THE ‘POLICE RAJ’ IN KOCHI

There are still countries in the world controlled by military and armed forces. One understands that living in countries such as Myanmar is such a misery for its people. However, in a democracy such as India too, there are several instances of the police raj, employed by brutal undemocratic rulers, in many States. The exploits of police in places such as Nandigram in Bengal and many parts of Bihar & Orissa still break our heart. It is either the over-action by the armed forces or their absolute inactivity, which gives warmongers a free day.

I see something similar happening in Kochi, Kerala. This has been there for more than a year. Everywhere one sees cops. This doesn’t mean that they are everywhere trying to keep up the law and order or catching the thieves. They are everywhere on the highway, the traffic junction and at different unobtrusive places in the guise of trying to catch drunken driving, for using mobile phone while driving, wrong parking etc.

Some time back I was driving back to home after picking up my German friend from the airport. It was night. On the way down, which was about 30 KMs, we were stopped at 3 places by the cops to smell us to see whether the driver had (it was me driving) taken drinks. My friend was astonished to see so many cops on the road. Being a regular visitor to Kerala (he visits at least once an year) he was amazed to see this change and asked me why it is happening. I told him about the increased efficiency of Kochi cops in catching people for small and silly trivia and the target that they had taken to increase the state exchequers with money collected from the fines that they levy. It is indeed true. The official collections of fines on these types of offences had increased from Rs. 7 million in 2006 to Rs. 27 million in year 2007 for Kochi alone. Please do not mistake that suddenly the offence went up in Kochi. Nothing like that. It is that the target of collection had gone up. When this is the official amount, you must also take an approximation about the ‘unofficial’ collections that they do. I am not venturing to quantify that. Suffice to say that the amount is nothing small. The only difference is that it gets distributed.

It is indeed a fact that the cops are overdoing it. In many instances, they are causing interruption to public and vehicular movements. The nuisance value is very high. People and commuters silently suffer.

The method employed by the cops to catch the drunken drivers is so un-scientific. Mostly they do not employ the breath analyzer but the cop smells out whether the driver is drunk. Therefore if the driver has taken smaller doses, or he has taken milder forms of alcohol (such as wine) or if he had taken drinks yesterday only, does not matter. He gets caught and then the hell starts for him. It takes not less than 24 hours to complete the process of booking (the traffic cop station, the hospital, the FIR etc all). To top it, the misbehavior of the lowly placed constables! These guys never know a good word to speak. It looks like that it is mandatory for one to know all the foul word in the language for one to become a cop. I was indeed amazed by this unique methodology of catching drunken driving. I think all the cops who smells out would immensely qualify to work in the police dog squad, with their amazing lung and nose power!

Today in the local daily I read the lamenting of the Inspector General of Police Mrs. Sreelekha IPS. She had confirmed through writing in the public medium (news paper) that the cops are doing a terribly wrong thing and it does not augur well for the image that the police must keep. If an IG cannot take on the cops, think about such docile and powerless citizens as us?

What we see happening here does not actually happen in any developing society. In fact in countries like US, UK, Singapore etc one hardly sees the cops of the roads. But when there is an offence, they are immediately there. Such is the system and their efficiency. Most of the cops are well behaved and they explain to you everything in details. Compare that with what we see here. People dread talking to constables and inspectors, as they do not know what to expect from them.

It is such a pity, living in cities such as Kochi. All one can pray is “be God with you”

FENCE EATING THE CROPS

For about a week, the Kerala vernacular dailies and TV channels are having a field time. They are behind the story of Santhosh Madhavan alias Swami Amrita Chaitanya. Having plenty of masala, the stories of his fraudulent activities, get rich quick methodologies and his relationship with the higher-ups in politics, cinema and in police are sensationalizing Malayalis (as usual !).

From time to time, plenty of fraudsters had appeared here. They had come in many forms including the NBFC companies, Time Share companies, Jasmine/Teak Plantations, Network companies, Goat/Cow firms…. the list is endless. Most of these nefarious endeavors had received political patronage. In this current case, there are former ministers involved. Political patronage, in turn had resulted in Police patronage. Our friend, a college dropout from an interior village in Idukki, had prospered to a billionaire spiritual person, in less than 8 years. If the press reports are an indication, it looks like Santhosh Swami is involved in shady transactions of above INR 5000 crores. Tremendous!

Like the famous humorist and originator of ‘Ottan Thullal’ Kunjan Nambiar wrote, kanakam (money) and kamini (woman) are interlinked in such cases. Many men and women have been willingly part of it, simply due to the lure of money. But it is always the poor and downtrodden who really suffer out of the misdemeanors of such quick buck fraudsters. The news reports of swami looking after the stay and education of about 8 minor girl students, only to be used for sexual gratification for himself and his ‘highly connected’ friends, are repulsive.

Over the last two decades or so, I have been observing the frequent rush of Malayalis into the waiting hands of swamis, tantrics and God men. Most of them do this out of disappointment in life. Malayali’s expectations have reached unreasonable limits. But he is not willing to sincerely work towards it. Instead, he takes short cuts and quick buck routes, only to lose out in the end. The resultant frustration is what takes him to God men, astrologers, temples, charismatic prayers, group bhajans, evangelism etc. Unreasonable craving and greed can take people only to such directions. To put it bluntly, Kerala is slowly turning into a sick society.

I am deeply worried about the erosion of professionalism in police department. Police is here to look after the law and order. They are here to protect the citizenry from money crazy fraudsters, robbers, terrorists and the like. Instead, one sees, reads and hears stories of senior police officials working as henchmen to fraudsters, unholy God men and corrupts politicians. This is a classical example of fence eating the crop. Any one can imagine what would happen if police and army, who are supposed to protect the citizen, are protecting the criminals instead. This would lead to corruption, nepotism and lawlessness and then to anarchy, and finally to the complete disintegration of the society.

Whither Kerala?

THE PLENTIFULNESS OF NOTHING

A marriage function took me back to my village. Being away from it for long, I was meeting many of my relatives, friends and acquaintances after a long time. I was as happy like them to meet again. And our conversations went back on time, to the extent of three to four decades. Living in a village had its own charms. However, that was not my opinion those days. Then I wanted to get out of it as fast as possible. I considered living in a village as very tough and opportunity less. 

Nothing was big and flashy as in cities; vehicles, fashion, buildings and offices, hustle & bustle etc. I was then very enamored by the city living and wanted to be part of it. Eventually that did happen. Career took me to live in some of cosmopolitan cities and the big metros of the country and the world. After going through the experiences of big metro living, I wanted to move into a city of something of a lesser dimension, and I did so. 

Despite that, one is still undergoing the hustle bustle of the city and there seems no escape. Back in my village, vivid pictures of childhood filled my thoughts. Life was never formal and it had a kind of easiness going with it. Activities and relationships never stressed out one. Life was casual and it did not evince undue expectations. Including mine, many families around us had very frugal living. But we did not feel it as frugal then. Demands were less. No one worried about the food, clothing, shelter. It was simply there, not in its enormity, but in its basic form, of course. The beauty of it was that in spite of the nothingness of the frugality, every one in the village was willing to share whatever they had. In the aspect of giving, there was this feeling of richness and plentiful. We shared as it plenty existed and we had no sense of loss when the resources exhausted. Nobody stored anything for himself before giving. Whatever one had, one shared, that too with complete happiness and surely, without any bitterness. We knew it would come again and in fact, it did. There were no worries on that count. It was good, tension free living, full of sharing and happiness. 

And what do I see in the cities? Here every one behaves as if he is a pauper. This is in spite of the fact that he/she has plenty. People amass wealth and resources in abundance and in extra ordinary proposition. In fact city guys hoard resources, to the extent of inflicting the villagers and the poor. But in the matter of giving, the city guy behaves as if he has nothing. This nothingness of plentiful comes to him by default. He is never happy in sharing or giving. All that a city dweller does is to hoard and amass. For the city guy, who is stressed out, is always anxious and fearful. He fears that his resources would erode fast and he clings on to it. He craves for more and more. Actually, it is the mindset. He is indeed a pauper in the mind. He simply cannot give or share. 

What is the result? He is never happy and contended. Clinging on to his wealth, unhappily, he dies as a have-not. I recollect the writing of the famous poet. Translated to English it goes like this, the city, full of drama and the act, indeed lives in misery and the village is plentiful by its virtues. How true, how true!