Messe Thimmaiah......

Dont think that many of us would know the man in picture. Well he is Messe Thimmaiah. He was a traffic policeman, who used to stand at GPO signal (in Bangalore). While on duty he was run over by a overspeeding vehicle and he died on spot. This was somewhere during sept 97. Quite long time back actually.

But when I do ask some oldies of Bangalore, they tell me that they quite remember this guy. He was a commanding personality, smiling and helping poeple to cross the road and all that stuff.

I heard about him on some quiz on radio city and was really toched on hearing his story. I thought everyone should know about him. It took me quite an effort to get his picture. That is another story all together. Can write a full blog on it.
I was so touched by his story that I even went and interviewed couple of traffic policeman. It sounds little crazy, but I do believe that traffic police'ing is one of the worst jobs in Bangalore. And I just wanted to take a peek in to the life of traffic policeman. (I am putting the interview of the traffic policeman in the next blog).

This fellow whom I interviewed was estatic with the fact that someone wanted to talk to him. I guess it makes a huge difference if you just spend couple of minutes and talk to someone about them.


All thanks to Lohith for making this all possible. First to find me the picture, and then to act as a kannada translator.

Interview with Traffic policeman

How long have you been working as a traffic police man?
I joined in 1979, and have been working ever since. After 19 years got promoted from constable to head constable.

How does the hierarchy go in the department?
It goes something like this, constable, head constable, sub inspector, inspector, and so on.

What are the working hours?
Generally there are two shifts 7am to 2pm and 2pm to 10 pm. The shifts keep changing.

How are the positions assinged?
Positions keep changing weekly. It does not matter which positions we work. more traffic or less traffic is the same. We have to work nevertheless. Even when rajkumar died, we had to work. We cannot escape.

Why did you join traffic police?
Not really by choice, there was the advertisement in newspaper, and i went for the interview and joined the job.

How many holidays that you get?
Generally we have to work seven days a week. Even the ragpickers get off on sunday but we do not get off. But we get around 60 days off. But the bad thing is that you dont get off when you want to. It is really subject to approval.

Are you happy with the job?
Pay is very less, after almost 26 years of service I earn around only 11k. Even the security guy in accenture gets around 10k with all the additional benefits of PF and all. Here no benefits. Initially when I joined I used to get a 250 rupees and now I get around 500.

Regarding job satifaction?
We cannot spend lot of time with family. the workign hours keep extending. Even though we get official off at 2pm, but that is not always the case. It takes quite long to get a promotion. when i joined one thousand people joined. and each year 100 people get promoted. But I am proud of the job that I am doing public service. and I am happy that I can manage my family and parents.

What about your kids?
I have a son and daughter. Son just cleared his 10th with distinction and he got some merit seat in shesadripuram college. My son had asked me to get whatever he wants if he gets good marks, but I feel sad that I cannot afford that much.

Where are you from?
Karwar but have been in bangalore for a long time

When asked about the best and worst times of job?
Not anything, everything is the same, we have to come and stand here irrespective of anything. When ministers come and all our time is extended. We have to work more for their security. Our heads just ask us to work without checking our personal commitments.

PS1:There was lot of sparkle in eyes when he said about his kids
PS2:I have also actually made quite a nice friends with this guy (name undisclosed at his request)

Parachute Jumping

When travelling back from delhi, last week, i was reading one of the supplements which was talking about Shital Mahajan.

From what little I read, she is from pune and she has taken a parachute jump over the Geographic North Pole on 18th April, 2004, from 2400 feet, in minus 37 degree celsius, temperature condition. Further she is planning to take a jump over south pole in antartica.

I always wonder, how do people get such off beat ideas about their careers and then they have the guts and determination to follow them. Growing up, I guess my most'est Weird'est idea about my future was nowhere close to it.

Hats off ......

You can read
Pune times report
She has a link to her home page as well, but now it is not working

Hand to hold.....

Another attempt at poetry,

Running for the bus,
Running for the train,
Rushing all the time,
For I have a lot to gain,

But One day when I paused
Too tired to run anymore,
Found myself standing naked,
Tired, weak, cold and sore.

In a hurry to reach somewhere,
Left some behind, some went ahead,
For some had no time to spare,
Some had even from memory fled,

Life is short, move on they told,
But now I wish, had a hand to hold.