Traffic Incident

Oh yes, one more. Please bear with me. I dont know if the traffic rules in Bangalore are funny or am bad at driving. I keep finding myself interacting with the cops so regularly.

Only last night I was telling my friend that I was having a good incident free run with traffic, and today that good run was broken.

Ok ok,I did not see the "No Free Left Turn" sign. Hmmm, as luck would have it a senior (by age) cop stopped me and promptly took my keys away. He was experienced.

Sid: What hapened sir?

Cop: You jumped the red light.

Sid: But sir that was a free left.

Cop: No, you did not see the sign.

Sid: Oh is it. It is my mistake then.

Cop: Give Rs300

(Unlike last time, remember the other night, when my wallet was almost empty, I was carrying enough cash today)

Sid: Here sir, your rs300.

Cop looks at the the money, looks at me. Gives a Rs100 bill back and asks me to leave.

Sid: The chalan sir?

Cop: You want chalan?

Sid: Sure sir, how else will i learn.

Now, you should have seen the expression on his face, confused smile.

He makes a challan for Rs100, gets my signature on it, gives anoher bill of Rs100 back.

Cop: You are a good man, so am leaving you.

Sid: Thank you sir. It is your duty to catch the offenders.

I must have done something good for the cops some time. I will sure become (in)famous with the traffic police here, soon.

Ragging

Himachal Pradesh, India

8 March 2009

Aman, a medical student dies. Reason? Ragging.

No I did not get the date wrong. Neither did I get the place wrong. A student in a medical college has been ragged to death. Oh sorry, the case is still sub-judice. It may turn out that he died due to some accident or just a natural death.

Saw his father on the TV yesterday. He blamed the college authorities.

What kind of society are we? Are we any better than the barbarians?

It just reminded me of my college days ...

Engineering college

The day before the college began, I went to the college office in city to find about the transport facility. There was a notice on the board. This is how it read ...

1. White shirt with full sleeves

2. Navy blue pants without pleats

3. Black belt with simple buckle

4. Red handkerchief with no border

5. Black formal shoes

I do not remember the uniform for girls. (It was equally exotic though)

The next day brother came with me to drop me at the bus stop. The scene there made me flee. Some students, in uniform, standing in a queue. All looking down. There were some guys in plain clothes (read respected seniors). It reminded me of the famous scene of Sholay, with Gabbar and his 3 men. Yes, I could not gather the courage to go to college, first day of college.

I could not have continued it for long. Went ahead and waited for the bus on the second day. And this time I too was in the queue. Just before Gabbar could start deliver his lines, zap came a white car. Veeru (read college principal) grabbed Gabbar by his collar, dragged him to his car and took him away. We freshmen (fresh boys) were relieved. This was not the end of it, many other incidents followed. Traveling to and from college was no less than a nightmare. The sneers, slaps, what not. Even the class rooms were not safe, seniors would barge in and start slapping. Any way, all this lead to a fight. We decided to teach them a lesson. Violence followed. People were arrested too. We never had good terms with our seniors. Did we do anything wrong?

Management college

I was so excited, to be part of one of the best B-schools of the country. To study with some of the sharpest minds. What I was not prepared for was the fact that the same sharp minds were twisted too. This was a post graduate class, so ragging was given a new name - Interaction Sessions (sic). Midnight assemblies, dunking, crude comments, dehumanising talks, cat calls, the list is endless. And this was supposed to bring me closer to my seniors (sic). That never happened anyway.

Am glad my seniors were better than the seniors of Aman. Am glad that am alive.

Am I being paranoid? May be ...

Seniors, batchmates, with hindsight, do u still think that whatever happened was right? Oh no, am not the judge, absolutely not.

Love etc.

Yesterday my colleague Rohit was humming this sher

dil-e- nadaan tujhe hua kya hai

aakhir is dard ki dava kya hai

humko unse wafaa ki hai umeed

jo naheenn janate ki wafaa kya hai

-Ghalib

This is one of the most famous ones from Ghalib's pen. I have 3 questions ...

1. Should we expect(umeed) anything from love?

2. Is he accusing the lover without giving him/her a chance?

3. Is it any way gender specific?

ek kadam rakha tha, galat rahe shauk pe

zindagi tamaam umr humein dhoondhati rahi

-Do not the poet

This too is a good one. Again I have a question ...

1. Is there a path to redemption?

Voter Registration

During the years 1997-2001, while I was studying Engineering, I had tried to get my name included in the electoral list 3 times. But the authorities, for some reason, did not do the needful. Anyway, the Jaaago Re campaign and nudging by some friends did have the necessary effect and I decided to try getting listed again.

Yesterday I had taken the day off from work, was not at the best of my health. So thought of taking the plunge into Indian democracy. Jaago Re helped me fill the necessary forms and directed me to submit the same in Jaya Nagar. I could reach there only by 1215, they were closed. They remain closed from 1200 to 1600. Any comments on the timings? Any way, asked a few people if that was the right office and if they would indeed receive my forms. After being assured of the same, I came back for lunch. (Its a different story, whatever happened on the way back. May be in later posts.)

I was back in the office at 1530. No I was not the only person who had come early. There were 5 more, ahead in the queue. And the queue kept increasing every minute. Democracy in action. It was no less than a queue for cinema tickets. I had no idea that people were so enthusiastic about the elections. Or was it something else? Perhaps the colaterals of the elections !

My turn came and I showed my papers to the officer. He started talking to me in Kannada. I had to interrupt him and request him to speak in Hindi/English. He was annoyed. "How long have you been here?". "2 years." "And you cannot speak Kannada?" "No. But I promise that I will be peaking Kannada when I meet you next." And then only he smiled. But it was of no use. I was not supposed to submit the forms there at all. Some other office for me, somewhere closer to my house.

It took some effort to locate the office where I could submit forms. Yes, it was very near to my house. Whoa, what a crowd! All waiting to check if their names were included, to colect their ID cards. I submitted my forms. Talked to the officers there about the doubts I had and returned, to finish the pending work (As I have already told above, may be in some other post).

I have been asked to check for inclusion and card in 20 days. Hope I get it done this time. Amen.

Bangalore Traffic Police (another incident)

Here is another in the series on Bangalore Traffic Police. I dont know if you like these incidents, but they really tell us that the traffic police is good at heart. Here is what happened ...

It was a Sunday night, about 2115 hours. We, me and my friend, were returning from the finale of Bengaluru Habba, the cultural festival. Ajmeri brothers had regaled the audience with quality Quawwali.

Ok, so coming to the traffic police, we were just half a kilometer on way back when my friend said that we may be on a One-Way. Now, I had taken the same way the night before, nothing had happened. What I forgot was that last night it was well past 2330 hours. The moment she finished stating her apprehension, a cop with a hat came into sight. Yes, we were on the wrong side of the one-way.

He first tried to intimidate us, told that he would take the bike to police station and all. We had to plead to et us go, that we were late. He pretended to talk on his wireless, then asked for money. I took my walet out. To his bad luck I was carrying only Rs90 in cash. With all good heart, I gave all the money to him. He reciprocated the gesture, returned Rs20. He did consider the fact that I had a long way to travel and I may need some cash.

So this is what I keep telling all the time, the traffic police in Bangalore are very friendly.