks. This takes a toll on their life and job in USA. There are several other issues Indian Citizens face in USA. If Indian government has chosen to interfere with the internal matter (in this case national security) of USA, why is it keeping quiet on other matter of importance to its citizens? Indian government needs to stick to its policies and not bend its rules for VIPs.

As someone said, if his intention was to publicize his new movie and make more money from his share of profit, he may have succeeded.

Could not have said it better. Atleast we who have been fortunate to see "outside world" have to consider these actors/actresses as ordinary human beings. I would rather say that it is good that this guy was held up for 2 hours. He mentioned that he was taken into a room where several other asians were also present waiting for help. I really hope the guy realizes that not everybody in the world knows him. If on the other hand he had invested his money in creating a sharukh's village for the orphans or done some other huge charity work (not just for income tax evasion) I would have felt sad but even then not terrible as many feel now.
LESSON THAT WE LEARNT:: EVERYONE GETS TO BE EQUAL SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE....
Dont be too much awed by these artists. They rake in millions but give back VERY VERY LITTLE. So why would be even thinking about them more than the average business person????..
PS:- Dont misunderstand this as a statement arising out of jealosy or insecurity but it is JUST THE REALITY WHICH HOPEFULLY WE WILL ALL REALIZE ONE DAY.

[jaane_bhi_do_yaaro]

Could not have said it better. Atleast we who have been fortunate to see "outside world" have to consider these actors/actresses as ordinary human beings. I would rather say that it is good that this guy was held up for 2 hours. He mentioned that he was taken into a room where several other asians were also present waiting for help. I really hope the guy realizes that not everybody in the world knows him. If on the other hand he had invested his money in creating a sharukh's village for the orphans or done some other huge charity work (not just for income tax evasion) I would have felt sad but even then not terrible as many feel now.
LESSON THAT WE LEARNT:: EVERYONE GETS TO BE EQUAL SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LINE....
Dont be too much awed by these artists. They rake in millions but give back VERY VERY LITTLE. So why would be even thinking about them more than the average business person????..
PS:- Dont misunderstand this as a statement arising out of jealosy or insecurity but it is JUST THE REALITY WHICH HOPEFULLY WE WILL ALL REALIZE ONE DAY.

I agree that it can happen to anybody. It happened to VDL Rao too!!!
He was questioned for his accurate predictions at LAX and NY Airport every time he landed.
But great thing is VDL Rao did not make any publicity out of that. He remained quiet as he is on this forum.

Jai Ho VDL Rao!

[unseenguy]

I do not know why this issue is more important for people to discuss. Just because Mr Khan is asked to be a common man? He is not a world famous actor. He is a famous actor to a very very small minority Indian Community in USA. Why should USA give VIP treatment to any star actor from any country of the world? If he was an official ambassador/senior diplomat/Minister, it us understandable. He is simply coming to USA to make money. He will still come again to USA to make money even if he is strip searched again and questioned for more than 66 minutes. Indian government seems to have crossed the line by complaining. This VIP culture that is so prevalent in India needs to change.
If Indian government really wants to complain, why are they not complaining against the long wait periods for H1B stamping in India. Ordinary Indian citizens going to India for stamping sometimes have to wait several months in the name of security checks. This takes a toll on their life and job in USA. There are several other issues Indian Citizens face in USA. If Indian government has chosen to interfere with the internal matter (in this case national security) of USA, why is it keeping quiet on other matter of importance to its citizens? Indian government needs to stick to its policies and not bend its rules for VIPs.

As someone said, if his intention was to publicize his new movie and make more money from his share of profit, he may have succeeded.

I agree with some points here and I dont with others:

First of all, whether a person was traveling in official capacity or not was he profiled? Because of his name , skin or status? Whatever it is.

Second, if we give same treatment to brad pitt or tom cruise, would it be acceptable to americans and you too. Would it be a process or would you then dismiss it as nonsense and inefficiency of Indian admin? How you see things in perspective is also important.

Thirdly, Shahrukh, though not an official and is here making money, is a high profile person. His case and this incident , embodies the unreasonable and insensitive treatment many many commoners get by hands of inefficient US administration.

You pointed out right, hundreds and thousands are facing security delays, stamping issues, issues at POE etc. Thats what this incident highlights.

If a high profile person from India, Shahrukh, faces so many problems, then people can imagine the troubles of the commoners.

I would see this as a "representative" case for many Indians and highlighting it would give some negative publicity to CBP and restore some "common sense" in general.

[small2006]

You are so wrong here...its not about growing balls or Americans getting frisked in Indian airports.

It is SRK's BIG EGO that was hurt, the fact that the officer did not "recognize" SRK - the "king khan" and made him go through a rough ordeal. That is all it is about. And to me SRK has never been an honest human being. It is all a put on appearance, whether its in his movies or real life. He is very measured and guarded when talking to the media and presents his affable side. So get over it and look at the incident for what it is - i.e, SRK's big ego burst open. Its not about American security or Indian security or racial profiling. Everyone is just trying to make it out to be that but you need to be able to see thorugh that.

When a person of Dr Kalam's stature did not even talk about his experience with Continental until months later, who the heck is SRK to make it out to be such a big deal? What is his achievement and/or contribution to the country after all? Making loads of money? Buying houses in London and Dubai?? Give me a freakin' break.




simply racial profiling.

i dont think SRK is over reacting.. many desis who are accepting that its a way of life suffer from "Slave Mentality".

When was the last time.. a US diplomat or US socialite was frisked and detained for 2 hrs in indian airports?

To all the jocks who argue "its part of life"..my advise grow some balls and realize one thing.. no matter how long u live here.. no matter whether u have GC or PC...u will always be treated like third class citizens.

In the end its the color.. do you know beta.

for the record.i am no SRK fan.

Mamooty.. who is he?

[mps]

he should be thankful to Indian Embassy... just imagine what would have happened to him if he was from a country west of India :-)

[vinzen]

I usually just browse through these forums and I really appreciate the effort put in by the organizers. But this thread gave me an urge to respond and perhaps talk.

First of all, SRK is just a normal human, not a God. The TSA has even questioned many American celebrities. SRK is just a guy with Khan as last name. TSA is not going to take chances and will make sure they do what is needed to protect America. And SRK probably acted like a monkey again and annoyed the TSA guys so they held him up for 2 hours. OK, just kidding. But thing is, Indian government if anything should take a lesson from it. In india if you are SRK or Sanjay Dutt, there are no lines for you..any where. Indians should get angry at that, not this that just happened in the USA. And for God's sake, why would you even want to sympathesize with a character like SRK who has destroyed the indian movie industry?

Now don't tell me I am a traitor. I love India, I love America. I live in America because I like living in America and I have gotten used to the comfort and lifestyle. This doesnt mean that I hate India.

And to the guy who thinks that americasn think Indians are slumdogs or thrid class citizens...please go to india and free up the line for the rest of us. Its your belief that they think you are a slumdog. Perhaps you come across that way to them. Indians are more notorious when it comes to "grading" people based on their color or status and if a few rednecks in America did this to you, don't stereotype the entire country.

Enjoy the life. Life is good. In America and in India. Long wait for the GC? Yes it is a b**ch, but why have you rest your entire life on a decision by USCIS. Enjoy and take risks and blow your money on good things in life...even if you dont get the GC, on your flight back to India you will at least be proud of the fact that you enjoyed your stay in America. Go out, meet people, meet beautiful girls, eat good food, drink whiskey, watch movies, go hiking...so many things to do guys. And if you dont get the GC, tell your friends and family about the stuff you did in America.

Don't ever be that Indian guy in the office. Be a smart global citizen.

[gapala]

I usually just browse through these forums and I really appreciate the effort put in by the organizers. But this thread gave me an urge to respond and perhaps talk.

First of all, SRK is just a normal human, not a God. The TSA has even questioned many American celebrities. SRK is just a guy with Khan as last name. TSA is not going to take chances and will make sure they do what is needed to protect America. And SRK probably acted like a monkey again and annoyed the TSA guys so they held him up for 2 hours. OK, just kidding. But thing is, Indian government if anything should take a lesson from it. In india if you are SRK or Sanjay Dutt, there are no lines for you..any where. Indians should get angry at that, not this that just happened in the USA. And for God's sake, why would you even want to sympathesize with a character like SRK who has destroyed the indian movie industry?

Now don't tell me I am a traitor. I love India, I love America. I live in America because I like living in America and I have gotten used to the comfort and lifestyle. This doesnt mean that I hate India.

And to the guy who thinks that americasn think Indians are slumdogs or thrid class citizens...please go to india and free up the line for the rest of us. Its your belief that they think you are a slumdog. Perhaps you come across that way to them. Indians are more notorious when it comes to "grading" people based on their color or status and if a few rednecks in America did this to you, don't stereotype the entire country.

Enjoy the life. Life is good. In America and in India. Long wait for the GC? Yes it is a b**ch, but why have you rest your entire life on a decision by USCIS. Enjoy and take risks and blow your money on good things in life...even if you dont get the GC, on your flight back to India you will at least be proud of the fact that you enjoyed your stay in America. Go out, meet people, meet beautiful girls, eat good food, drink whiskey, watch movies, go hiking...so many things to do guys. And if you dont get the GC, tell your friends and family about the stuff you did in America.

Don't ever be that Indian guy in the office. Be a smart global citizen.

Oh... finally!
Welcome to IV
There is nothing special that you have written up there in your post. This is just normal stuff that most EB folks on this forum does. Why do you have to write such obvious things? You may agree or disagree with member's opinion but its sounds very naive to preach to this community about normal life.

Its apparent from post that you think the members other than yourself live a lower than average life? :D I guess you are mistaken.. Keep reading posts and you will eventually get to know better..

[LostInGCProcess]

I usually just browse through these forums and I really appreciate the effort put in by the organizers. But this thread gave me an urge to respond and perhaps talk.

Don't ever be that Indian guy in the office. Be a smart global citizen.

Wow!!! Nice post. I like the last line you mentioned. :)

[jasmin45]

Wow!!! Nice post. I like the last line you mentioned. :)

Really? sounds weird.
Guy's unearthly attitude explicit in the post is truely laughable.

[fairman]

What if you have no profile. I mean if somebody is not even in GC line, he/she can't even post in these forums? What kind of lunatic logic is that?

Please put a profile.

[maccaid]

I'm not from India, so you know how non-Indian will look at this issue.

First of all, thanks to IV for helping our cause.
Same as vinzen, that I usually just browse through this kinda topic, but I can't help to reply.

Have several question:
1. How many non-Indian in USA that watch bollywood movie? So, what makes him a high profile in the eyes of Immigration officer (IO)? Do we need to educate all IO to recoqnize all the actors in India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Korea and all others?
I personally never heard of this SRK guy before reading this thread. So how would you guys expect the immigration officer, who's mostlikely non-Indian, would know this guy? I agree with Pappu that says "He is a famous actor to a very very small minority Indian Community in USA".
2. Looking at how he make big deal of this in media. He probably cause this delay by himself. I can imagine the conversation at the immigration office as (copying all the answer from Ryan's earlier comment on what he's asked for when he came here):
IO: Why are you visiting US?
SRK: Do you know that I'm SRK?
IO: Who do you work for?
SRK: I'm SRK, now let me pass.
IO: Where will you live in US?
SRK: I'm SRK
IO: How long have you been in US?
SRK: I'm SRK
IO: Do you have family here?
SRK: I'm SRK
And it goes on and on for 66 mins or 2 hrs until he finally realize that he's a nobody in US.

This is the kinda thread that non-Indian will laugh at. There's lots of non-Indian that goes to this public forum (such as me). Just trying to help IV to not lose credential just because of this sorts of "indian" exclusive thread.

[fairman]

I'm not from India, so you know how non-Indian will look at this issue.

First of all, thanks to IV for helping our cause.
Same as vinzen, that I usually just browse through this kinda topic, but I can't help to reply.

Have several question:
1. How many non-Indian in USA that watch bollywood movie? So, what makes him a high profile in the eyes of Immigration officer (IO)? Do we need to educate all IO to recoqnize all the actors in India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Korea and all others?
I personally never heard of this SRK guy before reading this thread. So how would you guys expect the immigration officer, who's mostlikely non-Indian, would know this guy? I agree with Pappu that says "He is a famous actor to a very very small minority Indian Community in USA".
2. Looking at how he make big deal of this in media. He probably cause this delay by himself. I can imagine the conversation at the immigration office as (copying all the answer from Ryan's earlier comment on what he's asked for when he came here):
IO: Why are you visiting US?
SRK: Do you know that I'm SRK?
IO: Who do you work for?
SRK: I'm SRK, now let me pass.
IO: Where will you live in US?
SRK: I'm SRK
IO: How long have you been in US?
SRK: I'm SRK
IO: Do you have family here?
SRK: I'm SRK
And it goes on and on for 66 mins or 2 hrs until he finally realize that he's a nobody in US.

This is the kinda thread that non-Indian will laugh at. There's lots of non-Indian that goes to this public forum (such as me). Just trying to help IV to not lose credential just because of this sorts of "indian" exclusive thread.

This is not "Indian" thread. It is purely a North Indian thread. He is popular only in North of India.

[jaane_bhi_do_yaaro]

This is not "Indian" thread. It is purely a North Indian thread. He is popular only in North of India.

I doubt that he is popular in North India only.
VDL Rao is popular in North India despite hailing from AP.
Similarly SRK is equally popular in South India.

[ryan]

I'm not from India, so you know how non-Indian will look at this issue..

And it goes on and on for 66 mins or 2 hrs until he finally realize that he's a nobody in US.

This is the kinda thread that non-Indian will laugh at. There's lots of non-Indian that goes to this public forum (such as me). Just trying to help IV to not lose credential just because of this sorts of "indian" exclusive thread.

I agree / hear you. The post is laughable, nevertheless if you read through the comments, you'd see being 'Indian' does not equate to having similar views. I think the majority of Indian folks who leave their homes / loved ones to make a living have more intelligence and substance to them than the bozos in 'bollywood' - a national and an international embarrassment. Admins, please consider removing this post.

[fairman]

The IV page is full of Active-X controls. God knows what happens when i allow them to execute. Is there a way to find out what are those ?

[vinzen]

Oh... finally!
Welcome to IV
There is nothing special that you have written up there in your post. This is just normal stuff that most EB folks on this forum does. Why do you have to write such obvious things? You may agree or disagree with member's opinion but its sounds very naive to preach to this community about normal life.

Its apparent from post that you think the members other than yourself live a lower than average life? :D I guess you are mistaken.. Keep reading posts and you will eventually get to know better..

sorry, I love preaching.

by the way I was referring to "the guy who thinks americans think he is a slumdog...." not you or everyone. But then again you think that I think that you lead a life lower than average. If you think you agreed with me, instead of calling it obvious being defensive and, just agree with me. OK? And get that chip off your shoulder as well.

[vinzen]

This is not "Indian" thread. It is purely a North Indian thread. He is popular only in North of India.

And which part of india are you from?

[snathan]

sorry, I love preaching.

by the way I was referring to "the guy who thinks americans think he is a slumdog...." not you or everyone. But then again you think that I think that you lead a life lower than average. If you think you agreed with me, instead of calling it obvious being defensive and, just agree with me. OK? And get that chip off your shoulder as well.

Can you tell me what do you think finally and what others supposed to think about it...:D

[fairman]

And which part of india are you from?
Secret.

[poorslumdog]

sorry, I love preaching.

by the way I was referring to "the guy who thinks americans think he is a slumdog...." not you or everyone. But then again you think that I think that you lead a life lower than average. If you think you agreed with me, instead of calling it obvious being defensive and, just agree with me. OK? And get that chip off your shoulder as well.

I think you think too much...by the way this is how you communicate in your office. American would think twice even come near to you...Good defence...:D

[vinzen]

I think you think too much...by the way this is how you communicate in your office. American would think twice even come near to you...Good defence...:D

hasnt happened yet. if it ever did, I will change my ways...slumdog.

[immigrant2007]

well i think we have solved all our immigration issues, i waish if we all concetrate our efforts on solving our issue, if we all try we have chances of succeeding ...if am surprised that we all are stuck in backlog and only 2-3 % take participate in real issues...not sure what is rest of us waiting for?

[poorslumdog]

Originally Posted by vinzen
sorry, I love preaching.

by the way I was referring to "the guy who thinks americans think he is a slumdog...." not you or everyone. But then again you think that I think that you lead a life lower than average. If you think you agreed with me, instead of calling it obvious being defensive and, just agree with me. OK? And get that chip off your shoulder as well.

well i think we have solved all our immigration issues, i waish if we all concetrate our efforts on solving our issue, if we all try we have chances of succeeding ...if am surprised that we all are stuck in backlog and only 2-3 % take participate in real issues...not sure what is rest of us waiting for?

I am sure both the ids are same person...:D

[immigrant2007]

Wrong guess, what all can i say?

[thomachan72]

I'm not from India, so you know how non-Indian will look at this issue.

First of all, thanks to IV for helping our cause.
Same as vinzen, that I usually just browse through this kinda topic, but I can't help to reply.

Have several question:
1. How many non-Indian in USA that watch bollywood movie? So, what makes him a high profile in the eyes of Immigration officer (IO)? Do we need to educate all IO to recoqnize all the actors in India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Korea and all others?
I personally never heard of this SRK guy before reading this thread. So how would you guys expect the immigration officer, who's mostlikely non-Indian, would know this guy? I agree with Pappu that says "He is a famous actor to a very very small minority Indian Community in USA".
2. Looking at how he make big deal of this in media. He probably cause this delay by himself. I can imagine the conversation at the immigration office as (copying all the answer from Ryan's earlier comment on what he's asked for when he came here):
IO: Why are you visiting US?
SRK: Do you know that I'm SRK?
IO: Who do you work for?
SRK: I'm SRK, now let me pass.
IO: Where will you live in US?
SRK: I'm SRK
IO: How long have you been in US?
SRK: I'm SRK
IO: Do you have family here?
SRK: I'm SRK
And it goes on and on for 66 mins or 2 hrs until he finally realize that he's a nobody in US.

This is the kinda thread that non-Indian will laugh at. There's lots of non-Indian that goes to this public forum (such as me). Just trying to help IV to not lose credential just because of this sorts of "indian" exclusive thread.

My friend this is the greatest post ever. A real eye opener. But remember that it is through threads like these that you get to see the "real" Indian ideals. I am very sad to say that most of us Indians are screwed up with this idol worship. The conversation between SRK and IO that you put out is exactly true. I know a friend of mine who was waiting in line for the visa interview and ofcourse he is a megalomaniac (world revolves around him). He saw (or imagined) the visa officer talking tough to a women who apparently did not understand english right in front of him and decided he has to be the mesiah (savior). He jumped in and tried to save the women. Ultimately he was denied the visa and ofcourse he later met the women outside who was smiling because she had been granted one. that is why your conversation makes very good sense here. "I am SRK":D:D:D

[thomachan72]

By the way Mccaid, next time someone from Indonesia experiences such an issue please also make a thread here and whine about it like we did. Atleast that will make us Indians realize that SRK BS is really BS!!! because we will have no idea about the person who you will be whining about and there will be a lot of indians who will shout at you saying "why is this thread even on IV???? who is this person that Mccaid is whining about???This thing happened to even the great SRK so why this whining???:D:D:D
If this happened to our prime minister Manmohan singh, I belive he would have just laughed. He would not have said "I am MM singh". The bottom line is there are certain rules and regulations and everybody (including SRK) is subject to them. Next time SRK travels he should consider carrying all the CDs of his movies with him to prove his "greatness".

[snathan]

Another story doing the rounds.....

SRK as usual did not comb his hair and was dressed shabbily...

Immigration officer: Who are you?

SRK with a loud voice: " Im KING KHAN ".

Immigration officer: What......???

Other Immigration officer: Sir! He said he is KING KONG.....

Immigration officer : Guys catch the monkey in disguise......

SRK: Maahaaa Maahaa Maahaa Maahaa Maahaa...

Immigration officer: Sir...Howz the monkey sounding like a Goat????

So this is how SRK was caged in America...

[maximus777]

Another story doing the rounds.....

SRK as usual did not comb his hair and was dressed shabbily...

Immigration officer: Who are you?

SRK with a loud voice: " Im KING KHAN ".

Immigration officer: What......???

Other Immigration officer: Sir! He said he is KING KONG.....

Immigration officer : Guys catch the monkey in disguise......

SRK: Maahaaa Maahaa Maahaa Maahaa Maahaa...

Immigration officer: Sir...Howz the monkey sounding like a Goat????

So this is how SRK was caged in America...

Good one! LMAO :D

[acecupid]

Heat on SRK was because of scanner on Bollywood shows - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Heat-on-SRK-was-because-of-scanner-on-Bollywood-shows/articleshow/4916759.cms)

[EB2IMMIGRANT]

Heat on SRK was because of scanner on Bollywood shows - US - World - NEWS - The Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Heat-on-SRK-was-because-of-scanner-on-Bollywood-shows/articleshow/4916759.cms)

[maximus777]

^^^Not sure about the credibility of this news since its from TOI, but SRK seems to have bitten off a little more than he could chew! Rest assured, he will get his publicity one way or the other. :D

[snathan]

^^^Not sure about the credibility of this news since its from TOI, but SRK seems to have bitten off a little more than he could chew! Rest assured, he will get his publicity one way or the other. :D

SRK also equally crap to talk about...so lets give this thread rest to peace..

[looivy]

There are other important immigration matters to be discussed.

[immigrant2007]

I agree
I hope we spend this much time in supporting or PLANNING WHAT WE DO NEXT. I still believe if we all of us make a combine effort we can get our backlog issue resolved

[maximus777]

SRK also equally crap to talk about...so lets give this thread rest to peace..

Agreed

[rsdang1]

"Everytime"?

I've been pulled aside once, in the nearly 7 years I've lived here. I've never had to go through any sort of 'suffering' -- nobody humiliated, beat me up or threw me in some dungeon, and likewise with any of my friends (and I have friends of different nationalities and religion)

I was asked the routine stuff - why I'm visiting the US - who I work for, where I live, how long have I been in the US and if I have family here. They asked, I respond - and that was that. The tone wasn't the most cordial nor was it demeaning. It's not a popularity contest. The key is to not take things personally. I have a lot of respect for President Kalam. He sure did Indians and people in general, proud. Now, please, give it a rest.



I am a Sikh and I wear a turban due to my religious belief - try traveling with a Turban - You will very easily understand what "every time" means....
:-)