Raid! Central Market, Mangalore– Or Was IT?

 

Well we all know the wonderful central market; only the other day i was there with my mom, it was a nice sunny Sunday morning with all the usual fill of hawkers, and buyers busy bustling about.

The thing about any Indian Market, and especially if it is the main market in the centre of the city you can be sure of one thing  it’s going to be damn well crowded and the streets filled with  hawkers selling their wares and simultaneously encroaching the streets. 

I was just on the main road (not shown here) busy idling away  – As always ! When from the other end a rumour begins to spread down the road  that there was going to be a raid, as a few folks saw a Large empty Truck with constables in it. The weird part, within a matter of minutes, all the hawkers were busy clearing their respective wares and running out from the bottom exit. Of the road, I wish you could have witnessed it!

One of the hawkers who was positioned right before me  was selling home made knives and hacksaws; the minute he realized a raid is going to take place he began to stuff all his wares into an auto rickshaw, and I say it was kind of interesting to witness all sort of blades and pointed knives prodding out of the vehicle.

Well, this was not just the scene, all the hawkers scurrying away with their goods and merchandise and making a run for it at the bottom exit.

The gossip was also interesting; in the shop, in which i was placed the salesgirls came out ( as they had no other work – No customers )  and began to look with excitement at the scurrying hawkers and gossiping- about, whether  the cops are catching anyone, anyone got hit, which department is carrying out the raid and also giggling at the hawkers and people running about. Well the scene of a bustling jam-packed roadway; within minutes was turned into a empty avenue – barring the people of course.

The irony of the raid!- The truck simply turned into a side road midway on the street and disappeared! Words can’t express the reaction on the faces of the many people – Including mine! There was no raid, and as always within 20 min the hawkers were back and it was business as usual!

My inference from all this  -  The bureaucratic system in India is placed such that whenever – if ever! the government begins to carry out some form of operation and the citizens witness it, it is more of a show, a movie in real time action, a feeling of being one with the system suddenly seems to swell up within the people’s ego and they seem to carry out a critical observation of the event and then what follows is their criticism on what happened. But if an official asks them to stand as witness to the event  - Hmmm, no one is going to come forward .

Cheers