Receipts

Here are few of my experiences with receipts of fine.

Seat Belt:

It was quite hot. Traffic was darn slow as well, moving at a pace of 20 kmph. Wearing a seat belt made no sense to me and I took it off. "In this city, who the hell catches anyways!" - I thought.

A traffic constable was standing at the road divider and controlling the traffic. He looked at a vehicle coming from my direction and directed the driver to pull up. "Who is the lucky chap" - I thought. As my car came near to him, it became evident that I am that lucky chap :). He pointed that as I am not wearing a seat belt, I need to handle him the license.

With no point arguing with him, I give him the license and parked the car and walked over to him.

"Sir, you were driving without a seat belt"

"Yeah, I know it was too slow anyways. So how much fine I have to pay"

"Sir you have to give 200 as the fine"

"But I heard it is 100"

"No Sir it has increased, now it is 200"

I had read on a website of Traffic Police that the fine for driving without seat belt is 100, so I knew this guy was cheating me.

"Yes sir, it is 200, but without receipt I can let you off with 100"

(O yeah!) "No no ... I would give 200, if you give me the receipt"

"Are you new here sir?"

"Yes, I don't drive on this road much"

"Ok sir, as you are new here, I would let you off with 100 and a receipt"

(LOL - ok!)

The guy wanted to keep the fine money for himself!

Dangerous Driving

It was enough in this 'city' and I really needed to move on with a new job. There were many openings and the consultants giving calls as well, so I had good hope. So when I got a call while I was driving, I couldn't help but take it, if only to tell her to call me 60 minutes later as 'I am driving'.

To my bad luck, as I was hanging up, a cop saw me and walked to the middle of the road, signalling me to stop.

The cop had a Khakhi uniform. I guess he was not a traffic constable, but then I am scared of all cops :).

"Sirr ... You were talking on the phone while driving ... that is dangerous driving!"

(dangerous?! well perhaps it is ) "Yes, I am so sorry, I was just hanging up"

"But Sirr you were driving dangerously. Fine sir ... 2000 Rs."

(2000 !!  iski ****)

"2000? That's the fine?"

"Yes sirr"

This was too much! None of the traffic fines were so high. I might have been convinced had he said 400 or so, but 2000?

"Sure, can I get receipt?"

...

silence for 3 seconds

"Sir, fine is 2000 ... You pay me"

"Sure boss, I would give you 2000 but first, I want to see the receipt"

"Sir are you new here?"

"Yes I am" - I lied.

"Ok sir, I would let you off in 500"

(*** GOTCHA! ***) 

"NO, I would pay you 2000 as that is the fine - if you give me the receipt"

"Sir, you give 500 and go"

"No, show me the receipt and take 2000!!" - I insisted

The guy was stunned by now, not knowing what to do ...

"Ok boss, here is 100, you take it" - I said

"No sir, it is very less"

"You are not giving me a receipt, but I have made a mistake. So you please keep it"

I gave him the note ... as he kept looking.

... And I drove off.

Perhaps I was wrong to pay anything to the khakhi uniform guy, but I am not that much aware of the system. In any case, I would suggest everyone to always ask for a receipt. And only after you have got the receipt, pay the fine.

The final one ---

 

Stupid Husband

I was in a hurry, and there was no traffic. The U-turn was prohibited, but I took it anyways. And I found a welcoming party - 4 traffic cops! One of them stood in middle of the road, smiled and asked me to pull over.

Then he talked to his colleagues, stopped others, talked with them ... as I stood outside with them. Wife was getting irritated waiting in the car. It was quite hot of course. Finally my turn came.

"Sir license"

Handed it over.

"Can I see the RC?"

Showed it

"Insurance"

F*** ... Didn't have it with me.

"Sir, fine for illegal U turn is 100 and for no insurance is 500"

"ok"

"Total would be 600"

"ok"

"But without receipt it would be 300"

"No, its okay, I would take the receipt"

The guy looked surprized.

His colleague came said the same

"If you give 300, we can let you off"

"I think I will take the receipt" - I insisted

At this time, all that I had tweeted against corruption, all that I told my friends and family about janlokpal was at the back of my head. All that I had earned in my soul would go away if I save this 300 Rs. It was just too precious for me, and I would not be able to face myself later if right now I fall for this trap of saving 300 Rs.

"Ok, as you say Sir"

"Great, can I see the receipt now?"

The cop generated the receipt from his handheld touch device, took my sign. I double checked if the fine was written correctly.

As I gave him 600, the traffic cop smiled. Of course it was not an appreciative smile.

As I sat in the car, my fuming wife asked me about what happened. I told her that I paid 600 although I could have paid 300.

"Cummon, you could have save 300! This Anna Hazare thing is too much in your head!!! Stupid (she thought that, didn't say - but it was all over her face) "

"Thanks a lot" - I thought.

Wait .. its not over yet :-)

"You know what your Jiju has done?" - She called up her sister - "He paid a 600 Rs fine where he could have paid just 300 without a receipt!!!"

"Arrey Didi, bahut achha kara .. Why should we give our money to these corrupt cops at all. Now the fine money would at least go to government. I am proud of Jiju"

And the look in her eyes changed. She smiled at me with love.

"Sigh" - I smiled 

:-)

Rough Hands

Today, I was getting late for the office. I had to take three interviews this morning, and I was already 40 minutes late. Late night tweeting does takes its tolls! I was driving fast, making sure speed needle doesn't come below 80KM/H. Few people were driving slowly. A thought came in my mind - "What losers - slowing down the traffic behind. Why can't they maintain at least 60!"

As I almost reached office, while taking a U-Turn to the gate, a biker gave me a sign that there was something wrong in my car. "The wheel cover must have come out again, arghh" - I said to myself, and stopped the car slowly till it stopped in front of a dhaba. I came out and looked at the back of the car. The wheel cover had not come off, instead the tyre was deflated (looked punctured to me). Suddenly, driving slowly started making sense to me! The dhabawala told me that just ahead of the U-Turn, there is a puncture shop. Lucky me!

I walked to the puncture shop. Not exactly a shop. 4 big tyres kept on top of each other and another big tyre hanging, signalling the drivers about the puncture shop. The guy was sleeping on a mattress at the ground in front of a makeshift aluminium shack. Perhaps relaxing, or perhaps tired of waiting of someone to ask him for his service.

"भईया !!" I called. And he woke up. "Flat tyre है "
"कहाँ??"
"वो खाने वाले के सामने" - Indicating that dhaba.
"कौन सा खाने वाला?"
"अरे उधर ... कंपनी के सामने"
"किधर?"
"अब चलो  दिख जाएगा!"

So we started walking. The sun was hot but wind was good, so didn't feel much hot. Soon we reached the Car.

"ये कौन सा खाने वाला है ... ये तो होटल है!!" - He said
"अच्छा जो  आप कहें। " - Just hurry up and do it, I said in my mind.

So he started jacking up the car, took out the stepney. Started to work. There was some small talk you would find boring.

While taking out the nuts, he felt some pain. I took a look at his hand. They were black. Not just black, they had cuts. Deep back cuts.

"साहब, ये tyre dust से हुआ है।"
"WTF" -  I thought
"साहब, जोर लगाने पर बहुत दर्द होता है । ज्यादा दम लगा नहीं सकते। बहुत बार खून भी आ जाता है "
"तो रात को हाथ में कुछ लगा लिया करो।"

He didn't reply and kept on working.

I wanted to help him. Of course he had no money for any ointment. As my company is at the outskirts of the city, he won't be making much. Usually people take 50 or so to change a tyre. As we were at the outskirts of the city and he was my only help, I thought he would surely ask me of 100 Rs. Isn't that how business works?

Finally, changing of tyre was done. I asked him -

"कितना हुआ"
"Sir, 30 Rs" -- He replied
"That's reasonable" - I thought.

I handed him a note of Rs 100. The first look that he gave was "I have no change" ... later as he understood he was surprized.

"Doctor को दिखा देना ... कुछ लगा लेना हाथ में "
He was silent
"दारू पीते हो ?
"हाँ सर कभी कभी"
"इन पैसों से मत पीना
"ठीक है "

I closed the door and drove towards the 'SEZ' gate. As I looked behind, he was looking at that note and walking towards the Dhaba.

Perhaps since morning he was lying of hunger in his shack and now he would finally get something to eat.

Perhaps he won't spend money on Liquor and Medicine, but just on food.

Who knows ...

------

Was it right to help him this way? What do you think?