Its a chilly ( well chilly by mumbai standards but now i say pleasant ( dont think im 'converted' as yet )) 2:45am after yet another hectic Thursday. Relaxing in the living, wrapping up on late night ice-cream and getting down to thinking whats to be done for lab and assignments next week, while listening to 'yeh kahan aa gaye hum..' then suddenly like out of now where there was a sort of desperate knocking on the door. Startled, all of us ( roommates and me) opened up to see our downstairs roommate in a strange sort of situation.
He had just come across a man ( say Mr X) in desperate need of help lying just on the main street. After some hazy conversation he figured out that the man was headed to our (and his) very own apartment. With each one to his own sort of thing here we really hadnt met the downstairs guy previously and so he too assumed that Mr X might be our roommate....hmmm....
Well then we went down stairs and had a look. A couple of juniors returning home were there too. After trying to elicit a response as to Mr X's identity and whereabouts we gave up and decided to call CUPD. It was hardly 2 minutes that the glowing lights flashed through our otherwise dark and silent street.
It was then, in the proceedings that followed that i got a glimpse of what i had only heard and read about. The polite yet stern questioning by the officer. The 'individual freedom' policy in effect and followed to the core was what really took over me. Respect for human life, liberty and professional public service was indeed remarkable.
Well....well....some ...or rather many may say that i want to compare the situation to things back in India. I do to some extent. Its not that the police system in india despises people or doesnt take personal ordinary cases seriously. its only that there are so many tons of such cases that its humanly impossible to follow each and every point section and subsection of all possible type of charters. On the face of it...one might say that in the time the officer questioned X regarding the preceding events or his present state...a pandu would have just given him some whacks with the 'danda' or sprayed some water to get him back on track. But nevertheless, things happened as they always happen here. an ambulance was called for.
Once again i delve in the distinguishing feature of such emergency public services. The ambulance was accompanied by or rather preceded by a fire engine, that completely bathed our porch with glittering red-blue light. It was now that peeping and craning from windows started. Well having not much time....i think what i implied has come through and the comparison is some what clear.
Then after the Docs arrived, identified X,strapped him on the stretcher, loaded him that they finally said the gracious greeting ( that im now almost used to here) and returned
We too headed back upstairs with my head quite clear.
