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Supercop pens survival guide for metro

Sunetra Choudhury

NEW DELHI, December 2: It would be a tall claim to call it a storehouse of common sense,'' writes Kanwaljeet Deol in the foreword to her book 101 Tips to Survive the City. Apt -- as the additional commissioner of police (traffic) is modest in her ways.

You catch her for a few minutes in between appointments and meetings. ``It isn't such a major thing,'' she explains when you ask her why she did not have a book launch. Her book published by Penguin is in the series of guide books which was kicked off last month by Ritu Beri's 101 Ways to Look Your Best.

While that book launch was graced by the Who's Who of Delhi's social circles and Madhuri Dixit, Deol said that her book does not need that `kind of publicity'. Surviving and succeeding in what is traditionally a male bastion, probably takes up all her time. The book is a kind of ready reckoner which tells you how to be stay safe in a metropolis. It is full of tips on sundry things like securing your home and other belongings, and the best way to deal with the police. ``Things that I have just picked up in my 22 years of service. It is not just a do-it-yourself but a part of taking responsibility for your own safety,'' she said, adding,``when that does not happen -- crime occurs.''

So is it a part of acknowledging that city life is becoming so dreary that we need help surviving? She smiles before she slowly replies: ``We need survival guides because we are no longer capable of controlling our environment in metros -- so people require a higher degree of skill and thinking.''

But she denies that it is a ``scare book'' in any kind of way. ``We have tried to do a balanced job with it,'' she assures you. So while she tells you that it may be wise to get yourself a `beware of dog' sign even if you do not have a canine member in the household, she also tells you the hierarchy of the police to let you know that they are within reach.

``After all the role of the police is always to control aberrations and not to make them disappear,'' she said.

``Although it deals with gender-specific problems like domestic violence, as a police officer I have developed wider outlook to things,'' she says. No male-bashing here, folks. Although this is the first literary venture on the police officer's part, she does not rule out a memoir, but ``only after I retire!''

Deol's survival tips