The Travails of a Nonentity: In the Top Boss’s Chamber!

 

First thing in that nondescript morning, sometime in the late 1980s, as I entered my office room there was a letter from home waiting for me on the desk. I tore open the Indian inland letter eagerly. There’d been no news from my village home in more than a fortnight which was not normal, because my mother used to write me a letter every week, unfailingly. I got worried as I read through: my father had taken ill and it was to be decided if he needed to be taken to a hospital in the nearest city depending on the treating doctor’s advice. My mother wrote that she’d inform me at the earliest, and since that didn’t happen, I got restless, fearing the worst, knowing that even if the worst had indeed happened it was going to take days to inform me, because I had no direct telephone number either in office or at home or at any friend’s or at any neighbor’s place, they could possibly ring up from a post office. Apart from the hassles of various office extension numbers to reach me and the language problem it took a one-hour bicycle ride from my home to reach a post office that had those trunk-call lines.

There was a telephone in the village school principal’s home and I always thought of that as an emergency number, my home within a mile of the school and the principal being a good family friend. I desperately wanted to ring up that number immediately, somehow, and get to know what could be happening there with my family people. But that effort required an STD connection! Hell! Those days STD facility was extremely limited; only the most powerful bureaucrats or the most influential of the citizens could have that facility in their landlines. I knew, however, that the top boss of the organization I worked for had that facility in his telephone. But how to access it? I was not that kind of an officer having ways with all the bosses. But I wanted a way out, immediately! I couldn’t afford to wait till late evening for a visit to the post office, hoping to get connected through a trunk-call, always so delicate and so full of statics, testing the power of your vocal chords.

I asked the elderly and experienced office assistant as to what could possibly be done. He advised me to speak to the boss’s PS, telling me that the top boss was a nice person and would never refuse to help. Accordingly, I rang up the PS explaining the emergency. The friendly lady asked me to come in the lunch hour when the top boss was normally relaxed and would not mind letting me use his telephone. I thanked her and as there were still three hours to go for the lunch break, I tried hard to concentrate on the files on my desk and do some work.

Even before the wailing siren, signaling the lunch break, could descend to its lowest octave, I was out of my room heading toward the main admin block. I pushed the revolving glass doors to peep into the PS’s room. The lady officer was just about to open her tiffin box, set up nicely on her table.

“Please go in! Sir is there!” she said the moment she saw me.

I approached the heavy wooden door on my right, tentatively. With the tension of an impending uncertainty I managed to knock on the door, a feeble effort. Then, mastering up all my dare, I pushed the door in, uttering in a shaking tone, “May I come in, Sir?”

The middle-aged man with thick eyebrows who seemed to be sitting miles away from me or the door I opened in a high-back revolving chair housed in a huge rectangular chamber looked up at me, a little uncertainly. That was the first time I ventured entering the chamber of the top boss: not that I never met him, I did attend meetings presided over by him on many occasions held in the office auditorium.  

“Oh! Mr. Saikia! Please do come in!’ he welcomed me in, looking briefly up at me over the bundle of papers he was apparently setting in order. Oh! He knows me or rather recognizes me! I thought, instantly energized with something like a new lease of life, and definitely a lot of courage and hope.

The top boss turned his attention again to the papers as I did not count the steps up to his spacious mahogany desk and finally stood right before him.

His little shrouded eyes, over the rim of his high-powered specs, appraised me that seemed like an eternity to me.

“So, Mr. Saikia! What brings you here?” said he, again back to examining the papers through his glasses.

“Sir! It is an emergency!” I briefly explained my situation. “I really need to call up my village, sir! Sir, if you can allow me too…I’ll take only two minutes!”

“Okay! But why are you standing? Please take a seat!” he finished putting the papers neatly away on his right where a stack of in-files was waiting for his generous signatures, took off his specs, set it on the table and got up. He headed toward the attached restroom just behind his desk, entered and spent a very long time in there. Maybe, freshening up for his lunch! But he could’ve just told me to wait or excused himself for a moment! I thought, this time a bit disapprovingly, if that kind of behavior were permissible at all.

I stared greedily at the black instrument lying innocently there alongside a few white intercom instruments and felt like pulling that toward me, desperately wanting to hear that sweet special dial tone that could connect me instantly to my people.

Finally he came out and resumed his seat.

“See, Mr. Saikia! Such facilities are very expensive and so are given only for the most urgent official matters! You know, we have to account for the monthly bills, justifying every single call made using the facility!” he leaned back on his chair as a peon entered the chamber and began setting plates, spoons, forks and bowls on the glass-top table surrounded by a sofa set at the farthest corner of the chamber.

“But, please sir! It’s for only a minute…!” I mumbled incoherently, not at all expecting such an elaborate discourse on office expenses.

“No! no! Mr. Saikia! Don’t get me wrong! I’m not denying you the favor!” he continued as he started getting up from his chair, “we just have to do it in the right way, right? So, please go to the administrative officer, write out an application explaining your issue and submit it to him. Signed, of course. The application will then come to me, and rest assured, I’ll sanction it immediately! You’ll surely get a call from my PS! Okay?” he started marching to the cozy corner for his lunch.

I stood up like a perfect idiot. But indignation surged inside me as I headed for the heavy wooden door. I began cursing him, all safe and sound within my nondescript soul: to hell with your rules and justifications! Why! Had an officer, maybe just two ranks above me, come into the chamber at that moment for the same favor, s/he would just have picked up the phone, dialed and talked to his/her heart’s content, perhaps without even having to request the top boss for the favor! Damn it all! I maybe a nonentity strictly in the official way, but I’m no throwaway as a person! I can still have what my modest soul wants! Yes! I’ll have it my way!

I stormed out of the block, not at all bothering to report to the PS about what happened, and decided to visit the post office early, hoping for the best.

Mohammed Siraj Powers India to Their 8th Asia Cup Title!

Powered by an incredible surge of the rising Indian fast bowler Mohammed Siraj India have crushed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the Asia Cup-2023 Final played in Colombo today, winning their 8^th title of the tournament, followed by Sri Lanka with 5 and Pakistan with 2 title wins. The hosts won the toss and as expected chose to bat first. So far in the tournament, all matches were won by teams batting first; however, in the Final today things took a different turn. The match was also delayed by rainy weather and the Indian pacers smelt some swing in the pitch of which they took full advantage. After Jasprit Bumrah removed Kusal Perera in the very first over of the match, Mohammed Siraj achieved the rarest of rare feats by taking four scalps in just one over or in just six balls—his second and only the fourth over of the match. Four wickets in the Lankan top order reducing the hosts to a sorry 12/5. And the slide did not stop there. Siraj fired on to his fifer in just 16 balls and then to 6/21 overall. Pandya delivered the final blows for his 3/3 figure bundling out the Lankas for just 50 runs—their second lowest total ever in ODI cricket. It was all over for Sri Lanka in 15.2 overs and India looked at the target of 51 runs in 50 overs which they did achieve in style—openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill hauling it up in 6.1 overs.

Mohammed Siraj becomes the first ever Indian bowler to capture 4 wickets in 6 balls and the third in ODI cricket history. Incidentally, the first two cricketers to have achieved this are both from Sri Lanka: Chaminda Vaas against Bangladesh in the 2003 World Cup and Lasith Malinga in the World Cup-2007 against South Africa. But I think Siraj’s feat should be judged as the best ever from two standpoints: first, it was the Final of an international tournament, and second, he initiated the damage in the very top order of the team, never relenting till the finish. We talked about India’s rarest of rare kind of feat in the Super-4 match against Pakistan earlier: whereas it was an incredible display of Indian batting in that match, in the Final today it was an incredible display of fast bowling.

Team India is immensely capable of such feats whenever its immensely talented cricketers play to their true potential, and this point naturally brings up the most crucial point about the constitution of the team: when you do have your best team at any juncture, why don’t you allow it to go on playing and winning! Why, like in numerous other occasions in Indian cricket history, did you need to change the team in the match against Bangladesh? Why your players needed to be given rest in the midst of an important tournament and that too in the run-up to the ODI World Cup-2023? You still experimented just because your team had already reached the Final and thus let your team lose unnecessarily. Why do you have such repeated urges to lose? A win against Bangladesh would perhaps have further pushed India up in the ICC ODI rankings. Was it not better even otherwise to prepare for the World Cup with the maximum possible wins? And, had either Tilak or Prasidh or the perplexingly axed and demoralized Shami and Suryakumar or the enigma Shardul played the matches of their life would you have selected them for the Final? If not, obviously, then why was that experiment necessary? For accomplishing a consistently performing team you must stick to the best team available and you must be ready to drop any player in any position if out of form or just non-performing for which, luckily, you do have plenty of options.

Now, for the Final of an intensely competitive tournament in its two stages the final match was a perfect anti-climax—a real letdown for the thousand of enthusiastic cricket fans. Again, for a tournament that’d been dominated by the spinners all the way the Final was entirely on a different footing with the spinners not getting a chance even to bowl a few overs, forget about taking wickets. Although for the Indian fans the Final proved to be a huge relief of sorts the Sri Lanka fans and genuine cricket lovers were thoroughly frustrated, a 100-over match getting over in only about 22 overs. However, cricket has always been the game of glorious uncertainties and such things do happen and will continue to happen. And star performers like Siraj will also continue to dazzle us. 

The Refueling Conundrum!

 

I don’t really know why they do it. Perhaps they too adhere to the belief or the superstition that when one prepares too well for something, nothing really happens. The autorickshaw or the cab drivers may thus think that when they fill their tanks or cylinders with fuel first thing in the morning and wait for the customers none would come up or that it would take the best part of the day for the first customer. Therefore, they may accede to a ‘Let’s fill up only after I get a customer’ kind of behavioral psychology. I’ve often been the victim of such driver-psychology exploits in the city of Guwahati—called the gateway of the North East region. Let it be the autorickshaws or even the app cabs, the drivers thereof would invariably move the vehicle into a petrol pump on the way thus severely impinging on my allotted time for the ride and then for the possible meetings or appointments to keep. Annoyance pumped up by inconvenience and anger would always take full possession of my hapless state of being. I thought this psychology was limited to the somewhat lazy and laidback city/region as mentioned; but to my consternation I discovered it spreading to other parts of the country, and more worryingly, even in the most professional city of Mumbai. Mind you, I’m not jumping to conclusions or generalizations. I’m more or less certain because it was not a random incident where the driver could’ve genuinely missed the refueling due to technical issues, it happened twice in two successive days, and in both occasions the drivers did not look apologetic at all as if they were used to that by-now-normalized procedure. And they stuck to that stock answer in an expressionless tone, “The pumps were closed!”

In the first incident in Mumbai the driver of an app cab nearly made us miss an important meeting. The young driver looked okay and he was cruising the car nicely through a fairly dense traffic. But suddenly, midway, drove into a petrol pump on his left and joined a queue of around three-four vehicles. Completely taken by surprise as I never remembered a similar incident in the financial capital, I demanded him why. That stock answer came up promptly and I was agonized to find that he’d joined a queue for CNG filling which I know takes a long time. So I couldn’t help firing him right and left, but the young boy perfectly kept his composure, making me feel silly even in the midst of my great temper. My wife, trying to take control of the situation, prodded him softly as to why he didn’t inform at the time of booking. The boy avoided answering by informing that he’d already got his number and that it would not take much time now. After fifteen minutes that seemed to be the longest of waits in my entire life, I could bear it no longer and got out of the car banging the door shut. Pacing up to the road I started dialing the organizers trying to do some damage control as there were a few other participants in the meeting waiting. They agreed to a 30-minute window, and finally we reached around 35 minutes late, 25 of which was caused by the refueling googly.

In the second incident the very next day we got late at the house of a friend we reunited with after long years. When we finished our three-course supper, it was nearly midnight. The app cab drivers were not responding and the aggregators focused on increasing the fares by the second. Our responsible friend tried a new app on his mobile and finally the car he booked arrived. Again, the driver was a young boy, seemed hardly 20. However, he assured our friend that he’d take absolute care of us and would deposit us home safe and sound. We took off.

The streets were not exactly packed at that late hour, but the boy was driving at a snail’s pace. Unable to hide her curiosity my wife asked him why he was not picking up speed. And then only he dropped the bombshell: he was looking for a CNG filling station as his fuel was dwindling fast! Not only that! The car might run out of fuel anytime now and the responsible boy was very worried that his ‘uncle and aunty’ could get stranded in the middle of the night! This time I took a long sigh and just leaned back on the seat, as if surrendering to fate.

The young driver kept on stopping asking one and all, including the Zomato delivery boys, for the way to the nearest CNG filling pump. They all did indeed give very painstaking directions, but our lean and thin young gentleman couldn’t find any. And he constantly kept up our tension by mentioning that ‘getting stranded’ bit. Finally I intervened telling him to consult people of his ilk, that is to say, other drivers of autorickshaws or cabs or taxis. Luckily, he found an autorickshaw by the side of a road and accosted the driver: requesting him for the way in the most urgent manner possible, of course, by mentioning what fate his dearest ‘uncle and aunty’ could be heading for. I did my best to avoid meeting a supposedly sympathetic stare from the autorickshaw driver; but he gave solid directions to a gas station which was still some way off and nearer to our home. Fortunately, the car engine did not go phut and the eager driver found the pump and could finally satiate the urge of his cylinder, if not his.

We found it perplexing that the boy still did neither brighten up nor increase the speed of his vehicle. Again, my wife asked him why. In reply he asked her a very pertinent question, “Do you know your way to your home?” More in store for us! I thought bitterly. “Of course!” she replied. Then he disclosed that he was an absolute stranger in the area and so was driving slow, and particularly avoiding the flyovers, afraid where they’d eject him out.

For the rest of the journey I took absolute command of directing him: the turns to take and which flyovers to avoid and which ones to take. The young driver indeed delivered his ‘uncle and aunty’ home around 2 in the morning, delayed by at least an hour. I wanted to give some sound pieces of advice. But what the heck! I’d not rather have stock digitalized responses! Instead, I took the pledge of asking the driver if he was going to refuel on the way, every time I’d happen to book a transport in future anywhere and everywhere. However, we do fervently hope the refueling virus do not spread far and wide and someone resourceful check its possible progress. Or it still remains a conundrum!

And India in Asia Cup-2023 Final!

 

Dunith Wellalage

Just when this writer expressed his extreme disillusionment with the cricket of Team India thanks to the haphazard style of player selection cum mindless experimentation in the run-ups to all possible international tournaments, and even threatened to permanently lose interest in the matches India play or is going to play, Team India had bounced back to the winning habit by first bamboozling Pakistan into one of its most crushing defeats of all time in the reserve-day yesterday, the 11^th of September 2023 and then defeated the hosts Sri Lanka in a low-scoring match today, the 12^th of September 2023, thus making way to the Asia Cup-2023 Final to be played on Sunday, September 17. India have now 4 points from 2 matches continuing to top the points table with a formidable net run-rate (NRR) and either Pakistan or Sri Lanka can join them in the Final depending on their virtual semi-final clash on Thursday, September 14. Conceding two defeats from their two matches Bangladesh is out of the tournament and can look forward to having two points at best if they manage to defeat India in the last Super Four match on 15^th September.

In the momentous match against the archrivals yesterday all in the top four of Indian batting delivered, and delivered in a roaring style. It is indeed the rarest of rare kind of feat for India with its openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, helping themselves to half-centuries each and then in a memorable display of strokeplay the next two of the top order, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, notching up their unbeaten centuries. Amid the ecstasy generated for Indian fans it was also a huge sense of relief that finally Kohli had found his long-lost century touch and Rahul who had joined the team after a long hiatus got into the act immediately. This also proves the fact that once the India top order plays to potential no rival team could hope to win on that particular day, and this is also part of the main problem as most often all or most of the top order continue to fail to serve the team, so much so that the team almost loses the winning habit and the hopeful management never daring to apply the axing policy on them. Anyhow, the glorious unbeaten partnership between the two augurs well for the upcoming ODI World Cup-2023. India raced to a mammoth 356 for the loss of only the two openers, and Pakistan looked so lost and totally demoralized that they failed to offer even a worthwhile fight, folding up their reply with a paltry 128 in 32 overs after a devastating spell by the Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav (5 for 25 in 8 overs). No Pak player could even register an individual fifty. The result of India winning by an incredible 228-run margin came in the reserve day which was also affected by repeated rain interruptions, but luckily not enough to wash out the match completely. On the first day of the match Pakistan won the toss and chose to field. The Indian openers laid a solid launchpad on which flourished the Kohli-Rahul partnership in the second day.

That terrific batting display naturally prompted India Captain Rohit Sharma to choose batting first after winning the toss against the hosts in the same venue in Colombo today. After a fairly sound start by Rohit and Gill things, however, began to change as the Sri Lanka spinners, true to their ‘choking’ fame at home turfs, successfully controlled the supposed masters of spin and the wickets began to tumble. The 20-year-old star spinner, Dunith Wellalage, who made his international debut just a year ago dictated the goings-on by achieving his maiden 5-wicket haul and later was ably assisted by Charith Asalanka (4) to restrict India to a modest 213 all out. Even as the Indian spinners were expected to have their tight grip in the Sri Lanka innings the vital blows struck by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj helped India to go on taking regular wickets. They knew that taking wickets was more important, because with a target of only 214 restricting the hosts was not going to be effective. And as the match progressed Sri Lanka kept on losing wickets while the runs required were always less than the balls available. The Sri Lankans tried very hard indeed to get to the target for a secure place in the Final, but finally ran out of wickets. Incidentally, it was the youngster Wellalage again who kept the Lankan hopes alive with the bat too (42 not out).  Kuldeep following the match against Pakistan had success in this match too with four scalps and two each by Bumrah and Jadeja. India won by 41 runs and sealed their place in the Final. The Asian war is on for the second spot. 

India Vs Pakistan Cricket: The Zing Seems to be Missing!

 

The cricket matches in all three formats of the game between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan have become a rare variety in the recent years with the ardent discerning cricket lovers waiting for their matches at neutral venues. The matches between them in the one-day World Cup, the T-20 World Cup, and the Asia Cup have always been eagerly awaited. However, in the last two years the fan enthusiasm seems to be dwindling with a sense of listlessness seeping in as regards both Team India and their matches. And risking being rough or grossly unjust I have to point the finger at the Head Coach Rahul Dravid who was appointed in the job in November, 2021. No doubt, he had taken over with the ripe legacies of India—not able to break the jinx of not winning a single ICC title since 2011; India’s group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup played in 2021; Team India management blinded by too many choices of young cricketers (courtesy IPL) thus ushering in the mindless and endless experimentation in the run-up to any international tournament; and the unshakable trust and dependence in the Team India veterans despite their continuous poor show on the field. But Rahul Dravid was appointed with high hopes that being player of legendary status he’d bring in the necessary changes and rejuvenate the team. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

India lost the Series against South Africa; India’s group-stage exit in Asia Cup-2022; India got ousted in the semi-final in the T20 World Cup played in 2022 and India lost the World Test Championship again this year. What the team managed to do was to win a few scattered matches, mostly against the much weaker teams. All the legacies we mentioned above were continued with unabated energy or even further emboldened. For example, the experimentation-laden team was administered more severe shock treatment bringing in or dropping or inexorably sticking to key or non-key cricketers at mere will or whims or prejudice or favoritism or clout, so much so brazenly that nobody in the Dravid-led management even bothered to justify or make a bid to defend the decisions in some way. The ageing Captain Rohit Sharma followed by the record-breaking Virat and the shifting openers kept on failing the team while the Head Coach kept on looking the other way. The most notable player to gain unjustified faith, apart from the untouchables, is Shardul Thakur while the most-axed but trustworthy players to suffer are Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal at times and even Mohammad Shami and Surya Kumar Yadav who got dropped during the ensuing Asia Cup, in the most crucial league match against none other than Pakistan.

Well, I cannot represent the fans spread globally for Team India, but I can say for myself that I had lost interest in Team India matches played inside or outside, including the most-awaited Indo-Pak encounters. For example, I never even bothered to find out when India was going to meet Pakistan in Asia Cup-2023 that had moved back to the 50-over format which should’ve been matter of keener interest. No doubt, the weather gods too didn’t like the way India prepared to meet Pakistan and the match had to be abandoned. Of course, India successfully moved to the Super-4 stage by defeating Nepal (a Dravidian achievement?). Now, tomorrow, the 10^th of September 2023, India is set to play the arch-rival again, and I’m not seeing any kind of keen interest, far from the usual hype, demonstrated in the fan-fares or in the media for the match. And feeling the guilt somehow I’ve decided to write out my or our agonized frustration.

There is another crucial factor though for the seeming lack of interest—the obstinate rains there in Sri Lanka. Today, I read what Sunil Gavaskar wrote about the organizers not willing to consider changing the venues despite the looming rain threats. He indicated the organizers must be under acute pressure that is most often exercised by the influential players, not just Team India players, but others too. Maybe, this is being my guess; some team would like to play it safe by sharing a point with their rivals rather than working it out in the field and hope for the best. For example, if the Indo-Pak match in Colombo washes out despite having a reserve day Pakistan will get to three points having already vanquished Bangladesh and India just getting one which would mean that to qualify for the Final India will have to beat both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the coming matches, no minnows by any standard.

I never imagined even in my wildest of dreams that one day I’d not only be upset with Dravid, but would also write about his wrong ways, conclusively in my way only; because I always loved and admired that great Wall of a cricketer who stood for the pride of the nation in the most adverse conditions, more often in the Test arena. If you search for him here in this blog you’re sure to find at least one piece written about Rahul Dravid in his glorious years. Ultimately, this is a matter of sadness only, that, a player of that level of excellence should fail the national team so utterly, so miserably. I was never a pessimist, particularly in my cricket writings. But at the moment, I feel no surge of optimism as regards Team India’s progress in this Asia Cup, or much more importantly in the upcoming One-day ICC World Cup-2023—a tournament that is to be played in the subcontinent, and the Head(ache?) Coach prepares well by axing out Ashwin and Chahal, although it’s presented as only a provisional team which, in a more monstrous way, would mean that experimentation is still a far way off from being finally over.

The Horrors at the Guwahati LGBI Airport!

Aberrations do occur, in any field of activity or operation or management, the airport operations mid-air or at ground level being no exceptions. But unfortunately, such aberrations seem to be the rule at the Guwahati LGBI Airport, even after a complete revamp of the busiest airport of North East India that was done by one of the top-rated industrialists of the    country. As fairly regular passengers over the years in the domestic air routes to Guwahati we’d experienced or had witnessed such aberrations, the horrors, regularly too at this airport, occurring mostly at the Security zone. No doubt, security is the topmost priority in our insurgency-infested country; but there are justifiable ways of doing it and not going berserk and nearly attacking/harassing/shaming normal passengers. The security forces should possess some level of intelligence to be able to detect suspicious passengers instead of intimidating every Tom, Dick and Harry. There have been some news reports about such horrors happening to legitimately normal passengers having full records at the hands of the governments; but many stories never come out as most people prefer not to speak about their shame in public. Such horrors remind us of the ‘security tortures’ in the US airports following the 9/11 terrorist strikes, although our country hasn’t been experiencing terror activities in recent years. So, is this because of the hate-laden country where anyone of any background at any public arena could suddenly burst out with bizarre acts of violence?

The Security zone of the airport looks just fine with a full-women team managing and screening women passengers. But unfortunately, despite being of the same ilk as their passengers they fail abysmally to understand the kind of the basic necessities they all carry while traveling—like the minimal cosmetics, mobiles and accessories, vanity bags and purses and so on which are items permitted by the airlines. The all-women young team doesn’t seem to understand, anyway. We came to know the story of an elderly woman who was subjected to mental and physical torture in the name of ‘Security’.

First, she was nearly stripped inside the ‘examination’ cabin as one of the bright Security ladies ran her hands all over her body. At the lower belly of the 60+ woman she felt a lump which could’ve have been any harmless fat accumulation or a harmless hernia or rather tragically some malignant tumor that the woman herself was not aware. However, the smart young girl in dazzling uniform thought the lump could conceal some metallic device or even a bomb! Her loyalty to the highest possible standards of safety made her nearly strip the woman. She relented only when the woman burst into tears as her feeble protests had no impact on the ‘examiner’ and she, fortunately, didn’t turn into an ‘executioner’ conducting a possible surgery on the spot.  

Second, after being let out of the torture chamber the elderly woman discovered that her vanity bag was kept aside as obviously found suspicious by the diligent members of the team. As she approached another bright member of the team picked up the bag and turned it upside down pouring all the apparently mundane items on the desk. As the elderly woman stood aghast one more team-lady joined the other in rummaging through the items: they found the innocuous pin that is used to push out the simcard-tray of the mobile very suspicious, perhaps thinking that the pin could trigger some bomb somewhere; they took extraordinary interest in the cosmetic items; they then discovered a normal nail-cutter and threw it unceremoniously into their own dustbin; they also found a tiny purse containing notes and coins and dexterously counted out all of it, for reasons they only knew; they also found another tiny plastic cover having credit/debit cards and checked each one meticulously; and they objected to everything they found.

They demanded the elderly woman show her ID cards to which the exasperated woman strongly objected. Those cards were already checked and why at all she should show those here, she asked. What was her crime, she wanted to know. By then the elderly woman’s husband, on the wrong side of sixty, distraught by the unusual delay joined her and warned her that they could miss the boarding. As he began to understand the goings-on he started shouting in desperation asking were there instructions to harass passengers selectively and if they thought that all ID cards could be easily forged. One of the ‘examiners’ then proceeded to her table and started jotting down notes as if she made her observations to be forwarded to her high command. And finally, they allowed the elderly lady to proceed. One of them even offered to give back the nail-cutter which the woman refused stoutly asking them to use it. The woman needed another ten minutes to put all the scattered items back into her bag.

And that was not the end. Air India made it still worse for the senior citizen duo. The couple hurried to the boarding counter and found a long queue.  The display showed that the flight was on time. So, they joined the queue and waited and waited and waited. More than half an hour elapsed with the Airline still not announcing a delay, sticking to the same scheduled time and expected time of departure. Already tired from their previous torture the elderly couple’s knees began aching. There were only limited chairs available most of which were occupied by young guys who looked very energetic, but seemingly in extreme need of rest and care themselves. It was a very hot day and the central AC was either not functioning or kept at very low levels. Perhaps one more noble initiative for the objective of conservation of energy! However, it only added to the sorry plight of the hapless couple. The old couple still couldn’t afford to leave the queue in search of some vacant chairs, for the Airline already sounded the warning that boarding counter would close 25 minutes before departure.

Finally, the display sign claimed ‘Boarding Gate Open’. Even after that, the gate remained closed for another ten minutes with the smart executives hopping in and out of the boarding counter as if they were the busiest souls in the world. It turned out to be a delay of nearly an hour, but still not announced or acknowledged or apologized for. The couple only got a text message from the Airline regretting a change of the boarding gate when there was none.

We don’t know how many more stories of such horrors are waiting to be told. In the name of what that we’re made to suffer like this? Security and safety of the nation? Well, first learn treating the rightful citizens as rightful citizens and then talk of their safety. More importantly, learn respecting the senior citizens most of whom are definitely not terrorists. All of the good citizens deserve better than this.