As I informed her about the new development, there was a sense of sudden discomfort and anxiety that I could notice easily, but which I tried to handle with care and responsibility. She was quite sad after the sudden transfer and blaming me also reminded about her constant grudge that I was working too hard in Patna, and hardly had any time left for her. In fact, she was quite right as even I often had felt as if I was working like a virtual human machine, devoid of emotions.  But the scheme of things had now changed after the sudden call and I had to soon leave for Bagaha. I started packing my bags, also consoling my wife in the process as the message spread around in the residence about the sudden transfer.

I started for Bagaha at about 1 am on the cold night of 2nd December, 2006. Initially, it was quite hard to believe that I had suddenly been shifted out and had to reach Bagaha overnight. Ever since December, 2005, when I had got posted in Patna as ASP, Danapur, and since March, 2006 as City SP, I had been virtually living and thinking round the clock only and only about Patna and its crime scenario. As I prepared for the journey, the events of the past 9 months kept emerging as sorts of flashback in the memory space. I had been working very hard in the capacity of City SP, Patna and to my credit had reduced the number of criminal cases pending for investigation in the various police stations of the city from about 12000 to only about 7000. The initial 6 months had been like fire-fighting all around, but life had become more organized and systematic since the previous 3 months.  My time in Patna had virtually revolved and adjusted around every happening crime. With every passing day in the nine months of the tenure, new experiences had always kept coming. There had been times when Patna seemed to be very peaceful, and soon later there were times when the whole city seemed to go berserk.

To be continued....