Blurtings of Bystander

People read newspapers as a force of habit or to pick out topics for friendly discussions or to get annoyed and vent anger at unreachable corporate and individual entrepreneurs. Roughly the last type boils down to an armchair voice in silent protest. In the cacophony of today’s hustle and bustle, the armchair voice happily falls on deaf ears. Yet, the voice continues to howl. Bystander prided himself to fall in this category and kept pouring out his thoughts on subjects he had opinions.

In his opinion the hectic activity to add high rise buildings only increased the density of concrete jungle elbowing out the real ones for space. With every high rise becoming a mini town, ship loads of coal is burnt to feed its hunger for electricity. In one stroke these ventures manage to raise pollution levels in two or more distant places – the auto exhaust of the ‘mini city dwellers’ and the power plants consuming coal along with the linked coal producer.

The automakers entice people to drive away and enjoy the lush green nature in their diesel gulping SUVs. Is this not an invitation to pollute the natural surroundings and in the streets of the city from which these SUV owners leave for outing? The collusion between the Financiers and Automakers to lure customers with EMIs and the apathy of state governments to pay attention to improve public transportation is only helping the faster degeneration of the atmosphere. To keep their conscience clean the builders might even be prepared to point out the long term effect of pollution on the roads compared to the short duration dust storm they are raising. Probably, they feel secure among the big fishes in Auto Industry and go on building sky scrapers, thinking ‘the dust will settle down soon, somewhere else!

Becoming annoyed with no visible action, Bystander took on the high and mighty asking, “Why the green tribunal and the pollution control boards are keeping quiet without raising its own dust storms? Why these entities and individuals are allowed to go on generating particulate pollution, carbon dioxide and other noxious gaseous enrichment? The guardians of environment and forests strangely remain occupied with other weighty causes rather than the assigned responsibilities while under their very noses environmental havoc, including puncturing the ozone layer is taking place? Why this ominous silence did not bother the public?  Are the NGOs, satisfied with the quantum of exposure in the media, diverting their energies to other channels”?

Bystander silently appealed to any fertile mind, in one of the department of the government, to conjure up this fitting countermeasure – ban air- conditioners in all the 4 wheeler. This will have a sobering effect on the owners of automobiles - they have to roll down the windows only to get the taste of their own medicine – polluted air instead of fresh air!

Surge pricing irked certain governments to serve an ultimatum – fall in line or else. But these governments have not even lifted its little finger daring auto-wallahs fleecing the hapless passengers.  Did these governments try to find out the reason for cab aggregators resorting to such trade practices? If they  had done  so the reasons would have become clearer like graffiti on the wall – less competition , poor public transportation network , absence of dynamic planning and atrocious traffic snarls on any lane, by lane or road. The government in its wisdom might have thought it is easier to issue diktats than improving facilities. Bystander wondered why the only the cab aggregators and not the autos that ply with astronomical fares at any time of the day?  Probably the cab aggregators did not have enough street sense in driving by “App” through the corridors of power!

Bystander was piqued by the sky-high fares demanded by auto-wallahs, at any time of the day. He got so irritated hearing their woes for such a demand. This imaginary lot comes up with reasons such as hike in oil or CNG price, another fare may not available, enhanced insurance premiums and so on. They don’t reduce the fare when the prices go down or explain the need to collect the enhanced premium in every single trip! One thing they do not do is to agree for a fare as per the so called calibrated and mandated ‘meter’. They invariably complain that the ‘meter’ fare is not fair and economical for them! Is this not a collective fleece pricing?

The Corporations can, at least now swing in to action and declare auto stands illegal and seize the offending vehicles. This will have beneficial effects: More autos will be on the roads, instead of idling in the stand, competing to get a trip. Fares will automatically come down to legal limits as the auto meters will come out of their ornamental hibernation to the rescue of anxious passengers. To give teeth to this initiative, respective state governments can enact suitable legislation that bars vehicles used for public transportation from sporting party symbols or colours or icons of choice. If this happens, the traffic cops who have to turn their collective Nelson's eye away from the autos, that do not ply by the meter, need not fear the impact of the party flags painted on them.

He was bamboozled by another news item from a different genre - Kumbhmelas. Gurus with international following, enticing their devotees to follow suit and congregate on the banks of rivers. If their purpose would have been purification of souls at least they could have refrained from polluting the ‘holy’ rivers by avoiding ‘holy dips’ of thousands of devotees. The devotees on their part at least should have realised that ‘holy dips’ and purification of souls happen not necessarily at these melas. They endure unwarranted hardships and in the midst of it all, the Guru says “I am here and will take care take care” and deem it as a divine deliverance.

If only they had recollected their ordeals and survivals prior or during the averment of the Guru, they would have understood ‘I will take care’ may simply mean ‘have a good day’, which most of us say with or without really meaning it, or like the doctors assuring ‘we will take care’! These congregations reminded him of the story of the Pied Piper!

The devotees having experienced ‘the miracle’ do not want to let go and keep busy for days to share the miracle-facet of their Gurus to believers and skeptics alike. Perhaps this gives them a chance to develop detachment from this earthly life without even thinking about the attachment they are developing to this or that jet-set Guru. They don’t even pause to ask why the target audiences belong to different faiths and cultural backgrounds. Or about the obvious – the ‘disenchantment with their establishments and disillusionment with their ways of life’ might be the reasons rather than the thirst to master the tenets of a religion foreign to them’ do not occur to these devotees anyways. The pontiffs’ discourses on T V even give rise to doubts whether the pontiffs themselves have understood this ‘foreign angle’. Do they realise that they are initiating a subtle form of domestic violence in many households?

Bystander spent considerable time in finding out an answer to these questions: “If mass spiritual cleaning is required why not adopt garbage choked lakes and save their souls from destruction. Why these jet-set Gurus and their million of followers do not embark on ‘swasth melas’ in the unhygienic wards of Public hospitals or in the slums alongside the railway tracks? Whether such an act can be deemed as a process to purify the souls and to liberate them from the cycle of karma”?

Patiently, waiting for an oracle Bystander started gazing at the passing summer clouds. May be the miracle Gurus are teaming up to bless the snow white clouds to start raining!

The Ghost walk

Shocks are of many types. Mental and physical with sub- divisions like mild, medium and heavy.The cultural shock belongs to the mental variety and the epicenter for which lies in language, custom and gen-gap. The shock from this epicenter could turn out to be a slip in the palette, rise in blood sugar or pressure level and rocks only those with rheological difference in flow of thoughts. The rheology is self made and the cause for this is the confusion existing in the mind between yesterdays and today.

This ghost, waiting to take a walk in the park decides to come out and enjoy a day out. Being a ghost niceties or etiquette did not apply to it ; also the concern about the wake of feelings its trawling would leave.It  has a past and is happy to relive the same on a perpetual re-run. During these re-runs logic and common sense are consigned to the back seat, in adjacent rows.

The first step the ghost took was in the direction of relaxation techniques. If it had left it at that, it would have been fine, but the ghost complicated the matter by comparing the meaning of relaxation as known to it and being planned by the present generation. It had a strong opinion – “those who had time to kill did it with others patience, without feeling guilt”. This stirred the anger even in its heart of stone.

The second step brought it to the doors of friendship, getting confused a little, with the past and the present day ambiance of friendship. The ghost had no time either to enjoy or imbibe the atmosphere, then or now! With that mind set it landed itself in a predicament: to understand what is going on in the name of friendship among the youngsters.

The third step was into a get-together. The far away travel, eating out of a printed menu under a soft light called ‘a good ambiance’, juxtaposing it with plates filled with variety objects, jostling for eating space with the accompaniment of non- stop chatter were all beyond its jaded brain. Though, it did not fail to experience the food and chatter – rank indigestible. For the revellers, it was comfortable as custom demanded it!

The fourth step led to functions. The event, arrangements and the invited gathering made the ghost to feel like an alien. Even the compulsion to attend such functions lacked conviction and it felt like a soul out of spirit world.

The fifth step came crashing on the lack of time sense, urgency or giving a feedback.  Somehow, the ghost was not comfortable with today’s euphemism that no information is itself a positive development. It started to wonder about the direction in which the present generation was travelling. Though outwardly appearing to live in a chaotic environment, how do they manage to remain nonplussed!

The sixth step fell on the tidiness in and around the living place called den. Ghost knew only about the lion's den and fearing for dear life never went anywhere near that animal’s living quarters. It got the same feeling, after one such close encounter at home, when in the vicinity of such a place (son &daughter's den).

The seventh step came down heavily on the over dependence on electronic gadgets and Google. The mere sight of these gadgets raised goose pimples on its non-existent physical form. It had not used anything as modern as a digital or a mariner’s watch in its life time.

The eighth step sounded weary in its ears as it was bringing it closer to the din called DJ music accompanied with psychedelic lighting and purposeless swaying of humanoids in the name of dance. Its footfalls never even left a whisper and ear drums never came in contact with bone jarring music.

The ninth step took the ghost brought it into a shopping mall. The fashion wears and the wearers frightened the day light out of it. Aesthetics have been remodeled and the new in-thing appeared to be anything goes with anybody - dress wise. The world has not only shrunk into a global village but while doing so it had spawned chic, ethnic and uni-dresses just large enough to include a brand label. In its heydays, Synthetic materials were expensive and given second preference. With abundant material availability today, why people go for tights on oddly shaped bodies. Don't they ever look at themselves in a mirror? These two doubts zoomed past its brainless head.

The tenth , tired step brought the ghost to an eatery in the mall, where the people it had met during its ninth step indulged in gluttonous spooning of fat-friendly fast-food. It wondered why hurry so much, to attack plates of fast-food? What happened to those traditional food varieties? Don't these eaters know that calorie rich food is going to make a medical practitioner rich, some time in the future? How they hope to get in to those body hugging dresses, they have just purchased?

Having seen it all, the ghost did not become in anyway wizened but rather aghast. Spending free time without thinking about another's pressing works, filing it away to only to forget commitments given and being selfish in the garb of apparent selflessness only made the ghost to twist and turn in agonising thoughts of what is righteousness and what is not? What is in and what is not?

These heavy thoughts made the ghost to sit on a bench under a tree. The leaves trying to filter the sunlight and the sun rays dodging to find the gaps to escape and the wind joining hands with the leaves – it was a power play of nature using the essential elements of life. Outwardly all of them appeared unconnected but intrinsically each one of them had a part of nature and were willing to come together to celebrate nature.

The ghost thought over the fact that not all the plants bearing exotic and fragrant flowers are themselves fragrant. May be there are exceptions!  With these inspirations bringing it closer to reality, the ghost retraced the ten steps, dismissing its agoraphobic and misanthropic tendencies and withdrew in to its own world.

Behind the counter deals

If the title smells of something like an unlawful or illegal transaction it could be only in your imagination. This narrative is about the traumatic experience of accompanying my family members on a shopping trip. The only consideration shown to me was the offer to handle the swiping of credit and debit cards at the cash counter. To keep my team spirit up, they elected me as their baggage bearer.

The family always travels in comfort and a call taxi was already waiting to take us all to the shopping area. They always chose that place as it had every conceivable thing on offer and on each one of these trips; I mentally cringe at the thought of my bank balance doing a parachute jump. The creaking sounds from my mental gears must have disturbed their animated conversation about fashion jewelries. They directed 1000W glares on at my head to roast out the stray thoughts and continued as if nothing had happened. At that point, I stopped thinking like a camera shutter.

In all, we climbed the stairs and took the lifts in four different jewelry shops. To me these appeared like a stage set for the shooting of a street scene, with milling crowd at the sales counters and cash counters. In this melee I lost headcount of my family now and then but the heads were very busy to notice my trailing. After considerable time, they came out without buying anything. Surprise number one puzzled me a bit!

The next two hours, I spent in getting the feel of textiles and gathered information on spinning and weaving techniques to kill time.  During these two hours, countless saris were taken out, spread on the counter, refolded and stacked. If the colour was appealing, pallu was not; if design was enchanting the colour was not; if all were passable it had the wrong price tag! Honestly speaking,I have never stayed for more than 10 minutes inside a cloth shop including the few minutes spent at the cash counter.

During the wait period I heard the family reeling off “Kanchi, Dhramavaram, Arni, Pochampalli, kashmiri, Mysore, Kota, Bengal” and other household names at the counters leaving the salesmen crying without recourse to kerchiefs. Similar exercise was repeated in the selection of ready- made dresses for ladies.  As an afterthought they invited me to select something for my daily wear, in the men’s section.

Surprise number two numbed me into inaction for two reasons: in my usage daily wear means inner clothing and to buy that a whole family need not go shopping; I don’t wear ready-mades!

When this late wisdom dawned upon them, they trooped into the floor holding a collection of pant and shirt clothes. Here they unilaterally selected colours I normally avoid. My dislike was written large on my face and this made them to stick with their selection. As a quid pro quo , they allowed me to have a go at the children’s wear and  select a few items of my choice with their grumblings in attendance. An icing on the cake?

Surprise number three was waiting on the pavement shops – they spent equally ample time gazing at the wares but bought variety of things and clothes, not before the formalities like hectic haggling and heated discussions with the vendors or among themselves.

Having exhausted their energy and my patience, they searched for a good eatery to replenish their lost vigour. The billing machine might have heaved a sigh in relief when it finished the printing of the bill.

The best of all was the surprise number four – I did not know that my family could single handedly cause a famine of sorts at short notice; I do not know how they could appear so satisfied after buying things from hawkers.

I got the answers on the way back home. At the jewellers they were only interested in getting to know the latest trends; at the clothe shops the idea was to check out some tall claims made by their friends and at the same time look for something new; shopping on my behalf was a face saving measure ‘from whom?” I could not guess; the eatery was their main aim and the pavement shopping a time pass!

Before getting down from the taxi they collectively said, “Our behind the counter shopping saved you lot of money and the incentive for that was the pavement shopping followed by the visit to the eatery”

They left me to settle the taxi fare and to worry about the depleted bank balance.

The Domestic violence

An act performed with intense intent is violence. The sole aim of the perpetrator is to gain the upper hand and the situation resembles a hand to hand combat. In this combat the loser is always a weaker opponent physically or mentally or both. The perpetrator is a doted kid and the losers are the parents and grandparents!

Gone are the days when children obeyed parents and elders. Those were the normal kids and within the then prevailing environment did their best to behave. Today, a new generation of parents and children have come in to picture. The techie parents and ‘put up with’ the gadget kids have a logic of their own which frightens the elders, who were docile kids, once upon a time.

The gadget kid takes everything for granted – handling toys, electronic gadgets and optical instruments belonging to others too. The kid's geographical knowledge is so phenomenal; it just needs only one visit to a friend's house, accompanied by parents of course. The kid simply sweeps everything aside to open a chest of drawers and pull out all the items of interest for subsequent endurance testing. The hosts stand transfixed at the ferocity with which their dear possessions are being pulled out. The parents stand wondering whether to chide the child or to go instantly invisible.

The mayhem continues without any break, while none of the elders gather enough courage to tell this gadget kid that enough damage has already been done. A broken toy or a Smartphone screen inflicted with  scratch wounds was  not enough to satisfy the kid’s bravado . The parents have firsthand experience of what this ‘enough’ will throw up – a high pitched  siren and nerve wracking tantrum , the combination being worse than a loss of face in a friend's house. Unaware of this potential trouble, the hosts try to gently remind the gadget kid to show a little restraint.

The kid starts to fashion a skating roller out of an imported LED lamp. The was beyond the “enough” for an elderly person trying to remain calm all through this .He looked  at the kid and said, “ Enough. Is this how you play at home?”

That was the trigger to set the siren and the tantrum going, making the hosts to see ghosts on the walls with a promise that the worse was yet to come. To play the part of perfect hosts, they swallow their pride and acknowledge, outwardly, that the gadget kid is super intelligent like almost all the kids nowadays. They mumble in unison, that such fertile mind needs to be kept fully engaged. The unspoken thought ‘Oh! What a monster of a kid' remained unsaid for the sake of a friendship.

The elderly person sat thinking after the storm had moved away from the house: Why the parents fail to show the kid its proper place? Why they give in so easily to the demands of the kid? Do they realize, in the future, their ward might develop intolerance of egomaniacal proportions? Don't they care or do not have the energy resources to set things in proper perspective? Is this the price extracted by MNCs as a quid pro quo for lucrative jobs? What makes them to endure – fickle health of the child or any other compelling psychological or physiological reason?

Why the hosts keep quite; for the fear of straining the friendship? Why they do not make the kid to understand, gently of course, that freedom comes with defined boundaries? Why do they not tell the kid tantrums hurt every one? Do they fear to accept the fact that they only encouraged the kid to evolve into a menace and a monster?

The elderly person continued thinking : Is it because they have a better understanding of today’s kids and are optimistic that as the kid grows up these things will be left behind? Are they not failing, as a friend, in not telling the parents to begin grooming the child a little better? Do they also anticipate a re-enactment, at a future date, and hence keep silence?

Finally the elderly person thought about an old hat, like him, may not be comfortable in the company of such kids but has to put up with the incorrigible, if at all, to maintain the pretense of flowing with the stream, at least for that moment! He could not appreciate the rate at which ‘child independence' is being granted or taken for granted.

Seeing all things ‘red’ might be the habit of old hats, and in modern homes there is no place for a coat stand!  To be at peace the old bag started to pack his luggage. But the thought remained : “When will this domestic violence end?" Whether he has lost faith on the present generation? He kept these thoughts to himself, for a simple reason; did not want to become a persona non grata, at any cost!

The retirement benefit - 2

After an active life, including the travel by overcrowded public transports or personal conveyance, a professional vacuum is created. By nature, vacuum draws everything inside but the professional vacuum is quite different. It throws out lot of free time, every day of the year now, equaling the time spent away from home during the office-goers’ busy life.

The thoroughbreds would have prepared an engagement schedule and they don’t get weighed down by the free time syndrome. Reemployment opportunities are explored, personal interest projects such as hobbies, community service or post-retirement studies are pursued. By keeping the professionally acquired skills alive and judiciously mixing it with their current avocation, they easily slot the free time for purposeful spending.

Friends and relatives never fail to ask this type, “Now that you have free time, how are you sending it? The polite answer will invariably be, “Actually I could do with little more time. I pursue hobbies and social work or am seriously engaged in my second innings as a professional or shuttling between sons and daughters residences, extending any small help they need”.

The middle of the course runners manage it by hurriedly charting out a plan of action.  They sort of test the waters before plunging into a life of continuing activity. This sandwich type spends a little time in envying the adaptability of the thoroughbreds and secretly yearning to join with the stragglers but ruing the lack of to do so! 

For the question “how are you managing now?”, the answer might be any one of these: “somehow I am managing right now ; but in the long run unless I start looking for a job or take to serious reading or choose some sort of a hobby, it is going to be tough. A stream of envy keeps running through their thoughts “how well Mr. X has planned for a retired life. Why it did not strike me at all?”

The stragglers or the old fashioned thermometers, look at free time in dismay only to huff and puff along trying to emulate the peers in the field. They come to the platform laden with luggage of past misses, self pity and lack of will to unshackle their potential. These sorts of people have spent most of their professional life without sticking to a game plan, constantly shrugging out of it like the mercury in the capillary tube. 

For the straggler, the forced free time weighs heavily on the mind. Friends and relatives offer no guidance as he had ignored them for long. The thought about not developing a healthy friendship circle starts to hurt, inhibiting personal approach. So far none of them have even enquired, “how are you now  or what are you doing? 

Whatever be the case, this retirement benefit is not only a monetary cushion but about earning the emotional wealth. The emotional wealth could be the satisfaction of doing something good or learning to change perceptions in the light of newer experiences.

Armchair Psychiatrist:

Finding useful things to do in leisure time is one thing and finding to do anything to spend idle time is another. Having exhausted the list of useful things, I was drawn into a vortex of identifying anything to do, useful to me or to others or not. I chose fruits which get filled in the fridge and forgotten like the slogan “fill it and forget it”. Bike riders who followed this admonishment did exactly the same thing or  is not known to me!

Pomegranate is a hard fruit to get at its soft pearls of taste.  While trying to part the rind, the pearls shoot off harmlessly but leaves a telltale mark of juice on the person or on  the mosaic floor, as if to make its mark. The question why nature has given it such a thick and difficult skin cover is a pertinent question. The grenade on the other hand is soft on the spelling but explodes shooting out shrapnel; injury and death are its mark.

The wily pomegranate fruit serves as a useful tool to study the mental makeup and attitude, in any house-hold. It is enough to give a person the task of separating the pearls from this fruit. The orderly way a person approaches the job indicates a patient and careful being. Little impatience and little mess left on the operation table places the person at the above average mark. The operation theater looking like a battlefield, torn rinds, dyed clothes and stained floor, tells the story of  the ‘not up to any mark person’.

The bunch of banana  is a different fruit altogether. The bunch is connected to the main umbilical by a arc type secondary umbilical. Individual fruit is in touch with the secondary by finger like third umbilical, which is unique for each fruit in the bunch.  From flower to birth a banana, it is cocooned in a veil. But for all these complications, it is easiest fruit to peel.

One who starts to peel it by twisting its head is the one to watch – the person is in a tearing hurry and as long as the peeling is done no care is shown about the wounds inflicted on the poor fruit. One who starts the process from the rear end of the fruit is little better – shows readiness to go about the work on hand without hurry.

The best peeler is the one, who holds the fruit head down, nips the rear knotty portion and then starts to peel the outer skin, strip by strip to expose the fruit as needed to eat it; strives to do everything in a proper fashion.

Psychiatrists ask questions and lot of them. Likewise the person on the couch may have a few. If your questions are: “Why this fruit analogy and what is your success rate (might be a cricket enthusiast!), in correctly analyzing a person and why do you do it?”

My answers, again based on analogy, will be:

“They don’t fret when I peel them layer by layer. Personally I am the one to prepare them, for my folks in a ready to eat condition!”

“The 2nd question you just now asked, itself speaks about my success rate”

“The last question is a bit philosophical but the answer will be practical: all who water gardens need not be enthused about the job; some do it for livelihood, some do it to show off and some as an activity to spend idle time. There is category you see!”

“The confused voice from the couch asks, to which category you belong!?”

“I will answer you but one condition that you don’t reveal this to anyone else, OK? I place myself in between the show off and idle time category”.
Wondering where it got in to, the confused voice from the couch fell silent.

“Will you help to … fruit?’ brought me up to the reality, of peeling fruits!

The walker’s woes and joy

  

 

 

 

Gone are the day’s when the walkers had the luxury of a paved foot path to amble along. Slowly this space became a restricted area with hawkers and two wheelers claiming right of occupation. The walkers, undaunted, started using the kerb sides of the road to commute. 

Their joy was living on borrowed times as the automobile population increased many folds – now sedans, hatch backs, hunch backs, SUVs and varieties of other 4 wheelers stood parked like Nandi in front of the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Siva. Unless you have a darshan of the Nandi walking and shopping are out of question.

In annoyance, the automobiles spewed soot laden   smoke from adulterated fuel or to vent anger at the speeding Simpsons were driving them mad. To announce their presence and to add to the noise pollution, every vehicle on the road leaves a wake of stereo music. If you wonder how the driver will attune himself to the horns of the following vehicle – the answer is simple, he can hear the music from the other vehicle loud and clear! Who has time to honk the horn every now and then?

At T junctions or plus junctions or blind left-handers or right-handers, the highways have the convention of providing speed breakers/bumps to rein in enthusiastic drivers from causing accidents. But this bump obviously had ignited the imagination of the drivers – they migrate to the left and bypass the bumps with a heart surgeon’s skill. But not before scaring the day light out of the hapless walkers, staying on the correct side of the road as per road user’s convention.

 

The zebra crossings become hunting grounds, when habitual red-light jumpers take to the roads. The penalty for their hits and misses is paid by the pedestrians.

The harried walker gets a rare chance, to enjoy the predicament of one such uncaring driver, once in a while. As is his wont, the errant driver parks at a “no parking” zone – the shop is nearby or why to search for a parking zone or why not I park the vehicle as per my convenience?

But there are traffic cops who don’t look upon these acts kindly and do something about it. It will certainly be a pleasure to watch the ‘drive by rule’ type, in action. Waiting to book a traffic violation, he happily attaches a ‘bracelet tackle’ on to the front wheel, sticks a paper on the windscreen and again retreats to a corner tea shop, to ambush another violator, unawares.

The errant driver comes back, takes in the situation, searches for the ‘jailer’ of his immobilized vehicle, in frustration and looks at his watch once in a second. The cop makes his leisurely appearance, takes his own sweet-revenge time to check vehicle’s papers and the driver’s license. The emotive pleading and bargaining, that ensues, is vividly mirrored on the face of the ‘no zone’ parker.

At this point, the offender becomes oblivious to the surroundings and fails to notice the walker imbibe the drama, from across the road. In the first place he filed to look at the no-parking sign and how can one expect him to pay attention to the surroundings!

After a lengthy discussion, the traffic violator understands that the cop is not going to relent and pays up the fine. The necklace-free car comes to life and moves away.

The walker moves on with a satisfied smirk of a smile on his face, feeling happy that an honest cop had at least booked one “no-parking” case to uphold the respect, the rules of the road deserves.