After landing in Kerala, an IPS batchmate lamented to a senior officer — “Sir, Kerala is so far from my native place that even if I draw a circle of 1,000 km radius, I will not find a single relative.”
The senior officer replied, “Make your circle’s radius 3,000 km and the problem is solved.”
Hearing this, I remembered the CRPF constables we met during our IPS training. Deployed in terrorism-affected villages of Manipur, these men could not go home in time even if they had a death in their family. Due to the danger of ambush, they could only be extracted twice a month under heavy protection.
For these CRPF men, getting posted to their home districts would be like a lottery.
But the constables in Trivandrum City Police, serving in their home districts, were just as unhappy because they could not meet their families every day.
Fair enough.
So what about the constables in the police stations who lived with their families. They ought to be happy, right? Oh no! Whenever I met them, their grievance list would be endless.
What about their bosses, the sub-inspectors? They envied the ACPs, who envied us, the IPS officers.
So we were the lucky chosen ones? Not really — you already heard about our misfortune 🙂
Humans are unhappy because we want more. But ‘more’ is a direction, NOT a destination. You will never get there.
On the other hand, the destination for happiness is ‘here and now.’ We are already there. But if we are chasing it, we will never find it.
– Rajan
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