Yes, we Khan

How many songs does it take to believe that one’s name will always be recognised? How many milestones must a man pass by, before his fame 

is guaranteed? How many detentions will it take to realise that too many have been detained? That and many more answers, are clearly blowin’ in the wind, to judge by a week in which both Bob Dylan and Shahrukh Khan were detained and questioned by officials supposedly unaware of who they were. 

That both incidents happened in the United States cannot be glossed over, particularly since these two gentlemen now join the exalted ranks of Senator Edward Kennedy and former US vice president Al Gore, in being singled out by over-vigilant security staff. 

While the 20-year old troopers who stopped Dylan may be forgiven for being just musically deficient when his name did not ring a bell, those who kept SRK holed up in a room, despite his being definitively identified by others at the airport as India’s most famous filmstar, have less of an excuse. That has become evident now as the officials have subsequently attempted to explain away his detention on the fact that his luggage had not arrived. 

Coming hard on the heels of the news of the frisking of former President A P J Abdul Kalam by an official of a US airline, and the tales of Indian film stars being questioned by airport authorities in the US presumably because of suspect (sur)names, makes this hard to pass off as an oversight. 

Perhaps, instead of being total slaves to the vagaries of their computers — that apparently spot suspect names among passenger lists who then are mandatorily singled out for questioning and verification — the US authorities should broaden their cultural horizons. The answers are blowin’ in the wind: a few refresher courses on foreign films and filmstars (not to mention 20th century musical icons) and mugging up some volumes of Who’s Who from various countries, and could save them their blushes in the future.