Hindu or muslim?

As you probably observed, this site still has no comment button, so most of the feedback I get for my pieces is through regular email. Sometimes, a reader's experiences are so hilarious that he agrees to have their comments posted. Here are the experiences of Vivek Sharma when trying to enter the United States:

I found your Humorous Takes section quite interesting, especially since I have lived both in the United States and in Switzerland and had my fair share of amusing incidents. Although I cannot recall all of them, there are two which I can never forget. Perhaps you had a similar episode at the airport too:

(1) This happened almost every time I went to the airport. You go through the security check and this guy in uniform asks you, "Has anyone handled your baggage (or put something in your baggage) without your knowledge?" If you read this question carefully, you realize that the logical answer should be, "If someone handled my baggage without my knowledge, then I obviously would not know of it." However, I suppressed the urge to make this retort each time and said with a straight face, "No, absolutely not."

(2) I flew into the U.S. for the first time in the aftermath of the Sep. 11 attacks, and arriving at LAX, the immigration guy looked long and hard at my passport and asked,"What religion are you, Sir?" I said,"Hindu." "Is that the same as Muslim?" After assuring him that it wasn't, I was allowed through. However, one wonders what might have happened to the first Muslim guy that had to deal with him.

Vivek Sharma

I just wonder when they start asking people whether they are vegetarian or something similarly subversive...