women constables - flower maidens?
Have been wanting to write this for some time now.
I pass by on section of the road used by the CM about half an hour ahead of him everyday. Without fail I observe a series of thin, scrawny, women constables who decorate both sides of the road at equal intervals. They are everywhere, even on top of the flyover. The special white badge that police personnel in the CM route have to wear adorns their uniforms.
My question is what are they doing in the hot sun?
They are not controlling any crowds, on a normal day there are no crowds to cheer the CM in every street corner. They are not certainly regulating traffic, this we have important looking traffic cops who can appear in the roadside just a few minutes before the CMs convoy appears, shout, scream, shriek and ensure that the traffic is frozen till the convoy leaves and just as swiftly disappear after the stipulated number of seconds they are supposed to hold the traffic frozen.
But, the poor women constables arrive well in advance and have to hang around much after the CM is gone. The only purpose I see is they are substitutes for some hangover of a flower-maiden who need to adorn the route of kings of yore. Sometimes, they look weak and seem to be spending eternity waiting for the VIP to pass them by.
I had an interesting encounter of this once outside the airport. I had arrived in an evening flight and was walking to the road to hire an autorickshaw when I was surprised to find that they have all been shooed away from the entrance by a traffic cop who helped me with the information that they were expecting the CM to take a night flight and hence no vehicles were to stop in front of the airport. There was the familiar women constable hanging around and while I was getting directions from the traffic cop, she enquired with him as to how much longer will it take before the CM were to arrive? to which the traffic cop informed her that it would be another hour! With some disturbance she informed him that she has been in the post since 5 p.m. and this gentleman shrugged and pointed out that it was not his mistake if she came so early!!
That they stand on the roadside when the CM passes by seems to be some kind of a order to be maintained. Looks silly actually, I often wonder if it is some kind of the obsession to show the big boss that there is an equality of sexes being practiced by the city police? Once late evening with the CM still not gone home, I noticed a group of women constables getting some snacks in a pavement shops that springs up in one of the bye-lanes of the main road. As my vehicles turned into the main road and headed up the flyover, suddenly, there were sirens screaming and cops yelling, looking back I found the one remaining women constable doing a sprint to reach the top of the flyover to cover up for the ones who couldn't make it.
I pass by on section of the road used by the CM about half an hour ahead of him everyday. Without fail I observe a series of thin, scrawny, women constables who decorate both sides of the road at equal intervals. They are everywhere, even on top of the flyover. The special white badge that police personnel in the CM route have to wear adorns their uniforms.
My question is what are they doing in the hot sun?
They are not controlling any crowds, on a normal day there are no crowds to cheer the CM in every street corner. They are not certainly regulating traffic, this we have important looking traffic cops who can appear in the roadside just a few minutes before the CMs convoy appears, shout, scream, shriek and ensure that the traffic is frozen till the convoy leaves and just as swiftly disappear after the stipulated number of seconds they are supposed to hold the traffic frozen.
But, the poor women constables arrive well in advance and have to hang around much after the CM is gone. The only purpose I see is they are substitutes for some hangover of a flower-maiden who need to adorn the route of kings of yore. Sometimes, they look weak and seem to be spending eternity waiting for the VIP to pass them by.
I had an interesting encounter of this once outside the airport. I had arrived in an evening flight and was walking to the road to hire an autorickshaw when I was surprised to find that they have all been shooed away from the entrance by a traffic cop who helped me with the information that they were expecting the CM to take a night flight and hence no vehicles were to stop in front of the airport. There was the familiar women constable hanging around and while I was getting directions from the traffic cop, she enquired with him as to how much longer will it take before the CM were to arrive? to which the traffic cop informed her that it would be another hour! With some disturbance she informed him that she has been in the post since 5 p.m. and this gentleman shrugged and pointed out that it was not his mistake if she came so early!!
That they stand on the roadside when the CM passes by seems to be some kind of a order to be maintained. Looks silly actually, I often wonder if it is some kind of the obsession to show the big boss that there is an equality of sexes being practiced by the city police? Once late evening with the CM still not gone home, I noticed a group of women constables getting some snacks in a pavement shops that springs up in one of the bye-lanes of the main road. As my vehicles turned into the main road and headed up the flyover, suddenly, there were sirens screaming and cops yelling, looking back I found the one remaining women constable doing a sprint to reach the top of the flyover to cover up for the ones who couldn't make it.
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