Thank God Its Friday!

A couple of days ago, I met up with colleagues of mine from my sailing days. Time having taken its toll, there wasn't a single one of us not having lost hair or with a distended paunch. The re-union ended fairly late and I stepped on the gas to get home pronto, after much bonhomie.

The only hitch was that, I was stopped by the police for an alcohol check and had to go through a breath analyzer. As there was no alcohol consumed at our party, I got through the test without issue, which was not the case with many of the other folk hanging around, mostly youngsters in the mid twenties to early thirties. Most sulked, having consumed unacceptable levels of alcohol. Many argued, in polished English, with the few cops present, who looked tired and trying their best not to lose it.I have not seen cops having TGIF parties. Can there be a better reason to get drunk than to celebrate the weekend? Thank God Its Friday!

I was impressed with the way the much maligned police dealt with the reckless and irresponsible louts who are educated enough to speak polished English, but ignorant to the traffic rules in Bangalore.It only goes to show that education has become domain specific rather than holistic and many of us miss the larger picture.

In the group, there was this rather affluent looking girl, who was mooting the idea of bribing the cops to avoid the fine. This when we rally behind a gent called Anna Hazare, to root corruption out.The cancer of corruption and the ability to take the shortest cuts to get what we want, has seeped so deep, that it is going to take more than Anna Hazare and a Lok Pal Bill to get it out of our system.

What we need are tougher laws, more cops, greater fines and less parties!

Freedom & Responsibility!

The last month has been one of coincidences for the wrong reasons. First a young woman drives her Honda CRV through a bevy of policemen in Mumbia, then two young Iranian women, assault & bite a cop for good measure in Bengaluru & very recently, a group of youth, in a fit of rage, run over a law enforcer in the national capital region , NOIDA.

The coincidences- all were young, rich & very drunk, while speeding in their fancy cars!

In the incidents narrated above, except for the one at Bengaluru, the cops at the receiving end are either dead or battling for life, in Govt. Hospitals, where the rich kids would not even go within sniffing distance.

The police in Bangalore, on public demand, have taken a tough stand against drunken driving & have been shutting down pubs and bars at early hours.These measures have been termed retrograde and earned the wrath of many of my fellow Bangaloreans as draconian & harsh. I agree that the less we are policed the better it would be, but how would explain that to the families of the dead cops & those of the young kids who now are in jail, with the possibility of facing extended jail sentences and a tainted life.

Responsibility is the price of freedom, a fact that many of us seem to have conveniently forgotten & till the message sinks firmly home, I'm strongly rooting for tough laws against drunken driving & early closure of 'palces of entertainment' even if it make the city and people of Bengaluru look old fashioned!