Policeman going places

GANGTOK, June 7: Never before did a policeman arrest so many people at one go. He is doing it but, arresting their imagination by the thousands. He is Prashant Tamang, a policeman by profession and an Indian Idol aspirant by choice.Prashant, young, savvy and talented is a Darjeeling born boy. He has climbed several notches in the programme reaching a round from where he could well emerge as the Indian Idol. Whether he does or not, he has taken Sikkim by storm and the people here are showing it.They gathered on the streets, on sidewalks and parks today to express solidarity with the performer. “Go ahead, we are with you,” was the collective wish for the potential champ as they one and sundry got busy punching cell phone buttons to cast that one more vote which might help him scrape through to the next round. “He is our man,” claimed a proud DIG Range Mr Akshay Sachdeva today, obviously excited with the achievement of a fellow man in uniform.Celebrities are joining the common man to extend support to Prashant. Take for instance Miss Karishma Pradhan, who recently won a beauty pageant in Kolkata. “I would be happy for Prashant if he wins the title,” she said joining a band of supporters voicing their support.School children, clerks, executives, traders and officials - name them and they were all out on the streets today campaigning for Prashant.There is one grievance among the people though - they are not being able to send as many SMS as they wish to because of a faulty network connection. “I was trying to recharge my mobile to vote Prashant since last night. I went on trying the whole day today but was unsuccessful, which shows how bad cell phone service is here,” complained Mr Yadav Sharma a local, as did many others.Whatever be the outcome, Prashant is already a very popular policeman by now in this region.