When Kolkata Police surprised me by actually coming to help

I was returning home after having dropped my husband off to the airport. I was in an Uber whose driver might have been a little sleepy and had something of a close shave with an SUV. The white SUV swerved and then blocked our car and four really scruffy looking men got off the car. It was 4.15am and obviously the roads were deserted.

They surrounded our car, repeatedly slammed and kicked at our door. The driver started to protest after rolling down his windows but changed tactics nearly immediately. He stammered a sorry when they held him by the collar and shook him a few times. I remember being paralysed but had managed to dial 100 with a shaking hand.

This story could have gone a certain way. Most newspapers say that no one picks up emergency numbers like 100, and all the harm that could have been prevented isn’t. Four men. One really tired, old Uber driver and a 30-year-old woman alone at night. It all could have gone so, so wrong.

But it didn’t. The Kolkata Police picked up within two rings. I stammered saying that I am in an Uber and four rowdies have surrounded us and are hitting our car and trying to drag out the driver. The cop on the other hand spoke calmly, asking leading questions so that I could stop hyperventilating enough to answer. I gave them a rough location and the licence plate number of the SUV that had blocked our way.

The four people who had surrounded the car might have noticed that I was on the phone. They did seem to calm down quite suddenly and went back to their car. Was it the Uber driver’s "sorry"? Or was it the fact that I read out their number plate and was clearly having a conversation about what was happening? I don’t know for sure.

The cop on the other end of the line held on and in fact told me he would hold on till the car moved in another direction and I felt safe. He asked me where I was going to ascertain the route and only hung up after that SUV took the next available left and didn’t come back.

I saw two more patrol cars at traffic stops on my way back. I couldn’t help but look at them with a sense of renewed respect. They didn’t do anything but their jobs. But as a citizen it is nice to realise that they are not just doing their jobs ably, but humanely. Kolkata Police, thank you.