Chai With Khakhi
MEMBERS of the Rotaract Club of ISME took a little trip around the city to understand the effectiveness of Government and understand the problems of the police force at a personal level. The initiative sought to create a sense of responsibility in the minds of young leaders who can make a change.
Friendship Day is celebrated around the globe on the first Sunday of August (August 4th, 2019). Two individuals who wanted to do something different went out on a rainy day to have tea and snacks with the police for two reasons: First, we wanted to thank them for their duty and second, heavy rains did not allow the officers on night shift to get a break. We wanted to acknowledge their hard word.
We arranged for tea, biscuits, poha and thepla which they each relished. We tied a friendship band on each wrist and wished them. We started from Churchgate at 6:30 am, targeting to complete south Mumbai by lunch time. The first police station visited was continuing their duty after a night shift as the rains made it impossible for the others to get there. The time we took breakfast was perfect as they were tired and needed a boost to continue duty.
We got into a discussion over breakfast about their lifestyle and duties as police officers. The common answer was that they had joined police force as they had no option. This made us question them about their sense of duty, which is for the public and not only their family. The answer was their motive changed after years of working, to help the public and live for their city. They shared some of the problems they faced regularly like irregular working hours, no holiday given at the time needed, no personal space and no time for family.
API Jitendra Kumar suffered from an injury when he was on duty on October 27th, 2018. He was given no medical benefits from the government and had to pay the entire amount of Rs 40,000 from his salary. The government assured a reimbursement of the amount paid in the hospital for recovery. The government is yet to compensate him for an expense he incurred while on duty.
We kept this in mind and continued our journey, accompanied by the heavy downpour. We stopped near every traffic police on the streets, each van we passed and every police station that came our way. Unplanned journeys lead to beautiful destinations. We had planned to cover only south Mumbai but our zeal got us till Goregaon.
Each police station greeted us with warmth and affection. They clicked pictures and shared it everywhere to spread the work we were doing. They were delighted with the initiative as they believe the public had no respect for them.
Our biggest learning was patience and love for the work you do. We continued our journey till 10 pm, having just one regret, which was our inability to go up till Borivali. We would want to continue this on a regular basis to enhance our learning.
