A Passage to India

Hi from Seoul’s Incheon international airport. Just a couple of hours lay over in transit from San Francisco to Mumbai.

This is pretty cool. Find a seat, open up the laptop, and you are connected and ready to do business.

At SFO, the Homeland Security code was “Orange.” Which, it appears to me, means that special attention was to be given to frail old ladies in wheelchairs. It boggles my mind — what are these guys smoking. When was the last time wheelchair bound old ladies went ballistic and blew up a commercial jetliner? Someone should clue in the Transportation Safety Authority that there is a definite profile that fits potential suicide bombers and little old ladies don’t fit that, and nor do young mothers with babies in their arms. I saw one such mother made to give up feeding bottles.

It makes me feel very secure (not!). Confiscating toothpaste tubes from the general public can achieve little other than harrassing people who mean no harm. Clue to TSA: start profiling.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist.

7 thoughts on “A Passage to India”

  3. Hi,

    delighted to know that you are coming to Mumbai. Would like to catch up with you!

    will it be possible for you to take out some time for some meaningful banter?

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  5. Speaking of incidents, here’s another one about taking pictures of a bridge in NY.

    There should be no profiling, unless you’re talking about honest behavioral profiling. This government is too inept to understand the difference though.

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  7. You asked:
    “When was the last time wheelchair bound old ladies went ballistic and blew up a commercial jetliner?”

    I ask:
    When was the last time people flew commercial jetliners into buildings, before 9/11?

    The point is, no one can guess what the terrorists will be upto next… so precautions, as absurd as they may seem, must be taken.

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