Now, 'home minister' rules

If you thought being the police commissioner''s wife is easy, think again. "I''m the happiest person in the world now that he''s retired. Now, he''ll have all the time in the world for me. I really appreciate that. Life hasn''t been easy by any means, but it was an experience I''ll never forget," beams Mala, wife of recently retired Commissioner M N Singh.
Singh and Mala were married in 1967."He joined the police force 15 days after our marriage. He was always bright, so I never doubted that he would make it big some day," she says. Mala says there have been times when things were tense at work, but Singh would never bring that tension home. "He''s a family man. Regularly, he would come home after 10.30 pm. Also, he never lost sleep on any high-profile cases he was working on. He would hit the bed and sleep like a baby."
But there were also times when she was scared of what would happen to Singh, who was a teacher of nuclear physics at Benares University before he became a cop. Says Mala, "We are a God-fearing family. So, whenever there was tension in the city, I would be afraid for his life. I would pray for his well being." She attributes her inner strength to God: "I feel really blessed. It was God who helped me manage the house in his absence."
When asked if the couple planned to visit their children abroad, Mala says, "We haven''t made any concrete plans, but we have all the time in the world to decide what to do with ourselves." But the kids have already started thinking about that. Says Mala, "They wonder how he will occupy his time since he''s so used to a hectic schedule." But they have nothing to fear, as Mala plans to make the most of the time Singh has on hand post-retirement.