Police and the Value of Fame

Leaving Nagpur, we are searching for the road to Jabalpur. There is a bridge that leads to the highway, but the road to the bridge is closed. We look for a bypass despite the lack of signs. At some point, we are driving in the wrong direction of a one-way street.

We are stopped by a policeman and a small crowd has gathered. I show the policeman our papers and explain our journey from Kochi to Darjeeling. He asks for a license. Bennett is driving and he has none. I tell Bennett to get out of the rickshaw and fumble around pretending to look for his license. I buy time by explaining our charity mission to the policeman, trying to think of something. Meanwhile, a local keeps echoing license over the policeman’s shoulders and he asks Bennett again for the license.

I pull out my camera from the camera bag and ask if I could take a picture of the policeman with the rickshaw. He takes off his hat, straightens his hair, and poses proudly. Some of the locals join in and the atmosphere turns from serious to jovial. I snap their photo and show them the results on the LCD. Everyone is happy and the policeman laughs and tells Bennett to drive on. We get directions to the bypass to Jabalpur and we are once again on our way.

Posted at 08:00AM Jan 05, 2007 by D Bums Comments[0]