The Tale of Two Commissionarates

NEAR THE VICTORIA EMBANKMENT ON THAMES RIVER, ONE WOULD find this humble building with basic signage identifying it as the New Scotland Yard. This is the new headquarter of the London Metropolitan Police. Built in the year 1930, the Met Police operated out of this building till 1960. It is only in 2013 that the decision to relocate from its earlier place was taken and redesigned to suit the new age requirements. The old one is now converted into a hotel and is owned by an Indian.

The word Scotland Yard takes us to our growing up ages where had pictured a stern disciplined efficient police force ready to crack down the crime networks of London of that period. This imagery of the fabled franchise and their slogan - Working together for a safer London was largely influenced by the TV serials of that time and the novels we read. It was a tad disappointing. The humble reality crushed my perception of that institution.

No match to the impressive Greco-roman architecture-inspired Police Commissionerate we have back here in Bhubaneswar. Both were commissioned around the same time in 2012, our Commissionerate building can be compared with their National Gallery overlooking the famous Trafalgar Square. While ours was an awe-inspiring structure with a large setback overlooking the second most important road of the city, theirs was so timid in comparison.

The new age resurgent Indian in me felt good that like in many other areas like Cricket and IT, we have beaten the Brits hands down on one more count.

Back in my room after a tiring day after hopping on and off buses and walking around large art galleries, I was tempted to revisit that conflicting emotion of disappointment and pride upon seeing New Scotland Yard. My trip to Westminster had evoked a similar feeling. At their Parliament building, one could see the main entrance from the road which was just a few meters away. MPs take the famous London bus service or come in the underground tube. No security cordon thrown around it and no menacing marshals ordering you to keep off the road or not to loiter. By looking at the Westminster and the Big Ben clock behind it you wonder if the historical decisions you have read in your textbooks were taken by people working in these places. It leaves you wondering if it’s progressing into a weak state.

The sense of superiority that I was overcome with was now overtaken by deep thought.

Everything about their Government and various arms of it was so basic and accessible - so approachable. The country which was our colonizer only 70 odd years back terrorizing generations of our ancestors its police and policymakers maintain such low profile is a choice or its compulsion. I dug further into various websites to know more about this building. One website which talked about the underpinnings the building is built upon and what are values it communicated to the people it serves read as follows.

“A revolving sign – one of the most iconic features of the Met's old home in Victoria – has been retained and now signposts the AHMM-designed entrance pavilion. Spanning almost the full width of the front facade, the pavilion is raised on a pale stone plinth that visually marries the addition with the Portland stone walls of the original building. Its curving glass walls are intended to convey a message of organizational transparency and create a ‘non-institutional’ entrance. The pavilion is also intended as a memorial for officers who died in the line of duty, with an eternal flame and contemplation pool visible through the glazing.”

Two phrases ‘Organizational Transparency’ and ‘Non-Institutional’ caught my attention. The confusion about their being accessible and approachable was getting clearer. That this was not the sign of a weak state but was the intended purpose on which the whole government is structured. The conscious effort to descend from the pedestal of the ruler to the ground to serve the citizens. I perhaps had found my answer and the food for thought for our situation back in our own country which we rule ourselves.

From awe-inspiring buildings which are named various Seva Bhawan, people with cadres which end with some Seva (Service), people from amidst us operate in a black box inaccessible to many. Forget accountability even they have insulated themselves from being questioned by the public. The people who do these are not from outside but are people like us. But then why do they behave differently or like a ruler when their role changes? Do they elevate themselves to a different class because of the power and privilege they enjoy and behave as the role expects them to? Is it because of the general acceptance of the society of that role? To a large extent – Yes.

So much has been the acceptance and internalization of this that a common man doesn’t react to being violently pushed aside to give way to the passing VIP cavalcade. Being abused if he stops his car near Gate No. 1 of the Secretariat; being rudely dealt with by a peon in an office when he realizes that the visitor doesn’t pose a threat to his job. A junior officer when is ill-treated by his superior considers this as an occupational hazard. It is not limited to the common man only. An officer immediately on his retirement when gets harassed by his former colleagues or juniors who reported to him once is not seen as an exception. He is just being meted out what he had done to others. The smart ones choose to bribe and butter their way through the system.

Are they in line with what they are supposed to be? While addressing the first batch of IAS officers and retired ICS officers told them that from the ones who ruled to serve you will change to serve to rule. 74 years after gaining independence from being ruled by the Brits and their loyal officers, the common man still is governed by a set of mindsets who feel that they are here to rule the populace in the guise of serving them. This CLASS is the new CASTE.

There exist two worlds one for the rulers and the other for the ruled. Two worlds – the world of the former colonizers and the world of their colonies. In these 74 years, our former rulers and the global colonizers have started the sincere process of governance with the attitude of service at its core, but we seem to be stuck to that binary legacy of the ruler and the ruled.

At the core of this rut is our mindset. The mindset of an average citizen and that of the ones whose job is to serve the citizens. The mindset of an average citizen is to break away from the situation where he is not fairly treated but to Segway into a class where he can use his power and position - no one tries to change things. The cycle continues. In how many years will be the next discussion be held where the administrators will sit with the designers to consciously redesign the next Commissionerate building which is open and inviting and not imposing and awe-inspiring? When will a common man rise from the pits to change the status quo? 

Till that happens we have to fill our chests with pride watching how great our rulers are and staying in a state of awe seeing their impressive buildings.

The Rotis which couldn’t be uploaded:

Train runs over 15 migrant laborers in Aurangabad!

The news started appearing early morning on 8^th May 2020. Nothing unusual about this in a country of 130 Cr, with thousands of unguarded level crossings, the train runs over trucks, buses, tractors loaded with people with frustrating regularity.

Finding people crawling under the level crossing barrier with the train barely meters away is a routine human behavior we have seen for ages and have accepted. Sixty onlookers of burning of a Ravan effigy event got trampled as they chose the track as their vantage point on this occasion.

I personally never had any sympathy for the people who fall victims in such situations.

That is India! Where the behavior of people would surprise any man with a minimum IQ. The land where each street provides a thousand opportunities for a photojournalist. The magnitude of the problems in this country is too big and the problems in your own life are not few. You are taught to be philosophical. You are conditioned to hearing such news and to flip back to your own life a few minutes later.

COVID has forced us into our homes – the only shelter to escape the invading virus and the overzealous state which is out to protect us. It has taught to only think of us, our family, our money, our business. It also has taught us to stay positive and to distract our minds from thinking too much about the impending danger and the complete uncertainty. We watched reruns of the old TV serials, learned to cook and clean, learned new skills, connected with associates across time zones over zoom calls. We broke generation gaps, gender, and technological stereotypes. We have rediscovered ourselves.

We are alive fighting our battles in our world.

The details of the accidents start trickling in through the day. A group of 20 migrant labor mostly in the age group of 20 to 35 working in a steel factory in Jalna near Aurangabad, were rendered jobless because of the sudden lockdown, they chose to return to their homes somewhere in Madhya Pradesh. With no public transport in place and with no permit to cross borders, they chose to walk on the railway track which would lead them home and let them evade police and the check posts. They walk overnight, fatigued, sleep on the track thinking that to be safe. A goods train runs over them, killing 16. Some three escape as they were bit farther from the track.

They died fighting their battle in their world.

The picture of the bloodstains, strewn Rotis, used clothes, worn-out sandals on the track gave us a peek into their lives, their hopes, and their aspirations and how small they all were. How small! Both of us are fighting. But how different are our battles! How different are our battlefields! How different are our issues and challenges! How different are our hopes and aspirations! How different are our worlds!

But it was supposed to be one world.

Next time when we bake a cake and the network breaks preventing us from uploading it to Instagram; let us remember that our cake was their roti which never got uploaded.

A letter from a dead father to his about to be married son

Dear Son,

I am writing to you from heaven as I am not there in person to speak to you. I know you are going to be married to the girl you have chosen for yourself in a few more days and you are here in town to make the arrangements for it. The tasks are daunting even if your friends and cousins are helping you with them.

I think now I must tell you certain truths involving marriage.

You are not the first one to get married in our family. Your father did and his father did it also. In fact, you are here because they did it.

Marriage is not what you think it’s now. It is not a series of travel to destinations and eating out in fine dining restaurants and taking selfies and posting them on Facebook. It’s a bouquet of hard work involving adjustments, tolerating, suffering, and finally accepting your situations privately. Some people fail to adjust and accept and then separate, causing pain to the families involved. Approach this phase of life with a lot of maturity and caution, not happiness. The journey is tough. You better manage it somehow or it can destroy you.

Marriage function as a social event is a way of declaring to society that two people have their families' consent to be husband and wife and can raise a family. We inform our relatives and families and invite them to come and witness the event. We, in turn, treat them with food and give them gifts for their appearance. All to ensure that they don’t turn back and say that it's illegitimate. In fact, the best way to go about it is a civil marriage which is more binding and legal. But it lacks the fun and gaiety of the brand of marriage which you are planning for yourself.

Coming to the event part, you and your about-to-be bride have meticulously planned the series of events and partly financed the arrangements. Her parents and your mother had to agree to your plans because on such matters parents don’t have much say these days.

I know it's wrong to disappoint you now, but it may be a major milestone in your life and you are wide-eyed about it in anticipation but the people around you have seen it all and don't care much. Don’t expect them to be overly happy when you show them your marriage album and videos. You might be feeling like a prince in that Manyavar Achkan, but they would be thinking you are in a fancy dress competition. Don’t think that all the people and cars behind your procession are a part of your Barat, many could be helplessly stuck in the jam and gnashing their teeth and cursing you. The strobe lights and the deafening noise from the boom boxes may be helping your drunk cousins and friends to get wilder and dance away but it’s causing pain to the people living on the side of the road when they are about to sleep.

Son, these few days will pass quickly and realities will bite you soon. Better get grounded from now and take it easy and not waste so much of money and effort on a thing that has been happening for generations.

Good luck and my blessings.