I’m sure many of you have experienced walking through a beeping metal detector somewhere in India. I have, numerous times. The sound always stops me in my tracks. I look around, expecting a security guard to pull me aside for searching. Yet, more often than not, nothing happens. No one pays any attention to me. This is particularly the case at railway stations. I guess the security guards have become desensitised to metal detectors that constantly beep as people walk through them.
On occasion, random procedures accompany a walk through India’s metal detectors. When I was attending the Jaipur Literature Festival last month, during the busiest times in the mornings, security guards insisted that people turn off their mobile phones before passing through the detectors. At other times of the day, there were no such demands. Why the inconsistency in procedure? And why have I never been asked to turn off my mobile when walking through a metal detector before?
And then, there are the manual bag searches — half-hearted and pointless. In the six years I’ve been living in India, I do believe that the only time my bag has been searched thoroughly was before entering Tantra, the club at The Park Hotel in Kolkata, to see if I had a camera (“no photography allowed inside the club, madam”).
I’ll never forget the first time I encountered a seemingly illogical security procedure in India. It was at that sab se sasta – aur paagal – department store, the Big Bazaar. After I’d paid for my goods at the checkout, the plastic shopping bag that contained them was heat-sealed completely shut. As I left the premises, a security guard demanded to see my docket, which he then hole-punched. Although I’ve figured out the reasons behind many strange things in India, this one still leaves me baffled. How is it possible to check the contents of my bag against the receipt, if it’s sealed shut?
At D Mart, it’s customers’ handbags, not shopping bags, that are sealed shut. They do it at the entrance, by securing a plastic tie through the zipper. If this isn’t possible because your bag has press-studs instead of zippers, like mine, they’ll put your whole handbag into another bag, and seal that shut. Only then are you permitted to enter.
However, there’s nothing more irritating than the superfluous bag searches conducted at some airports in India. I recently encountered such a search at Jaipur airport, on my way back to Mumbai. After passing through the usual metal detector and X-ray scans, on the other side of the departure lounge, I discovered that my carry-on luggage would also be subjected to a manual search. All passengers were instructed to line up (a difficulty in itself in India) at the two tables, which had been set up on the way to board the plane, and open their luggage. If I’d had any non-permitted items at the bottom of my bag, the security officer sure wouldn’t have found them because he didn’t look that far. But I’m still at a loss to know what non-permitted items I could possibly be carrying, since I’d already been scanned and my bags X-rayed. Were the security officers unsure of the effectiveness of these procedures?
Despite all this, I think the most nonsensical experience I’ve had, was when a security guard tried to stop me from carrying my umbrella up an escalator at a mall in Mumbai. I just looked at him incredulously and continued on my way.
What about you? What have your experiences with security been like in India?
Photo credit: Security at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai by Magnusvk.
© 2012, Diary of a White Indian Housewife. All rights reserved. Do not copy and reproduce text or images without permission.
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In reference to the sealing of bags in D Mart, how does one go about paying? Do they at least allow you to remove your wallet?
The cashier at each check out has a pair of scissors and they cut off the plastic tie, so you can open your bag again and get your wallet out.
The Big Bazaar guys followed both of these illogical processes like the ones you mentioned for D’Mart, for a while each to stop people from stealing stuff from the store. After a while, Big Bazaar realised how irritating it was for customers and stopped. However, I prefer going to Foodhall now, which even though run by the same company as Big Bazaar (Future Group) doesnt do any of these things!! Small mercies.
The hole-punching baffles me too!
I’ve also had hand baggage checked again before boarding the plane which I agree does not make any sense. But what irks me most is those female security guards who check the ‘ladies’ at the airport – I find them much too ‘touchy-feely’!
I am laughing my heads off…Its absolutely perfect topic to discuss about !! I think by far I rate this as the best topic ever to be discussed on this blog of yours. India and our obsession with procedures that make no sense, I think more the paperwork, more the searches , more of everything including more of our population) that we have started thinking more is better.
As an example when you exit Mumbai airport the immigration form has a small bottom slip which one has to show the police wala before exiting the airport That slip usually must contain ones name etc…I have numerous times written anything on it and no policewala has bothered to check. However if you somehow do misplace that slip then the policewala will hold you up for a long time!! Well the list could go on…where is the efficiency or rather why cant we make our own life a bit easy >?
Punching is done so user doesnt reuse the bill for another unpaid bag. eg He goes out with bill unpunched. He has a spare bag from previous purchase/reuses bag. He immediately comes in and comes out which has a unpaid bag contents matching bill and claims he paid. (with heat sealing it is difficult, but many BB places they just plastic tie the bag, so it is possible to reuse that bag itself). If punched, he cant reuse.
Btw i think whether item was purchased or not is decided by a gate scanner i think, using the bar codes (not sure), which makes a sound for unpurchased item. That is why sec guard didnt check contents. But with a unpunched bill user can still claim, it is scanner error and he paid. So guard punches.
This is something new!!
People actually do that sort of thing?!
How can you not get sealing? These are anti-theft measures taken by the market – as is depositing your bag at the gate.
1. Sealing ensures that only the paid for items and nothing more can be carried out of the store by the customer.
2. One bill for each bag ensures that a bag of goods taken out of the store is not a shoplifted bag that someone else paid for.
3. It is highly unlikely that two honest customers may have swapped bags by mistake.
Okay, well let me address each of your points.
1)There isn’t any opportunity to obtain items from the store after the checkout. All the items are located on the other side of the checkout. So, what additional unpaid for items can possibly be put in the bag? If someone has decided to try and smuggle unpaid for items out of the store (which they took before going through the check out), it’s highly unlikely that they’re going to try and drop them into a bag after the checkout, in full view of everyone.
2)In my experience, there is not one bill per bag, but one bill for all the bags. ie. all the shopping.
3)Someone may have picked up someone else’s bag by mistake. Or someone may have left a bag behind by mistake. I’ve had that happen to me in the past, and I know it happens all the time because I worked behind the checkout counter of a supermarket in Australia for 7 years while I was at school/college. If all the bags are sealed shut, it makes it more confusing because no one knows what’s in the bags!
The bottom line with stealing is that it happens inside the store, with people putting items down their pants or up their tops.
^:-/ uh this explains why indian clothes dont have pockets. i always wondered about that.
At Costco in the US, they check the items in your cart at the door and compare with those on your receipt. Then they put a big bright mark on the receipt with a highlighter. It’s the same concept.
See, they check the items! None of that silly bag sealing!
1) Metal detector beeping in station. I guess it beeps with different sounds for different sized items/ type of materials etc. So for small sounds they know it is a key or something. So they ignore.
2) DMart – reasonable , else someone can steal things in handbag right
3) Airport – Explosives disguised in toothpaste, liquids, Inflammable liquids, Binaries (combine 2 innocent liquids and it becomes a explosive) . XRay / Technology cant still possibly detect all possible of these yet in scans. So they manually check and disallow liquids etc. It is there in US etc airports also right
The western solution to 2) is that the cashier will take a look inside the handbag at the check out to see if there are any items being stolen. I don’t know about 3) in the US because I’m from Australia and we don’t have it. Liquids etc will be detected during the X-ray. We even have scanners for detecting explosives.
Well,
1. There are explosives which can’t be detected by X Ray.
The way security people check bags, I sometimes get horrible imagination , I have carried blades at times without any problem.
we are at mercy of THE GOD.
So, just say, I put some explosive liquid into an innocent looking small bottle that once contained skin lotion, I highly doubt a manual check will detect it either because they never open the bottles. And, would they even know what to look for?
I really don’t see these manual checks picking up anything that x-ray/scanning equipment wont. Your blades are an example.
Chemical swabs are used on the luggage to detect the chemical profile of an explosive. I have had this done in US & India and is a random procedure or mandatory depending on the the alert levels prevailing at that time for the area.
Manual checks are also random in US & India and is place to identify suspicious “looking” objects/ packaging. No matter the technology, common sense is a human attribute which trumps technological advances many times. Thus manual searches in conjunction with technology is always relied on by law enforcement agencies worldwide. I am sure Australia is no exception to these procedures and if you don’t fit the profile to raise enough red flags you/ your luggage will not be checked manually.
Technology wise X-rays do not detect chemical profiles, but will detect physical characteristics of items such as seeds, fruits, weapons, electronics, etc. All these help the security officer make a judgment call as to whether further investigation is required.
Coming to punching bills, they do in some wholesale member only shops in US too. Again this is used in conjunction with the bar code detector as an extra measure to deter shop lifters. Sometimes an item under lock and key is deterrent enough even though it is not fool proof to a determined crook. Similarly all these procedures may not stop the chance 1% of something bad happening, but it does prevent 99% the time. It is a fact that both the good and the bad guys know very well.
Yes, exactly, this is what goes on in Australia. But like I said at Manjeet, all the additional manual searching goes on at the X-ray machines if there are any questionable items. Not an adhoc table, set up right before boarding, where the people doing the searches have no idea what’s in people’s luggage or what they might be looking for, having not even seen the x-ray scans.
Oh, and we are currently in the process of getting this technology at Australian airports. It can actually tell what’s in bottles! 8)
http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au/aa/releases/2011/November/AA212_2011.aspx
in Sydney airport, they asked me to show cabin luggage and opened it.But you are denying that so may be its a rule for asians.
Did they do it as you passed through the X-ray area, or as a completely separate check elsewhere? They will manually search your hand baggage when going through the X-ray if they see anything suspicious (just like in India and other countries). However, in my experience, they never have another manual counter set up, way after everyone has cleared the X-rays and right before people board the plane, solely for manual searches on everyone’s hand luggage. I wouldn’t worry about you being Asian. I’ve been pulled aside at the X-ray machines many times for searches, and even for additional explosive scans where they run another separate device over my hand baggage. I don’t think I look dodgy!
This is wrt government security personnel at airport or at major entry points.I think they look at your profile before checking you out.For example if you are a proper white person then you are least likely to do such a thing other than by mistake.So most of the times they will let you go.If you are bearded muslim then the chances increase immensely so they might frisk you or look at the kind of people you are with.They look at you sheepishly most of the time just trying to fit you in their profiles.They also look at language you speak and whether you are student or working class based on your dress.If you don’t fit their image or have some abnormal behaviour then you are a risk.Most of these shopping malls/hotels have private security guards who are not much trained into checking these things.They are just there to create an image so that you don’t try any hanky panky.
Casper you got to be kidding for defending the procedures that are most of the times badly executed and inefficiently managed, quite archaic. Scanners + hand check is normal at airport , scanners that keep beeping all time is not normal anywhere in the world. Check yourself at CSt.
That is one of my topics of interest. And I agree with you on every nonsensical security procedure in India. Bag-searches are most common and most confusing. What are you actually trying to find in my bag? An explosive or metal? I should have been detected at the scanner or security frames itself. What happens is that after having so many security apparatus no single procedure is followed strictly. Neither the electronic search nor the manual search. Its like jack of all, master of none and failed in all.
Regarding the beep sound I have heard that duration of beep is what matters. Different beeps for different materials. These scanners have been put up at New Delhi Railway station also but are totally useless because its really not practical to see any dangerous material for a lone policeman as he watches the screen very casually and inattentively. And that is why blast still happens.
I think that the volume of population in India is impossible to handle. Someone had said very true about America. The security procedures are sometime very ridiculous in America where they don’t even spare old women from searching in a bad manner which can even hurt people.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/04/woman-claims-strip-search-jfk-airport
The security at shopping mall is just a formality. I think machine have been developed years ago which can detect an un-billed items which have a bar-code. So I think there is no use of security guard at the exit. Because he doesn’t really check each and every time and that is not even possible. Security systems in India needs a realistic and more efficient approach.
On a topic somewhat related to the topic of seemingly-mindless security-searches :
Is the Congress Government of India even halfway earnest about tackling Islamic terror attacks against India ?
26/11 Terror-Attacks statistics :
180 innocents murdered in Mumbai by Islamic terrorists.
02 Indian Muslims arrested and charged with involvement in 26/11 attacks.
02 Indian Muslims acquitted by the Indian courts of all terror-charges.
00 Indian Muslims convicted of involvement in 26/11.
The Congress Government of India wants Indians to believe that the 26/11 terror-attacks on Mumbai were ENTIRELY the work of some foreign, Pakistani terrorists ( Pakistan, of course, has disowned the Pakistani terrorists, calling them “stateless actors”, whatever that might mean), with absolutely no involvement of any local, Mumbai-based Indian Muslims.
The Congress Government is loathe to charge any Indian Muslims with charges of terrorism, lest the almighty, all-precious Muslim-Vote-Bank (i.e. Muslims voting mindlessly en-masse, as per the fatwas issued by the Maulvi of their local Mosque ) get alienated .
Is this disgraceful anti-Hindu Congress Government really what Indians want ?
Isn’t it ridiculous?! You’lre right, Sharell, in that the airport searches seem to be the most careless and pointless. People are subjective to multiple “security” checks, all of which are half-baked and performed lazily.
My personal favourite is whenever I go to the Grand Hyatt in Santacruz, and the security officers at the gate always check the SAME parts of the car: the dashboard, the glovebox. They check the underbelly with mirrors. Do you think if I wanted to bring something dangerous inside, that I’d put it in one of those same, repetitively checked spots?
I dont get this either- I’ve been gathering my thoughts for a post for a long time about safety in India, and how so much of the “safety” is more safe-feeling because the store is putting on a show with the guard! For example, if security was really a priority, you or I wouldnt be able to give an impatient look to the guard at the mall and get by with a quick glance (or none!) into our handbag.
Phoenix mall has even gone so far as to have a female security line (ostensibly so they can pat you down) but really, you just walk through a velvet curtained booth while the bored guard wishes you a “nice day madam”.
It’s all a farce!
Maeve is right!
It’s all about a safe, comfy feeling when public places have employed “guards” or “watchmen” to hang around.
I do love being wished a good day by the ladies who do security in malls and airports though
“Were the security officers unsure of the effectiveness of these procedures?
Despite all this, I think the most nonsensical experience I’ve had, was when a security guard tried to stop me from carrying my umbrella up an escalator at a mall in Mumbai. I just looked at him incredulously and continued on my way.”
LOL… Sharell, you inhabit a higher realm than Institutional Silliness – and plenty of patience and grace. What else is there to do? As you’ve told us in writings about previous experiences, reacting to the madness is often a recipe for sheer exhaustion.
Indian culture is so diverse, that sometimes it seems like there is no unified anything, besides maybe lack of self-confidence and fear of unemployment which can often appear in the superficial form of officiousness, sternness, and/or just plain hubris in laughably dysfunctional scenarios.
Culturally, this does seem to carry over with certain Indians in the west (many of them from elite origins) who have a much higher tolerance for excess-rules, just plain silly rules, and archaic approaches to power differentials in professional environments (such as Boss is King, Employer is All-Powerful, The Organization Knows Best, and Better To Obey Rather Than Question). I’ve had some major head-scratcher situations with Indian friends around this. If I open my mouth I can easily come off as a flaming revolutionary, when actually, I’m a graceful and open-hearted gal who is into optimizing functioning to serve humanity, beyond personal cubicles or agendas.
Security in India is a serious issue, where people have become paranoid to the extent that they need security which most times turns out to be pseudo-security. Security in malls is mere lip service for sure. The other instances you refer to as security – the punching of invoices, sealing of bags is an attempt by store managements to take care of pilferage. Then there is also the disguised employment that such measures bring in – having so many extra employees to stamp invoices once paid adds to the economy doesn’t it
that was quite a thorough search
As regards airport security, I think CISF is a very professional paramilitary organization responsible for security at airports and industrial installations within India. They may ask to check your bags for items which are not going to come up in scans and x-rays. I would not want to go into that but it is fairly obvious that such scans and x-rays are limited in their purpose. Some of the technology certainly needs to improve but yes, if they do stop you for a manual search then it better be thorough. I do not know if the half hearted attempt at search had anything to do with you being a caucasian woman, although when i was in Jaipur recently at the airport with a white lady friend, she was asked to empty her entire hand baggage because she was carrying a pair of pink hair straighteners
Hehe, I guess my luggage was too boring for them!
I laughed at the car “bomb checks.” Security guards half-heartedly checked under the front of the car with a small mirror.
I wonder if it ever occurred to terrorists that a bomb might be placed in the BACK of a car or in the trunk. Hmmmmm….
I guess they’re doing their job though
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Janet | expatsisterhood.com | expateducator.com
Seriously, do the security guards that do the ‘car bomb checks’ realize that the ‘fertilizer’ bombs so favored by terrorist factions are usually contained in the trunk or the back seat of the vehicle?
Obviously that was not a part of security guard training?
This is actually a part of security guard training. Along with the ‘mirror-check’ in the front, I am always asked to open the back-door of my car to check what is there in the boot-space.
Yes, even I dislike the way they close my purse with plastic bands at D-Mart. They will fasten it so tight that the purse material wrinkles. and when the cashier carelessly cuts open the plastic bands with a “nail cutter”,I pray silently that he doesn’t cut my purse .
or else, i borrow the nail cutter and cut the bands myself. 
One bad part of security checks in India is often a female guard is not present and male guard checks ladies handbags. I was once at a mall with my girlfriend and she had her panties and sanitary napkins in her bag, and this guy put her hand to look through everything in the bag
In India, unlike my country, I had to pass through many metal detectors and manual bag searches. It was a strange feeling when I saw how strange women (women are checked by only policewomen or women guards) was digging in my purse. However the most weird thing was at a cinema in Delhi. I went there with my fiance having a camera with us. The guard said that it was not allowed to be taken inside the hall and she needs to take it. “Ok, then where is the storage box, where I can keep it?”, I asked. Imagine, there were no boxes as such and she would keep it with her. I refused to leave my camera with. Then she called the manager who finally got the solution. Guess what? he took the batteries out of the camera and kept them in his room while we were enjoying the movie. Funny though
Since I travel across India on work, I have experienced numerous anecdotal experiences of security check, some hilarious and some down right crazy. But the most irritating experience was at Kolkata airport.
I was traveling with my cousin who has an implant on her backbone to correct her scoliosis. When the lady at the security check ran the metal detector on her back, obviously it started beeping indicating the presence of metal. My cousin showed her medical certificate certifying the presence of an implant (which she always carries with her while traveling). But the lady was not ready to listen to her, she marched her to her senior who was sitting by the X-ray machine. We once again explained that lady her medical condition, and also said that everywhere on showing the medical certificate she is allowed to go. But this would not convince the security staff. They took us to the cabin of their boss, where we had to wait for him to finish his call, by then the airlines had announced the boarding of our flight. Finally the boss-guy lazily listened to his subordinates and made an attempt to listen to our explanations (yawning all the time). Then he asked my cousin to turn around (god knows what he could see through the layers of clothing, and she has no physical deformity), then peered into the med.certificate and told his staff to clear us.
Looking back it now seems to be just unbelievably crazy. But that experience sapped us of our entire reserve of patience.
Oh my! Don’t get me started on these pointless security measures, between big bazaar that put stickers on everything I own in my purse because I otherwise they wouldn’t be sure I didn’t steal it inside, or D mart that insist on locking your purse shut to the lady at the entrances of any malls just taking a cautious peek inside the main poket of your purse…sigh!
The only time they tried to forbid me to take something in my purse was at PVR cinemas in Bangalore and it was…baby formula! Never mind that DH and I had a baby with us, the lady scolded me “no outside food allowed ma’am” I retorted to her that it was BABY FOOD and that clearly you could not expect my 6 months old to just drink pepsi and snack on pop corn, fortunately the lady’s superior was around and told her that baby food is ok.
And I bet the PVR security staff is good only at one thing, saving their profit margin by detecting outside food in purses…we agree that is far more dangerous than a person walking in with a weapon. The police apparently runs several random test sending people in plain clothes in malls and cinemas in verious city carrying a fire arm in a way quite obvious to a security professional, not once did I hear of a report indicating the security staff of any given place noticed the weapon.
First time commenter on your blog sharell.
I visited Kerala after visiting my Mum in Melbourne (great city btw, I loved it!) I think all the airport guards were a cricket match. I could have smuggled in Cocaine and I swear they wouldn’t know.
I wasn’t impressed either when one of them decided to ‘double check’ my Kiwi (New Zealander, not the bird) girlfriend. Sigh.
Oh and the attempted assassination of the Israeli diplomat within the high security zone indicates how competent the Indian security forces are.
Love your blog, love your posts… keep’em coming.
Correct the spelling mistake ‘were watching a cricket match, and were not actually the match themselves.
I’ll be traveling to India tomorrow for a week, can’t exactly say I’m excited, I’m dreading it.
I’m of Indian origin so I understand all this, but I give you so much credit for living there and do what you do.
Once on a trip from the US to India, I inadvertently had a cigarette lighter in a pocket of my carry-on luggage. That was cleared while exiting the US, stopover (and subsequent clearance) in Frankfurt, using that same bag with the lighter while flying to Bombay and Bangalore. Only at the Kolkata airport, while I was flying out back to the US, that they ‘found’ the lighter and asked me to remove it.
Amazing, isn’t it? Does that make the security at CCU the best?!
My sympathies with you here. I’m traveling to Oz in March and the strenuous process of removing shoes and belts during security check is equally if not more, painful.
There seems no purpose of these metal detectors in India especially when even after a beep, you’re allowed to walk away. It really feels like such a chore walking through those detectors, whilst your bag is being screened by a Human. I dont see the point, just like you.
Hi:)
I have been waiting forever to meet a blogger from Bombay! Are you still living in Bombay?
Anyways. I completely agree with you! And what do you thiink about malls that do a body scan on men and not on women? How stupid is that! That pisses me off more than anything else? As if women are not capable of carrying bombs!
My Job involves a lot of travelling. I was once taking a flight to Mumbai from one of the (biggest) airports in India. As usual ladies were waiting at the hand baggage scanning section. The security staff at the scanning section were at a complete leisure and would ask any lady standing in the que to push the baggage in the scanning machine even if the baggage stuck at the scanner was not their’s. *They were having times of their life by discussing more important issues like their love life, MIL’s etc, and yes, in an audible tone.
So this left them with little or no time to do less important things like keeping watch on the baggage passing thru the scanner or ever put the security stamp on the hand baggage. 3 out of 5 bags were not stamped with the security stamp and we had to go back and ask the staff to put a stamp. This really annoyed them since their discussion on the more important issues *read above was interrupted.
Nevertheless, we poor ladies went back so that the baggage can be stamped with the security seal so that we do not face problem while boarding the flight.
Such is life
This sounds so similar to my experiences in West Africa.
I often wonder if the metal detectors and xray scanners are just for show here. I put my bag through the scanner and the guy who’s supposed to be watching the screen is on his cell phone facing the other way and as I walk through the metal detector no one stops me when it beeps.
I do find it funny that afterwards, when waiting in the terminal, from the time I pass the check in counter for my flight to boarding the airplane, my passport is scrutinized no less than 4 times. It is literally a 50 foot walk down the ramp and you can see from one security guard to the next. It seems like their efforts are in the wrong places.
I agree! In India, the ground staff at your next destination even check your boarding pass after you’ve disembarked the plane (particularly happens in Mumbai). I mean really! After all that repetitive passport and boarding pass checking before embarking, they still have to do it again when you arrive! Just how many layers of the same process do you need? What do they think may have happened in-flight? There was a stow-away passenger?
I totally agree with this post! I noticed this a lot in India, such superfluous bag checks and security- when it reality ANYTHING could be getting past them. I also found it really sad and scary that shopping malls are more protected than trains.
So true.. security seems to be some kind of mockery here.. almost in all places.. at my office usually we are asked for the tag with the photo when we enter.. the guy doesnt even spend 2 seconds.. anyone with any photo can walk it.. and for car checking its even worse.. they tell you to open the boot but does not matter if I carry a bomb in the seat itself.. it is just for the sake of it.
If I remember correctly, in some of the train stations it is possible to just walk around the metal detectors/there is no guard watching. For example, at Mumbai Central. There are random “metal detectors” that you can just walk around and no guard is there to enforce anything!
It’s just one of those mysteries of India. Either they have some efficient method that we can’t understand, or else it’s all just for show. I’m really not sure.
This is one of the reasons I am a little scared about travelling into India alone at the end of the year, I can imagine security searches and suchlike are gonna add to the dauntingness (if that is a word) of my first ever visit to India! – it’ll be fine after the airport thank goodness as I have my personal tour guide
I think people should travel a few times in the US and the pointless Indian security procedures wouldn’t seem so bad after all. You have to take your shoes off and put them in a tray, if you are carrying a laptop, you need to take it out of a bag and also put it in a tray before sending it through the X-ray machine. Maybe airport X-rays cannot penetrate nylon and leather. It’s actually sad to see 5-year old girls standing with arms akimbo while being thouroughly patted down by a security guard.
And then you have to turn off cell phones during takeoff and landing. No one knows why. You also have to deal with surly flight attendants. You may have read the various stories about them throwing people off a flight for various reasons. A woman was thrown off a flight for wearing a skirt they considered too short. Alec Baldwin was thrown off for playing ‘Words With Friends’ on his phone before takeoff. The list goes on and on. And all in the name of post-9/11 security.
Laptops have to be taken out everywhere before the X Ray machine, including India, Asia, and Australia. Interestingly, when going to Jaipur from Mumbai both my friend and I forgot to take our laptops our of our bags. Mine was in a proper laptop bag and it got pulled aside, and I had to remove it. My friend’s was in her backpack and they let hers through.
Taking off shoes is irritating. I’ve encountered that in some Asian countries too. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be a procedure in India. And turning phone off during take off and landing is also standard procedure. Apparently, it’s because the frequencies could interfere with the pilots instruments.
I am a frequent flier in the US. This was an incident when I was waiting with my ID and boarding pass. There was a french woman who was asked to go inside and talk with the airlines employee on the counter to make alternative arrangement as she had missed her connecting flight. The TSA employees mentioned in the conversation that it there job to see that no plane is bombed, and there were cheers from the people standing behind for the TSA employees. One could see the pride in their eyes.
I don’t see any procedure meaningless actually!
Did you read about the shoe bomber or underwear bomber. And yes they were caught.
The effectiveness of the security policy is in its effectiveness and in the results.
How many attempts were foiled?
The major difference between American TSA employee and An Indian security officer – American takes pride in what he does, and others generally appreciate what they do.
How about this one.
In the US we have to turn off all electronics during Take offs and Landings.. including IPAD…right?
But guess what, the FAA just cleared that Pilot in the Cabin are allowed to use IPAD during take offs and Landings. Aparently their IPAD does not interfere with aircraft electronics.
PS: The reason Pilots have to use IPAD is to have their approach plates/Departuer plates on the IPAD instead of the paper version of it they have to clip on their yoke.
http://www.padgadget.com/2011/07/06/faa-finally-authorizes-all-pilots-to-swap-their-flight-bags-for-the-ipad/
StackExchange – Skeptics : Are personal electronics a risk to commercial aviation? –> http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1118/are-personal-electronics-a-risk-to-commercial-aviation
Loved this post. Whenever i go through a security check in malls and other places i have all these questions in my mind what you have mentioned. Specially when they check our cars before entering parking lot. I feel the security should be taken more seriously and should be trained properly.
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At least it´s funny when one walks the metal detector and it beeps and no one cares. People pass and it keeps beeping, beeping. Guess it´s just another indian thing westerns don´t understand.
I’ve stopped stopping to have my bags “inspected.” Here in B’lore, the hand held metal detector is routinely used. Anytime I carry my Mac, iPad, or iPhone it beeps like crazy. Not once have the security guards looked inside to see what’s making the noise.
I can’t be bothered to stand in line for such fake security anymore, so I just walk past the queue. It’s really funny. The guards will yell “madame, madame!” but then nothing else happens. I supposed they are not allowed to leave their posts?
I wouldn’t mind bag checks if they were really there to protect customers, I refuse supporting methods that simply aim to instill a false sense of security though.
Love your blog by the way!
Hey,
Firstly as you rightly said, the security checks during shopping, eating et al are very lax and monotonous for these guards & pretty much there for show.
I had gone to McD’s in one of the malls, since I was very used to airport security by habit, I put my arms out and waited. This chap barely looked and and swished his magic detector over my stomach as if he was measuring my hunger. My briefcase had a bottle of Beer and it was not even checked.
Even at temples we dont even bother switching our phones off since it is a futile exercise.The only thing they do is manage the crowd and it is not in the nicest of ways.
Secondly, when the security does become a serious business, there is always a ‘stamp culture’ involved.
At the Indian airport security they always ask- do you have a stamp on your tag, passport, boarding pass… everywhere you go they demand a stamp. I have travelled to many places and I really haven’t seen any security personnel so obsessed with ‘the stamp’.