HASB ZAIL ARZ HAI

"Hasb Zail Arz Hai", (it is pleaded as follows), read the first line of the land revenue suit.

- Anirban Mukhopadhaya

The young ACM, (Assistant Collector and Executive Magistrate), looked up from the somewhat dog-eared court file set in front of him and into the eyes of the old peasant standing before him at the bar. The man looked to be eighty if he was a day and seemed to be weighed down almost double by the pile of bulky legal books he was carrying in a basket set atop the turban on his head. The portly lawyer standing beside him cleared his throat pompously, picked what seemed to be a thick book at random from the top of the pile in the basket and began his monologue - "Your Honour, the Constitution states....... ".

"Just a minute," interrupted the ACM, "why don't you use the table behind you for your books, why is your client carrying them?" The portly lawyer responded with a smoothness born of long practice. "My client feels more comfortable this way, Your Honour," he stated while signaling the old peasant to put the basket down. The peasant did not though. He proffered the basket again, this time with both hands, at his portly counsel, as if willing him to work his magic.