My Passport

Suriyawan, Police Station, 11th March

I reached the police station at 08:40 , parked my bike glancing the office & surroundings. I came near main entrance and dialled the no. Of SP , " the subscriber you've dialled is out of coverage area." , I heard. As it was a BSNL no. , I understood and waited for 2 minutes. Again I redailled, the ring began, after 4 rings.

SP:- Hello !

Me:- Good morning Sir, This is Akhilesh Maurya, speaking from Suriyawan Police station.

SP:- Sorry who is this?

Me:- Sir I am an applicant of passport, have come here for police verification. But they are asking me for money . They said if you don't pay, your file would be cancelled.

SP:- who the hell is there, just make me talk with him.

I noticed everywhere, and got a man around 6 feet in hight, more wide than usual , in lungi and vest near the stairs. I headed towards him and asked him, " Excuse me uncle."
He looked at me, our eyes met, and he was nothing but that Munshi.

Let me tell you here call is on hold and everything was being so fast.

Me:- Arey Pranam Sir! Aapke liye ek phone hai bat kar lijiye. (There's a call for you, just talk with him.)

He with one leg on second step and another on first step of stair case,looked at me and threw a tantrum look.

Munshi(in low voice):- who was there on call?

Me:- Sir, aap hi dekh lijiye kaun hai.( Sir you check it who is there.)

Munshi(with anger) :- just come up. I'm going to take bath. I can't talk now.

I was really feeling dread to go up and thought why is he calling me there . But instantly I recollected myself and soothing my inner fear murmured to myself, " Beta akhilesh, why to fear when MAURYA is here, just go up."

SP sir was listening everything calmly, and suddenly he hanged the call.

I followed him and went up on 1st floor. He called me into his abode room. I entered , he offered me a chair and said, " sit !"

On first floor of building(abode rooms of police personnel)

Munshi:- So who was the on call ?

Me:- SP Sir was there.

Munshi(politely):- Why did you call him son ?

Me:- I'm not going to pay which you asked
,that's why I called him to complete my verification free of cost.

Munshi:- Arey beta, you didn't need to call him, I had told you yesterday na, that come tomorrow,your verification will be done.

Me(correcting him):- Sir, you hadn't called me for today. It was I , who told you that I'll come tomorrow for the verification.

Munshi moved towards his cupboard, took out a packet of Good day biscuit and offered me with a bottle of chilled water.

I denied for it at first but later remembered that I'm an engineering student, being the same, I can't resist my self from eating stuffs. So I finished it as soon as possible.

All of a sudden his Lenovo K3 note began to ring in this tone.........."shree guru charan saroj raj, niz man mukut sudhar......."

"Pranam Sir! ", he spoke on call.
" Yes Sir, taking bath I'm just coming down." He told.

(Actually the person who had called him was, PI )

The moment he hanged the call my HTC rang.

"Hello, who is there ? " , I asked on call.

" Akhilesh Maurya se bat kar rhe hai na hum?", he asked.
( "Am I talking with Akhilesh Maurya?" , he asked.)

"Yes , who is this? ", I replied.

"I'm Pannalal Prajapati, calling you from Suriyayawa Police station, where are you ? you had visited here before some time na, Just come fast , PI Sir wants to meet you. " , he said.

" I'm here on the first floor, wait I'm coming down. ", I responded.

He(Munshi) wore his shirt and said, " let's go down, Sir is calling us. "

I nodded and followed him to get down.

We came down to the office, a constable gestured us to outside the office. When we came out, saw the crowd of 8-10 constable and some common people standing around a table .

Looking at me a constable asked, "You are Akhilesh? "

"Yes", I said.

He gestured me to the centr of crowd. I moved ahead and saw the PI ,who was sitting on a chair in dabang style with his hip on the verge of chair's corner and legs were spread.

I came forward and stood in front of him.

" From which village you are, beta? " , he asked.

"Makanpur", I replied.

" Passport banwa rahe ho, Videsh kamane jana hai ?" , he asked.
(" you are getting your passport, are you going abroad to earn?", he asked.)

"No, Sir", I said.

"Tab kahe banwa rhe ho? " , he asked me again.

"I wanna go abroad for my honeymoon after my marriage . And I'm well aware of the police verification problems as I'm facing it now. I think I wouldn't have much time to roam around the police station after my degree, that's why I thought to get it now only. That's it." I told him and took a deep breath.

"Oooh, so why did you call SP Sir? " , he asked me.

"Your constable and Munshi was asking me for money, that's why I did." , I responded.

He threw a tantrum look at Munshi and asked me, " who was the constable?"

I gestured to that constable and said, " he was. "

PI called them both( Munshi and Constable) in front of him and upbraided them.

Finally he signed on my file and documents and said to me, " you can now visit to SP office Gyanpur for further verification. Your file will be sent there via email"

I thanked him and headed towards the parking, all I observed there is that everyone was looking at me with their mouth opened, I felt myself like a hero .

I returned to my home . As next day was Sunday, so I decided to visit Gyanpur on Monday.