My experience with Police Station !!

 Hi all !! I have taken a six month Sabbatical from Blogging to do plenty of reading and here I am refreshed with some good lineup of topics ....Thank you to all my readers who happen to remind me to write often. I would like to narrate my experience with Tamil Nadu Police station !! 

On May 18th Thursday evening I suddenly realized that my Bicycle was missing which used to be just next to our elevator. . Actually I pass my bicycle atleast ten times in a calendar day but did not happen to notice. I think it's high time I start to have vallarai green leaves because I can hardly remember when was the last time I saw the bicycle leave alone when I used it last. The more I think the more it becomes like "Naduvulla konjam pakkatha kaanum" ...fully blank. Then came my watchman at 7pm who changes from lungi to his uniform right next to my bicycle. I know he would knew it because my cycle used to be his hanger momentarily when he changes costumes. He said its been missing since Tuesday which is 48 hours past. I asked him why the hell he did not inform me and he said I would have noticed already. Then I thought maybe I should see CCTV footage. 

I dialed the CCTV person and he helped me to navigate and trace out the person. Our camera is pretty old and clarity was poor and footage reminded me of oliyum oliyum back in 90's. After patiently navigating for three plus hours I was able to trace the date and time the bicycle was stolen and it was a 12 year old boy who stole. Because of the poor clarity I couldn't recognize his face nut nevertheless got some leads through the footage. I took it to our tenant who moved in recently and installed CCTV cameras which would make PC sriram feel proud. Footage was very clear and we could spot the guy very clearly. 

Next day I showed the video to our maid, watchman, milk man etc., and everyone said this guy roams around everywhere but the sad reality is no one gave me any lead. I gave myself two days of time to see if I can find the guy but hard luck I could not. I finally decided to go to Police station. I have to say this before I went to the police station there was one section of group who said "Going to police station is utter waste of time, they ask bribe and drill you"; another section of audience said "Unless you raise a complaint there will be guys like these" and finally another section said "Your time is more precious than worth of the bicycle" ....Actually I thank the last section for having high regards of my time but I haven't got to a stage where couple of hours of time is more important than 10000 bucks. For me I would like to take this opportunity as an experience since police station for me is "Red bricks building, with tea glasses all over, fan running in high speed where we can count number of blades, snoring constable, echoing walkie talkie, inspector with x axis stretching horizontally etc., Watching too many tamil films this is how I painted a Police station. So I was all set to visit Police station for the first time in my life. 

I entered into Thillai nagar Police station which recently shifted to a new location next to Tennur bridge. I said the reason why I am here and the person downstairs asked me to go upstairs and give a written complaint. There was a mam and inspector upstairs and they enquired regarding my case. I said though value of my bicycle is only around 10000 and my aim is to catch hold of these boys and teach them a lesson. They saw my footage and said they will be able to catch hold of the guy. They asked me to write a letter in tamil ...I said sorry I can't write in Tamil ..they looked at me and their mind voice was like "Nalla Oothappam saaptu vanthutu enamo Shakesphere son in law madhuri scene podraan paaru". She was kind enough and I wrote the letter in english ...suddenly Tea came for them ....they asked me to have and I said No ....They insisted I should have one but I refused. In Tamilnadu whether people read news paper or not I am not sure but news paper is definitely used to soak the oil from vada. People enjoy having vada and tea together. It takes them to heaven in bypass and they relish to the extent if you ask them to sign a pathiram they will sign it. It is always Awkard to bribe people and with so much of hesitation (something similar to how a new daughter in law behaves to her mother in law for the first day - note the point your honor ..First day is the key phrase over here) I asked how much should I pay and they said no need of any money. I was stunned and returned home. 

 It was four or five days later I got a call from Police station informing me that they have found the bicycle and I can take it over. I was rejoiced not because of the monetary value but because my faith in Justice system was restored. Many a times we think stepping into a Police station is waste of time but here I am with a petty case but still found justice. I was given choices what to do with the boy who stole and requested them to warn him and let him go. The guy did not have one parent and other parent was not giving him the right living so here he is wandering down the streets and doing some petty thefts. All I wanted to say through this blog is never listen to anyone rather go with your conscience and always do what is needful for justice to prevail. Apart from police officers being courteous (not just because they offered me vada and Tea) they did not get single rupee from me. They said they did their duty. 

Next Blog: Chithirai Festival in Thiruvaiyaaru