👮♂️ In May 1993, a young police officer attended a farewell ceremony in Saharanpur.
A group of senior officers, after 35-40 years of distinguished service, were bidding goodbye to the uniform they had worn with pride.
Among the audience stood a newly posted officer - full of energy, ambition, and youth.
That officer was Rajiv Malhotra.
At the time, retirement seemed unimaginably distant.
"Youth made me feel invincible. I genuinely thought that my own exit from the service was a lifetime away," he recalls.
⏳ But time moves quietly.
More than three decades later, Rajiv Malhotra, IPS (SPS-2008), now serving as IG in Lucknow, finds himself in the very position those veterans once occupied.
In an emotional reflection, he writes:
"The years have rolled by, one after the other, and suddenly, I find myself in my own final month of service. Just like those veteran cops from Saharanpur, it is now my turn to hang up my boots."
Over the years, the uniform became much more than a profession it became an identity.
It carried memories of challenges faced, friendships forged, victories celebrated, lessons learned, and sacrifices made in the service of the nation.
And after decades in khaki, one feeling remains strongest:
💙 "I was truly blessed to wear the Police Uniform."
A simple sentence. Yet it carries the weight of an entire career dedicated to public service.
Time may ask every officer to step aside one day, but the honour of serving never retires.
🙏 Salute to a lifetime of service.
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