First came the 70-hour work-week prescription from a fossilised has-been called Narayana Murthy. Initially, I thought it was just a senile man seeking relevance and validation in his golden years but later, someone pointed out that his sound-off was actually a carefully calibrated one to cadge the post of President of India as and when it falls vacant. So I dismissed it as just a job application.
Then came our Let’s Tango L&T chap with his higher-dosage prescription of 90 hours. Not only that; he railed against excessive staring at the wife. Faced with a barrage of memes and criticisms, he doubled down, saying this was all for nation building.
Well, in India, there actually is one agency for most of whose members 90-hour work weeks are the norm rather than the exception. Even though it is a government agency, in its case, the Government of India violates all the norms and conventions of International Labour Organisation and other multilateral agencies it is a signatory to. That is the Police.
The personnel at the Police Station work 24 X 7 because crime and law and order incidents do not follow the calendar or office hours. In fact, most of the work happens in the night. They do not have any government holidays; actually, on most of the government holidays like festivals, Republic Day, Independence Day, Polling Day and so on, they have extra-onerous duties. There is no concept of weekend. Reasons for this are many – very low police/population ratio, organisational ethos of the Police, high incidence of crime and disorder and so on. One DGP of a particular state introduced a one-day off per week and that became a huge talking point. In essence, the Police Station personnel in India lead a very abnormal life. This applies to senior officers too.
Like any other IPS officer during the field posting period, I was also lurching from hectic assignment to hectic assignment for 14 long years until I completed my SPship of a district. During that tenure, one Dy SP from a different district lobbied hard and got posted in the District Intelligence Branch (DIB) of my district. I was really intrigued because the Dy SP had a tremendous reputation as an ace investigator and DIB posting is considered peripheral and very unimportant. I asked him how come, when he was such a good officer and when we used to consult him for important/ complicated cases. His reply, roughly translated into English:
“Sir, just like you’re praising me, many senior officers have seen fit to bestow encomiums in the past. I was also puffed up and put in my level best throughout my career, not bothering about anything except my job – family, other interests, and so on. Most of the time, I’ve stayed away from my family. But, what has been the point of it all?! My only child (a son) has turned into a drug addict. I have just three years of service left. I’ve tried for a lighter posting in my home district so that I’ll try to return him to mainstream …”
That night, I thought long and hard about what the Dy SP said. My situation was not much different, although I was younger than him. By then, I’d put in 14 years on that treadmill. My children were growing up in a practically one-parent household. My own psyche was taking a hit. Although I liked to write, I couldn’t remember when I’d last written anything other than an official letter or some personal correspondence. Getting together with people other than service colleagues was a distant memory. Pursuing any hobby had been out of the question. I decided to opt for assignments where at least I could segregate office and personal time. And went on a deputation, against the will of the highest levels in the state government. Now, even though working hours were still long, when I went home, I could at least leave the office behind.
I need not tell you about the staring bit. However, I did manage to spend quality time with the kids in their formative years. They went on to do well in their careers and vocations. When my son, armed with a 99 percentile score in GRE, was applying for US universities and was having some problems arranging the recommendation letters from his teachers, I offered to request my PhD guide at IIT, Delhi for the same. He refused, saying that would be unethical. I was extremely proud of him.
90-hour work week? BULLSHIT! I have lived
through it for 14 years. It sucks.
