Driver, Cleaner behind bars...

All these years, I was only a entertained spectator to the nuisances of the police force. But it all changed that cold evening in Ratnagiri. Sitting in that bus, the police would firstly not let us alight from the bus. They had their own reasons, which were not only plain stupid but ridiculous. The assemblage in the bus was that of people headed to bombay to meet family, leave for better jobs or just head home like me.After making us sit in the bus for almost 1 hour and no communication as to why we were under bus-arrest, a wasted hawaldar entered the bus with a notepad and pen. He started doing the unthinkable. He wanted to note down every single individuals name and address. 'Ohh my God' I thought. Instead of booking the goon and getting things settled fast, all our police can think is spend time like this. Of course, not a single soul in the bus gave a correct name or address. That itself speaks for the intergrity of the police. No one trusts them, but their larger than life ego would not bear understand that. So our wasted hawaldar started to make a fictional list of people sitting in the bus. It was hilarious to watch people give the weirdest of names and even more funny places of stay. I played the game too and gave a fake address and name.

In the meanwhile, i was looking out from the window of the bus and noticed that the police took the driver and cleaner somewhere outside the station. I presumed it must have been for a medical check up, because the driver was hurt. Our super slow hawaldar took like an hour to note down the names. Once down he told us that we could now alight the bus, but not leave the station. It was almost 3 AM now. I was supposed to have been home by 6:30!!

I alighted the bus, and came out on the road. It was pitch dark, some vehicles passed intermittently. No sign of life here. So i went back to police station and took a peak of what was happening. The scene was something like this. The goon and his wife sat at a table and narrated some story to another hawaldar. He furiously took down notes, as he ate his pan in the meanwhile. Soon I seen the driver and cleaner returning and they seemed shaken. Not shaken because of the bullet that just grazed them, but because of what was happening. So I followed them to the police station and kept my ears wide open.

In the meanwhile, a white maruti 800 arrived. A white dhoti adoring gentleman alighted, went straight to the senior inspector and had a intense discussion. He seemed to be some kind of a local corporator or neta of the area.

Ignoring him, I noticed the goon was now near his car. I wondered, was'nt he supposed to be near the jail cell. He did fire, did'nt he. But who was the near jail cell were the driver and cleaner. Things did not look right. Not at all.

Simultaneously, some people in the bus, with whom i had managed to make friends with, came upto to me and told me that they were leaving. One of them had an ailing mother back home and the other had a flight at 3:00 PM to catch to head to the gulf. I decided my staying there was of absolutely no use so I too was game.

Now the question was, can we just leave because the hawaldar had asked us specifically not to leave. We decided to screw the police and leave. The next biggest question was how? Of couse, only 1 option. Hitch a ride. So we headed for the road and started using our thumbs to get a lift back to bombay.

I took a break from the lift asking and came back to the police station. The scene is still clear to me. It has since shaken my confidence in the entire system. The driver and cleaner were INSIDE the lockup. The goon was OUTSIDE the lockup and readying to leave with his family.

There was a man, from the bus who was standing and following the entire episode. He did not seem to have anything important to do tomorrow( I think). I asked him what happened. He told me that the cops have charged the driver and cleaner for molestation and drinking and driving. The goon has been allowed to leave.
Molestation? When did this happen? He told me that the goon's wife lodged a complaint that the driver and cleaner tried to molest her and hence her husband fired upon the two. So he is innocent and our driver and cleaner are guilty. The scene inside the police station was appalling. Our driver was an innocent guy. He was almost in tears. His lip was bleeding and eyes were moist. I felt empty. The goon, happily light another cigarette and smoked away to glory. I quickly ran back to the road, I could not watch that scene. It made my hysterical. If i had a bomb or a gun, I would have killed that day.

In another 40 minutes we got hold of a brand new TATA bus headed to bombay for a test drive. It would have dropped us at Vashi. I was ok. Took my bag quickly, and boarded the bus. He charged us 120 Rs till Vashi. The bus ride started at like 4:30 Am and seemed one of the longest of my life. I did think of calling the Press and reporting the incident to them, but do you think anything would have happened.

So i just forgot about it. Prayed for the families of the driver and cleaner and carried on.

Today, I realise that incident was not funny, It was life changing. It changed many lives. The driver, the cleaner, the goon, many folks in the bus and to quite an extent mine too.