For crime reporters, it is a normal routine procedure to visit police stations on a regular basis to stay in touch with their sources. Many a times, such visits do not yield anything worth writing home about and the reporter ends up spending an hour or so passing the time with his cop source over a cup of tea and risqué jokes. It was exactly such an afternoon when I found myself at one such police station in the city. On getting to know that the cop I was supposed to meet was expected in an hour or so, I decided to spend the time sitting in the almost deserted station premises and read a book to kill time.
An excited squeal from a corner of the police station brought me back from the pages of my book and turning around in my seat to see what was happening, I saw this woman constable in her late fifties rush in the police station with something cradled in her hands. The rest of the cops who were dealing with their own paper-work suddenly perked up at the sight of the matronly cop with the mysterious package grinning widely at the world around her. The next minute, all the cops had surrounded her and were murmuring something between themselves in a remote corner of the police station.
Being the incorrigibly curious cat, I got up from my comfortable perch and ambled over to the crowd to investigate what had caused the entire police staff to mill around the uniformed lady. It turned out that the old woman, who stayed in the police housing colony right behind the police station had been blessed with a grand-daughter recently and had brought the little one to the police station to show her off to her colleagues. What I saw then is probably something so rare a sight that it deserves to be shared with everyone…
This group of big, burly uniformed cops with handlebar moustaches and short cropped hair, who look supremely menacing at most times and perfectly capable of instilling the fear of God in any human being had surrounded the woman and were cooing and making baby noises at the infant, which would have seemed silly to me in different circumstances. Moreover, the infant was responding to it and was happily gurgling back, which encouraged the cops to intensify their efforts at cooing. Fascinated, I kept watching the grinning group behave like a bunch of excited kids at a birthday party. After some time, one of the cops spotted me spying on them and nudging the others, tried to arrange in face in a trademark scowl which he must have reserved for people during his normal duty hours.
Realizing that they probably got embarrassed at an ‘outsider’ seeing this side of their behaviour where they ceased being cops for that moment and turned into fathers who behave exactly the same when with their children in the privacy of their homes, I turned and walked away, smiling at the rare sight which would be in my memory for a long, long time.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
a Guardian Angel working overtime...
When the Pale Horse came riding in Mumbai…
“And I beheld, and lo a Pale Horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hell followed with him,” - Book of Revealations
‘Rum had never tasted so good,’ I thought to myself as I reached for my glass filled with the dark nectar while sitting with an old college pal in a dim lit bar in the Fort area of South Mumbai after a day’s work. The day was November 26 and all was well with the world till then. But then, I guess good things never last as long as we want them to….
The cell phone vibrating in my shirt pocket brought me back from my rum appreciation session and I flipped it open to hear the excited voice of Aditya, the latest rookie reporter in our paper, a small chap who was on the night shift and was considered a bit ‘wet behind the ears’. “Duuudeee…there has been some firing at Colaba,” he shouted excitedly in the phone. Sigh….kids, I said to myself even as I was going through possible scenarios in my mind about what might have happened-“depressed businessman shoots himself”, “security guard misfires service rifle”, “small time scumbag shot by crime branch guys” etc etc…
“Might be some accidental discharge but go and check it out nevertheless,” I told him and got back to boozing with my pal. Twenty minutes later, the damn cell buzzes again. Grimacing at my pal who was maybe getting irritated with the interruption of the unwinding session, I flipped it open again. “Jai, where are you drinking?” This was Kavita, my immediate boss at the office. Sighing deeply again (for she wouldn’t have called me up post 9 pm unless the shit had hit the fan), I told her my location. “Rush to CST, there has been firing at different places in the city. Aditya has been sent to Leopold’s and we need you at CST pronto.”
This is the life of a crime reporter. One moment you could be having the time of your life guzzling booze with a close pal and the next moment, you might be watching some cops drag out a ripped apart body from a bomb explosion spot. Signaling the waiter across, I told him to send the bill ASAP and told my pal about what had happened. The friend, who stays diagonally opposite the Mumbai Police Headquarters at Crawford market offered to drop me till Metro junction on his bike. “Buddy, we both are drunk and I don’t want to risk some traffic cop pulling us over for drunken driving. But on second thoughts, if the shit has indeed hit the fan, then traffic cops are going to be the least of our worries,” I told him as he started the bike, with me sitting behind him. Till then, some TV news channel had been running the story and the bar patrons had all forgotten their drinks and had gathered around the television.
The streets were practically empty as we sped on the bike towards CST. As the normal road was dangerous to bike considering our drunken status, my pal decided to take a roundabout route (where there are no traffic cops, he assured me) and we reached the junction of Crawford market near the Commissioner’s office. Even as the bike was heading towards Metro junction by passing the Police HQ, we saw three men wearing jeans and shirts stand in a semi circle right in the middle of the road, facing us silently. “What the fuck is this?” I asked my equally clueless pal and he just shrugged and sped towards them. It was when we reached a few meters from them that I saw their hands were behind their back and even as we neared, they brought their hands in view.
Our blood went cold. The three men had been holding automatic pistols in their hands and as we came near, the trio just swung their arms up, pointing their guns in our general direction. The sight of three gun barrels staring anyone in the face is enough to evaporate any amount of alcohol in the blood-stream and we did not react any differently. Screeching to a halt a few feet from the three gunslingers, me and my pal were still trying to process what to do when one of them shouted in Marathi, “Where the fuck do you think you are going?” my pal probably did not get it, but the Marathi told me they were cops and I leaned over my friend’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Take it easy. They are cops, probably here to handle the situation.” Saying this, I got off the bike and walked up to them.
The press card is an ace up the sleeve for any reporter to come out of such situations and while confidently walking up to them, I reached in my back pocket for my wallet which contained the card. With a snarl, all three swung up their guns again. In that nanosecond, I realized that they must have thought I am reaching for a weapon and had reacted accordingly. One itchy trigger-finger and my ticket would have been punched that night. Moreover, I had been wearing casual clothes and was carrying a bag on my back, which might have been the description about the gunmen given to all cops by the wireless operators. I felt that cold sensation of fear explode deep in my stomach and goose bumps on my limbs but still managed to say as clearly as possible, “I am a journalist and am on my way towards the Metro junction. I am going to reach in my pocket very slowly and take out my press card. May I?”
Slowly lowering their weapons, one of them grunted in reply and I did a slo-mo taking out my wallet and showing them my card. I was watching their eyes and could see that they were equally frightened at the turn of events throughout the city. A scared cop with a loaded weapon is probably more dangerous…after I showed him my card; he asked to know who my pal was. “He is my friend Fozan who came to drop me till here as there are no cabs around,” I replied a second before I bit my tongue. The name Fozan made their eyes go hard again and they demanded that he step down and show them the vehicle papers. After convincing them with great difficulty that Fozan was not a covert operative of ANY terrorist organization, they grudgingly let him go and waved me onwards towards Metro…
My next three days were spent covering the 26/11 incident from various combat zones but I know for a fact that the closest I came to getting killed was that night when the cops almost mistook me for a terrorist. Maybe my guardian angel was working overtime that night…
“And I beheld, and lo a Pale Horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hell followed with him,” - Book of Revealations
‘Rum had never tasted so good,’ I thought to myself as I reached for my glass filled with the dark nectar while sitting with an old college pal in a dim lit bar in the Fort area of South Mumbai after a day’s work. The day was November 26 and all was well with the world till then. But then, I guess good things never last as long as we want them to….
The cell phone vibrating in my shirt pocket brought me back from my rum appreciation session and I flipped it open to hear the excited voice of Aditya, the latest rookie reporter in our paper, a small chap who was on the night shift and was considered a bit ‘wet behind the ears’. “Duuudeee…there has been some firing at Colaba,” he shouted excitedly in the phone. Sigh….kids, I said to myself even as I was going through possible scenarios in my mind about what might have happened-“depressed businessman shoots himself”, “security guard misfires service rifle”, “small time scumbag shot by crime branch guys” etc etc…
“Might be some accidental discharge but go and check it out nevertheless,” I told him and got back to boozing with my pal. Twenty minutes later, the damn cell buzzes again. Grimacing at my pal who was maybe getting irritated with the interruption of the unwinding session, I flipped it open again. “Jai, where are you drinking?” This was Kavita, my immediate boss at the office. Sighing deeply again (for she wouldn’t have called me up post 9 pm unless the shit had hit the fan), I told her my location. “Rush to CST, there has been firing at different places in the city. Aditya has been sent to Leopold’s and we need you at CST pronto.”
This is the life of a crime reporter. One moment you could be having the time of your life guzzling booze with a close pal and the next moment, you might be watching some cops drag out a ripped apart body from a bomb explosion spot. Signaling the waiter across, I told him to send the bill ASAP and told my pal about what had happened. The friend, who stays diagonally opposite the Mumbai Police Headquarters at Crawford market offered to drop me till Metro junction on his bike. “Buddy, we both are drunk and I don’t want to risk some traffic cop pulling us over for drunken driving. But on second thoughts, if the shit has indeed hit the fan, then traffic cops are going to be the least of our worries,” I told him as he started the bike, with me sitting behind him. Till then, some TV news channel had been running the story and the bar patrons had all forgotten their drinks and had gathered around the television.
The streets were practically empty as we sped on the bike towards CST. As the normal road was dangerous to bike considering our drunken status, my pal decided to take a roundabout route (where there are no traffic cops, he assured me) and we reached the junction of Crawford market near the Commissioner’s office. Even as the bike was heading towards Metro junction by passing the Police HQ, we saw three men wearing jeans and shirts stand in a semi circle right in the middle of the road, facing us silently. “What the fuck is this?” I asked my equally clueless pal and he just shrugged and sped towards them. It was when we reached a few meters from them that I saw their hands were behind their back and even as we neared, they brought their hands in view.
Our blood went cold. The three men had been holding automatic pistols in their hands and as we came near, the trio just swung their arms up, pointing their guns in our general direction. The sight of three gun barrels staring anyone in the face is enough to evaporate any amount of alcohol in the blood-stream and we did not react any differently. Screeching to a halt a few feet from the three gunslingers, me and my pal were still trying to process what to do when one of them shouted in Marathi, “Where the fuck do you think you are going?” my pal probably did not get it, but the Marathi told me they were cops and I leaned over my friend’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Take it easy. They are cops, probably here to handle the situation.” Saying this, I got off the bike and walked up to them.
The press card is an ace up the sleeve for any reporter to come out of such situations and while confidently walking up to them, I reached in my back pocket for my wallet which contained the card. With a snarl, all three swung up their guns again. In that nanosecond, I realized that they must have thought I am reaching for a weapon and had reacted accordingly. One itchy trigger-finger and my ticket would have been punched that night. Moreover, I had been wearing casual clothes and was carrying a bag on my back, which might have been the description about the gunmen given to all cops by the wireless operators. I felt that cold sensation of fear explode deep in my stomach and goose bumps on my limbs but still managed to say as clearly as possible, “I am a journalist and am on my way towards the Metro junction. I am going to reach in my pocket very slowly and take out my press card. May I?”
Slowly lowering their weapons, one of them grunted in reply and I did a slo-mo taking out my wallet and showing them my card. I was watching their eyes and could see that they were equally frightened at the turn of events throughout the city. A scared cop with a loaded weapon is probably more dangerous…after I showed him my card; he asked to know who my pal was. “He is my friend Fozan who came to drop me till here as there are no cabs around,” I replied a second before I bit my tongue. The name Fozan made their eyes go hard again and they demanded that he step down and show them the vehicle papers. After convincing them with great difficulty that Fozan was not a covert operative of ANY terrorist organization, they grudgingly let him go and waved me onwards towards Metro…
My next three days were spent covering the 26/11 incident from various combat zones but I know for a fact that the closest I came to getting killed was that night when the cops almost mistook me for a terrorist. Maybe my guardian angel was working overtime that night…
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Vigilantes look better only in graphic novels
It had started off as a normal day for me when after meeting some sources; I was on my way from Andheri to Churchgate to file my stories for the day on a hot Saturday afternoon. Things started going south at the platform when a puny 16 year old boy tried to pick my wallet while I was trying to fight my way inside the train compartment. The kid had even managed to have my wallet in his hands and was about to flee but for the watchful eye of another commuter, who managed to catch him by the scruff of his neck and drag him inside the compartment behind me.
The gentleman then came up to me and handed me my wallet, which I took thankfully and was just turning to see the little thief standing sheepishly besides my Good Samaritan when a fist exploded in his eye, jerking his head back and drawing a heart rending cry from the teen. Even before I could muster up any emotion towards the pitiful looking thief in his tattered shirt and jeans, another fist crashed in his ribs, almost dropping him. Within a fraction of a second, the group of 7-8 commuters in the first class compartment, who till then had been napping or reading their newspapers or cheerily chatting to their friends on their cell-phones had worked themselves up in a rage of biblical proportions and had surrounded the boy, eager to unleash what they thought of as justice on the skinny pickpocket.
I knew the kid was in for a major pain trip but was too shocked for a moment at the mob's rage to think about how to neutralize the situation. Moreover, some of the commuters were eyeing me strangely because I, the victim of the attempted theft had not laid a finger on him yet. Maybe they thought I was a wimp, but I could not bring myself to hit the cowering, weeping boy whose injured eye was already starting to swell. When another commuter kicked him savagely in the groin, I decided to end the potential massacre and grabbing the boy, made him get down from the train at Bandra, announcing to everyone that I was taking him to the police station. That seemed to satisfy the vigilante ‘tough guys’ and they went back to what they were doing earlier.
Not that I had any intention of letting the chap run away. I did take him to the police station and informed the cop on duty there about his juvenile status and my lack of enthusiasm for filing an official police complaint. On knowing this, the cops decided to just growlingly threaten him about what they would do to him if he was caught stealing the next time. Cops can be pretty scary dudes when they put their minds to it and I was sure they had managed to put the fear of God in him before letting him go, which had been my original intention in bringing him there. Maybe he might steal again, maybe he won’t...
I realized one thing that day-despite growing up on comic books about vigilante superheroes, now I don’t think vigilantes are so ‘cool’ to be around after all…
The gentleman then came up to me and handed me my wallet, which I took thankfully and was just turning to see the little thief standing sheepishly besides my Good Samaritan when a fist exploded in his eye, jerking his head back and drawing a heart rending cry from the teen. Even before I could muster up any emotion towards the pitiful looking thief in his tattered shirt and jeans, another fist crashed in his ribs, almost dropping him. Within a fraction of a second, the group of 7-8 commuters in the first class compartment, who till then had been napping or reading their newspapers or cheerily chatting to their friends on their cell-phones had worked themselves up in a rage of biblical proportions and had surrounded the boy, eager to unleash what they thought of as justice on the skinny pickpocket.
I knew the kid was in for a major pain trip but was too shocked for a moment at the mob's rage to think about how to neutralize the situation. Moreover, some of the commuters were eyeing me strangely because I, the victim of the attempted theft had not laid a finger on him yet. Maybe they thought I was a wimp, but I could not bring myself to hit the cowering, weeping boy whose injured eye was already starting to swell. When another commuter kicked him savagely in the groin, I decided to end the potential massacre and grabbing the boy, made him get down from the train at Bandra, announcing to everyone that I was taking him to the police station. That seemed to satisfy the vigilante ‘tough guys’ and they went back to what they were doing earlier.
Not that I had any intention of letting the chap run away. I did take him to the police station and informed the cop on duty there about his juvenile status and my lack of enthusiasm for filing an official police complaint. On knowing this, the cops decided to just growlingly threaten him about what they would do to him if he was caught stealing the next time. Cops can be pretty scary dudes when they put their minds to it and I was sure they had managed to put the fear of God in him before letting him go, which had been my original intention in bringing him there. Maybe he might steal again, maybe he won’t...
I realized one thing that day-despite growing up on comic books about vigilante superheroes, now I don’t think vigilantes are so ‘cool’ to be around after all…
Why I gave up being a Lawyer...
My first appearance in court and I was ready to unleash my legal talents and fight for truth and justice. Three years of wading through law books the size of phone directories and a year of carrying files and briefs (the legal kinds, I mean) for my senior, my day had finally come!!
My senior, a criminal lawyer had finally decided to let me argue a case before the court and here I was in my brand new black suit (which my friends claim makes me look a mix between an undertaker and a usher at some fancy restaurant, but that’s another topic altogether), my unruly hair gelled in place and a look of supreme confidence on face. We were representing a businessman who had been handed a bad check by a crafty gentleman and the businessman had decided to take recourse to the law, which is where Atticus Finch Jr (yours truly) came in the picture. So when the case number is called out in the court of a local magistrate, I get up and give a little tug at the lapels of my suit rather pompously before starting my argument (had seen some butt-kicking lawyer do this in some movie).
“Your Honour….this is a perfect case of the accused trying to circumvent his liability to pay….” this is where the magistrate, a very genial looking chap till now stops me with a glare. “He is trying to what???” he demands with a wrathful bark. “Uh…uh…sir…he...Uh,” I stutter like a retard, completely deflated by now. A few old-timer lawyers, who probably spent their lives in that courtroom discussing cricket scores with the magistrate during uneventful days, snigger at my back. “He is trying to circumvent his liability to pay, sir,” I venture ahead manfully, trying to salvage whatever confidence I had worked up before this shameful interruption. Now the distinguished jurist looks ready to throw the gavel at my gelled head. “Circ…Circle….what was that u said?” he wants to know now. For my part, I just want to crawl into a big hole and bury myself. “Your Honour, may I request for an adjournment? I am afraid this case is too complex for me to argue and my senior is not well today. He would surely appear in court on a given next date and argue the matter out,” I say quickly, a voice in my head screaming at me to take evasive action.
With an affirmative grunt, which also communicates his thoughts that he thinks of me as a cretin with diminished mental capacities, he flicks his pen on a file before me and allows me to go to lick my wounds.
And that was when I learnt my first lesson as a lawyer-“Never use pompous legal jargon while appearing before a local magistrate…they get irritated no end and then decide to make an example out of the ‘yuppie’ by humiliating him”
My senior, a criminal lawyer had finally decided to let me argue a case before the court and here I was in my brand new black suit (which my friends claim makes me look a mix between an undertaker and a usher at some fancy restaurant, but that’s another topic altogether), my unruly hair gelled in place and a look of supreme confidence on face. We were representing a businessman who had been handed a bad check by a crafty gentleman and the businessman had decided to take recourse to the law, which is where Atticus Finch Jr (yours truly) came in the picture. So when the case number is called out in the court of a local magistrate, I get up and give a little tug at the lapels of my suit rather pompously before starting my argument (had seen some butt-kicking lawyer do this in some movie).
“Your Honour….this is a perfect case of the accused trying to circumvent his liability to pay….” this is where the magistrate, a very genial looking chap till now stops me with a glare. “He is trying to what???” he demands with a wrathful bark. “Uh…uh…sir…he...Uh,” I stutter like a retard, completely deflated by now. A few old-timer lawyers, who probably spent their lives in that courtroom discussing cricket scores with the magistrate during uneventful days, snigger at my back. “He is trying to circumvent his liability to pay, sir,” I venture ahead manfully, trying to salvage whatever confidence I had worked up before this shameful interruption. Now the distinguished jurist looks ready to throw the gavel at my gelled head. “Circ…Circle….what was that u said?” he wants to know now. For my part, I just want to crawl into a big hole and bury myself. “Your Honour, may I request for an adjournment? I am afraid this case is too complex for me to argue and my senior is not well today. He would surely appear in court on a given next date and argue the matter out,” I say quickly, a voice in my head screaming at me to take evasive action.
With an affirmative grunt, which also communicates his thoughts that he thinks of me as a cretin with diminished mental capacities, he flicks his pen on a file before me and allows me to go to lick my wounds.
And that was when I learnt my first lesson as a lawyer-“Never use pompous legal jargon while appearing before a local magistrate…they get irritated no end and then decide to make an example out of the ‘yuppie’ by humiliating him”
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