A night with 999
Omi’s half-asleep brain chose that moment to remember a phone number, ‘999’. The toll-free national emergency help-line, 999 is supposed to help people stuck in bad situations. He dialled it, thinking this is the right moment
Omi often says that he never ever wakes up before 10 in the morning unless his mother drags him out of the bed. He is very proud about this attribute, which is why he is very unhappy when he is roused out of light sleep at the early hours one night.
Mechanically, he reaches under his pillow and picks out his phone. 'It's only 1:40 am! Why am I awake?' he grumbles. As if to answer him, a loud voice yells from outside.
'Oi Gateman! You monkey! Baboon! Parasite! Come out this instance!'
The profanities continued, and as Omi peeked out of his balcony, there was a man right outside the main gate of their apartment complex. The man seemed very angry with the gatekeeper and kept yelling at him to come out.
Omi, being the teenager he is, kept quiet and waited for other occupants of the complex to come out and take care of the situation, so that he can finally go back to sleep. But as five minutes turned into ten, then twenty, the angry man kept yelling and jostling the gate. No one so much as asked him to leave or stop yelling!
At this point, Omi was very angry at the yelling and the prospect of being sleepy the next day prompted him to do something. But what could he do? He's a skinny teenager, he can't go and tell the miscreant off! He'd get beaten up for sure!
Omi's half-asleep brain chose that moment to remember a phone number, '999'. The toll-free national emergency help-line, 999 is supposed to help people stuck in bad situations. He dialled it, thinking this is the right moment.
A man picked up the call, and after asking what his 'thana' (police station) was, connected him with the OC of the nearby police station, who heard the situation from Omi and promised to send someone to take care of things.
Omi got off the phone and settled back into his pillows. He had doubts about whether the police would even bother coming for such a small disturbance at the dead of night. But after just five minutes, he heard the roar of a motorbike. He ran to the balcony.
'You guys called the police? You'll regret this!' The angry man yelled and ran away. Just a few seconds later, a policeman on a bike stopped in front of the apartment complex. He walked around for a minute and then spoke to some of the gatemen from nearby buildings, who had been watching the angry man yelling without moving a finger.
Omi got a call from the policeman. 'Sir,' the policeman said politely. 'It seems like the miscreant had fled. Do you need any further help?'
'No, thank you. You have been very helpful,' Omi said. The policeman left. And as Omi got ready for bed, he got another call from the emergency helpline guy, asking if the situation was resolved. Omi thanked this guy too.
'Thank you for calling the help-line, sir. We are glad to be of service,' the amicable voice said and hung up. Omi finally went to bed in peace.
In the morning, Omi thought he was dreaming for sure. But then he checked his phone and surely, the call history confirmed that last night's events really did happen. Bemused, he went to his mother and told her everything. Instead of being happy, she got very, very angry.
'You called the police! For something so small! You are grounded! Go to your room!'
As Omi retreated to his room, he wondered if he could call 999 again and demand justice for this grave unfairness!