The Chennai Traffic Police man : Blog # 246

The Chennai Traffic Police man

On many a hot tiring Chennai summer days, a traffic police man at the junction near my office have brought a smile to my face. Embarrassed by my spontaneous smile at a random place, I look around only to see many other people smiling too. I am not sure if this police man is aware of the influence he has not only on the direction of traffic but on people’s lives too.

 I work at Infosys in Chennai. At Sholinganallur junction in Chennai, there is a traffic police who does his work with all the passion one can ever wish to have. This is one of the busier junctions at Chennai. When the light turns green, our police anna waves off cars as if he were flagging off an F1 race. When he has to direct vehicles from multiple directions, he does it in a jovial way many a time with a few dance steps. You should see the way he uses his traffic wand. I could have never imagined one could direct traffic in such a fun and gracious way.

 In between all this, he doesn’t forget to gently scold the two wheelers who are in too much of a rush to cross the signal. At all the times when I have seen him gently rebuking a driver, the person who is listening to him does so with a smile. How many police men have you seen who can evoke such a reaction from a citizen? The usual perception of police officers is that of an uptight unapproachable law enforcer,not that of a law and order citizen-partner.Our Mr.Kumar is exactly that, a citizen-partner. He does this every day, at every shift – be in blazing sun (which is about 11.5 months in Chennai) or in rain.

This person is a classic example of how we should work with passion and why should we do so. I hear from many people as to how tiring it is to be a policeman. Worse is the case of a traffic police, now with the added menace of pollution that they have to endure. It is a very physically exacting job. In spite of all this our police anna managed to do his job with much enthusiasm and such passion. I really would want to know as to what he tells himself when he starts his day at work. Now let us look at the why part of it. Knowingly or unknowingly, he is inspiring a handful of people every single day. I remember lamenting to my friend Vivek on the way to office one day as to how hectic work had become. Then we see our police anna at the signal and Vivek looks at me and asks “What was your excuse again”?He is a thorough gentle man too.Once, one of my lady colleagues asked him for a picture. As soon as he got a moment's respite from his duty,he obliged.

We all have big dreams and great aspirations. We think if we achieve all those, we will attain a position high enough to inspire our fellow beings. This police anna tells us that all one needs to do to inspire people is to do our job with a smile. Who would have guessed inspiring people is so simple, right?

p.s Sujith Peter, one of our senior HR leaders did a photo essay on him. This picture is from his Facebook post. I am sure he wouldn’t mind . Thanks to Social media’s growing prowess, after this post, ADGP Mr.Shylendra Babu has taken time out to felicitate our Police anna, Mr. Kumar. For those among us who don’t believe in ‘Karmanye Vadhikarasthu Ma Phaleshu kadachana’(read materialistic;) ) sooner or later, our efforts will be rewarded. Let us keep continue doing good work and make this world a better place.

Arun Babu 

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