> Back in the 2000-2002 period, in Madras, the night patrol folks were > among the most *senior* in the police force. Those guys had really fancy > SUVs equipped with breathalyzers and fog lamps and sirens and gas masks > and other stuff, and were easily the *obviously* non-corrupt folks > complete with spiffy uniforms. They were usually posted on the GST Road, > Vadapalani, Mount Road, Adyar / Sardar Patel Road, and other major > places ... and most "shady" truckers would get pulled over.
JADP: I too have done significant night driving in Madras and Bangalore between 1997 and 2003, and this is my experience as well. I'm not sure if the Madras cops were that senior - some could have been, but some were very young. But always polite, serious, and businesslike - they'd sniff your face to check if you'd been boozing, check your license and let you go. Happened many times. Once some joker (not in one of those SUVs) pulled me and a friend over and gave us a bit of a hard time - still polite though. (This was the only time I was on a motorcycle - that may have been the reason). He wanted to confiscate the bike, and instead I gave him my license to hold and promised I would return with the bike to the station the next day..never did of course - what he didn't know was that it was a colour photocopy of my license.. Bangalore cops are different - either you get completely ignored (most of the time) or they're ultra-aggressive, trying to mess with you, for the most part. It probably made a difference that I speak Tamil in Madras, but no Kannada in Bangalore, and I was (usually) driving a TN registered car, but still.. Badri
