The L.A. Diaries-1

Come February and it is time for the Budget sessions of the Legislatures in the country. The LA in the title of the post means the Legislative Assembly and not Los Angeles where I’d have preferred to go instead of spending almost a month and half attending the Assembly sessions. I have been going to the Assembly on and off since 2007 but since the past two years it has become a regular feature. Except for the government blokes like me who are assigned duty there, everyone else seems pretty excited to be there, more so the cops. This time there seemed to be more cops than all legislators, media people, and officials put together. I would say there were about five cops for each civilian there.

So, with nothing much and nothing better to do than watch the people around me I decided to concentrate on the cops. One cannot do anything else when one is surrounded by cops of all types on all sides. They were everywhere more so in the canteen. There were the SPF (Special Protection Force) cops at the exits and entrances, the regular uniformed cops of Hyderabad City Police inside, and even the traffic cops in their whites. There were the gunmen of the legislators with their pistols, carbines, sten guns swarming all over the place especially the canteen. There were even the NSG commandoes. Most of the cops had walkie talkies in their hands and went around importantly appearing busy.

But most of the cops, especially the gunmen have nothing to do except hang around. They lounge around in the cars of their legislators or Ministers until the sessions are over. Almost all the cops do little except watch people or crack jokes among themselves which is one side others rarely get to see. Not only the Ministers and legislators other top cops too have their own gun men. Some of the really top cops have a guard or two following them. And the bigger the cop, larger the entourage. The other day I saw one such guard holding the big cops’ baton and mobile phone leading the way, brushing aside others like the top cop can’t find his way around.

I’ve begun to feel jealous of these cops especially the gunmen because they do not have anything to do. In contrast, attending the sessions is putting me under a lot of strain. I have to leave home early and sit through the sessions which are, frankly, terribly boring sometimes. Then I have to get back to the office and stay late in case there’s a question posted that we have to give an answer right away. It has thrown my entire routine into disarray affecting my social and family life. The sessions stretch right upto the end of March, the same month when my kid would be writing his annual exams. I like to be around to help him in his preparation but this time I guess he has to go it alone. Such are the things some of us blokes in the government have to go through.