Last Friday (21st Nov 2008) I along with a friend of mine had an altercation with the local police (Hinjewadi). Although the mistake was ours, as we didn’t have the relevant documents, but I was highly surprised with the calm and composed behavior of the police personnel.
From all the experience I’ve had since childhood, especially in Delhi, I know one thing for sure.. never raise your voice even against the lowest ranked police, else you are in for a big trouble.
But last week’s incident was truly a learning experience. My friend inspite of being on the wrong side of the law was behaving rudely with the police officers (as we all generally do). But to my utmost surprise, the constables and officers were not perturbed a bit and displayed exemplary behavior.
The fine for our mistake was Rs 1000/- but the Sub-Inspector (PSI) thought of giving us another chance, inspite of our rude behavior and fined us only Rs 100/- (this was not a bribe, as he gave us an official govt receipt).
He even made us sit in his office for about 15-20 minutes and explained to us the virtue of talking politely.
We later learned that he was a President Medal awardee in 2006 for his exemplary police service. I was not surprised a bit.
Later that night I shot off a letter to the Editor of Pune Mirror (local newspaper) highlighting the incident. And to my delight it was published in Sunday’s edition of the paper (attached)!!!! We carried the paper to that very PSI and showed him the article. He was on the moon to say the least that atleast someone appreciates the work done by police. He took the Xerox of the article for his perusal and thanked us umpteen number of times. Even the constables were happy that their work is getting recognition.
Such small gestures go a long way in boosting the morale of the police and government officials. What I felt was that their job is very thankless; they have to deal with hundreds of people from varied backgrounds every day, and yet be in the same spirits all the time. If I were to do the same job, I would have given up long time back!!
So here’s to the Police officials of India, for their inspired work culture with the least expectations of rewards, let alone awards!!!!!
From all the experience I’ve had since childhood, especially in Delhi, I know one thing for sure.. never raise your voice even against the lowest ranked police, else you are in for a big trouble.
But last week’s incident was truly a learning experience. My friend inspite of being on the wrong side of the law was behaving rudely with the police officers (as we all generally do). But to my utmost surprise, the constables and officers were not perturbed a bit and displayed exemplary behavior.
The fine for our mistake was Rs 1000/- but the Sub-Inspector (PSI) thought of giving us another chance, inspite of our rude behavior and fined us only Rs 100/- (this was not a bribe, as he gave us an official govt receipt).
He even made us sit in his office for about 15-20 minutes and explained to us the virtue of talking politely.
We later learned that he was a President Medal awardee in 2006 for his exemplary police service. I was not surprised a bit.
Later that night I shot off a letter to the Editor of Pune Mirror (local newspaper) highlighting the incident. And to my delight it was published in Sunday’s edition of the paper (attached)!!!! We carried the paper to that very PSI and showed him the article. He was on the moon to say the least that atleast someone appreciates the work done by police. He took the Xerox of the article for his perusal and thanked us umpteen number of times. Even the constables were happy that their work is getting recognition.
Such small gestures go a long way in boosting the morale of the police and government officials. What I felt was that their job is very thankless; they have to deal with hundreds of people from varied backgrounds every day, and yet be in the same spirits all the time. If I were to do the same job, I would have given up long time back!!
So here’s to the Police officials of India, for their inspired work culture with the least expectations of rewards, let alone awards!!!!!
3 comments:
Hats off to the Policemen...I with utmost spirit solute you Sir. People like you only can change the future of India . This is such a small gesture, but every gesture in the correct direction will definitely make India a better place....
Hi Sid,
Thanks for penning down this wonderful instance. Kudos to the police officer and to you as well for getting it published for a wider audience.
Keep writing,
regards,
Bibek
@ Jiya & Bibek - thnx for the kind reponse!!
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