Bollywood Meets the Ghost of Osama

It sounds like a bad joke, but what happens when you put, on a flight into New York City, a famous Indian actress, singer and comedian—and an American who suspects they might be terrorists? The answer was provided yesterday, when the Indians were arrested upon their arrival at LaGuardia airport, after their flight had picked up an escort of two fighter jets. The actress, Samyuktha Verma, who is described by the New York Times as the Julia Roberts of southern India, was brilliant in contextualizing the experience: “America is a good country, and I understand people are afraid of people who look different.”