SECURITY CHECK

In a hospitality business, the customers are called 'guests'. They are treated not just as kings, but as Gods! That's why, the other day, Mr. Oberoi, the owner of The Oberoi chain of hotels commented : "(Heavy) Security and hospitality business, normally, don't go together."

Mr. Oberoi was speaking to the media when the rescue operations were underway at the Oberoi Trident. His concern was understandable. The Five-star guests are so used to the royal treatment, that the hotel staff takes extra-ordinary precaution not to offend them, even to the slightest extent. A heavy security check is blasphemous, in such a delicate business.

Now, things are going to change. They are forced to. The guests be better prepared for a thorough security check. The questions will be asked, sternly, and they better get used to it.

It is easy - almost fashionable - to scream over the security lapses. Yes, at the airports and railway stations, at the malls and multiplexes, at the Hotels and schools. Every time, a bomb goes up, up also goes the outcry: "Lousy security".

Yesterday, I had to see an officer at TISS. I had been there several times, before. Normally, a visitor used to be issued a visitor's pass after filling in the basic details, and in he went. On his way back, the visitor was expected to surrender the pass with the Security officer at the exit gate. But, yesterday, when I went to the Security cabin to collect my pass, the routine and mechanical filling up the details did not work. The man in Uniform asked, quite seriously, as I was filling the form:

"Kisko milna hai?"

"Mr. Balerao," I replied, quite seriously, as well.

"Kya kaam hai?" the man-in-charge grilled.

"Cheque lena hai," I responded, a little irritated, as I wasn't accustomed to any such querries before.

"Cheque kis maamle me," the grilling continued.

"Refund amount ki cheque," I thought it was enough.

"Kounsa refund?"

"Saabji, auditorium book kiya tha; uska security deposit."

The pass, finally, came to my hand.

Yes, I have already told you, that I was irritated with the barrage of questions. I was so used to the 'mechanical' process, that any obstruction on my way was enough to unnerve me. I was a 'clean' man, a man of self-respect. I expected no questions. My ego wouldn't allow me to digest grilling from a security man ... and, obviously, I was mentally cursing the man ... who was simply doing his duty as expected of him.

And, look, when a bomb goes up, the citizens like me cry: "Shoddy security"!

All of us are used to pampering. All of us feel a 'high' when the Security salutes, and feel wounded when we are grilled. And, we expect such a security force to safe guard us from the criminals and terrorists!

We have made the security men our 'massage men'... We get our 'kick' from the ego massage they give us!

Many years ago, the prestigious Shanmukhanada Hall was completely gutted in a fire. That fateful evening, little school children were performing on the stage a candle dance. It took almost a decade - and crores of rupees - to rebuild the hall. But, when it was reopened, the security system fell in place. Now, they don't even allow to take inside a bottle of water, leave alone the burning lamps! I have attended so many annual-day programmes of my son's school in this magnificent venue. The two-thousand-plus-capacity venue always overflows on the annual-day functions. In the ten-minutes interval, it is crazy out there near the canteen space. In order to escape from that torture, some try to smuggle the snacks sometime before the interval, so that they can relish the same inside, in peace. But, I have found it next to impossible to carry out. So strict is the security!

Yet, once, in the darkness of the hall, a young parent, who was sitting next to me, whispered: "Please take."

"Batata vada!" I jumped, "how could it come in?"

"Shhhh! Eat it," he informed. "I do it every year. They can't catch me."

And, the other day, this brave citizen was one of the twenty-thousand-strong protesting Mumbaikars, near the Gateway of India. "Enough Is Enough," his placard screamed!

"If the fence itself starts eating the grass, who is there to protect the grass?" ... This is an old saying. The new one is this: "If the grass itself starts removing the fence, what is there to protect?"

We all need a thorough 'security check' ... At least , I do. The main purpose of this check is:

To find out why we get upset, and offended, when the 'Gate-keepers' stop us and ask us a few basic questions.

I have no business to shout at the 'Gate-keepers' - for whatever other reasons - unless I 'clear' my own 'security check'.


GERALD D'CUNHA