Sir, where is your security? You should not move without the security’, the BDO was trying to please the SDO by his sweet talks.
‘Why, is this war zone?’ Amit had asked.
‘No sir, but we read about the cattle that you seized at the border some days back. These cattle smugglers carry arms with them. Your armed security must be your biggest defense in their sight’ the BDO explained.
‘What defense? Both my security personnel prayed for being released from my duty. They said that the duty hours were too long for them’, Amit said knowing well that the BDO was aware of this.
‘Sir, and you released the securities without even asking for a replacement’, BDO wanted to know more, but Amit only smiled.
The last few weeks had been tough; Amit had confiscated a number of trucks loaded with cattle being smuggled across the international border. At times when Amit had forced the trucks to stop, the PS had been inordinately late to report at the site. This had created a lot of tension when Amit had discussed the issues at the higher level. But …………
Traditional wisdom said that in case one is working on things where he could be antagonizing powerful people, his movements across the subdivision should not be known. And Amit followed that religiously. If he had to go to X block, he would tell the CA to inform the BDO of block Y that he would be reaching his block. If the security asked where he was going, the word would be Z block. Amit noticed how his securities would run to the toilet with their mobiles. Amit often wondered who was so interested in his movement. Whosoever it be, Amit used to ask the vehicle to finally go to block P or Q, surprising everyone- even himself.
This had created strange situation in Warpur over the last few months. SDO had confronted convoys of trucks that moved in groups of 10-15 trucks, all loaded with 15-18 large cattle. Despite the reluctance of the concerned police stations, all but one of those raids had been successful. But this had created a lot of pressure on the security personnel of the SDO, it was visible.
On the whole, the position of the security guard of the SDO was a prize posting in police; it was said ‘In case if the SDO is peace loving who conduct no raids then this is a risk free job with no night duties in crime areas. In case if the SDO does a lot of policing then providing this relevant information to the ‘concerned people’ about his movement could mean a lot of money’.
However, if the security were terrified to continue, it meant they had been failing in their duty of providing information to someone who was upset with them and hence their prayer for being released from the duty of SDO.
But should he ask for a replacement? Amit had thought a lot about this. The new person in fact would be more trusted to the other side and hence more risky for Amit. So unlike the expectation of many and to the shock of all, Amit had decided to not take a security anymore.
That day Amit had organized a ‘Tribal Certificate issue camp’ in one of the interior villages. As luck would have been, one huge convoy of some twenty trucks carrying cattle had planned this unknown route to avoid the SDO. Amit had stopped the trucks with no personal security or police around this time.
His raids had already inflicted a lot of loss to those ‘businessmen’. The worst affected of those raids were the truck drivers, all Pathans who had ruled those lands for over 300 years in the past. They would lose their jobs for their inability to either bring the vehicle and cattle safe or remove the ‘obstruction’.
That day was their luckiest; Amit was there, unarmed, and had still challenged them when they were at their best. There had been short discussion, very crisp. Their leader in late thirties- tall and fair and wearing a ‘tehmad and T-shirt’- had tried to educate Amit that his men were losing their money and livelihood. Every confiscated truck was dragging its owner and the driver’s families into penury. They were being harassed by the police and by the legal process for the release of it. They had to bribe and the systems, which they believed Amit represented, were not most honest.
Even as all his men were furious and wanted to settle the matter, he had asked Amit it he was willing to allow them to go and take his own way for which he assured all safety. But the worst part of the ‘ego’ is that neither does it die nor does it allow reason to prevail. Even if it was evident to Amit that it was impossible to stop those trucks at that time, he had said that he was confiscating those trucks and it was for the lack of force that he was not arresting those men there.
The truck drivers, the ferocious hot headed Arians, were furious (were they not the ones doing one of the roughest job, handling a 20 ton vehicle on their biceps). But there was one wise person amongst all there and his wisdom had prevailed that day.
The leader had decided to move away with his men, letting all the trucks parked there along with the cattle. But he had clearly told that he would incur this last loss due to Amit for his men. But next time he would not be responsible for anything.
Amit had to wait for the police to arrive on the spot. They had to hand over the ‘Zimma’ of the cattle to some local cowshed there. The stunned BDO and the driver pretended that they were happy for such a big haul but Amit knew that the situation could have been worse for all of them.
Amit knew what was to happen the next day, the vehicle would be released by court and some ‘legal owner’ of the cattle would appear. If not the PS, someone else in some other office would make money. All his hard work would go waste in half an hour.
It had been more than a year and a half in the job, holding multiple charges. For the first time in his service, he had witnessed magnanimity and real appreciation of the work he was doing but from a much unexpected corner.
Some 1500 km from his home, posted at one of the borders of the country in the most powerful service of the nation, Amit had felt very lonely.
‘Why, is this war zone?’ Amit had asked.
‘No sir, but we read about the cattle that you seized at the border some days back. These cattle smugglers carry arms with them. Your armed security must be your biggest defense in their sight’ the BDO explained.
‘What defense? Both my security personnel prayed for being released from my duty. They said that the duty hours were too long for them’, Amit said knowing well that the BDO was aware of this.
‘Sir, and you released the securities without even asking for a replacement’, BDO wanted to know more, but Amit only smiled.
The last few weeks had been tough; Amit had confiscated a number of trucks loaded with cattle being smuggled across the international border. At times when Amit had forced the trucks to stop, the PS had been inordinately late to report at the site. This had created a lot of tension when Amit had discussed the issues at the higher level. But …………
Traditional wisdom said that in case one is working on things where he could be antagonizing powerful people, his movements across the subdivision should not be known. And Amit followed that religiously. If he had to go to X block, he would tell the CA to inform the BDO of block Y that he would be reaching his block. If the security asked where he was going, the word would be Z block. Amit noticed how his securities would run to the toilet with their mobiles. Amit often wondered who was so interested in his movement. Whosoever it be, Amit used to ask the vehicle to finally go to block P or Q, surprising everyone- even himself.
This had created strange situation in Warpur over the last few months. SDO had confronted convoys of trucks that moved in groups of 10-15 trucks, all loaded with 15-18 large cattle. Despite the reluctance of the concerned police stations, all but one of those raids had been successful. But this had created a lot of pressure on the security personnel of the SDO, it was visible.
On the whole, the position of the security guard of the SDO was a prize posting in police; it was said ‘In case if the SDO is peace loving who conduct no raids then this is a risk free job with no night duties in crime areas. In case if the SDO does a lot of policing then providing this relevant information to the ‘concerned people’ about his movement could mean a lot of money’.
However, if the security were terrified to continue, it meant they had been failing in their duty of providing information to someone who was upset with them and hence their prayer for being released from the duty of SDO.
But should he ask for a replacement? Amit had thought a lot about this. The new person in fact would be more trusted to the other side and hence more risky for Amit. So unlike the expectation of many and to the shock of all, Amit had decided to not take a security anymore.
That day Amit had organized a ‘Tribal Certificate issue camp’ in one of the interior villages. As luck would have been, one huge convoy of some twenty trucks carrying cattle had planned this unknown route to avoid the SDO. Amit had stopped the trucks with no personal security or police around this time.
His raids had already inflicted a lot of loss to those ‘businessmen’. The worst affected of those raids were the truck drivers, all Pathans who had ruled those lands for over 300 years in the past. They would lose their jobs for their inability to either bring the vehicle and cattle safe or remove the ‘obstruction’.
That day was their luckiest; Amit was there, unarmed, and had still challenged them when they were at their best. There had been short discussion, very crisp. Their leader in late thirties- tall and fair and wearing a ‘tehmad and T-shirt’- had tried to educate Amit that his men were losing their money and livelihood. Every confiscated truck was dragging its owner and the driver’s families into penury. They were being harassed by the police and by the legal process for the release of it. They had to bribe and the systems, which they believed Amit represented, were not most honest.
Even as all his men were furious and wanted to settle the matter, he had asked Amit it he was willing to allow them to go and take his own way for which he assured all safety. But the worst part of the ‘ego’ is that neither does it die nor does it allow reason to prevail. Even if it was evident to Amit that it was impossible to stop those trucks at that time, he had said that he was confiscating those trucks and it was for the lack of force that he was not arresting those men there.
The truck drivers, the ferocious hot headed Arians, were furious (were they not the ones doing one of the roughest job, handling a 20 ton vehicle on their biceps). But there was one wise person amongst all there and his wisdom had prevailed that day.
The leader had decided to move away with his men, letting all the trucks parked there along with the cattle. But he had clearly told that he would incur this last loss due to Amit for his men. But next time he would not be responsible for anything.
Amit had to wait for the police to arrive on the spot. They had to hand over the ‘Zimma’ of the cattle to some local cowshed there. The stunned BDO and the driver pretended that they were happy for such a big haul but Amit knew that the situation could have been worse for all of them.
Amit knew what was to happen the next day, the vehicle would be released by court and some ‘legal owner’ of the cattle would appear. If not the PS, someone else in some other office would make money. All his hard work would go waste in half an hour.
It had been more than a year and a half in the job, holding multiple charges. For the first time in his service, he had witnessed magnanimity and real appreciation of the work he was doing but from a much unexpected corner.
Some 1500 km from his home, posted at one of the borders of the country in the most powerful service of the nation, Amit had felt very lonely.
1 comment:
Nice blog, Picking up your last line, 'Amit had felt very lonely.', This is the case everywhere, ppl who understand their roles and responsibilities get into this situation. This is not specific to administrative services, in any organization like manufacturing , IT, social system, even family( i consider this also as organization ). and only one supporting argument i have, its all about ppl, whatever organization they belong to.
I have a question, what Amit has done after that, any strategy, for survival of his honesty or in general his philosophy ?
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