My journey from a Citizen to Traffic Police Ambassador....

          Hi friends! Just thought to talk to you once more. People always think that we can't access the Police easily. But ask me. I was also a common girl who just struggled to make her life more successful evry time. Wahi regular schedule, go to college, do the NSS work, go to job (part time), come back home, do the household work, take dinner, study and finally to bed! Whooooo.... Quite busy but a simple life. Regular and normal. No exitements and no adventures! Suddenly one day our NSS Programme Officer cum District Co-ordinator Prof. Anis Choudhery, invited me to the ACP Bhiwandi Traffic Office. I had no idea of what's gonna happen there or why we have been called there. There was anxiety and nervousness inside and even a huge confusion- What do we NSS volunteers have to do with the TrafficPolice?? Well left it as it is and reached there with lots of questions and confusions in mind and a horribly beating heart! We had no idea who's the ACP of Bhiwandi Traffic Police.
              Wow.... after entering the office, this was my reaction when I saw the beautifully smiling ACP Rashmi Karandikar Ma'am welcoming us warmly. Iam a girl who never visit police station before this and seeing a lady sitting in the chair of ACP was a real encouraging moment for me. Bhiwandi is a town where ladies are bound to stay in the house serving the family. But when Rashmi ma'am can become an ACP why cant we girls do anything good for the society?

             We discussed the project and understood Rashmi ma'am's initiative. Then we started taking up our tasks with all our volunteers and started moving ahead slowly. slowly and gradually I understood the working of traffic police, their grievances, their enjoyment, their life... and their heart very closely. People always have this misconception that the police is corrupted. But believe me friends its not like that. If we co-operate with them they are the best helpers in the world. As a common citizen I have seen them very closely and its a real beautiful experience being with them! Today my day starts with them and ends with them too.  I take breakfast with them, my lunch goes with them and sometimes the last meal, dinner too! I understand their plight. We fight together, we discuss together, we play together..... Thinking of work? Well, we do all these while working together! ;-)

 MY JOURNEY FROM SACHIN SIR TO KAKA:
               One day our project incharge constable Manoj Kadam sir took me to the working section of the traffic office, where I met KAKA- Sachin Patil  sir. Since Kadam sir (as we call Manoj Kadam sir) is the incharge of our project, I explored the most beautiful moments of this project with him. He introduced me to Sachin Patil sir as Sacin-da ( da is the short form of of dada for big brother in Marathi). A gentle and understanding person of around 50 (or above), you can see a caring father in him. For some days I took my meals with him and Kadam sir before going for our programs. Slowly I began calling him Kaka (father's brother in Marathi). Then we started working together. And now, we are a family.
              He helps me always. Iam learning Marathi speaking from him and he is learning Urdu from me! I even study my academics with them at the office.

Sachin kaka working even during electricity load shedding hours at night.

REACTION OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS:              
                   At first it was very odd for me to come home by a police van, sometimes! My family felt that the society won't accept me working with the police and coming home late night. But slowly and gradually when our project started taking exposure, people started knowing me, it has now become very normal for me to leave and come back home by a Police jeep, sometimes! Today, my friends and family say that I have reached  somewhere and I'll surely acheive something in my life. My confidence level has improved a lot and now I can speak openly with loud voice in public too. And thus came to be known as a Traffic Police Ambassador among all. This has been given to me by this project. And today i feel grateful to the department to give us all so much co-operation and motivation.
                                                                                                                             - AFAF ANSARI

 

That's me(sitting down in green dress) and Kadam sir (in cap, back row) with a small part of our team.