Pitti

It was supposed to be a short journey, from Allahabad to Lucknow...not more than 5 hours by any means. However, exceptional delays are not really exceptions but rather a rule for this particular train, and so after 5 hours of travel, we were still only halfway through the journey. Passengers were naturally restless, shifting postions on their seats, discussing the possible casues of unusually long detention, contemplating what the government could do, and if nothing made sense to them, doling out the panacea,"is desh ka kutch nahin ho sakta".

But the most restless of all was a small kid... and delay was last of his concerns. He was infact thoroughly enjoying his time on the train, a godsend opportunity for him to exhibit his talents to the fullest. First a big jump from his papa's seat to mom's lap, then an accurate dive onto the bag kept by the side and finally a beautiful splash of water from the bottle, again on his dearest mom. And once, was not enough. All this was repeated over and over again, with some minor alterations in the details of menace created, thanks to the ingenuity of this kid.

Not that the mother did not do anything. She was constantly trying to pacify him, with toffees at first, which were followed by unapproving stares and later, when it became a bit too much, with "genteel scoldings"... tools so commonly used by moms to rein in their children. But all this, to no avail. The kid was confident that in public, he had immunity from any severe punishment at the hands of his mother, and after the dust settles and they reach home...c'mon...mom cant be that bad :). The poor lady, one could easily see the exasperation growing on her face, as she grappled with all the mess created, and at the same time, tried to keep the kid from applying his unbounded energy in more creative ways. The situation looked hopeless. But at that moment, just when the mother was probably on the verge of giving up, a policeman entered the coach, full with a rotund belly and big unkempt moustaches.

"One last try", she must have thought.

"Tumne dekha tha na tv pe police uncle kaise pitti kar rahe the. agar ab tumne shaitani ki to main police uncle se bolke tumhari bhi waisi hi pitti karaoongi".

...As the policeman passed by me, I thought I saw a faint smile on his face. Probably it was because he understood the taunt hidden in that sentence. Or probably it was just that meaningless smile that we tend to carry, blissfully unaware of the plight of the world around us. Or he might even have felt proud of the fact that people had such a fear of the police. I cannot be sure about that...but one thing was there for everyone to see. That moment onwards, the child was absolutely quite...That kid, all of 4 years, knew that police uncle could do pitti, do it pretty badly, do it in full public view, and do it without any reason at all.

Now thats what I call image building. :)