An anecdote of …

Once again I was driving on our Mumbai roads. Had to pick up my husband from the airport and as usual was speeding to get there in time. Just as I got to a signal it turned red. Not being an intersection and with no pedestrians in sight I decided to break it and move on.

But our pandus (bumbaiyaa name for traffic cops) are smart!! They know the prime spots and lurk behind trees or corners and spring out just when you think you have beat them.

So there he was right in front of me waving me down. The usual ‘madam license daakhwa’ etc. began. I looked at my watch and cursed myself. I rummaged through my purse only to find that I didn’t have any change.  Cursing myself some more I pleaded with the cop to let me go. ‘Kai Madam asa saglyana sodala tar kasa chalel’ later I said ‘ sahib hya khepela soda, khoop ghaayit ahe, thoda samjoon ghya’. His reply ‘ bagha kai te’ made me take a Rs.100/- note (some more cursing myself) and slip it to him.

In the next few minutes what happened surprised me so much that it remained with me to share it with others. The cop seeing the note put it in his pocket and slipped back a Rs.50/- alongwith my license.

Who says cops are corrupt??. This cop proved that corruption mein bhi imaandari hai! His rate was Rs.50/- and he with all honesty returned me Rs.50/-.

Dhanya dhanya hai Mumbai ki traffic police!!!

……honesty in dishonesty

….gun travails continued

My husband once when returning from France was at the de Gaulle Airport. He put his luggage in screening and stepped aside only to be surrounded by gun totting men from all sides. In a foreign country and not knowing what law he had broken he just chose to keep mum.

He was asked to open his luggage. He fumbled with the lock and finally prised the bag open. The officers rummaged through his belongings and picked out the neatly packed box and opened it to reveal a twin set of guns. These were the two toy guns (the culprits) bought for our little son who played with nothing else but all shapes and sizes of guns.

After much checking, interrogation and formalities the guns went back into the check-in luggage and travelled safely to India.

Our son’s obsession with guns was responsible for almost getting his father arrested!!

The irony of it had made me laugh when a few months later I too was almost arrested!!!

An anecdote of …

I was driving back from office one Saturday. Traffic was quite sparce. It was during some elections and it may have been an election holiday or something. Driving from Powai to Chembur via Eastern Express was always a pleasure and with no traffic I was enjoying it even more. I had picked up my uncle on the way and we were both merrily chatting away. Just after I had crossed a signal across a major intersection, I found a police van with a blazing siren behind me. I made way for it to pass only to find it blocking my way and asking me to stop. As thoughts raced through my mind - did I break a signal? - Was I speeding? I brought the car to a halt. I asked my elderly uncle to stay put in the car and stepped out. Two constables and an Inspector got out of the van. The Inspector called me over and said they had been informed about weapons being carried in the car. I was flabbergasted and didn’t know what he was talking about.  As I opened my mouth to ask him how he could accuse someone of such a thing, a constable simply opened the rear door of my Zen, reached out in the Boot and picked out a gun. The Maruti Zen in those days had a flap board over the boot which was usually used to keep tissue boxes and such. The gun was an extremely good replica of a revolver which belonged to my 8 yr old son. It was ceremoniously handed over to the inspector who examined it and found out what it could do or rather not do. Despite the farcical situation (me being surrounded by policemen and interrogated) I burst out laughing (the reason behind this is another anecdote altogether). Apparently someone in a car behind me had seen the gun and informed the police. After all the explaining and apologizing was over I asked the inspector to return the gun only to be told that he had to ‘confiscate’ it since there had been a complaint.

Despite it being proved to be a toy gun, I could not argue with him (the rule is not to take panga with a policeman) and returned home.

I wonder what happened to that gun! Probably the inspectors son played chor police with it!!!

…….gun travails

An anecdote of …..

Long Long ago (its been so long since a story started like this, so couldn’t resist)

I had a meeting with a client in Nariman Point. Having finished with it, I left the place for my next meeting for which I was already running late. I got into the lift (people who are familiar with Nariman Point know how long one has to wait for it). Some 20 minutes later (which seemed like an hour) I came down and started walking to the car park (again people familiar..…know how far the parking lots are).  Just as I had got out of the lift I got a call from my son. I was talking to him and walking to the car park. Every time I left any place, I had this habit of taking a check of the things with me. So as I walked and I talked I also was making a mental check of the things in my hand. My laptop, my handbag,  my glasses, diary, car keys and and and…oh no.. I was missing something......i kept going over the list but couldn’t find the 6^th item on my checklist…and suddenly I screamed ...omg I’ve forgotten my cellphone in that office… oh god...I’d have to go alllll the way back up there….am running late ....oh no…..and as I kept muttering….i kept hearing my son trying to butt-in ...mom….mom….listen Mom…. MOM…I said WHAT…and  he said..you are  talking to me… so I go soft and say.. yes sweetheart I know.. am talking to you….but I have left my cellphone back at the clients office....i hope its still there (those days – probably ‘98-‘99-cellphones were very rare)…and then it was his turn to scream….MOM!!!  STOP!!!…U R TALKING 2 ME ON UR CELLPHONE!!!!

….absentmindedness

P.S : This anecdote earned me a Rs.500/- gift voucher from Shoppers Stop having posted it on one of the portals of that time…bhoolne mein (b)hee bhalayee hai!!!