Chapter 1: Paradise for the Rich, Hell for the Poor

At 8:30 am on July 1, 2008, in Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai, India.

Roton Mahesh walked out of the small shack, which was a low wooden house made of various wooden boards and plastic films. It was less than ten square meters and was crowded with four people, Roton's parents and one of his younger brothers.

He couldn't help but stretch himself. He was originally preparing to take a deep breath, but the breath stopped halfway. The stench in the air almost made him vomit.

Only then did Rawdon come to his senses. This was the largest slum in India, not China.

This Roton's soul is no longer the same. Last night, a soul from China replaced the original owner.

In his previous life, Luoton was a Chinese businessman who had been doing business in Mumbai, India for many years. He had been in Mumbai for more than ten years since 2008.

He is quite familiar with India, especially Mumbai and its surrounding areas. After all, due to business needs, he spent most of the past decade in Mumbai.

Of course he knew the Dharavi slum, which was world-famous because of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". However, he was a businessman in his previous life and had some money. He lived in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Mumbai, so he did not fall into a slum.

Although the environment in Mumbai cannot be compared with that in China, and the whole city is shrouded in various strange smells, the environment in Dharavi is still too exaggerated. It was also the first time for Rawdon to experience it, and he simply couldn't bear to look at it.

The air was filled with the suffocating stench of decay and feces.

A heavy rain last night caused sewage to flow everywhere, and the road was full of mud. I don’t know how much excrement was mixed in it.

"I have already told my friends around me that the next promotion spot will definitely be yours." Roton's mother said after seeing him come out.

"You woman just like to talk nonsense. With so many people competing, who can guarantee that it will be Rodon?" said old Mahesh next to him.

"Why are you talking nonsense? Our Luoton knows English, and the director is very optimistic about him, Luoton, don't you think so?"

"I'll try my best." Rawdon responded.

He could only sigh in his heart about this.

He could understand why the mother was showing off among the neighbors. There was nothing he could do about it. In this circle, his parents' status had changed since he became a policeman.

Whenever talking about Rawdon, his mother could see the envy in the eyes of other women. This was the happiness of them, the lower-class people.

Whenever people around him encounter any disputes, old Mahesh is a prestigious mediator. There is no other way, it is different to have a son who is a policeman, even if he is just a low-level police officer.

The police station recently had a vacancy for promotion to first-class police officers, and Rawdon's mother naturally thought that her son was the most capable and would definitely be promoted.

Now, Rawdon is 21 years old. He looks pretty good, at least he is not dark-skinned. He is an officer at the Spanda Police Station, the lowest level police station in Mumbai.

Three years ago, after graduating from high school, he passed the assessment and joined the police station. Now he is still the lowest-level second-level police officer.

Indian police officers are divided into three levels, from low to high, namely, second-level police officer, first-level police officer and police sergeant (pictures of police ranks will be pinned to the top of the comment area).

For second-level police officers, there are no insignia on the shoulder straps and armbands on their uniforms; they are blank.

Luoton is now a second-level police officer, wearing a khaki police uniform without any other shoulder straps or armbands.

It is very difficult to get promoted to a higher level. In addition to years of service, it also depends on various relationships. Otherwise, you may not get promoted even after ten years, let alone three years.

First-class police officers wear two downward-pointing V-shaped emblems on their armbands and two horizontal stripes on their shoulder straps.

Sheriff, with three downward chevrons on his armband and three horizontal stripes on his shoulder straps.

In India, low-level police officers work very long hours and at high intensity, averaging thirteen or fourteen hours a day. As for holidays, they basically do not exist. Only senior police officers have various long holidays and high benefits.

Generally speaking, for someone like Rawdon, who becomes the lowest-level police officer from the most basic assessment, becoming a sheriff is the pinnacle of his career. For more than 90% of low-level police officers, this is the ceiling.

Yuan Luoton is a very motivated young man. Although he went to work directly after graduating from high school, he still applied for an open university.

After three years of study, I just successfully obtained my bachelor's degree.

This open university is equivalent to an on-the-job university. Students can study offline and online. It takes at least three years to complete the required credits and pass the assessment to graduate and obtain a degree.

The Indian government recognizes this open university diploma, which is the same as other full-time university degrees. Only with this diploma can one participate in the Indian Federal Civil Service Examination (equivalent to the national examination) and the State Civil Service Examination (provincial examination).

The Indian federal civil service examination is hellish. The average ratio of China's national examination may be 40-70 to 1, while in India it can reach more than 1,000 to 1.

That is to say, only one out of more than 1,000 people can get the job. The number of national civil servants admitted each year basically does not exceed 1,000, while the number of applicants exceeds one million.

The exam is difficult, but once you pass it, it is equivalent to achieving a class transition, which is quite exaggerated.

Unlike Hua Xia, who started as a grassroots clerk after passing the civil service exam.

In India, people become officials directly, starting out as district chiefs in a county. The outstanding ones may directly become deputy county chiefs, real officials.

Yuan Luoton still had ambitions, but of course he didn't want to take the federal civil service exam because it was too difficult.

Who can pass the exam without being the elite among the elite? For example, the top students of the Indian Institute of Technology, lawyers, doctors and other social elites, ordinary people have no chance at all.

So Rowdon set his sights on the state civil service examination. Once he passed, Rowdon's starting position in the police system would be assistant deputy inspector.

Here we need to talk about the inspector level above the police officer.

Inspectors are also divided into three levels, from low to high: Assistant Deputy Inspector, Deputy Inspector and Inspector.

Assistant Deputy Inspector, whose police rank is a five-pointed star on the shoulder strap with a red and a blue line below, is the lowest-ranking police officer in India, one level higher than the chief of police.

In other words, if one passes the state exam, his police rank will instantly surpass the lifetime efforts of more than 90% of police officers. After all, unless there are special circumstances, the rank of police chief is the pinnacle for them. If one wants to become an assistant deputy inspector, one can only be promoted if one encounters a special opportunity, and this rank is very rare.

Deputy Inspector, the police rank insignia is two five-pointed stars on the shoulder straps with a red and a blue line below.

Inspector, the police rank insignia is three five-pointed stars on the shoulder straps with a red and a blue line below.

The rank of Inspector is quite critical and generally all police chiefs at the grass-roots level have this rank.

For example, the Spanda Police Station where Rawdon works is the most basic police station in the northern central area of ​​Mumbai, and the chief is the inspector.

Of course, the chief of a grassroots police station in some remote and unimportant rural areas may be a deputy inspector, but this is relatively rare.

Indian police are actually divided into federal police and local police.

People like Rawdon and his chief are local police from the state of Maharashtra, so under the red and blue lines on the epaulettes there is the abbreviation of Maharashtra, which means the Maharashtra local police.

The future of local police is very limited. They can only be promoted to 3 levels above inspector at most. If they want to continue, they can only find a way to become federal police.

There will be no blue and red lines on the federal police shoulder badges. The words IPS will be added under the five-pointed star, which is the abbreviation of "Indian Police Service".

In addition to the IPS abbreviation that can be used to distinguish between federal and local police, there are major differences in police hats. The federal police hat has a black cap band with a large badge in the center, while the local federal police hat has a black cap band the same color as the hat, with a small badge in the center, making them easily distinguishable at a glance.

There are two ways to become a federal police officer. The first is that there are very few promotion opportunities within the police system every year.

The second way is to pass the federal civil service examination. Although the number is also small, it is still many times higher than the number of internal promotions.

Once passed, if you choose the police system, you will be directly awarded the rank of fourth-level superintendent.

The fourth-level police superintendent’s rank insignia is three five-pointed stars on the shoulder straps with the word IPS below.

It can be said that the lowest entry-level position for the federal police is one level higher than inspector.

The highest position that local police can get promoted to is the rank of Second Class Superintendent.

This means that local police officers work hard for decades or even their entire lives to finally become high-ranking second-level superintendents, but in the end they are only two levels higher than the new fourth-level superintendents of the federal police.

Think about it, the end point of your life’s struggle is almost just the starting point of others, and the sense of the gap will immediately become apparent.

Moreover, the federal police have a bright future. They can rise to the highest rank of police commissioner, similar to the rank of lieutenant general in the army. They can serve as directors general of police in each state or as the head of the corresponding department of the federal central government.

For ordinary people like Rawdon, once they pass the state exam, they can become inspector-level officials and have the opportunity to be promoted to become the chief of a grassroots police station, although the chances are not very high.

The chief of a grassroots police station is nothing to politicians, the powerful and the wealthy, but to people like Roton, this is the ceiling for ordinary people.

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Luoton knows the importance of English, so he studies it very hard.

In India, the elite class all speak English, and if you can't speak it, you will be excluded.

Mumbai is also a financial center, where countless elites gather, and English is even more important here.

When the police are handling cases and incidents, they often need to communicate in English.

At the Spanda Police Station, even the chief does not speak English well. Only the deputy chief, a high-caste Kshatriya, speaks good English. The next is Rawdon. Although his English is not very fluent, there is no big problem with basic communication.

The deputy chief was the second in command in the police station after all, so he had no intention of acting as an interpreter. Therefore, all the translation and communication tasks fell on Rawdon.

Therefore, Rawdon, the lowest-ranking second-level police officer, has a somewhat special status in the police station and can receive praise from the chief from time to time.

Of course, Luoton’s English is even better now. After all, he has the memories of his past life. When Luoton was in Mumbai, he communicated in English very fluently.

Luoton's mother also felt that her son had an advantage in English and could be promoted.

Look, the director often praises his son, so his chances of promotion this time should be very high.

But Luoton didn't think so. This kind of praise was just lip service and it wouldn't deduct anything from the director.

Although it is only a promotion from a second-level police officer to a first-level police officer, as it is the lowest level of promotion, it will still cause fierce competition.

There are about 100 people in the Spanda Police Station, including ten inspectors, five sergeants, 25 first-level police officers, and the remaining sixty or so are second-level police officers.

Some of these second-level police officers have more than ten or twenty years of work experience. In this regard, Luoton has no advantage at all.

Moreover, the most important thing for this kind of promotion is to give money to the director. Who will promote you without money?

Giving money as a gift is a popular practice in India. No matter what you do, you cannot do it without giving money. Luo Dun had a deep impression of this in his previous life.

But now Rawdon is short of money. His parents usually do odd jobs in the slums. If it weren't for his salary as a policeman, they would probably not be able to make ends meet.

This is also the reason why Luoton went out to work directly after graduating from high school. With his grades, he could have been admitted to an ordinary university.

In short, there is no surplus food in the family, and there is no money to buy this promotion.

If the original Luoton had no idea, he is no longer the original Luoton now. Luoton is still thinking about this position in his mind.

Once promoted, his status in the police station would be different, at least he would be different from the sixty or so second-level police officers below him.

If you don't have money, it doesn't mean you have no chance. You can please your superior, especially the director, and make great contributions. Then these contributions can offset the bribe money.

Last night, Roden carefully recalled some things about his previous life in Mumbai. He found that his memory seemed to have improved, and all the memories that he had almost forgotten were restored.

The contents of the newspapers and television news he read during those years in Mumbai can all come to his mind.

Roton paid special attention to some cases in recent years, especially those within the jurisdiction of the Spanda Police Station.

He planned to start from this aspect and strive to make meritorious service.

Luoton had already thought it through. He was a businessman with some wealth in his previous life, but the experience he gained from his previous life could not be used now, at least not in his current situation.

The most important thing is that Luoton has no capital now, so it is impossible to do business.

Now that he is a policeman, if he manages it well, his future will not be bad.

Even if he is just a low-level police officer, at least he is within the system. As a member of the law enforcement department and the violent organization, he still has considerable privileges. If he climbs up in the future, power will bring greater benefits.

India is a strange place, but one thing is clear: it can be said to be a paradise for the powerful and rich and a hell for the poor.

Rawdon didn't want to be poor, he wanted to be powerful. As long as he had power, he could do almost anything he wanted in India.

After leaving the slums, Rawdon walked towards the police station.

Outside the slums separated by a wall, although the environment seemed very ordinary to Roton and could not be compared with the infrastructure in China, the comparison with the local area was really a world of difference. This was the difference between the rich area and the slums.

The Spanda police station covers part of the slum and a few blocks outside.

Rawdon had his breakfast on the way to the police station, directly from a roadside stall.

Although these foods look unpalatable, I’m so hungry that I don’t care about anything else.

As long as he stood in front of the stall, the vendor would immediately offer him all kinds of food with a smile on his face.

This is one of the powers of the grassroots police officers. They never pay for meals, otherwise they will have no chance of doing business. Moreover, they have to pay the police officers a fee every month.

It was already nine o'clock when he arrived at the police station. Rawdon didn't come too early, as there were already many police officers there.

Senior police officers like the chief and deputy chief usually go to work at 10 o'clock, while low-level police officers like Rawdon often go to work at around 8 o'clock.

The daily work of Luoton and his colleagues is to patrol, manage traffic in the jurisdiction, etc., mainly to maintain public order.

As this place is close to Dharavi, there are many people and the pressure on public security is high.

(End of this chapter)