India, Nov. 10 -- Press conferences rarely surprise you. They are often polite performances with scripted questions, rehearsed answers, and reporters pretending to take notes. But when Haryana's new director general of police, OP Singh, walked into the conference room on Saturday during his visit to Gurugram, the routine went out the window.

Singh, unlike most of his predecessors, came without the bureaucratic poker face. Instead, he brought humour, conviction and a dose of candour that turned a briefing on law and order into a masterclass on policing and human behaviour.

"Why," he asked, arching an eyebrow, "are our policemen so obsessed with ruining people's Friday nights?" The question, equal parts rhetorical and provocative, drew mu...