When I heard about the South Asian people arrested on a flight to India -- for using cell phones when not allowed to, for standing up when not allowed to, for unfastening their seatbelts when the light was on, etc. -- I figured they had to be kidding. Surely it must be air marshals that have never flown with desis before -- because anyone who has knows that behavior like that is par for the course. I've had people next to me want to pack the floor and aisles with luggage and have me and themselves sit crosslegged on the seats because they did not feel good about the overhead compartments; I've had people on planes with me insist on sleeping in the aisles or by the bulkhead because of religious restrictions on sleeping above the ground (it denotes hubris for some people, apparently); going into the bathrooms on flights to India is not advisable after the first hour or so, because (due to unfamiliarity with or personal aversion to toilet paper) the entire place will be soaking wet; and, as soon as the plane touches down, there is a stampede to get to the door first (when the taxi is just beginning). It would seem that they have realized what many of us could have told them in the first place -- that the men are not terrorists, but just Indians: 12 Arrested on U.S. Plane to Be Released.
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