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THIS was narrated by a senior advocate from Bombay High Court who retired as a Supreme Court judge.
In the good old days before life became digital, everything was basically physical.
After having consented to being considered for elevation to the BHC bench, it was a given that the IB would do a background check to ensure that there were no skeletons lurking in some cupboard of the candidate.
So our senior advocate,who lived in a nice house with a garden was tinkering in his garden on a weekend in a lungi and banian,when he spotted two suspicious looking gentlemen staring at the house.
He ignored them at first but soon realised that he himself seemed to be the object of their attention and subject of their conversation.
After a while,they approached the advocate.
"Tum idhar ka maali hai kya?"
The advocate just smiled.
The investigators did not wait for an answer.
The muddied banian was evidence enough.
Without much effort they had struck gold and were happy about that.
Pulling out a notebook they began questioning..
"Kitne saal se kaam karta hai yahan?"
"Ye tumhara Sahab kaisa aadmi hai?"
"Kuch lafda-wafda toh nahin?"
"Kabhi daaru peeke danga karta hai kya?"
The interrogation lasted about 20 minutes and the informant maali was most co-operative as by now he had spotted the regulation brown shoes these cops were wearing and surmised the purpose of their visit.
He assured the cops that the "Sahab" was a decent man.
Having satisfied themselves that no maali would speak in such glowing terms about his employer, unless that gentleman was truly honourable, the two cops even offered a small tip to him, which of course the maali dutifully declined.
After a few days the "maali" was appointed a High Court judge. The rest, as they say, is legal history!