Today, after a long time, I slept on time (by that I mean, I slept at night! ). Suddenly, while I was still fast asleep at 5:25 AM, I was woken up by ‘Vande Mataram…’ blasting from a shameless speaker across the road where I live. Laid on a plastic chair, just outiside the illegal construction by the Maharashtra Vahtuk Sena, there was one person manning the place. I could imagine a grin on his face as he stood there rubbing his hands in the cold. The speaker was so loud that I woke up from a deep sleep (something that usually takes a couple of hours of struggling attempts by my mom!). It almost felt as if the TV was on in the same room at high volume!

I wonder if it’s the great acoustics of the area because of which the sound is so loud in my room, but whatever the case might be, it wasn’t legal! From what I understand, the temple construction is not legal and there was a high court order which had the place demolished a few months back. But, who cares? the Sena workers rebuilt it and use it every now and then to play songs during Independence Day and even other National Holidays (What is the relevance really?). Moreover, they must not be even having any permission to play (and/or to play so loud).

After I got up, the best that I could do was catch that fellow’s attention from the 6th floor of my building, right opposite to the temple. But, obviously I was being ambitious about him actually realizing that it was me whose agitating. My shouts of ‘Ehh! Aawaz kam kar…’ did seem to have a temporary effect. But coincidently it was because of  some other reasons that he had lowered the volume! After awhile, Sarfaroshi ki Tammanna was playing in full volume!

I’d given up on my attempts to sleep by now. I went online to see if there was someone on the instant messenger to take out my frustration on! Fortunately, there was a someone and on her advice, I phoned the police! I wonder with what optimisim I called them? Well, for the first time I called them it responded with a ‘Kripya hold karein, aapka call hamaare liye mahatvapurn hai’. I said to myself - HELL Yeah! The guy on the other end of the line responded as if he was not being paid to do his job. After listening to my complaint, he said ‘Theek hai!’ and hung up! I didn’t give up there. I thought to myself, ‘It was a matter of justice damn it!’ (Oh God! What was I thinking, seriously??). I called them again; I’m not sure if it was the same attendant, but this time, the person on the phone was a lot more patient. He took my complaint down without asking for any of my personal details. Finally, he also promised that someone would come down to look into it.

After about twenty minutes the police arrived and without getting out of their Maruti Gypsy, they spoke to the people at the temple (around 3 of them had arrived by now). I’ve no idea what they spoke. When they left, the racket was over - but not for good. It again started after 10 minutes and right now as I type this, there is another patriotic song (which sounds like nothing but annoyance to me and has ruined my day to even be in the mood to celebrate it).

In any case, I have to go now - I’ve to celebrate Republic Day with the housing society I stay in. The only thing that I look forward to now is the breakfast buffet!

Update: Now they are playing Rang De Basanti (not the one by Daler Mehndi for Aamir Khan, the original one!)

Uncategorized 26th January Racket, India's Republic Day, Republic Day Celebrations