FIRST COME FIRST SERVE

Making casual conversation with a fish vendor during one of my customary shopping, I asked him to pack a kilogram of fresh fish which was listed as an essential commodity in my shopping list. Our conversation was getting rather prolong as I was complimenting the vendor for always giving me fresh fish ever since I had made my first purchase in his shop. Sensing I was the only customer in his shop and to alleviate his boredom momentarily, he too was sharing his business tips to compensate my compliment. No sooner, a high ranking policeman stood beside me, the vendors made an abrupt end to the conversation I was submerged in and started entertaining his demand “kati kg pack garnu sir???” how much should I pack? His humorous face suddenly turned serious. To my utter surprise, I realized that the vender had already started to chop new fish keeping aside the scattered slices he had already chopped. It did not take him even a minute or two to pack the new customer’s share. Before my mind was reasoning the sudden change in the scenario, the vendor was already handing over the packed to the new customer.

The taste of power is the sweetest among all. Be it politics, bureaucracy or a commoner, when it comes to handling of entrusted power, we often fail to use it in an appropriate way. As such, we often land up making our subordinates so fear stricken that his mere presence directs everything. Moreover, police department is considered to be an epitome of discipline and as far as discipline is concerned, it follows the principle of “First come first serve” rather than the distorted notion of “whoever comes, power gets served first”.