ridiculous incident on the street

it was most appropriate that it was as i was watching a monty python film on tv at 9 in evening or so that the absurdity of bureaucracy reared its ugly head right in the middle of the ‘ministry of silly walks’. a police man stood at the doorway asking me why i ran over a man and did not take him to a doctor on the 16^th of this month. naturally i was aghast at such an accusation. now for the flashback.

i was taking a right turn onto s v road form the highway when a man accelerated to go straight from the right lane (the lane from where one is supposed to go right) the big bulky tight t shirt clad marathi man with his wife in tow also had huge diamond earrings on and was driving a badly beat up fancy honda civic. as a result of his uncalled for acceleration the front of his car nicked the back of mine. a gentle nick- happens in bombay all the time. as it was definitely not my fault and because i was in no mood to make a scene i decided to go back home.

but the man decided that in the alternative universe that he inhabited i was to blame. the smell of alcohol that emanated form him confirmed his delusional state. he followed me to the entrance of my lane.

an altercation ensued during which he stole my cell phone from the car, people gathered around, told him to take it easy, got back my phone and cajoled him to chill as he was drunk. the man insisted on taking this forward.

at the local police chowky he came late and i had already spoken to the local policeman. he told us to go to the main police station to settle the issue. when i arrived there it was undergoing reconstruction. i waited for a while until the man arrived and then bored i waved my hand and said bye.

seething, when i got home, i had a feeling that this was not the end of the story. and true enough it was not.

what is amazing to me is the fact that his complaint was actually taken seriously. i went to the police station to give a statement and it appeared that the policeman in charge had pre-decided that i was the guilty one. the interrogation was a joke as there was absolutely no reason for me to speak. i was told that i was in the wrong lane when the fact that i was most definitely not and that the other guy was, besides being drunk was frustrating. the whole situation was totally suspect. i had to pay a fine at the end. an official one.

the absurdities of bureaucracy mean that it only takes someone to complain and then you are guilty no matter what the “facts” are. sonal said it feels like a kafka novel.