From singing to putting their family lives on hold; different facades of Kolkata Police

From putting a hold on their family lives to singing--“we shall overcome” to cheer up the people many new facades of the Kolkata Police have come up during the ongoing lockdown. Swift to crackdown on any violation of the lockdown the Kolkata Police personnel has also shown a humane side.

Alongside doctors and health workers they are also at the forefront of the battle to curb the COVID-19 outbreak. According to an official of a police station in north Kolkata, he has isolated himself from the rest of his family. Every day when he returns home from the duty of enforcing the lockdown his five-year-old daughter comes running to him.

“But I lock myself in my room for the safety of my family and do not allow her to come near me. I am taking all precautions but one can never be too careful,” the official said. Every day his wife has a hard time consoling their little daughter.

Another Kolkata Police official has been living in the police station even before the lockdown started. Since then he has neither entered his flat nor came face to face with his family.

Every day he collects his meals from the entrance of his flat and returns to the police station after looking at his daughters from afar.

Recently officials of the Gariahat Police Station came up with a pleasant surprise for the local residents. They changed the lyrics of a popular Bengali love song ‘Bela Bose’ by eminent singer Anjan Dutt with awareness-raising messages while keeping the tune unchanged.

From depicting the vein efforts of a dejected lover to convey to his beloved that he has now got a job the lyrics of the song were altered to tell people that the “brief wait for 21 days” will be of great importance to fight the outbreak,

“The response has been overwhelming. We changed the lyrics of the song to raise awareness about the novel coronavirus outbreak,” said Soumya Banerjee, Officer-in-Charge of Gariahat Police Station.

A similar attempt was made by officials of the Bowbazar Police Station. They sang “we shall overcome” to lift the spirits of the locals who also sang along with them as a gesture of appreciation.