Even policing can be fun — especially in today’s Gujarat. The National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad has been asked by the Gujarat home minister to design state-of-the-art uniforms for the police. These are going to be less boring to wear and look at. They will be lighter, better aired, with their own built-in, wash-proof fragrances. They might even glow in the dark, have many pockets for carrying plenty of things, and be specially cut to hide ungainly bellies. All this is supposed to inspire confidence in the public. With remarkable insight and candour, the head of apparel design at the NID has pointed out that, in Gujarat especially, common people seem to be particularly afraid of approaching the police to lodge complaints, and seem to fear harassment. Hence, the colours and smells and pockets, and the fit, spruce look.

Perhaps all this comes to Ahmedabad, and to the rest of Gujarat, five years too late. The 2002 pogroms there would have, indeed, been a much sweeter affair if the police had looked and smelt a little better. Simply standing around and letting people be massacred, refusing to register FIRs, intimidating witnesses, and a whole range of unsavoury behaviour would have been a little pleasanter to the senses, even if these senses were being subjected to unprecedented and often unspeakable trauma. But better late than never though. Ahmedabad is, today, a divided city full of deeply shaken, internally displaced people who are being written off by the state government as not requiring any sort of compensation and support for rehabilitation. Thanks to the bright young things at the NID, the horridness of all this will be somewhat mitigated by these new-look policemen in a new and “vibrant” Gujarat.