Here’s my favorite celebrity encounter story. As residents of LA, on average we see one or two recognizable celebrities a week, most often in the Wholefoods down the street or the Starbucks a few blocks from our house. There are certain A-listers who if you time it right, you can catch them dropping their kids off at the school down the street or picking up their dry-cleaining at the same place we go.
As I also work in the "industry," I also collaborate or have worked/met with some of the biggest of the big. I mean the guys who draw $20 million a film. My wife and I get invited to big movie premieres and the occasional after-party where we talk shop with the aforementioned movie star. But here’s the truth, my wife and I don’t really get starstruck. Not sure if it’s we’re just used to it, or know some of these people too well to idolize them, or are immune to it because of the way so many people go gaga over my dad. Whatever.
Still there was one time i’ll never forget when my wife abasolutely swooned in the presence of a movie star. I mean knees buckling, voice stammering, eyes-batting, could not hold her @#$% together starstruck. Not Brad Pitt, not George Clooney, not Tom Cruise, Denzel, Bruce Wayne, Gladiator, or any of the other usual suspects. No we’re talking the BIGGEST movie star in the world ladies and gents, Bollywood sensation SHAH RUKH KHAN.
Yeah, the same guy Newark New Jersey Customs officials detained yesterday for several hours on account of Shah Rukh having the same last name as some dude on a terror watchlist somewhere.
Quickly, first the story. My wife Candice who is not Indian has watched countless Shah Rukh Bollywood movies with my two nieces. Shah Rukh is a singing and dancing sensation, often the forlorn lover in his films, brigding tragedy and triumph to make love work. The man knows how to work it and has for the last decade been a maverick in the hysteria of Bollywood. He is sun among stars in the bright Bollwyood Galaxy. Anyway, so Candice and I are in Mumbai to attend a good friend’s wedding. Shah Rukh – who I had met casually a few times before – was in attendance at the party, drawing a huge crowd of admirers as expected. Still, at one point, Candice, myself, and Shah Rukh find ourselves face to face. I shook his hand and reminded him that we had met before once or twice.
"Of course," he nodded and smiled, "it’s nice to see you again." He turned to Candice. "But madam," he bowed to her and took her hand, "it’s a true privilage to meet you." He bent down on his knee and kissed her palm.
Like I said, her knees buckeled and her cheeks flushed red. She giggled like a school girl and sheepishly looked away. The moment passed as another admirer pulled Shah Rukh’s attention away. Candice would gush over it for weeks….
Back to New Jersey. This is no joke people. Shah Rukh Khan is the biggest movie star in India, a country of 1.3 billion people, thereby making him the biggest movie star in the world. I’m struggling to find a comparable here in the US. No offense to Will Smith or Matt Damon or Pitt, Cruise, Clooney, Angelina or whomever else you can think of, but they all pale in comparison. Maybe Michael Jackson, God rest his soul, or Madonna are vaguely comparable. Maybe.
But here’s the thing. It’s not just American customs agents being provincial, it’s the fact that I would guess that in India alone, there are several million Khans. i’m not joking. Khan is one of the most common Muslim names and India is not even an Islamic country. "Ghengis Khan," anyone? Khan is like Jones or Smith. This is how our security works in the US? This is how we are catching terrorists? Are you kidding me?
A few weeks ago, a big to-do was made about African American Hardvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. getting arrested outside of his own house in Suburban, Massachusetts. Now this. Racial profiling in America, either subtley as it appears to have happened with Gates in Mass (my hometown) or by the book as it appears to have happened in NJ is shameful. It’s based on ignorance and it actually perpetuates the same sort of hostility it aims to undo.
I’m not going to get all crazy about this and blow it out of proportion, though I do think it’s a big deal and could see it blowing up if Indians in India get galvanized. The point is that despite all of our social networking and our flattening of the world and our East-West fusion culture and the fact that people in Milwaukee do yoga , we’re still pretty provincial here in the good ol’ US of A and there is an implict danger to it. Trust me on this one, Shah Rukh Khan is no terrorist. That’s not my wife’s type.
dear gotham,
I too adore shahrukh khan, he is a genuine gentleman. Its strange that he was treated that way, though duty is duty but I wonder if it was supposed to be imposed this insultingly. I know at that seat they just cant take chances with thousands of lives but
You're awesome Gothom–Your sense of humor and the groundedness that comes across in your writing is refreshing!
Too funny!:)
Although yep racial profiling is just the worst! As is all forms of racial or any other kinda stereotyping…but let's face it …it happens…And is a serious issue…
BTW big SRK fan myself! Especially in my 20s but dont think I'd swoon for any star…not the swooning type!
We're all just points of energy in my universal outlook…just ask Grandpa Ed! 
But for sure he has brought loads of happy times to me on film over the years…and looks like pretty much a non-terrorist to me…and very all India patriot type at least from how he sounds on his interviews…and kinda engaging to some extent in Universal Collective Prayer perhaps…after all isn't his wife Hindu? Haha!
If I was him I'd just say who wants to visit the US anyway? For sure it that happened to me personally I'd definitely think twice about visiting again…what is that milk and honey I hear? But you can also get that over here and just over there and look here too!
On the flip side it's just sad that terroism is part of the world too…so can you blame the need for checks and checks…I mean everytime I have to remember to check my liquids before I board a plane…I think damn that British muslim terrorist man who had to decide to put liquids in his shoes! Of course I know not all British…not all muslims…btw after that incident why didnt they look at all Brits funny though….I mean there are white muslims…just look at good ole Cat Stevens!
Btw I so wish he was still singing Morning has Broken it's one of my fav tunes on Universal Collective Prayer!
And what's worse is what will they think of next!?:(
Terrorist vs. Big Brother…this is the true war…and we are all just casualities of it…King Khan included!
Is Gotham a fool? SRK may have fans amongst the 400 million or so Hindustani/Urdu speakers worldwide.
But he is a minor star when compared with an INTERNATIONAL star like Sean Connery!!!
Perhaps Babita Dubay is not aware that a plane on route to the US was diverted by the security services because one of the passengers on that flight was Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens, a notorious supporter of jihadi violence!
Kind of interesting because if Tom Jones was on a terrorist list and our very own Tom Jones was searched in customs,I think we would celebrate the fact that celebrity doesnt override security..Im not sure what we expect from our security agents,they have a HUGE responsibility and because they decided to risk offending someone OR passing a terrorist into the country and risking thousands of lives and all they have is a list of names.Im not saying drag them into a room and treat anyone inhumanely but if its reasonable questioning ,you cannot tell me its not worth the hassle to protect our families and some of those families might be Khans…NO DISRESPECT MEANT…………JOHN
Gotham,
Thank you for sharing your story! George Clooney is to me as Shah Rukh Khan is to your wife.
(Everyone who knows me, knows about my thing for GC.) I completely understand.
A friend of mine is of Middle Eastern heritage. He looks it and so does his last name. However, he speaks English crystal clear with no accent (he was born & raised in USA) and his wife and children have blonde hair and blue eyes. EVERY TIME he flies somewhere, he prepares to be detained and questioned because it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME. Except for the first time, he does not get angry because he has a wife and children he would rather have protected via profiling (if it's really necessary) than risk someone getting through. He only got angry the first time because he missed his flight.
Within 6 months after 9/11/01, a friend of mine was flying back to the States from Australia. She was speaking with a man from the Middle East having a nice conversation while waiting in line for their flight. We think nothing of ethnicity because most of our clients were Foreign Medical Graduates (ironically, I was living in Milwaukee, WI at that time). Yet she wasn't surprised when the airport's security detained the man because of his appearance. When she saw him being taken away in handcuffs . . . only THEN did she get a nauseous feeling and nearly pass out. (lol.)
In all honesty, I would rather customs agents all over the world error on the side of caution than to let one slip through the cracks. To build on that, I would also hope that customs agents would treat the individual(s) in question with dignity and respect unless they prove to deserve otherwise.
Heather Mehudar
"There are no accidents, coincidences or mistakes."
Shahryar…nope I did not know this…just got a glimpse of the story on Yahoo as it was on the front page when I was surfing and just saw Gotham's story…which I found so funny yet serious that I had to comment!
If he, Cat Stevens was on the flight…well there you have it!
Pity they couldn't get him to sing songs of his old Cat Steven days! But I thought he was altogether banned from entering the US?
BTW I agree people should be checked because there are psychoterrorist out there of all nationalities, races, religion you have it!…but people have to admit too that stereotyping is an issue in all societies in countries all over the world…it is just human nature perhaps….sad but true…
And all of us who truly and truly aren't terrorist…we'd never harm a fly…well all of us have to be part of this whole thing…also sad but true…
Hi Gotham,
I love your pithy take on the world. I had a bit of a chuckle to myself.
I thought it was Amir that sent women into a freenzy.
Had a class here in Cambridge and we viewed "Lagaan"; few of the girls really were interested in talking about the historical significance (non-violence, Gandhi, etc.) but they could not quite swooning over Amir . . . who I think is incredibly cool because of his environmental work, etc.
I think understanding that most people just work to pay the bills, no matter the culture, is important. Most people must simply live lives of quiet discontent because they've never had anyone tell them they could do other, or could never bring themselves to live with the disappointment of following their inner drummer and then failing. The answer is to spread the love, because love can take over when knowledge fails. It's the old bhakti versus jnana paradigm, which isn't the Western academic norm.
Love may not inform you that Khan is the most important last name half-way across the world, but it will dictate that you treat people with respect.
Let's face it. Life. Is. Not. Fair. Putting yourself out there is easy, no offense to you, if DC is your dad. But plenty of people have never even had a father, and have had plenty of work to do on top of just "paying the bills."
Passion and curiosity aren't easy in this culture, and they requires a lot of work for the working classes; the elitists won't let you in, the working classes resent you.
It can, of course, be an extraordinary position, if you will it so.
If you're lucky enough to come from a even a modicum of privilege, it's easy to denigrate the insanity of the world. Or if you have the courage to follow your own path and recognize it without falling into it, which most of us don't.
Provenciality is an easy criticism if you're raised in Cambridge; fact is, few here give a squat about Bollywood or Khan either. It is too often about narrowly circumscribed ideas of knowledge, sometimes as trivial as test scores as measurements of self (standardized testing has killed higher education).
And in my opinion, the Skip Gates thing wasn't just about race, and I can be as vehement as the next person about gender, race, and class issues.
Skip was tired, grumpy, and not going to admit he was wrong.
It was Cambridge elitism at its finest on the one side, racial profiling by the cop on the other. Two hard headed males bucking for the privilege of being right, neither one giving an inch for whatever their reasons, until the great negotiator stepped in.
Thanks for the anecdote. Your wife had every reason to swoon: a woman is allowed to swoon when a man gets on bended knee and says the right thing. Anything less is a no go.
I may have rambled, but hopefully some of this intersects with your entry.
Very much appreciate your sister's work on this site, and the opportunity to add my two cents to the conversation, FWIW.
Who are you to decide who is a terrorist and who is not Mr.
I have 2 actors that I will stop to see their movies, that is Jet Li and S R K. I am in new jersey , I know he was there at atlantic city for a promotion, I still feel unsettled that Fox is backing his new movie. I don't have any money and I am a south pacific snob so I don't like AC. I went to the Indian festival in Philly($6 as opposed to I don't know how much tickets were for Shar Rukh, I love him but I can't materilly make money pop out of no where). Now I am like Gothams wife , I am not genetically of Indian desent , but even my kids, who don't all watch bollywood(I have for years)know who SRK is. My parents told me to watch the news last night stating that an insident had happened. I was telling myself (being in jersey) it could be any number of bollywood actors, it doesn't have to be, and then I saw It, I take it personally, the one actor that i would stop dead for is in jersey and is treated like this, I am just glad that I was not there, even though I am a buddhist I do loose my temper at situations like this, I almost fought with an older gentleman who was showing disrespect to a Korean father and his 4 year old son. but i know my kids would have jumped if they had seen that happen to SRK. I wish him success with his new movie even though I still don't like Fox backing it
Hi again Gotham, since seeing some of the other comments on this blog and I now know who Shah Rukh is. He was in the very first indian movie I saw and I was "transported" by the scenery, dancing and joy that just spilled over into the audience. Loved it!!! My friend and I still talk about this movie til this day. I just cannot wait to visit India.
some people really hate "right to expressing one's belief"
Wish you love, peace and happiness.
Trisha
I related to the following in one of the entries here on this blog (word bandit)
"Passion and curiosity aren't easy in this culture, and they requires a lot of work for the working classes; the elitists won't let you in, the working classes resent you.
It can, of course, be an extraordinary position, if you will it so".
Your observations are a breath of fresh air. They actually answered something for me and I went "aah". I am very curious person and step off the path " a lot". I am passionate about people, and social change and I now "see…" Y I often feel caught becuase in some ways I am. But…………….when I have perservered and achieved that magic moment when the world stands still atop language, heart and action it is extraordinary. Even though it flips again, the experience in that moment and the memory of that is wonderfully sustaining. Thanks
thanks sorry still working out how to reply in this site
OMG! When I first came on Intent I remember it was such a warm and loving place…ironically Gotham used to complain about 'us' being all so too angelic and goody goody…well boy the hate sure has grown!
I have my issues too as do most people…but I dont just come on here and plaster them in my comments and go off on a rant and rage about everything under the sun and blame it on one movie star or all movies stars or Bllywd or the Chopras…come on already!
Let's face it none of us are living on the Starship Enterprise yet…the world is still way off from being a united one…and parochial or provinical behaviour is rampant everywhere on the big blue marble!
And just get over ourselves already!
For Word Bandit who said:
"It's the old bhakti versus jnana paradigm, which isn't the Western academic norm."
Well coincidental thing on my Universal Collective Prayer my most recent topic is:
Dhyana (Gyan) Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga?
http://universalcollectiveprayer.blogspot.com/200…
I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic…so check it out and give me feedback if you like and you or anyone else is always welcome to:
Come Join me in Universal Collective Prayer!
http://universalcollectiveprayer.blogspot.com
Babita, thank you so much for your comments… I'm often told I am being too childlike, but I think I would prefer to keep my innocence and be the "pollyanna queen" rather than being too jaded and cynical. I will join in collective prayer. Coincidentally, when I opened your site it was to pray for Tibet. That is dear to my heart having been good friends with some tibetan monks in my youth @ being priveleged as a lay person to reside with them. They touched my heart with their kindness, compassion and love. I also have fond memories of butter tea and sand mandalas, and they would smile and tell me when I was sad "this too will pass". Rose
Thanks Rose…glad to have ya….They call me Alice as in Alice in Wonderland…used to in uni and some other Intenters as well…funny thing was on a Facebook quiz I then got Alice to the quiz qu What Literary Character Would You Be?
So there you have it…Wonderland it is…
Hi Babita,
Hope my rant wasn't part of your frustration — because I do rant and do have my bad days.
Ranters, all of us, are here for a reason: people are who they are for a reason. "The haters" serve a purpose in the big picture, if we can detach and see it.
I will pop on over and look at your post here fairly soon.
Thanks for the invite. Look forward to reading it.
Meanwhile, you may enjoy reading my first and only blog entry. No one's commented on it, so I am begging for readers.
xo
WB
Gotham, I for one truly appreciate your candid take on what happened to Shah Rukh Khan and thank you for shining a light on something that needs to be examined in our society. I think it is essential when we see something occur that does not sit right with us, we need to bring it out into the light so we can work on healing it together.
I love this: 'This is how our security works in the US? This is how we are catching terrorists? Are you kidding me?" I believe most of what is done is done to look as though something is being done and really is ineffective to the point of being silly, really (did that make sense?)
On the other hand, I understand that people are afraid, and rightly so. I live in New Jersey, one hour from New York, one hour from Pennsylvania and three hours from Washington DC. It is fair to say the terrorist acts hit straight home for me as well as my family. I have never personally experienced, in this lifetime, terror & fear so real before, so unavoidable and pervasive. But, we must move on. We must heal. And we must continue to shine our lights on the things in our society that we know deep within us must change.
Anyway, thank you, Gotham, for shining your light.
In Peace,
Cheri
Did someone mention in this thread that there was a criticism about too much love and kumbaya in the early days of Intent?
Not been here that long, but I'm beginning to get the idea.
He's simply stating the obvious, that our national security is in the dumpster. This isn't a news flash, folks.
That written, the working Joes making these mistakes need to be treated as working Joes, not as mindless pedestrian boobs, because that gets us nowhere.
However, I do like the idea of one of the world's most seductive men getting on bended knee to a woman and swooning her, and the more women he is put in service to, the better.
That's worth writing about.
I loved what Gotham wrote! and I'm distressed by this writer with no face and no name who wants to tear it down, and so rudely at that. I, too, am sometimes told I don't know what the "real world" is, I live in a fantasy land about people being good. I also believe in magic, the real kind. I'd rather be this way than living in fear or hate or cynicism. I sincerely hope those with such anger can find some inner peace. I think Gotham's point of Mr. Khan being a celebrity was not that he be treated with special consideration – more that anyone that famous is obviously not the terrorist on the list, and therefore what went on was wasting everyone's time, plus racial profiling is rampant. I enjoyed the story about Candice – it brought some humor to an otherwise sad situation.
[quote]Is Gotham a fool? SRK may have fans amongst the 400 million or so Hindustani/Urdu speakers worldwide.But he is a minor star when compared with an INTERNATIONAL star like Sean Connery!!! [/quote]
Speak for yourself. SRK has fans NOT only amongst Hindi/Urdu speakers . For your information he has a huge fanfollowing in Germany, where he created a mass hysteria at Berlin filmfestival last year. They release his movies in theaters with German subtitles. SRK also has huge following in Poland as well in Finland and Switzerland. In Russia his movies are dubbed to Russian and shown on TV as well as they release them on DVDs. He also has fanfollowing in Japan and China.And in South America too, the best example is Peru and even in alot of countries in Africa, not to mention Arabic countries.
So before you call someone a fool, please, check the facts.
Gotham: I take the "fool" comment as a compliment. St. Francis of Assisi was called a "fool for God." Its usually people who are genuine, real, honest and compassionate that are termed fools.
Your foolish admirer.
Love, Greg
Gotham thank you for the write up.
And for all those who went on,spitting venom on Mr Khan.
First ,he was not in USA to promote his film, he came to meet his fans. Second , it was neither a publicity stunt or star tantrum, it got blown out of proportion by Indian media, because SRK is basically the most influential person there, anything he says or does is under media radar.
One have to know Mr Khan to understand that he will never stoop this low. He is the most selfless and patient person I have ever met in my life. You shall see how he treats his fans, he maybe tired, or ill or in a hurry, but he will never refuse an autograph or take a photo with the fan. He is very hardworking and down to earth, when he is at the film shooting , he does everything and anything.This man is basically patience personified , so immigration officer obviously went way overboard to make him call Indian ambassador.
Here are excerpts from Mr Khan's interview after arrival to India Tuesday:
"A person with a wharped mind might think it was a publicity stunt. Someone even suggested the episode mimicked a scene in one of my films. I will be honest, it wasn't a matter of great pride being asked questions like that. It was certainly not something I or my country would be proud of. I have never felt racially or religiously discriminated against in this country, I do not need to make this an issue. To be really honest, I do not want to sound pompous – but really SRK does not need publicty stunts to be in the public eye. I did not even want it to be known. It just got picked up by the media – even in America. "
"I didn't expect this issue to get blown up so much. Ninety-nine per cent of the times that I've been to the US, such checks have happened with me but at the security department. This is the first time that it has happened to me at the immigration department"
"I am scared of the authorities and rules so I try to follow the rules of the country I travel to. Whenever I am in America, I have to report at least two hours in advance while travelling within the country for security reasons – they ask me to take off my clothes and shoes, and I do that. But I never experienced this kind of treatment"
"There are some routine security measures – they check your finger prints and scan your retina. But the routine security process was not followed. Instead, the authorities asked me bizzare and irrelevant questions. I am not trying to make a point here, but why were security measures not followed?"
Shah Rukh said he quietly followed the instructions of the authorities.
"I didn't say a word there because I have a sense of humour which might lead to something… I don't want special treatment. I was not angry and I was not disturbed."
"The security of any country is important but caste, religion or race shouldn't come in the way of security measures. You may call me a mega star, a celebrity, but basically I'm just a normal guy. But I'm lucky that I have access to friends in the (Indian) consulate whom I could call up. But there are hundreds of others who dont have this facility," Shah Rukh pointed out.
Wising everyone peace and happiness in your hearts and souls.
Hey Rozik he has fans in the Caribbean too! Don't forget us…mostly Indo Caribbean I guess…but people of all races here watch the films too and he came here in 2000 I think it was…small place so we don't draw mega stars often…economies of scale and all…well unless you are rich as the UAE!
Bro Greg… St. Francis!
And how dare you not say hello! 
I'm off to stepping about now…but do check out UCP to see my pics of that great Saint on my Adventures into Universal Collective Prayer while I was on vacation in New Mexico! 
Do also join the rest of the gang on Facebook soon…
Here's the link to the pics of that great dog loving saint and some more!
http://universalcollectiveprayer.blogspot.com/200…
Hi babita, thanks for your lovely and affirming message. I agree….Wonderland it is!
To Babita ,
Yes, sweetie, I know about Caribbean SRK fans,especially the ones from Trinidad . I just was trying to highlight nations who do not belong to the South Asians or SA heritage.
It just so sad that such a good person as SRK have to go thru this.He is the one who promotes Islam is a peacefull relgion and he got a few fatwas issued on him because of that.
And look at those immature reactions "I will not watch his films"..c'mon what does it change… Also what bothers me that people make their conclusion on media reports, without checking the facts or trying to find out about this person
I can tell you ,I have some muslim friends, btw I am neither South Asian or muslim, and I heard some stories about immigration checking , like people were hit and called bastards and morons. Security IS important but we can do this civilized way, that what this is about. But hate and bashing won't do any good..they hate us as much we hate them. We need to open our minds and try to see each other point of view….but who wants to do that..easier to say "I won't watch his film anymore" or" he can go where he came from." Such a sad world we live in ..really:(
I am a shy person and usually keep my feelings to myself. But the entry from Rozik T, made me feel sad and really touched me deeply.
You are right hate won't do any good. I know I am naive, but, I always think of enlightenment as being at the top of a mountain and even though all our paths to get there might be very different, we "do" get to the same place.
Also, I am not Christian, but isn't it a basic tennant that we treat each other as we would like to be treated. So even though the world disintegrates into babel I will, in my naive way continue to try to be a decent, good person who attempts to respond with non-violence. So, if I could I would apologise myself to mr khan for what he endured. It sounds alwful and makes me cringe.
With love and hope for a better world………..ALWAYS!
Rosik T OK…cool…small nations/minroity groups sometimes need to wave their flags! Or toot their horns!
Rose…Do onto others as you would have them do onto you…I think is what Jesus said….
Akin to….Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…
I flew to London the February after 9/11, out of Logan.
There was a little old fragile Indian woman that airport security had pulled to the side, with her family, and they were giving her the 3rd degree.
I was given a free pass, being a blond American woman (which itself creates a lot of stereotypes, and none for the better, think "Legally Blonde"), but I will never forget that poor woman being traumatized and the complete lunacy of the situation.
Personally, I wish columns like this would appear (and there was another one here on Intent, as well) when it was the plight of the every day person. What, the everyday Jack and Jane (or Mohammad and Fatima) only get attention when there is a Bollywood person being "victmized?"
IMO, this verges on more celebrity pandering, with the best of Intentions. But the road to hell is paved with the best of Intentions, as we see time and time again, even in profiling.
I agree with Eric Altermann's piece in the Nation on Skip Gates, though he said it better than myself: this incident is a class issue, since no one gives a real squat about poor fragile Indian women, but a big Bollywood star, well, hey, now we get Harvard fellows and the politically correct chiming in on the problem.
Eric Alterman Nation Column: Class, not 'Race': http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/alterman
Again, I like Skip Gates, he's a very personable and friendly guy, and no snob. He's also had knee issues for several years, and pain really wears down one's threshold. But the fact is he's a Harvard University professor who is accountable to no one (the definition of a University Professor), and his response shows that he has been thoroughly socialized in that venue ("you don't know who you're dealing with"). It doesn't make him a bad person, it just means he's human, like the rest of us. Capable of being tired and grumpy and overreacting. As did Obama with is understandable yet knee jerk reaction.
It simply ain't always ideology: sometimes, it's just people bumping into people, and in this case I will say again, it was two Alpha males (and we are swimming with them here in Cambridge, in all the social classes) bucking over I. Am. Right. Neither. One. Giving. An. Inch.
None of us would have dared talk to a Cambridge cop like that, period. Most cops have their own Alpha Male thangs going on, and if you've a wit of sense, you're going to respect that, even if you find it abhorrent.
And I do not see the SG arrest or the Khan detention as similar to civil disobedience as a political modus operandi, ala Gandhi or MLK.
I think of that scene in Gandhi, when he releases the servant and serves Jenna, Nehru, and the others tea, becoming a role model of service.
As long as the world continues evolving in consumer capitalism, service may not be the model.
And pandering to the brightest and best may well be all we're left with, if there are people who are too good to play gadflies.
Jenna and Nehru, being ripped apart by the English Empire in their final gift to India, the Empire instilling the fear of radicalism, thus creating it and consequently both leaders cleaving to National Identity . . .
if only they would have served, people as people, regardless of caste, religion, race, and the like, as did Gandhi. But Gandhi was Gandhi, and that's why some of us hold him up.
Ideology blinds us to humanity, always. Even for those of trying to overcome.
There is no intent to provoke here, only move beyond the categories I see being bandied about, and hopefully do so with some clarity.
Thanks for the opportunity to respond.
Ever the gadfly, and just my two cents . . . WB
You see, my response has a different lens:
Gender. And class.
Unless we're conscious, our responses to situations are always colored by the lens we carry, and if we insist on constantly looking through just one lens, i.e. race or color, we miss the other stories that any situation carries.
It's so pathetic how Americans are so culturally provincial. Much of the planet watches Bollywood films…Bollywood being the biggest film industry in the world. SRK is and has been the number one Bollywood star for a very long time. It's absolutely not acceptable for Americans to not know who he is and to be able to recognize his face and his name at an airport. As a whole, Americans are still so insular, self absorbed and culturally small minded despite every opportunity not to be.
Did anybody ever told you, Gotham, that you are terrible arrogant? Why on Earth would you say this about Michael Jackson, "vaguely comparable. Maybe" to some Indian Movie star, who is known in India and mostly just for his cute (arguably) looks? I like the Khan guy, but c'mon, most of the world don't care about him, he did not do much but silly movies (I watched some). You are very disrespecful to your friend and from many of your comments, you are very cold friend, more like aquaintence.
I had a rather heated discussion with a tutor in recent years, because I have never seen people by the colour of their skin, or sexual prefference, what is amazin about this is I grew up in a very white bread subrban neighbourhood, in fact my first interaction with any other culture than my own, other than food was an Egyptian girl who I became friends with in my later primary school years and then at boarding school. I have always found it odd that people look at someones skin or ethnicity and make a snap judgement. I have no idea where this comes from with me, but that my life would have been far less rich and interesting if I had learnt to judge a book by its cover. Racial profiling is a scary thing and can lead humanity down such horiffic paths lets hope this trend is one that quickly passes.
I love that you shared this story, I learnt a long time ago that no matter how well known you are you are still a person and have flaws like the rest of us.
Although Id have to say Gotham I am likely to be a little star struck by your father, and people like louise hay and wayne dyer ect more than a hollywood or even bollywood star
Loved the story. I did the same as your wife when I met my favourite UK singer in person Lindon David Hall. Unfortunately he passed away from cancer, but he left many good works behind.
Thanks for the heads up. This guy's not coming to my next party or I'll never pull a decent bird.