Empathy
On Sunday, I had occasion to go to the railway police station in Mumbai Central to file a FIR for a suitcase that was stolen from the train when I was coming back to Bombay after attending a friend’s marriage in Gujarat. This was the second visit, the first one being to the Dadar police station in the immediate aftermath of the event. And the Dadar experience was not pleasant – I was made to think that the loss was my fault because I was sleeping (at 4AM in the morning) when the train had stopped at the previous station.
My only expectations from the police were and still remain, politeness, respect for my loss and a seeming effort to set right the wrong for which I am seeking redressal. When I went in, the recovery of my stolen goods was not the uppermost thing in my mind as I realize that the police have numerous more important things to worry about. All I wanted was to get through the process without friction, without being asked too many inane questions and made to feel that I am being done a favor – file the FIR, take a copy of it and leave.
I was in and out in 40 minutes flat, and for people who have tried to file a FIR, they would know that is FAST. The policemen were very courteous, they understood when I said that I missed my camera which was in the suitcase, and they accorded me the basic respect that any fellow human deserves. I ended up talking with them about where they live, their kids, their schedules, the organization of the police station.
An enlightening discovery for me was that beyond the apparent lack of organisation in the police, there is an amazing amount of organisation and cohesion. There are designated officers for special tasks like court duty, warrant duty, investigation and detection, and then there are folks who do the routine patrolling. And the responsibilities and jurisdiction of the police officers are a lot. Local trains, long distance trains, misdemeanours of any kind on trains and railway stations, post-event work like investigation, and routine work like making reports, writing complaints – if someone has ever gone to a terminus station like Mumbai Central then they would know doing all of the above is a huge logistical achievement.
While I was sitting there, the dog squad came in, with their Labrador sniffer dog. They were going in for a routine check of all the long-distance trains departing from Mumbai Central in the next 2 hours. A group of 5-6 people with one dog. How much could they realistically examine and keep the trains and station safe for travellers? These folks are doing everything that is humanly possible for them but they surely need help from the government and the citizenry.
This police station is a very small one. The officers told me that there have been plans to demolish this new one and make a more modern, state of the art police station for some time now. But they are unable to demolish this building. It is an old British-era building made of granite, and very ‘tagda’, as I was told. So, the new station is yet to happen. Maybe part-urban legend but a nice story.
I finished my complaint, thanked the officers and was walking out when one of them called out to me, happiness writ on his face, and said to me ‘Achcha laga aapse baat karke’. I felt the same, and said so. His happiness made me think that nothing pleases a Bombay policeman more than being able to help someone, even with mundane things, which is when all the idealism of his youth, the one which had made him a policeman, shines through.
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Comments
@Neha:
Thanks.:) And this does happen, right? The cops do help out, and are really nice – it is not all dreary and dark.
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too optimistic of a post. 
Just today only one autowala was telling me, how the policemen ask money instead of official fine, if they caught for meter-manipulation and how every auto stand needs to pay a fixed amount to the nearby police station. And he was not the first one.
So, I’ll say that policeman’s behavior depends on the social status of the person whom he is talking to. I wonder if he would have treated a not-so-intellectual person in a same way.
I read somewhere that a person character is decided by how he is with the people of lower rank because, with higher ranks he has to be good.
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Nice post.
Sorry about the loss though.
And yeah, 40 minutes IS FAST!
Guess how long I spent at a police station 2 years ago to get my FIR filed…
8 hours.
Shuru ke couple of hours toh they spent in dissuading me from filing an FIR. For 15 air tickets that were fraudulently booked on my credit card (one that I had never lost or misplaced)… around one lac rupees ka fraud tha.
The cop who did most of the dissuading said I should simply write a letter to them instead (saves them a lot of investigation, follow-up and court work); said “aapki shaadi ho jaayegi phir bhi aapko court aana padega” etc… and when his attempts failed, he yelled in front of the other cops “Sakar paasun doka khaate”!
The younger cop who wrote the FIR was sweet.
Seemed like this police station hadn’t dealt with a cyber crime case before, so it took longer to write it.
Oh, by the way, see? I commented on your blog. I rarely do that!
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@Vikash –
I agree that it is not all nice and touchy-feely good. There is corruption, no nay-saying that, about which there is enough being written and spoken about.
I was only trying to highlight that there are positives, and that it is not all doomsday dreary. It is important to keep sight of the positives too, I don’t think we do enough of that except during special situations like 26/11.
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@Me –
Thanks. I appreciate your comment especially since you dont usually comment on blogs.
And your story is funny and depressing. And the usual fare dished out at police stations across the city. That is the face of the police service that most citizens see; so, I thought it would be good to highlight that there is another ‘face’ too, albeit one which is not seen very often.
I hope to see you around, waise. And maybe with comments too?
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Very interesting post and experience, one that in part was facilitated by your willingness to “empathize” and the attempt to communicate (not to discredit their friendly attitude that probably encouraged you to extend the same courtesy). While my personal experience also reeks of the unpleasant “you are the villain here for having lost your wallet” smell, I do hope I come across the flavour you did someday, but I am sure it won’t happen until I enter a police-station with a more humble and less intimidated outlook in general, and not with the one we saw Abhishek Bachhan’s character adopt in Delhi 6 – “you don’t give me shit because you are a public servant” (not that I approve of the policeman character in the movie! Dubeyji deserved what he got on that occasion). I guess the point I am trying to make is the same as yours – that respect, patience and a smile can go a long way if one is willing to invest it, and empathize. That even we tend to dismiss our experience at a police station as a doomed one even before we enter one, and any exchange that starts on the wrong foot is almost inevitably headed south, literally from the word “Go!”
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“@Me” – Waise, you can use my name, if you want to! I just tend to use ‘Me’ while signing off my emails… and commenting on the couple of friends’ blogs I’ve commented on!
Am definitely going to follow your blog. Comment? Let’s see!
Oh, and I have always had a bit of a soft corner for cops, so I’m glad you wrote the post you did.
Yes, I had a not-so-pleasant experience shuru mein that day but I refuse to see many/most cops as insensitive/unhelpful or so.
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Very Nice
Reminds me of this one time when I had gone to Matunga police station very close by my college for attesting my mark-sheets and the officer who was going to do it asked me so many things about my future plans and how I had scored better in some and not so better in some..He was concerned which college I could get into for which subjects
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