Police Attention

Our apartment in India is lovely, and in one of the nicest sections of New Delhi. There is a lot of construction going on all over the city, as real estate prices here balloon. This includes the building next door to us, an elegant structure that is being thoroughly renovated with a dedicated construction crew that works day and night. We are generally fine with the construction noise and debris. This week, though, the crew was doing some particularly loud activities at 3:00 am or so. (Amnon said it sounded like they were cutting marble.) Amnon called the local police to ask if the workers could be asked to stop. The police asked whether he was calling to report “noise pollution.” Amnon said “yes,” impressed that they had a name and category for it. They said they would be right here. Within minutes, 2 police cars pulled up to the adjacent apartment. Amnon watched through the window. Six policemen got out of each car, and summoned down the entire construction crew. Before leaving, the police station called to ask if we were satisfied with how they resolved the problem, and whether he could release his men. The construction noise stopped, and the building went dark for the night. The next morning a policeman came to our apartment, to find out whether the rest of the night was quiet for us, and to ask whether we wanted to file a formal complaint. We did not. But we were impressed with the responsiveness of the police. Since then, the construction work next door has been starting at 7:30 am instead of 6:00 am, and we have not heard loud noise in the middle of the night.

I think we all form impressions by anecdotal experiences. If you call the police and they come quickly, you conclude that the police are responsive and efficient. This could be because we are in the Vasant Vihar neighborhood, or because they heard a western voice complaining, or because they were having a slow night. Nonetheless, we are left with a very favorable impression of New Delhi’s men in blue (actually, khaki in India- - )