Got screwed in Chandigarh
This week got screwed in Chandigarh and that too by the city traffic cop! Taking your car to Chandigarh has become a big headache. The traffic cops have there eyes set on Himachal registered cars. From the moment I crossed into Chandigarh at the railway station crossing I was flagged to stop four times and all my papers were checked and rechecked again.
God knows what they were looking at! Finally at the PGI crossing, this cop, it seemed had made up his mind and once I stopped the car, plainly told me that my wife was not wearing the seat belt. Swearing under my breath, I asked him to look again. She wore it just now he told me. It was news to me as we both had been wearing the seat belt right from Shimla.
Another cop had the guts to tell me le-de kar khatam karlo. which really pi$$ed me off. I was damn furious. First of all, I was not at fault and then these guys were asking for a bribe. I asked him to prepare a challan and the cop looked at me bewildered as if asking what sort of fool was he talking to. I went to the Sector 29 office and paid the challan amount. Even the clerk, there told me – le dekar kam khatam kra dena si. One can guess how well oiled the machinery is..!!
I wonder how in Himachal we guys are so hospitable to the people coming here as our guests. The police in Himachal is accommodating to the tourists and makes it a point not to harass them. On the other hand it is quite the opposite in Chandigarh especially to the Himachal drivers. A million dollar light appears on there face as soon as they see a HP numbered car with the crooked grin.
Being a center for education and medical facilities and now recently having come up as an IT destination, Chandigarh is the most visited place by Himachalis. If this is the way people from Himachal are going to be treated in Chandigarh, then one day there could be some serious backlash.
As such Chandigarh as a city is inhabited by the retired.. doling out living from the govt pension funds and their children having moved to Delhi or far away. The city has no vibrancy and it is where the cops come in for the kill. Probably they also know they won’t get anything from the city oldies and look for the Himachalis to make a fast buck.
The least I had this satisfaction that I did not gave into the demands of the cops and bribed them.
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