I decided to get a real taste of courts this time and therefore decided to intern in a litigation firm. The National Law Universities after all were established with the aim of increasing the level of the ‘BAR’.I get off at Central Secretariat Metro Station in a crisp white shirt and carrying my black blazer in my hand. I approach an auto guy and say ‘High Court’ and he smiles and says ‘Bhaithiye madame’(Please sit), I am wondering if my uniform is the reason for the sudden respect or the destination or maybe both.

I had been given instructions by the senior partner to reach the High Court by 10, after which he would take me to office. The auto reaches Sher Shah Road , let me tell you there is nothing impressive about this road, don’t start imagining greenery and wide roads because this one is well narrow for the kind of rush it caters to and ongoing metro work which makes it worse. I get off the auto, pay the auto chap and put on my blazer like I am a junior associate at some hot shot litigation firm. I go through the scanner at the entrance and I know there is another one which I need to clear before I enter the main area of the court. I take out my phone pretending to be extremely busy and clear the second one with ease. I enter into the canteen where I see a bunch of lawyers chilling and taking a break.

In the meantime my sir gives me a call and says ‘Beta where are you?’ I confidently turn around and say that I am in court waiting for him and ask for the court number. He is pleasantly surprised and says how did I manage that and I turn around say that ‘I just walked in’ (Ha! like I am a law student with a Jethmalani or Bhushan for a surname). Anyways in all modesty the reason why I wasn’t a stupid intern asking questions and asking my way was because it wasn’t my first time there. In my previous internship which was primarily a corporate firm I had the opportunity of going to court once, like a child who entered Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory I wanted to come back to learn everything about it.

I met my sir in the lobby outside Court No.20, he was chatting with his clients and assuring them  that today is the final settlement and when he would walk out of that court he would give them a cheque.  He acknowledged my presence with a smile and told me to follow him into the court with a gesture. The ‘item number’ was called and my sir appeared before the court. No I wasn’t interning with some big shot lawyer that you know about therefore I will refer to him as ‘SIR’. In appearance a very ordinary looking man, white hair and while I was wearing a shiny new coat his seemed to be worn out with ‘experience’. But his smile was something which I thought was extremely endearing, something which would make a stranger trust him and give him his/her case. The cool attitude that boss you give me money and your worries are all my worries. Then I heard him talk in front of the judge and the same attitude reflected there also- respect and patience to hear the pressing questions that the ‘Lords’ sitting above posed. And with the same smile he walked out with a cheque worth Rs.80lakhs to his happy clients. Then he turned to me and said ‘Betaji only law won’t help you in litigation bade sayape hote hain’(Read:you have to do a lot of struggle). The senior counsel with their notepads around me or the Senior designates coat, I was ready to go through the struggle.

[To Be continued]