Risky Business

An Inconvenient Truth - Interesting title for what seems like an interesting documentary featuring Al Gore, who for a while was touted ‘The Next President of United States’

Saw a review on telly about this film which is about global warming. Al Gore seems to have quite a grip over the issue and makes his arguments very strongly and convincingly.

What captured my attention though was not just the movie but the man himself. Never paid much attention to Mr Gore earlier but this movie review made me stand up and take notice. It is quite a drastic change of paths, from running for Whitehouse to being in Hollywood. We usually have people travelling the other way around so I think it was a risk he took.

I have always admired people who listen to their heart, follow their true calling and challenge themselves. For I know its not easy. When one is able to meet certain benchmarks in their life it would be quite daunting to make a shift and enter the world of unknown.

One can’t make it big, actually one can’t make it to anywhere and to anything without taking risks. No matter how calculated a risk you take, it is after all a risk. What you are willing to risk tells you what you value in life.

Thinking of all the significant events in history it only becomes more evident that ‘Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks’


What are you prepared to risk
Is it hope or going down a slope

What are you prepared to win
Some hearts or just some bucks

What are you prepared to lose
Some sleep in the night or knowing you did right

What are you prepared to find
Light at end of the tunnel or a treasure at rainbow’s end

Paused....

I have a lovely Spanish lady as my colleague who works in the other wing who I keep bumping into. Not only do we seem to be pee partners but we also seem to be hungry at the same time.

Yesterday during one of our lunches together, she was having some lovely Spanish food. While talking about the cuisine she mentioned her husband doesn’t have any particular fondness for Spanish food. Nosy me, I asked her where her husband was from.

She hesitated and paused….then replied he was from Middle East. I said Ok. She paused again and then said “He is actually from….. Iraq”.

I feel sorry for such pauses. Pauses not to prepare for answers, pauses not to think how to lie but pauses to say the goddamn truth.

This incident reminded me of an old conversation. Once while travelling in the tram, I was greeted by a rather cheerful and chatty co-traveller. We got talking and he told me he was from Libya. We had a lengthy discussion about social/political situations in our respective countries. When it was time to alight, I asked him for his name.

He had paused too…similar pause…but it was longer and heavier. He finally looked at me dolefully and said his name was ‘O..OO..OOOsama’

The mere thought of being judged is intimidating. We all have some or the other attribute which we think exposes us to be judged upon. But some people have to live with the fact that they will be judged as the very part of their existence, no matter where, when and who.

Hence this pauses……….

Did you check your race today?

With all the recent security threats and terrorist attempts, it has become indispensable that thorough checks are carried out at all public places specially airports to ensure greater good. Very well. It has also become important that we all need to be watchful and cautious and raise an alarm if we find something or someone suspicious. Fair enough.

But is it justified to consider race as the primary or motivating factor for suspicion of a particular crime? Is it justified to assume that someone is more likely to be a threat based on colour of their skin, their attire, the language they speak? Travelling while an Asian ,Driving while black,– Can law stereotype and generalise anymore?

Just in last few weeks, so many innocent people have been detained and caused mental agony at the immigration check posts. The worst of all the episodes I read so far was the passengers of a flight refused to board unless two of their Asian co-travellers dressed in their traditional attire were detained. Ironically later they were found to be innocent. Did they deserve to be humiliated just to pacify a bunch of paranoid travellers? Was their self respect and dignity worthless? Is it justified for a mob to bully two people because they looked ‘different’.

I am disturbed, truly disturbed by these recent chain of events. I read few forums about this issue and I was surprised that most people seem to be in favour of racial profiling. Some of the Hispanics/Mexicans/Brazilians are complaining that though they are not Asians they are facing same problems because they are brown skinned. Some of the Indians are complaining that though they have not been involved in the terrorist crimes they too are being alienated at airports because they look a ‘certain way’.

What are these people getting on to? Do they mean that they don’t care if a community is being victimised as long as it is not their own? Do problems matter and deserve to be addressed only when they are your own? How easily are we now able to turn our backs onto people, communities, countries?

Few extra hours spent on security check doesn’t worry me, the restrictions on the hand luggage doesn’t bother me, the blue colour of my passport making me feel like a third rate world citizen too doesn’t hurt me but it’s the hysterical behaviour of people in these present sensitive times of global crisis that makes me grim.

How much should this worry me? Well, I shouldn’t be complaining too much, should I? After all I am called Radhika and not Razia!!