Having earned laurels in past for its occasional dashes of humour, oft pithy, during the Covid pandemic, the Mumbai Police is at it again this time with a special ‘lingo’ for the Mumbaikars, here on Wednesday.

And Bingo! The brand new lingo of @MumbaiPolice & @CPMumbaiPolice seems to have hit a raging bulls-eye this time, too.

Come September 1, Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale and his team have coined a fresh ‘lingo’ for Mumbai-‘nagariya’ – given the changed circumstances and life-styles in the post-Covid pandemic world.

The gobbledygook platter on offer comprises: OP – ‘Obey Protocol’, POV – ‘Precaution Over Virus’, MIA – ‘Mask In Action’ and FPS – ‘First Person Safety’.

To drive home the point, the police have toyed with iconic city monuments in the ‘lingo-play’, like: ‘Vaccine GATEWAY to a safer INDIA’, ‘Do you SEA the LINK between vaccine and safety’, ‘If you CUFF don’t join the PARADE’ or ‘Mask is the BEST’ — the final being a tribute to the city’s bus service which serve their best even in the worst of times.

And there are some local or suburban appeals: Mumbai please take KHAR (suburb), Always CURREY mask while on ROAD (station)’ and ‘Lets keep safety ANTOP of our priority list (Antop Hill locality).

https://twitter.com/CPMumbaiPolice/status/1432910030492221447

It all started a couple of days ago with a stern warning on the Mumbai Police social media handle pointing out “how Mumbai is in Danger” because of the growing numbers of irresponsible citizens, who saunter around without care for others.

For better effect, the Mumbai Police displayed the figures of the reckless people caught without face masks – August 23 (481), August 26, (498) which shot up to nearly double, 920 on August 29 — as a potential ‘third wave’ is menacingly hovering at the doorstep.

“Risks high, precautions low! Get serious Mumbai! THE THREAT IS REAL. Look at the rising number of people caught roaming without masks last week and this might just be the tip of the iceberg. How we wish the fines you pay could keep Corona at bay. Alas!” rued the city’s saviour fathers.

Cajoling further, a ‘rakhi’ designed with the Covid-19 virus with strings on both sides, the Mumbai’s Big Brother with the invisible cane came up with the sagely plea: “Tie the threads of safety for protection from Corona… This ‘Dahi-handi’ day, smash the Covid-19 virus! Layer up for safety. An extra layer of mask will always keep your immunity unbreakable, away from the grip of Covid.

Considered among the friendliest police force — at least, on social media — their cheerful and cheeky lingo-banter has evoked many likes and thumps, comments and retweets, from the ordinary citizenry, who, like Oliver Twist, “want more” of the same…!