Government vegabonds..

Today, I had a bad experience with the traffic police officers again. This time, I felt I was really unfortunate for having bought a bike because I think I would have paid more than the cost of my bike as fine amounts to the cops. The traffic police in Chennai are so damn desperate that they are willing to do anything stupid with the public in order to squeeze the money out of people's pockets. There are police officers who stop those who are wearing helmets and have got all the proper vehicle documents just to scratch a piece of buck out of their wallets. This time also, I didn't do anything wrong. I received a call from one of my college friends and I had the time to bring the vehicle to a halt along the roadside and attended the call. After the conversation ended, I kept the mobile locked between my left ear and the helmet so that I can immediately attend the calls if I receive any. After a 2 minute ride, a traffic constable appeared in front of me and signed at me to bring the vehicle to him and that was exactly what I did. The mobile inside my helmet found exactly the wrong time to fall down and that was when fate turned its attention towards me. The constable asked me 'Talking over the phone while driving?'. I said I wasn't and I even gave him my mobile to check the information of the last call which I received from my friend. He checked the time and was pretty much convinced that I didn't go against the rules. But, what runs in him is the Indian Police blood. That made him argue with me and he put forth a question 'If you were not talking to anyone, then why the mobile phone inside your helmet was closer to your ear?' I don't know where I got the reason from. I quickly responded to him saying that my mobile phone's vibrator isn't working and that was the reason why I held the mobile closer to my ear in the helmet so that I would get to know as soon as someone calls me. He wasn't satisfied with the reason because it was not reason that he wanted. It was something else that he had his intentions upon. As an expert in dealing cops and talking to traffic constables, it was pretty easy for me to guess what was running on his mind. I went to the sergeant and explained to him the entire scenario. He understood that I wasn't using the mobile. But, once again, Indian Traffic Police. He wanted me to give what he expected. But, I was not prepared to be fined for a mistake I didn't commit. I kept arguing while the sergeant started filling up a form using the details he acquired from my license card. While he was busy doing this, I told him 'Sir I know I didn't cross the rules and even you do. Please don't waste a sheet of paper for sheer 50 bucks. I can pay that to you though I can't justify myself if I pay you the money. So, you can stop filling that form'. The guy appeared quite calm and replied 'No kid. Rules should be respected and you should be given a written record of what you have done' I asked him what I did. And once again I entered the world of explanation but the man, about 60, never seemed to loosen his end of the rope. Finally, I made call to one of my school friends who brought Rs.40 against Rs.500 which the cops demanded. When I handed over the 50 buck note to the sergeant, he was completely heated up and started venting his anger on me and not even my foot cared for that. Finally, he accepted the 'BRIBE' and threatened 'I'll make sure you get caught wherever you go in the city'. I replied 'You're welcome sir. You can catch hold of me if you find me really crossing the rules unlike what you just did now'. While I was about to leave, I told the constable who caught me 'Even you know I didn't use the mobile while riding'. He replied 'You should have been fined Rs.1, 100 as per the rule book'. I told him 'No rule book would say keeping the mobile closer to the ear while driving is wrong unless we use it to speak with someone or listen to music'. When he was retaliating, I left the place, leaving my foot to listen to his mouth!