The Chennai policeman is a special animal. He is at once the most polite, the most gruff, the most overworked, the most corrupt, the most effective and the most lethargic. In this great city, as in many other cities, there are two sub-species of the policeman. There’s one for Law & Order, and there’s one for traffic regulation.
It’s easy to tell them apart –
– The cop with the brown, Khaki tunic is for Law & Order

and the one with the white regulates traffic.

Atleast, that’s their job description. Now, the cops, the foot soldiers atleast, have a tough job. They are out on their beats, in the usually harsh Chennai sun, trying to keep the gentle citizenry of Madras in the straight and narrow. They fight politics, politicians, an apathetic public and media attention in the job they do. The traffic cop has it harder. He fights pollution, speeding vehicles (and madras has more than its fair share of them), along with the rest of the stuff mentioned.