I commute to office on my vehicle.. Hence a regular victim of all the traffic snarls, crowded junctions, maddening crowd, Blaring horns etc. Almost every day I take around 45 min to cover a distance of 10 KMs, which is not that bad considering the other Metro Standards..
Well the reason behind this post is definitely not the traffic jams I come across, but One dedicated individual who manages it. There happens to be a busy junction which needs to be crossed for entering to my office complex. There was this traffic cop who always used to GUARD that particular junction. This guy was never like the regular traffic cop that one usually sees on the roads. He was always well dressed, with neatly pressed white shirt and Khakhi trousers, Well polished brown shoes, and a very prominent gold framed Shades which used to be in stark contrast with his dark complexion. His stern face was graced by a thick moustache which kind of gave a strong message to the world as to who is in Command !
This guy was extremely strict, used to keep every road user on their toes. When he is in command, no vehicle is supposed to cross the yellow line before the signal, (which invariably is crossed by every single vehicle owner ), No Vehicle is supposed to honk, pedestrians are supposed to cross only using the zebra crossing, no one is allowed to just run across the road etc etc.. All those things which every Indian thinks is his / her birth right, were forbidden when he was around. Even though I have been using the route for almost a year, I happened to notice this chap only when he actually screwed my happiness in front of the entire public.
I was as usual waiting impatiently at the signal willing to zoom by as soon as the signal turns green. Suddenly I see this cop rushing towards me with all the vigor and he shouted at me. It was then I realized that I had crossed the yellow line next to the signal by a few feet. I did so without thinking as there were several other vehicles also ahead of the line. Though I was fuming at him at that time later I realized he was doing the right thing of making the crazy Indian roads a safer place to be. So, after this incidence, I always used to notice him at the signal. He was just the same to everybody who breaks the rules regardless of the fact if he is a pedestrian, a car, a two wheeler, a Bus or even if it’s a COP CAR. Yes I have seen him screaming his lungs out at a police car driver for jumping the signal.
I used to respect him for what he does. Neither the soaring temperatures of the Chennai summers used to burn his spirit nor the heavy rains could manage to dampen his motivation. He was always there at his best possible foot forward.
Off late something has been bothering me. For the past 1 week I haven’t seen him at his post. There was some other cop managing the junction, and the chaos was definitely not manageable by the new guy. At least I feel so. Initially I thought he wasn’t keeping well. Then I thought he might have been relocated to some other place. Gradually this thought just slipped my mind. And everyone including me was back to their usual self, I mean in terms of crossing the line, Jumping the signals etc..
A few days pass by then suddenly I see our cop back at his post. I wished he recognized me, because I wanted to pass on a Hi to him and say how glad was I to see him back on Job. Unfortunately I noticed something different. He seemed to have lost the characteristic sternness on his face. His shirt was half out and was full of creases, He was unshaven, his thick moustache had lot of grey hair peeping out, He wasn’t wearing his shades and to top it all, I didn’t see the vigor in him in handling the flow. Pedestrians were running across the road, Vehicles were jumping signals, bikers were cutting in form the wrong side of the road and to all this our cop was just a silent spectator. Had it been an isolated situation like for a day or so, It wouldn’t have bothered me. But this has been happening for the past one week.
I seriously wish that he gets back to his form and vigor and takes control of what I feel belonged to him. He would have been just another shabby traffic cop for me had I not known how he was, had I not seen how he used to command and get respect from all the road users alike. This is exactly the reason that was bothering me.
I have no idea what he is going through, what is bothering him, but whatever it is I just hope he comes out of it. May be, there isn’t anything that is bothering him, but just that his current state reminds me a bit of myself when I had lost track of life… And believe me its not a pleasant phase to go through!
I hope everything gets back to normal soon…
Cheers
Kash!!!
