Most unforgettable day

This post is about the one of the most unforgettable days in my life. Its not about the day, i got the "Best student of the year" award in my college, not the day i got the State first in Higher secondary, not the day i got an award from the President of India, not the day i went for a date with my dream girl..... ofcourse, all the above didnt happen. Its about the day, i was caught by the police. Its not a typo.. I repeat.. its the day i was caught by the police. Let me be in more detail.

It was around the august of 2002, i went to the tambaram railway station to book tickets for my mom. I took my brothers bike and parked the vehicle in the place where i used to park usually. I got into the station, booked the tickets and came back to the parking lot and took my bike. Just then a well dressed man in his forties came to me and talked something. He looked very decent and well behaved, with his shirt tucked in properly, sleeves rolled down fully and buttoned, spects with a thread running around his neck. He walked near me and told that he wanted to talk something with me. When i started the bike, he said me not to and asked me to come with my bike to the nearby vacant area, which is the front portion of the railway police station. Only then he told me that its a restricted area that belonged to the railway police and the public is not supposed to park the vehicles there. I told him that I had parked here earlier and there was no sign board referring that this is a no parking area. But, he didnt listen to my words and asked me to come there and he wants to talk with me for a few minutes. On nearing the police station, he took the bike key and asked me to wait inside the station. The same happenned for a few other guys who parked their vehicles there. Only then i came to know that he was a Railway Police in civil dress. It was around 10:30 AM.

I entered the police station and there stood nearly 30 hapless men who were charged under "crossing the railway line" and "smoking inside the railway premisis". I waited there for nearly 30 minutes and they brought another 20 other guys inside. After a few minutes, they segregated the crowd according to their offence. The major part of the people belonged to the other two category of offenders. I was accompanied by 7-8 guys for the parking offence. Then they explained us what they were about to do with us. As this belongs to the railways, they said that they would take us to the railways court ( which is about 25 kms away ) and produce us before the judge, where we have to pay our penalty. On knowing this, every guy started to tell some false excuse and wanted to escape from that place after parting some money to them. These guys were very duty conscious (wink), they wanted atleast some of them to come to the court, so that they can show to the judge for the record. So, they collected some money from the persons who wanted to leave that place due to other reasons and retained the persons who didnt have any money to pay. The idea was, the one who wanted to leave should give some money and the one who was retained will pay that money. Three police persons were involved in this work. They collected money from each of the ones, who cited some valid reasons and retained the ones, who didnt have any money. I wanted to tell some reason and come out of that place. I was supposed to return to my college ( near erode ) on that night. Just then, i saw them collect a huge money from each of them. When the offender resisted, they went even to the extent of beating him. The offenders were left with a minimum money just to travel to their workplace or wherever they wanted to. I had nearly 1000 rs with me. If i have to pay the fine, then its only about rs.100. So, i thought it is better to go to the court and pay Rs.100 instead of parting a huge sum to these police men. So, when they asked me whether i was willing to come to the court and pay the fine, i simply nodded the head. After all these screening process, the number of persons left were only 17. They have filtered we 17 from a crowd of 51. By the time, all these processes got over it was around the noon. Then we were provided with water and we were taken to the railway station CROSSING THE TRACK. ( here we didnt take the over bridge, we were made to cross the track accompanied by three policemen ).

We took a vendors compartment in the train and the normal passengers werent allowed to enter this compartment. Just the 17 offenders and 3 policemen. Here again, the policemen collected money from the people who had money with us. I was asked to pay Rs.100 for the penalty. Some of them had the money and some didnt. By the end, they counted their total collection. I closely followed the counting and it summed up to nearly Rs.6000. And the amount that was supposed to be paid by the left out people as penalty was nearly Rs.3000. So, a good collection of Rs.3000 for the policemen. After all these work, the POLICEMEN SMOKED INSIDE THE COMPARTMENT.

We reached the Egmore railway station around 1:30 PM and again CROSSED THE TRACK to reach the court, which was in the opposite platform. We were accompanied by lots of similar offenders from various stations. I asked one policeman to let me call my house and let them know that i would reach home around evening. I kept on asking them from Tambaram itself. But, he didnt let me. He said that the judge would come by 2:00 PM and after all the formalities i can leave. Here again, the judge didnt turn up at the appropriate time. In the mean time, just to kill time one policemen ( the one who caught me first ) talked with each of us and asked us about our profession and all. I was doing my college then. On coming to know that, he asked me "why didnt u tell it before? usually, we will leave the students". Even i had this thought before itself. But, feared that they might take away all the money. I simply smiled and then again i asked him "whether i can go to a pco and call my house?". Now, he accompanied me to a nearby phone booth. I called my mom and told that due to some work, i would reach home by 6 PM. Then he enquired me about the engineering studies and some good colleges and similar kinda stuffs. Even here, the policemen all joined together and SMOKED in the platform outside the court.

Around 3 PM, the judge entered. We were informed that we will be taken into the wooden dias where we would be asked two questions. First, "Did u park ur vehicle in the no-parking area?". Second, "You are imposed with a fine of Rs.100". For the first, we have to answer "yes" and for the second "OK". Three guys were made to stand in the dias and we three answered as per the directions of the policemen. Then, we were made to stand in a small room in the court. It was worst than the jails usually shown in the films. This room was very small and smelled really bad. 17 members were stuffed into this for 5 minutes. Though it was for 5 minutes, it seemed like hours. This is where, i completely understood "Einsteins theory of relativity". :) Then, we signed in one note and received a receipt for the penalty amount and then came out. ATLAST, around 4:30 PM we were let free.

All through this time, i had gained a good rapport with a few guys there and we just made fun about the policemen among ourselves and had a good time. So, didnt feel much bored and enjoyed the time. Its strange to enjoy the time being spent in the police station and court.. but anyways, i felt like it.

By the time i reached home it was around 6 PM. Narrated all the stories to my parents. Had my dinner and started for my hostel.

It was the first time i ever entered a police station. Good that, it was for just a simple reason and nothing serious. The second time was during the Passport verification. Only pray that no need arises in the future.

PS : please ignore the words in bold. That wasnt to show the way the police men violated the rules. Afterall, they are policemen and who can question them?? Everything is an offence only when others commit...:(