Patna, April 18: A long wait can leave you drowsy. A live demonstration of it was seen at the chief minister’s janata darbar today where a number of visitors dozed off while awaiting their turn in the queue.

As many as 2,000 complainants visited Nitish’s janata darbar with their problems. Many of them had started their day as early as 5am to make it to the registration counter and finally to the darbar. A delay of even a few minutes would have meant anther trip to the darbar next week.

Several complainants dozed off under the ceiling fan before their turn to narrate their problems in front of the chief minister. Some took a nap resting their hand on the chair, some squatted while a few others stretched their legs as much as they could in the limited space.

The complainants who had their eyes open were left to wake up their neighbours when their turn came.

Ashok Kumar, a complainant from Patna, was woken up by another complainant by his side. Bindu Singh, who had come from Muzaffarpur, told Ashok: “Hey, wake up yaar! Your turn has come. Why are you sleeping? You came here to sleep or to tell your problem?”

Rubbing his eyes, Ashok replied, “Oh, my turn has come? I fell asleep and forgot I was waiting for my turn at the chief ministers’ janata darbar. Anyway, let’s go now.”

When Ashok was asked why he dozed off, he said: “I was feeling very tired after standing outside for hours. As soon as I entered, I had four glasses of sattu (roasted gram flour) drink. After that, I felt like taking a nap for an hour. My turn was supposed to come after two hours, as there were many complainants before me. It was obvious that I had to wait and instead of waiting, it was better to take a nap.”

A few others passed their time looking and laughing at the sleeping complainants. Dhananjay Singh, a resident of Rohtas district, said: “I don’t understand why people come here to sleep. This is janata darbar and if you have come with a genuine problem, I don’t think you will ever be able to sleep because of the tension over how your grievance will be attended to at the darbar.”

A few others disagreed with Dhananjay. Sitaram Chaudhary, a resident of Hajipur, said: “I don’t find anything wrong with sleeping at the janata darbar. If some one is really tired and just wants to take a short nap, what’s the problem? What’s the point of getting anxious and stressed even before your turn has come?”