PiCnIc WiTh FrIeNdS

Winter is at its peak. The chilly winds and misty mornings also reminds me of the picnic season. The month of December is the picnic month in Assam. Buses and Tata sumos with picnic parties with loud speakers are a common sight in Assam during this period. This change in weather often reminds me of an incident that occurred some time back during my training period. It was in late December. Almost everyone had already gone for a picnic or had planned for one. We too wanted as much as others to go for a picnic as the picnic season was going to end. Soon a picnic was arranged by our barrack super. The picnic was to be authorised by our training authority. If we were given permission, we would get the office bus, a cook and utensils. Our barrack super applied for permission. He was denied outright. The training authority was not going to take any risk by allowing the picnic as the training SP often addressed us as hooligans. The authority was not at all ready to let loose the hooligans. Our group took this as humiliation and a challenge. We vowed to go at any cost. The day was fixed on a Sunday as it was a holiday and it was also the last day of December. At first every one cheered at the plan.. But slowly one by one almost everyone backed out from the plan.But we five sticked with the plan. Nirmal recently bought one Santro Xing car. We planned to go in his car. Picnic spot was around 40 kms from our training center called Hatisila. It is a beautiful picnic spot on the bank of river Brahmaputra. Among us there was Botu. Botu was a heavy drinker. Others were medium drinkers or they didnot exceed the limits. Menu consisted of only two items, whiskey and chicken. The chicken was to be fried on the river bank. Whiskey was procured a day before the picnic. Chicken , firewood, utensils were to be collected on the way to picnic. The day arrived quickly. It was a fogy morning and was very cold. Winter was at its peak. At around 10 AM we started for the picnic. We collected some utensils and firewood. Three kgs of dressed chicken was also picked up from the saatmile market. We soon headed towards Hatisila our picnic spot. Cold wind gushed inside the car as Nirmal pressed the acceletor. He was enjoying the drive so were we. We soon reached the spot. The sun was now visible and the fog slowly disappeared. It was going to be a very pleasant day. The water of river Brahmaputra appeared very calm. We walked through the white sand . In winter the water level becomes very low. Small sand Islands appears in between the course of the river. We finally selected a spot away from other picnic parties. We wanted full enjoyment. Dablu immediately set up his make shift kitchen and set the pieces of wood to burn. Dablu is an excellent cook . He specialize in pork and chicken. The only condition is that he should get all the cooking ingredients ready. Nirmal and Botu started playing with each other. Rajiv just enjoyed the scenery. It was a nice picnic spot with loads of natural beauty. In the mean time breakfast was ready and we started our picnic with boiled eggs and bread. To quench his thirst Botu opened a bottle of whiskey. " CHEERS" said Botu and emptied his peg slowly. We too started with wine and snacks . Dablu started frying chicken. Soon Botu, as usual was loosing his balance.The chicken was ready in time and it was very tasty. We all enjoyed the food and patted Dablu for the chicken though cubes of sand were present in the chicken. We thought of exploring the sand island. Botu spotted a wooden boat tied to the bank. Dablu immediately ran towards it and started scanning the boat for any possible defects . After finding it OK he waved at us. Immediately Botu got up and ran in the direction of the boat. We too followed him. It was a heavy boat . We had to push it very hard to put it on the water. After the boat floated , Dablu jumped on it. He had a piece of bamboo to steer the boat. We too boarded the boat. Botu started dancing. Dablu pushed his bamboo deep and the boat moved forward. Soon we were spotted by other picnic groups. Dablu and Botu sang and waved at the ladies present in other groups. I thought we are soon going to pick up a fight with other groups. I warned Dablu and Botu to shut their mouths otherwise we would soon pick up a fight . They realised it some time later and concentrated on singing only. We soon noticed that our boat was not moving. We were struck in the sand. We all tried to push the bamboo but it was also struck in the sand. We decided to abandon the boat . Dablu slowly moved out and showed us a way to the bank. Except Botu all followed him to the river bank. We instantly became a laughing stock. People from other picnic groups were screaming at us. They waved at us. Botu was still not able to get out of the boat. He tried to jump but directly fell on the mud. We ran towards him and pull him out from the dirty mud. The crowd cheered as Botu was pulled out. Botu cheered too. He was covered with green algae type mud from head to toe. Nirmal splashed one bucket of water on Botu. Rajiv too emptied 3 to 4 mugs of water on Botu. Botu suddenly started to shiever in cold. I looked at the watch, it was 3.30 pm. I said we should leave now otherwise he would catch a cold. I won't take this monkey in my car , protested Nirmal. He was actually right as the interior of his new car would require instant servicing. After intense debate Nirmal offered his car hood. We wrapped Botu with the car hood. Nirmal allowed him to sit in the front seat while he drove the car. Everything went on well for some time. Suddenly Botu had an urge to go to Kamakazi Disco and bar. Kamakazi is a floating disco bar on the river Brahmaputra. We told him to shut up .But he would not listen. He tried to open the door as we passed by the disco. Nirmal had enough and stopped the car near the disco. Botu limped from the car. We saw him entering the disco. We then headed to our barrack. Upon reaching barrack we found the inmates a bit jealous and offended. They felt left out as we enjoyed the whole day. Lalit asked, where is Botu? Lalit was the captain of the barrack. We narated the whole story to him and other inmates of the barrack. But they were not buying our story. They were in the opinion that we may have done something to him . The actual thing was that some of our fellow inmates were left out from the picnic. They actually became very jealous of us and so they questioned us. Barrack captain declared that if Botu did not return by 1200 at night he would inform the matter to the authority. We said he will return in an hour or two. We had our dinner at around 9 pm. Till then Botu did not return. We were slowly getting worried. At around 1200 at night someone entered our room. We could figure out in the darkness that it was Botu. Immediately the boys pounced upon him. He was slapped,punched and kicked by the inmates. I heaved a sigh of relief and went to sleep. As i woke up next day i saw Botu fast asleep on the floor.

TeRe NaAm "A true story"

Police training was over. We were around 400 cadets staying in the training campus.The rigorous training had transformed the normal boys into hardcore fighters. We developed nerves of steel. Became fearless .we were ready to be deployed .But the release date was being deliberately delayed. 400 plus cadets in house trainees meant a good market for the authority. We bought everything from the training school cooperative store. So the profit of the cooperative store was high. 9 months of physical training got extended into 13 months. Anger and hatred for the training authority was cropping up in the hearts of the trainees. During the holidays I usually go to home and return back the same day. Some would go to watch movies. During one such Sunday we went to see Salman Khan starrer TERE NAAM film. It was a hit film. It was being released in almost all the cinema halls in Guwahati. The cinema hall campus was packed with people. The ticket counters had become invisible due to ticket seekers. One was jumping over the other to push his hand through the big hole of the counter window. We pushed Lakhi forward to get the tickets. We were also trying other options as Lakhi would have managed only 3 or 4 tickets. The black rates were very high. As we were negotiating we heard loud shouts. We turned and saw that Lakhi had picked up a fight with the locals. There were other groups from our training school as well. They too got involved in the fight. One of the locals hit very hard one of our trainee in the head with a rod. Seeing this our boys pounced on the locals and beat them black and blue. Soon the police arrived and the crowd dispersed. We too left the hall as we couldn't manage to get the tickets. Some of our fellows managed to get the tickets and watched the movie. Later the locals regrouped during the movie. They identified one or two trainees and attacked them inside the hall. The locals were in huge numbers. Some how police intervened and our trainees managed to leave the hall. Some of our trainees were severely injured . I reached training center during night counting time. During night counting time i found the training campus very tense. The boys had a plan. There were news that the locals that participated in hitting our trainees are seen in the saat mile market. Saat mile market is about 600 meters from our training campus. Their plan was dangerous. They were planning to ransack the market place and to destroy the shops. I thought nobody from this training school has till date gathered courage to attack any public place. I therefore ignored their discussion and proceeded to my barrack. Ridip dutta my room mate had thrown a wine party in the barrack as his birthday was on the following day. His girlfriend didn't gave him permission to swallow wine on his birthday, so he threw his birthday party one day earlier. Fried pork , chilly chicken and some full bottles of Mc Dowell's whiskey were the items. Jitendra emptied the full bottles in his empty water filter. He was our barrack's peg maker. The party started and every one was enjoying it. Suddenly Debu appeared and said that the boys are marching to sat mile market. And that he was also going to join them. He was already drunk. He invited everyone to join him. He was intimidating us . Rakesh jumped from his bed and followed Debu. Both were under the spell of liquor. Actually all were drunk. One by one everybody followed Debu. Ridip and I were the last one to follow the mob. We had to move out due to barrack sentiment. Ridip was very scared as he had supplied liquor to the barrack inmates.There were total 15 barracks. Each barrack accommodate around 50 trainees. About half of the inmates had gone to vandalise sat mile market that night. When we reached halfway we heard the noises of destruction. The trainees had done their job. The training authorities' were trying their level best to bring the boys back to the barracks. But the boys were unstopable. At last police along with CRPF personnel arrived at the scene. They had to fire shots in the air to disperse the mob. The boys finally returned. Counting was again done to see if anyone was missing. All were in. The boys were very much satisfied as they did what they planned. But the consequences were going to be very bad. The next day our training school was flooded with reporters , representatives of human rights organisation, shop owners . They all had a meeting with the training authorities and a deal was struck between the two. The training authority agreed to pay for the damages . The damage inflicted was not much. The situation became normal after the authority paid compensation to the shop keepers. A preliminary enquiry was conducted by the authority and Departmental proceedings were drawn up against those found guilty. Increments of all the 400 trainees were blocked for the next six years. The training authority was to some extent responsible for this debacle. They extended the training for a long period. After one month of this incident all the trainees were posted all over Assam.

Thank you Ambipur

                                      I was surprised when the courier boy handed me a packet. My name and address was printed on it. I showed it to my better half incase she might have ordered something online. But she had no idea. I decided to open the packet. I was overwhelmed to see that it was a room freshener from Ambipur. I remembered applying for a free sample at indiblogger .com. Now a days free samples are rare. Except for medicine samples I have not received anything free till date.The sample that i received is a room freshener, blossom and breeze, same that is being sold at the market. It is an effective spray which removes bad odour immediately and leaves room fresh for a long time. I am thanking indiblogger and ambipur for this sample and would urge everyone to use this product.

TrUe CoLoRs

I was posted at Bilashipara Police Station of district Dhubri in Assam during the period from April 2004 to June 2005. That was my first posting after completion of training. The police station was at a distance of one KM from the market area. It was quite a peaceful place. The residents were mostly Bengali speaking people. The people were very friendly. The Police Station staff were also very friendly and co-operative. I have many memorable incidents from that place of posting. I am going to share one . One morning when I was inside the P.S concentrating on some serious work I saw constable Porbeswar Basumatary pulling one goat inside the thana campus. It was a black healthy goat. Porbeswar was a thin man. Yet he managed to tie the goat to a wooden post. I asked him whose goat was that and why he has tied it to the post. He replied that he bought it from the market after intense searching. Black goats are very rare as they are used for sacrificing in various rituals. He was not going to sacrifice this goat. He will set it free in the name of his son. Saying this he left the room. Every one noticed the goat as it was baying loudly. One visitor enquired if there was a feast in the thana. Porbeswar didnot say anything. A light drizzle started and I concentrated on my work. The light drizzle got converted into a heavy downpour. Porbeswar ran outside and struggled to bring the goat inside. In this process he got wet. The goat was completely drenched in rain water. He tied the goat to a bench in thana verandah. I again concentrated on my work. My attention was diverted when my colleague Baishya guffaowed and pointed to the goat. The goat was loosing its black color. It was actually a white goat with black patches. The goat trader had painted the goat with black color for more profit.😃😃😃😃 Porbeswar Basumatary was duped by a rogue goat trader.The news spread like wild fire. It caught the attention of Asomia Pratidins correspondent Debojit Neogi. Asomia Pratidin is a well circulated daily in Assam. The news was flashed after two days in the daily. Porbeswar became a laughing stock for some days. He went in search for that trader but the trader was never seen again.

Titanic Crash

                                     The Titanic crash changed the course of Rahul's life forever. That day Rahul was very restless. He was behaving like a naughty kid. He spilled tea all over my pants when he tried to show magic with the cups in the canteen.He was playing in the class room. He was very loud that day. He was laughing, poking and creating nuisance in the class as the teacher detailed for the period had to go somewhere on official duty. The class captain finally requested Rahul to go to barrack and have his lunch as lunch break was due after 20 mins. As Rahul left , calmness prevailed in the class room.
                                  We left for our barrack after 20 mins for the lunch. Lunch break was  of 1 hr duration. After lunch break I tried to take a nap. Just then DSP Training banged into our room . He wanted to have our counting to see if everyone was inside the barrack. He was informed by one police station that someone from our training school had met with an accident. When we heard that we got scared to death. I did not remember seeing Rahul in the barrack during lunch. The training DSP  was somehow persuaded by our captain to believe that everyone was present within the training school campus. The DSP Training left in a hurry as he had to check another 14 nos. of barracks. We immediately ran to see the Titanic if it was there or not. Titanic was the name of Rahul's scooter. It was a LML Vespa 150 NV.It was his fathers scooter. He used to hide it behind our barrack.
                                  Rahul and Lalit were missing from the barrack at that moment. As informed by our cook both went to watch a movie at Apsara cinema hall. We prayed to God for their safety. As time passed by we were quite convinced that they had actually met with an accident. We heard that Rahul was being shifted from Guwahati Medical College to GNRC hospital. We heard he had received severe head injuries as he was not wearing a helmet. We had no news about Lalit. At night counting S.P Training appeared . He was very angry with us. He warned us not to leave the training campus without his permission.
                                 The next day some of us were permitted to visit GNRC hospital. Rahul was in the ICU . Doctor said he had a 50% chance of surviving. Lalit was to be released that day. We were allowed to see Rahul one by one. Tears rolled out from my eyes . He was in a semi conscious state. His face was injured beyond recognition. Both his hands were fractured. 
                                    He stayed in the ICU for a month.It took 6 months for his recovery. He was dismissed from service.
                                   

D DaY BlunderS

D Day Blunders would have pushed us from where we had started. 9 months of physical training was going to end. D Day was approaching. By D Day I am refferring to the final board examination day that would have promote some of us to the level of officers . By passing that board we would have been posted to various districts within the state.
                                     The first level of the exam was PT board. PT is physical training which is similar to PT classes that we used to have in schools. PT consist of 6 tables. Each table consist of  6 workouts. So there are total 36 work outs in the complete  PT syllabus. To memorise 36 different workouts was very difficult. The exam was divided into two parts. Ist part was viva and the second part was group PT or mass PT.
                                        As D Day approached we were quite confident that every one will clear the board. Cadet Nitul sharma was over confident. He had reasons to be .He knew all the 36 workouts by heart. So he was the leader during our PT classes. A leader is one who stands infront of the group during the PT period. The group or the followers follows the leader. He was obviously the 1st choice of our PT instructor to lead our group in the PT board exam.
                                         We were very excited on the exam day. There were four board members sitting in front of us. One by one we were asked to do one or two work outs. One of the members would ask us to do a single workout infront of them. I was asked to do workout no 4 of table 3. I jumped and did one. It was actually 1st workout of table 4. The board members were slowly getting angry. Cadet Apurba Das invented one new workout when he was asked to do 1st work out of table 4. One of the board members finally got fed up and said you have all failed in your individual test. Now let us see how does you all behave in a team.
                                              
                                           Upon hearing this cadet Nitul Sharma was very nervous. Just at the nick of time Nitul forgot all the PT tables. We were asked to start the mass PT or group PT with Nitul as the leader. The 1st table was ok. But from the 2nd table everything went wrong. Nitul was doing someting and we were doing something else. Nitul was not aware what we were doing as we were behind him. Only when he bend down he saw us between his legs that we were doing different things.
                                     Ultimately the board decided that we were not good enough to be passed. The board gave us two months time to rectify. Nitul never showed his overconfidence again.

Bilirubin 8.0 mg/dl

During our training period all kinds of leave were un-officially banned. The only leave available was medical leave. To get medical leave, one had to fall sick. Bed rest was to be recommended by Dr. Sikdar ,Supdt. Of Central Police Hospital. The lab tests were to be done at Luit Diagnostic Center. Then only the training authority grants leave to the trainees.
                                Dr Sikdar was a man of low morals. He could easilly be bribed. Our training authority did not like Dr Sikdar at all but looking at his designation, had to accept his recommendations of bed rests to trainees . On the other hand Luit Diagnostic Center was genuine. Its reports were perfect. One could never bribe its staff for a false report. So it was very difficult to get bed rest or leave on those days.
                                Priyabrata was very upset . He wanted a break from the training. He said "I will do anything to go home". He was sipping beer with me at Abhijit's bar and restaurant that evening. Tomorrow I will go to Dr Sikdar. He said in a challenging tone. Even going to see Dr Sikdar was getting tough as authority was not sending everyone to him as most returned with a bed rest. We soon left the bar and hurried to our training school as night counting was at 7.30 PM. He reached late as he dropped by the wine shop to get a half bottle.
                               The next morning Priyabrata complained of severe stomach ache. He did not attend the morning P.T and Parade programs. He was crying in his bed . He was sent to Central Police Hospital where Dr Sikdar was there. He was recommended some blood tests by the doctor. He returned with some medicines. He informed our training bosses that the blood reports will come tomorrow. So he is going to Police Hospital tomorrow to show the reports . Along with medicines he bought one half bottle of Old Monk which he consumed alone.
                               The next day he returned with 15 days home rest from Dr Sikdar. He was found to be suffering from jaundice. The blood reports were from Luit Diagnostic Center. His bilirubin count was more than 8 mg/dl.
                              How was it possible? We were left with a puzzle to solve. He was first to be diagonised with jaundice in our barrack. And we knew that he was lying and his reports were also false.
                                 We got the answers when he returned.
When he went to Police Hospital, he met one indoor patient who was sufferring from heavy jaundice. He persuaded the jaundice patient to go to Luit Diagnostic center and give a blood test in his place. He paid the patient 1000 bucks for the test. The patient registered his name as Priyabrata Nath. So the reports were in Priyabrata's name. In this way he succeeded in getting the home rest for 15 days.         :-)