Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Here comes...Anna Hazare...corruption will be swept out of the door.
If the month of August 2011, was anything to go by, it was one of the toughest months of my life.. It actually put me to the test! The NSE website was launched a few days ago and all hell broke loose, fire fighting was a small word to put it. I was battling the raging bull. Talking of battling the bulls, this month saw a 74 year old man (not in the least frail) lock horns with the Government on the issue of corruption. The timing could not have been more right. What with skeletons tumbling out of the UPA's closet and the PM choosing all the more to keep mum (I believe.. he thinks his work speaks volumes for him).. O.k. so then what have we here! The whole nation geared up at Delhi's Ramlila grounds, and people thronging to show their support for him. Everyday people and children shouting "Anna" and wearing the symbolic Nehru cap...however this time it was the "I am Anna Hazare", rallies in every corner of India...in summation, it was the voice of the common man echoing from everywhere corner of India, that there has to be a stop to this corruption. In part it was the frustration of rising prices of commodities and every day needs, shody services and failure of the government to rein in its bureaucracy as a whole.
Warren too was caught up with this frenzy and I had to bear the long news hours that he would watch leaving me no choice but to shoo away my kids from the computer. As usual I don't look at the surface problems, I look at why somethings will work and why others won't. The Lokpal bill as many rightly say will not end corruption. Then what will. Stronger laws and accountability? In a country where lawyers are found more in the board room than they are in the courtroom, speaks volumes for our legal infrastructure.
Ask me and I am a firm believer that we Indians will never be able to rid ourselves of corruption. 450 years of fighting the British have made us a non-tolerant race. We did not put with the tyranny of the British Raj and today we are fighting the system we created. We want rules, so that we can break them, but they are applicable for someone else. Simple example, you are standing in the queue serious waiting your turn and some impatient jerk, comes up and side steps the queue, then another, then another...you'll burst out. However, in a future scenario, you'll break the rule and expect others to "understand" your situation, because you have a valid reason for doing so. So if you can't get away, you are prepared to "settle" the issue amicably. Indian's world over are known for their impatience. Our malls, roads and public transport system bear evidence to our impatience. And we think our interests assumes priority over others. i9Hence the "ME" first attitude will not allow us to take second place.
WE cannot rid ourselves of corruption because as long as our moral and social consciousness is corrupted we will never be able to rid our system of corruption. Corruption thrives because our convenience feeds it. If we don't feed it, then someone else will. This has resulted in a serious trap situation. Who will be able to resolve this. When we can jump traffic signals, bribe officials, pay in black for a service, or evade customs...we can do anything. When we can bribe to find the "sex" of the baby so that we can abort "it" if it is not a girl child, then we can really do anything! There will always be someone we can buy, because money more than "zameer" is valuable. There is a saying that the "Pandu" is available for sale at Rs.20... may have gone up to 50 now because of inflation.
No rule, no law and no bill can clean corruption. Corruption is in the mind and soul of a person, in a society that is dead in its conscious. Everything we do is for a personal or political mileage. Corruption is not of some material or money, which can never be labeled such. It is the act and the person indulging in it which is corrupt. Corruption is the parasite which feeds of the dead body of our moral consciousness.
Jai Hind..long live the bureaucracy!
Warren too was caught up with this frenzy and I had to bear the long news hours that he would watch leaving me no choice but to shoo away my kids from the computer. As usual I don't look at the surface problems, I look at why somethings will work and why others won't. The Lokpal bill as many rightly say will not end corruption. Then what will. Stronger laws and accountability? In a country where lawyers are found more in the board room than they are in the courtroom, speaks volumes for our legal infrastructure.
Ask me and I am a firm believer that we Indians will never be able to rid ourselves of corruption. 450 years of fighting the British have made us a non-tolerant race. We did not put with the tyranny of the British Raj and today we are fighting the system we created. We want rules, so that we can break them, but they are applicable for someone else. Simple example, you are standing in the queue serious waiting your turn and some impatient jerk, comes up and side steps the queue, then another, then another...you'll burst out. However, in a future scenario, you'll break the rule and expect others to "understand" your situation, because you have a valid reason for doing so. So if you can't get away, you are prepared to "settle" the issue amicably. Indian's world over are known for their impatience. Our malls, roads and public transport system bear evidence to our impatience. And we think our interests assumes priority over others. i9Hence the "ME" first attitude will not allow us to take second place.
WE cannot rid ourselves of corruption because as long as our moral and social consciousness is corrupted we will never be able to rid our system of corruption. Corruption thrives because our convenience feeds it. If we don't feed it, then someone else will. This has resulted in a serious trap situation. Who will be able to resolve this. When we can jump traffic signals, bribe officials, pay in black for a service, or evade customs...we can do anything. When we can bribe to find the "sex" of the baby so that we can abort "it" if it is not a girl child, then we can really do anything! There will always be someone we can buy, because money more than "zameer" is valuable. There is a saying that the "Pandu" is available for sale at Rs.20... may have gone up to 50 now because of inflation.
No rule, no law and no bill can clean corruption. Corruption is in the mind and soul of a person, in a society that is dead in its conscious. Everything we do is for a personal or political mileage. Corruption is not of some material or money, which can never be labeled such. It is the act and the person indulging in it which is corrupt. Corruption is the parasite which feeds of the dead body of our moral consciousness.
Jai Hind..long live the bureaucracy!
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