The recent attacks on the Parliament and the more recent terrorist activities in Mumbai have clearly shown how terrorists are holding an entire nation to ransom! Leave aside the common people like us, what safety measures are taken for our so-called Corridors of power? That’s why I want to narrate a recent incident, which I felt was a prime example of the inadequacy of our callous security system, safeguarding the people who run the nation.
The incident I want to narrate now may cause tension among lots of our top ministers. This happened in Kolkata in 2006 about 3-4 days before Independence Day. Three of us had gone to Writer’s Building to make a presentation to the Tourism Ministry on behalf of our agency. The day before the presentation we got a call from Writer’s Building, and our names were noted down.
We were told that there was top security and we should not even be carrying cigarettes. Well, we didn’t. Anyway we reached there around 1:45pm, as our scheduled meeting time was 2:00pm. At the gate there were 15-20 policemen, who were supposed to check identities of every person getting in. But we were not even carrying pictures of ourselves. They just ticked our names off from a list without checking. For all purposes I could have been “ Osama Bin Laden” but still no one would come to know. After that we went through a metal detector, which made a lot of detection noises when we passed through it, but no one took notice. For all purposes we could have been carrying catchments of AK-47s and other arsenal. Well then we took the lift to the 4th Floor. We were greeted by the sight of a lone policeman with his feet up, in deep slumber. He didn’t budge an inch when we walked past him. The entire floor was devoid of security, which had quite a lot of Ministers in attendance. When we finished our meeting and were on our way back the policeman was exactly in the same position as earlier. We took a leisurely stroll through the building and visited all the floors. I mean if a person wanted to commit an act of terrorism, there could not be a better and easier opportunity than this. He could pick and choose at will which ministers to kill and then walk out without any hassle. And this was supposed to be a High Security Period, where there were chances of terrorist attacks.
This article is not meant to snub anyone. I just wanted to showcase the callous nature of security personnel. It makes me wonder that if the security of Ministers is in such a state, what will happen to us “The General Public”? Alas! I shudder to think of that day when we will be led like goats to the slaughterhouse………



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    36 years old married Virgo from Kolkata, working presently at Jaipur as a Sr. Copywriter with a leading Indian Ad Agency-Crayons;schooling from Don Bosco Park Circus and B.Com (Hons.)from St. Xavier’s Kolkta; also worked as VJ with ETV-Bangla for a show titled ‘Janata Express’ and as Radio Jockey (RJ) with TIMES FM. As regards my professional life I’m a award-winning copywriter& communication specialist.

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