FRISK AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I had gone to PVR Rivoli today with some friends to watch Phoonk 2. As we were waiting for the auditoriom doors to open, we heard a loud, shrill voice. "Are you a bloody illetrate?" asked a lady furiously. The person at the receiving end was the poor security manager of the theatre. She had created a ruckus because the security guys were not allowing her to enter the theatre. Why you wonder? Because upon checking her handbag they found sachets of supari, chewing gums and believe it or not kakris(cucumber english skinny) and a small knife! (May be the security guys were miffed because she did not had any lemons and chaat masala)

Jokes apart, the lady was fuming and in no mood to let go of her belongings. When she realised that all her stuff will be thrown into the dustbin, she created a furore. What ensued was a round of senseless arguments and excuses which were being rebuffed by the manager.

While justifying herself she said, "what can you guys do if a bomb explodes? These security measures won't make a difference. You are just fooling us with your metal detectors and checking. You can do nothing to prevent our lives. All these security measures are a mere eyewash".

Meanwhile her husband cheekily entered the hall with a choc bar in his hand. Slurping shamelessly, he evidently didn't care about the theatre's policy on outside food material. And instead of calming down his lady, who by now was literally irritating everyone with her yells and screams, was calmly checking out the various movie posters. After he was finished he joined his wife in saving the supari, gum and kakri movement. Even after 15 minutes of convincing and arguing the manager didn't budge. So, what is the best thing to do in such a situation? Exactly, the lady started making calls on her mobile. But soon everybody standing there realised that it was not working.(Maybe Manmohan Singh did not pick up as he has just returned from his tour. The poor chap must be tired.)

So, what is the next best thing to do? They stomped their feet and left the theatre. Finally, we all took a sigh of relief and at the same time the auditorium doors opened and we started to enter.

But surprisingly when she realised that no theatre personnel came to stop or apologise to her, she returned, joined the line and quietly went through the security check AGAIN. The one thing missing other than the kakris and suparis was her dignity!

This incident once again showed how fragile our egos are. Whether it is a "common" lady at Rivoli or Shahrukh Khan at the Newark airport. Frisk at your own risk, seems to be our motto. Although the security measures may not be fool proof everywhere we go, especially in India but as the saying goes something is better than nothing.