Even the helper needs help

A BREACH of the law can be a careless omission or a deliberate commission. Enforcement of the law, therefore, requires rules and rationality. As a Captain in 1965, I was posted as ADC to the General commanding the then Delhi and Rajasthan area. My elder brothers were on field military postings and their personal vehicles were in my care. With petrol costing under 90 paise a litre, I was happily using a car and two scooters.

But I did not have a licence. Since it had to be issued in my home district Rohtak, I drove there one day. The inspector asked me to get police verification done from the police station concerned. I drove another 24 km to Kalanaur. When I gave my father’s name, the SHO asked, ‘Arrey aap Kaptaan sahib ke bete ho?’ He instructed the person on duty to issue whatever I needed.

Back in Rohtak, the next step was the driving test. The inspector asked me how I had come. On being told that I had driven from Delhi in a car, he smiled and waived the requirement. By afternoon, I was back with the licence in my pocket.

I knew a Colonel’s family. Every evening, I used to take their daughter swimming. One day, her younger sister also wanted to come along and the three of us got on the scooter. At the traffic circle, two policemen signalled me to stop. Triple riding being a violation, they filled out an offence report and one of them took it to where a magistrate held a mobile court. The other policeman, on learning that I was a Captain, regretted the ‘mistake’. He accompanied me to the court and informed the magistrate that mine was a minor infringement as I had omitted to display the road tax token, and had kept it in the toolbox. I was let off with a warning.

As we returned, he asked whether I would still ride three. I couldn’t have left the seven-year-old girl behind. He pleaded if I could push the scooter for some distance and then mount it. I did that. When I was about to kick-start, he came up again and asked me what time we would return, as we would then meet the policemen on the other side of the circle. He helpfully added, ‘If you come after 7 pm, we would have left.’

We have a live-in domestic help. While the maid works for us, her husband had no job. I funded his purchase of a three-wheeler scooter. One day, I asked him what his daily earnings were. After the fuel, maintenance and ‘police’ cost, the daily average was Rs 700. ‘But why break rules and pay the police?’ I asked. He responded, ‘I do follow rules, but every policeman has a monthly quota of challans. We help him reach the quota and he does not bother us.’ I guess even the helper needs help to be helpful.