Traffic stopper? No, I'm not so cute

NEW DELHI: Two petite young women, positioned at the centre of the capital''s busiest, meanest intersection now control the Dilliwalla''s movements just by blowing a whistle or raising a hand. The impatient blueline driver, the erratic cyclist, the unseeing pedestrian have all fallen in line. The difference between any other 22-year-old and these girls is that they wear a blue and white uniform.
Meet Asha and Anuradha, the new faces of the traffic police. The girls belong to the 2002-03 batch of constables, and are among the 20 women — the first in Delhi — who now man major intersections in the city. ITO is their first posting.
"It feels great," says Anuradha, who comes from Haryana''s Rohtak district and is the more vocal of the two. "I stand here and command, and people come to a standstill — or start to move — just as I direct. It''s an unusual experience for a woman. I''m loving it." What about her family? Do they follow her commands too? "Not really," she giggles.
Asha, her companion at the intersection, a slight, wheatish girl with a little nosepin, is just as confident as she directs pedestrians to stay off the road.
"I feel quite safe, I''m in uniform," she says, and then adds hesitatingly, "Of course, I''m a woman too. Anything can happen. But I''m confident I can handle it. We''ve gone through rigorous physical training for a year. It involves hectic night shifts and we learn judo and karate too."
The youngest of three children, Asha graduated from Delhi and now lives in Janak Puri with her businessman husband. Did she always want to join the police? "No," says Asha. "I wanted to become a reporter like you." Anuradha is little different except in her desire to join the police force. The eldest of five siblings she graduated from DU. "I was selected before I finished college. I always wanted to join the police," says the daughter of a sub-inspector.
As the two girls chat on, pedestrians turn to look. Asha quickly takes over, asking them to move on. Does she ever feel she''s a distraction? "No, I don''t. I''m not so cute," she says with quiet authority. — Rachna Subramanian