This is about our national obsession for stamping everything.
From the ubiquitous request for a revenue stamp on anything and everything, to
the so-called stamp duty on real estate buying and selling, to many other
things, we leave a stamp everywhere. Wonder if we can ever stamp these
tendencies out, the way we have tried to stamp out cholera, typhoid, diphtheria,
the plague, polio and a few other deadly diseases?
The recent announcement that we will attempt to remove the “stamp”
on hand baggage must be great news for hi-frequency fliers. Ours could be the
only country that is still using this technique of ensuring high employment to
the “stampers” who insist on stamping, and then checking for the stamp two
times at least, before letting you into the craft.
The only activity of a similar kind I have seen abroad is in
the waiting line for a passenger bus leaving Suvarnabhumi airport. To identify
the people, the staff puts a sticker on their shirt, while they wait.
Maybe we can have a reward for someone who collects the
maximum number of stamps from his life? An incentive to deal with being stamped-upon?
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