A harrowing experience
Recently, a Santacruz girl failed to brake early enough at a traffic signal and ended up bumping into the car of an IPS officer. The minor hit made her next 24 hours a nightmare. The constable driving the car of the officer stepped out, walked up to the girl and demanded her licence. As the badly shaken girl handed it over, he calmly pocketed it telling police would get in touch and walked away. The girl tried to protest, but the constable said his ‘madam’ was running late for a meeting and drove away. After spending an entire day worrying and waiting, the girl was summoned by the local police station “in connection with the accident case”. She spent the drive to the police station calling friends and relatives, hoping to find someone with enough influence to settle the case. At the police station, she was told she would have to pay a fine and was given her licence back.
Cheers? Not now
With IPS officer P S Pasricha the chief guest at a recent 26/11 memorial event at Cafe Leopold in Colaba, there was heavy security. The cafe being a new setting, a couple of cops got carried away and called for beer to kill time. As child beer arrived in tall glasses, all eyes, especially of the impatient media, turned to the cops. Realising the mistake, one of the cops called the waiter back and said, “Keep it in the fridge. A little later, maybe.”
Capturing speeches
Shiv Sena leader Yashodhar Phanse wants speeches of BMC corporators recorded just as it happens in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. At present, speeches (that can last up to six hours) made at BMC are noted down. Phanse feels the tempo and style of corporators making colourful speeches is hard to capture on paper. Besides, he contends, what if the secretary fails to keep up with the speaker?
A Chinese story
While local media persons jostled for a better view of the happenings at a 26/11 memorial ceremony Monday, an oriental-looking scribe dressed in western formals was seen hunting for stories around the main stage. A petite yet fiesty police woman, who was making sure the media behave, caught his fancy. As the crowd thinned, he asked her in his thick eastern accent about life in the police force. The police woman, clearly flattered, replied haltingly in monosyllables. As the scribe walked away satisfied with a story no one else had, a bunch of other constables gathered around the woman of the moment. One asked cheekily, “Did he ask you questions in Chinese?” Pat came the reply, “ No, he spoke English well, surprisingly!”