The OSD

"This is what I craved for! To put women in their right place! God had finally decided to give him a chance and here he was - Ajay Rangaswamy - The Officer on Special Duty (Mandal) - in his spacious office that could accommodate a 20 member panel and still be spacious enough to process 50 females at a time. It was a testimony of the government's resolve to implement its new laws as soon as possible that such offices had been built in record time. It just showed what a government could do if it made up its mind to implement something. He had always fantasised about making women and girls squirm for different reasons. He basically did not endorse abuse - but would make the most of a situation if it suited him perfectly. He was not bound by the restrictive mores that the society imposed on its citizens. What is wrong in living your dream? Even if that dream makes some people uncomfortable! Well, the people uncomfortable would be females, but who cares! Not everyone got a chance to live their dreams. Nothing would spoil his first day at work! He wouldn't permit it. Nobody could object to his authority as he was appointed by the government. Anyone who had a problem with him can talk to the government - he would do his duty as per his training and job description!

If his training was any indication of things to come by, he had full authority to approve or reject applications from females. He had god like powers to control their fate. Maybe he was a Mini god himself! Ha ha-ha! He chuckled as he pulled the stack of applications on his desk. Time to make a difference! Ahh! What does the first application say?

An approval request to appear in class X Board Exams! Hmmm. It can wait. It's not as if she is going to lose anything if she has to wait for another year to write the exams! He wrote ' fix appointment next month' on the application throwing it into the pending tray.

An approval request for a marriage! When is the date? 26th December! That's almost ten days from now! I may have to process this application first he thought as he wrote 'fix appointment as on the application dumping it in the 'urgent' tray.

An approval request to legalise a marriage. Hmmm. The name sounds familiar - Rajyalakshmi Avutu - Wait, isn't that the girl who slapped him when he had made use of her breasts to play a game in the bus? She had made much noise about it even though he had not even stripped or pressed her assets! The bitch thought she was Miss Universe, just because she had grown a pair of *****! That ruckus had caused him to lose his job in the school but god seemed to have better uses for his skills! Now it was time for some revenge! When had the slut got married? Ahhh! This was sweet! She had got married just Yesterday but she should have sent the petition long before that! Most probably they had not fixed the date for her "Shobhanam". He grinned like a maniac as he wrote 'No further ceremonies till further orders! Including "Shobhanam". Non compliance will result in nullification of marriage and declaration of applicant as Public Property. There! That should prevent her for experiencing heaven after marriage. He rolled his tongue over his lips in anticipation of his imminent love making with this applicant. He would 'enjoy' her before her husband can even lay a finger on her. It would be so sweet! He adjusted himself as he thought about it. He threw the file in the "very urgent" tray.

An approval request to continue working as a doctor. Ridiculous! Whoever thought of allowing a female to Practice medicine when the law prohibited female doctors? "REJECTED" He wrote in bold letters, adding "violation will result in the applicant being declared Public Property". He put the application in the "Rejected" tray.

A request to continue in the police force. Hmm! They have a better use than guarding and beating someone. He would make them please their superior officers. He would also change their uniform so that the men would be happy to work. "Approval subject to following the new dress code and the new code of conduct for police women" he wrote. He typed a circular describing in detail the type of dress the policewomen had to wear and the rules they had to follow while on duty.

As he continued to sift through the thousands of applications, he realised it was going to be a long, first day at work. He felt sympathetic as he imagined how the applications kept increasing as they went higher. The higher ups had to check if the applications were processed as per law or whether there were any objections. Then they had to re-process applications that appeared to be controversial. This meant extra work, but usually such cases would be rare and most of the applications would just be approved. So the OSDs at the lower rung had to do their duty perfectly to avoid re-processing.

He recalled the training session conducted by the State OSD Mr. Ali. Now, that was a born Officer! He had listened with rapt attention as the man had spoken passionately, from his heart it seemed, about female subjugation. He had been impressed by the clarity the man had about the new laws and the loop holes in them that could be used by anarchists to undermine their authority. Ali had also spoken about the steps they would need to take, to impress upon the females that men were superior and had better intelligence than the most intelligent female. Females were untrustworthy and could not be assigned important tasks or roles that involved complex managerial skills, Ali had said. He had also been inspired by the way the Ali had outlined the scope of the job - the ups and downs and how to overcome them. He fervently wished he could live up to the demands of the post that he had been appointed for.

Glossary -

Shobhanam - an after marriage ritual where the bride's side arrange for the marriage to be consummated. The bride and the groom are not allowed to be in the same room till the marriage is consummated.