Saturday, December 9, 2006

Ajay Chowdhary, Addl. DCP (East)

He is young and graceful! He is modest and yet articulate! He has got a caring personality! He is athletic and a sportsman who excels in games, like Table Tennis! These, by themselves make a lethal combination that can charm all and sundry. And as if all this is not enough, he is also the 1996 batch IPS officer belonging to the UT cadre. He is Ajay Chowdhary, presently posted as Addl. DCP (East) with Delhi Police.
Life Watch had an opportunity to know more of this man when Aziz Haider spent some time with him. Read more of what he learnt about this man who enjoys a very important position in East Delhi and is responsible for maintenance of law and order in the entire region.
Ajay Chowdhary traces all these attributes to his simple upbringing under an equally simple father who inculcated the values that are responsible for the success on which he sits today in such a young age. He sees hard work and sincerity in approach as his mantra for this success. These virtues too, he says, he inherited from his father and as proof he proudly gives the example of his other brothers, who all are equally successful in life.
The fact that he was born and brought up in the small town of Etah gave him the first hand experience of dealing with various strata of society. This experience was further enhanced during the college days at Aligarh Muslim University, whose hostel life made him interact with students from all over the country. Even at AMU, Chowdhary continued to excel in studies and got the highest marks in the class in his BA (Hons) final exams. At all times, alongside his regular studies, he continued his preparations for the competition. “The library at AMU closes at 2 a.m. and I had the opportunity to see it close on countless occasions,” says Chowdhary.
Not that he confined himself to books alone! He was active member of the Sulaiman Hall Literary Society – the hostel that he resided in at AMU. He and his younger brother, who also happens to be an IPS officer from MP cadre, also found time to play Table Tennis – a game that he still plays with considerable mastery and recently won the inter-departmental doubles tournament, partnering with non other than his colleague Garima Bhatnagar, the DCP from East Delhi.
Table Tennis is not the only passion that Chowdhary retains from his student days even though the time that he can give to it is decreasing by the day. Hectic duty hours and the increasing time demanded at office does not allow him to pursue his literary hobbies to the level he would have wished. Otherwise, his taste for literature can be gauged from his translation of Hemingway’s bestseller ‘Farewell to Arms’ in Hindi. In this translation, which is to get printed shortly, Chowdhary has not only endeavoured to translate the plot and narration but has also tried to transcribe Hemingway’s style of writing, in Hindi.
Coming to work, Chowdhary is doing what he had always hoped to do. His objective in life is to “remove problems and grievances of those for whom there are no takers.” “This,” says Chowdhary, “gives a lot of professional satisfaction.”
Ajay Chowdhary has come to Delhi after serving for two and a half years in the insurgency affected areas of Arunachal Pradesh. He showed his caliber there in trying to subdue insurgency. In recognition of his services there, he was given Internal Security Medal by Govt. of India. The State Government too with a medal. “That,” says Chowdhary, “was an enriching experience in the difficult terrain.”
What about the terrain of Delhi? “The expectations are of a different nature though all have to be dealt accordingly.” Not to be cowed down under any circumstances, this man of simple tastes has already started work on meeting the expectations.
And when he returns home, after a tiring day in office, it is either the company of wife and children or the seclusion to the lyrics of Abida Parveen, Jagjit Singh and Bhupinder that relieves him of the stress. Reading Dushyan Kumar, Faiz and Nasir Kazmi rejuvenates his literary buds and beats of qawwali energies him yet again to return to another day of working to “remove problems and grievances of those for whom there are no takers.”

No comments: