During
training, IPS officers have a “troubled area visit” to learn policing in such
situations, first – hand. During our training, we were taken to Punjab which
was at the peak of its militancy then. Mr. Julio Ribeiro had just become
Advisor to Governor, giving charge of DGP to Mr. K.P.S. Gill. Both of them
addressed us separately. During Mr. Ribeiro’s address, one of the trainees (excited
electron type) asked him whether, given another go at life, he would still like
to be an IPS officer. Mr. Ribeiro pondered hard and long. “No,” he drawled, “I
would not. I would rather be an IPS officer’s wife!”
The
big thing about life is not the money or the bungalow or the car or the academic
degrees. It is actually about how many slave labour you can achieve through authorized
and unauthorized means. And in Police and Army, numbers don’t matter. During the
first posting I had as a Sub Divisional Police Officer, I found that there were
700 people I was commanding. As you go up the ladder, as IG or Major General in
the Army, that number goes up to about 12,000 – 14,000. It hits stratospheric levels when you hit DGship. Given that, sparing 10
or 15 people for the upkeep of the house or massaging the wife's status is like
a drop in the ocean. Some of us may have seen a media SCOOP about how a large
contingent was deployed to build a swimming pool in the residential house of
S.P., Keonjahr in Orissa. The S.P.’s explanation: He was giving them physical
training to make them bigger, broader, better human beings through physical
exercise! Please closely observe the sequel – wife is very happy. She also has
a high status amongst other wives of her ilk. I think, much of the rivalry and
bitterness between IAS and IPS can be traced to this. IPS wives have this army
of disguised slave labour for the whole career of their husbands and the IAS
wives’ equivalent army probably takes a hit after the DMship.
When
one joins the Police, one is immediately given certain perks officially – a
vehicle, a driver, a bodyguard and two orderlies. The orderlies are supposed to
take ‘orders’ – for cooking, buying sabzi, looking after the children and so
on. (Un?)fortunately, in West Bengal cadre, the orderly system was abolished by
CPM government which thought it was a sad relic of the decadent Raj. In its
place, two Home Guards were provided. Their job was to guard the home of the
officer. How these one–foot–in–the–grave guys could ever hope to do that
without firearms was beyond me. Some officers used them for household work. I
drew the short straw and the two guys allotted to me made it very clear on Day
One that their job was to guard the home and not household work. I was okay
with it. They helped in running errands and attending to the phone and so on.
Then I got married. The wife must have been updated at some point and we
all settled down to happy domesticity. I carried these two guys from posting to
posting as we were familiar with each others’ expectations and there was no
hassle. Then I joined SSB, a central police force on Central deputation as a
Commandant and all peace went out the window.
I was
now entitled (?) to a cook, several orderlies and other such entities and I
grabbed them without hesitation. The cook was an ex – three star hotel chef so
all of us put on about 5 kgs each within a month. My shoes were shining enough
to dispense with the mirror. The crease in my uniform could cut through butter.
I was happy, reading jokes on the internet and occasionally contributing a PJ
or two to my IIMB e-group until one fateful Sunday morning. I was sleeping late
when the wife woke me up with some urgency.
Wife:
“The Home Guard has misbehaved with me – you must do something.”
Me:
“Wha… wha… what?”
Wife:
“I asked him to polish your shoes and he refused, saying it’s not his job.”
Me:
“Wha… wha… what?”
Wife:
“Wake up. I asked him to polish your shoes and he refused, saying it’s not his
job.”
Me:
“But darling, he had made it clear about 14 years back that it was not his
work. Why the sudden urge to get the shoes polished by him? I don’t want my
shoes polished by him.”
Wife:
“But the other orderlies from SSB do it. Why not him?”
Me:
“Look, like he said, it’s not his job and it has not been his job for the last
14 years. If it’s the job of the SSB guys, they are welcome to it. What do you
want me to do now?”
Wife:
“Well, I have been humiliated so you must chuck your West Bengal Home Guards.”
Thus,
a long 14-year association between me and these Home Guards came to an end –
over shining a pair of shoes.
Anyone
observing bureaucracy closely would call it jeepocracy (or, carocracy now). The
seat of the seniormost person in the jeep or car is fixed so that people can do
salaam to the correct person. It is the left side seat in the back, diagonally
opposite to the driver. How this tradition originated is not known but officers
adhere to it fiercely. So if I travelled with anyone even one batch senior to
me, I waited until he occupied the “big” seat – left, back and then occupy any
other seat available. What happens when the wives are travelling together?
One of
my cadremates, Namit Verma got posted as SP, Jalpaiguri. Simultaneously, his
batchmate, Deepak Soni got posted as SP, Cooch Behar. While Namit and Deepak
were good friends and did not have any issues, when their wives were travelling
together in one car, Namit’s wife insisted on occupying that coveted left –
back seat as Jalpaiguri was a bigger district than Cooch Behar. Within months, Deepak
was posted as SP, Darjeeling which was then considered a more important
district than Jalpaiguri. Now, Deepak’s wife would insist on occupying that
left – back seat when she travelled with Mrs Namit Verma. I found it very funny
and wanted to share the story with the wife. She has a far more successful career than mine and inhabits
a world fairly insulated from Police shenanigans. I thought she would also have a laugh but decided against telling her.
[Names changed to protect identities]
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