Comment by biswaroop | Hacker News Reader

Comment by biswaroop | Hacker News Reader

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It's quite ridiculous. In 1997, my parents brought a telescope to India. The Indian customs claimed my parents would "spy on Indian satellites" and never released it. As a young astronomy fan, this made me particularly sad.

In 2013, I went backpacking with a GPS in the himalayas. I was stopped by a park ranger who searched my bag, and claimed that a GPS can be used for 'terrorism'. He took away my ID (but luckily not my GPS), and I could only pick it up when I left the park 3 days later.

Later on the trip, I witnessed incredible amounts of pollution generated by the armed forces in the border regions. Not to mention the consistent human rights violations perpetrated by the Indian Army in Kashmir, all in support of "security".

I don't want to go on a long political rant against the Indian defense system, but I really wish my childhood telescope wasn't stolen.

> I don't want to go on a long political rant against the Indian defense system, but I really wish my childhood telescope wasn't stolen.

That may be the saddest, most humble thing I've ever read on the internet. Apologies for all the missed years of stargazing to your younger self.

> all the missed years of stargazing

Thanks! I stargazed nevertheless with a pair of binoculars. It's tough (but sadly possible) to prevent people from doing things they really want.

I am pretty sure the childhood telescope was then found at some custom officer's home.

My friends father used to work in customs, my friend used get all American goodies (clothes, shoes, toys etc) at his place. This was in the early 90s.

I bet they still do. I have lost a lot of things to customs, including a camera and a pair of shoes. They conveniently stuffed the package with magazines. I even had to pay exorbitant customs duty (even though it was declared as a gift) on the camera when it was delivered only to find it had been replaced with some magazines.

I think this is plain stupid. We had an amateur astronomer in our apartment, who, I am assuming now, bought his telescope in India. This is around the same time you've mentioned ~ 2000ish. If their sale here is not prohibited, it makes no sense for customs to seize it.

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