Sandesh

I met Sandesh today, my school buddy and my cricket team mate from school. He is the Police inspector in charge of Cuncolim precinct. We met at 4 p.m. ; a constable went to pick him up in a jeep, and when he entered the police station, I saw that many stood up to salute him- not all were police men. We sat in his office for long hours, then he phoned a friend and asked him to bring me to Benaulim where I am living at the moment. He drove with us. I could see that with elections at hand in the state, Police and general law & order arrangements needed to be tightened. As an officer in charge of quite a large area, he is certainly a busy man. But he came to drop me all the way to Benaulim from Cuncolim. That was his way of saying things he must find difficult to say in words. In whatever way he said it it felt good that he did not deprive me of his company for as long as he could give it. He told me what policing was all about. It is a thankless job. He said, nobody understand the number of crimes which are prevented because of the police. There was quite some time spent remembering the meandering lanes of Fontainhas, and the poverty we grew up in. We remembered together many of our mates. Many are still around, a few lost their lives, a couple others their minds.