Just got my driving licence renewed in Delhi. My British licence is valid till the age of seventy years but the Delhi licence has to be renewed every five years. First you have to drive fifteen kilometres to Janakpuri in West Delhi. The roads are potholed and the entire building is filthy. There is no public toilet so men use the back wall and the stench is so pungent that it is impossible to breathe. What poor women do I have no idea. You queue up at one counter to pay some fees then at other counters to pay for the photo fellow, for finger printing, for photograph, to submit your form and then wait at a point on the verandah for over an hour when suddenly a fellow appears and begins shouting out names and handing out new licences. By then most people are reduced to wrecks and pocket their licences gratefully, never mind the mistakes. As close to hell as you can imagine. Naturally touts abound and the officials earn twice their salaries in bribes. In Delhi all new cars have to follow European standards of emission to reduce pollution. All cars have fuel injection systems and you cannot tune your car higher like in the carbrettor. Still everyone has to get a pollution check certificate every three months which means wasting time at one of these places and paying Rs. 50 for the privilege. Nice way to earn money for friends of politicians and unnecessary harassment for people. Even new cars are not exempt. If a car gets stolen and the police find it they will only return after stamping the registration document with ' superdari'. Naturally you have to run around to get it cancelled before you can sell your car. Clearly you do not need guns to be a police state. India aspires to be a soft power in the world, it is already a soft police state.