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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Delhi Police-With you, For you but NOT always

There have been a couple of cases with me in the recent past which have raised certain doubts in me on the fidelity of DP(Delhi Police).

Last Friday, I was going to office at 9:00am. There is a one way road at ISBT which is linked to the Ring road.. Mistakenly, I drove my car in the opposite direction on this one-way road. A policeman(non-traffic) came near my car and knocked on the window.

I hunched that it would be impossible for me to scuttle from there without shelling out some money. He said some bla bla bla and asked me to show my license. When I tried to disregard him, he started shouting at me. I pleaded to him that I had mistakenly come to that road as there was no signboard signaling the 'ONE WAY ROUTE' there. He seemed unconvinced.

I can bet 1000 crores on this that nobody can make a Delhi policeman nostalgic. Though I appreciate the fact that their duty demands that kinda demeanor but there are some bonafide cases too. Instead, I could feel the volume of his voice becoming louder and louder.

After 5 min. of relentless resistance, he finally agreed to leave me but only against some compensation. I took out Rs 50 and gosh!...there you would have seen his reaction. It was as if he was robbed off both of his kidneys and was being given very less compensation for that!! And audaciously enough, he demanded more money as if it was his fundamental right..

With a heavy heart, I took out another 50 rupee note and handed over to him.

Another incident, which wobbled my faith over Delhi police, occurred a few days back when I was going to Gole Market to appear for an examination. Though I had a fair idea of the location of the centre of examination, I searched google maps for the exact location before leaving from home. The map showed me everything but the exact road in the high resolution.

When I reached near the vicinity of the centre of the exam, I asked, one DP, the exact location of the school. He told me a route that was nowhere near to the school. I told him that I was in a hurry and needed to reach there in another 15 min. But he was unmoved. He told me that it is the only route which linked the school with the present road.

They say that when a person has a bad hair day, nothing works for him. That’s exactly what happened to me. I disregarded my intuition yet again. I followed the route he suggested.

After 5 min. of continuous driving I came across a signal which said that it was a one way road which merges with Dhaula kuan. My legs started quivering with the consternation of losing the very opportunity of taking the exam. It was as if I was running after a train to catch it and was just going to miss it (exactly what Kareena experiences in the flick Jab We met!).

In no time, I called my father and told him the entire episode in less than a minute. He asked me to remain calm and told me the shortest possible route from there. I took a U-Turn from Dhaula kuan and caught the road which he told me with a semi-positive feeling of reaching the centre not later than the latest reporting time. Just when this positive feeling was beginning to calm my nerves, I got stuck in a traffic jam.

That poor signal took away some 5 minutes from the already exiguous amount of time, I had. I said poor because it was malfunctioning, being red for 70 seconds and green for just 10 seconds!
After another 10 min., I reached the centre, just 3-4 min. before the latest entry time of 9:45am.

I thanked god and my father. Then I abused that DP. I felt like hitting my buttocks for following the route told by ‘him’. Couldn't do so as I had to maintain the decorum in the class!

In the end, however, I will refrain from saying that all cops are same. But I have understood one thing that why a policeman is also referred to as a ‘cop’.
*cop-Slang verb.-to take money unlawfully or without permission

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