A Slice of Corruption, Anyone?

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Sunday, 10 April 2011 15:10

Written by Anirooddha Mukherjee

Anna Hazare has finally called off his fast unto death. The government has conceded his demand of including five members of the general public in the civil society-government joint committee that will draft the Lokpal Bill. People are celebrating the victory of truth over untruth, of good over evil. 4.4 million tweets supported the cause, a newspaper report says. I saw every friend I’m connected with on Facebook show their support to Anna Hazare by updating their status with inspiring messages. A ray of hope appears to brighten the future. India will be corruption free in a decade, they claim hopefully and proudly. But will it really?

We all have this model image of corruption in our minds. We think it is just about multi-million dollar scams, and the Kalmadis, the Rajas, and the Modis. We feel so insulated that corruption hasn’t touched us yet. We think that getting rid of these big shots will make India corruption free. We arduously demand hanging our politicians by the neck. We go on protest marches to light candles at Jantar Mantar. And at the same time, we keep the phone number of that friendly SHO/police constable on speed dial, just in case the traffic cop hauls us in for over-speeding, or for not having the pillion rider helmet on. We call him up, and hand the phone to the traffic cop- commissioner sahib mere chahcha hain, baat kar lo.

We Indians are a sorry breed of hypocrites. We cry ‘mera neta chor hai’ on Facebook and Twitter, and in the adjoining tab, we unabashedly download Jason Statham’s latest movie. Torrent rocks, we proclaim. If Jason Statham, or any of the producers got to know to know about this, they would come at us with all the guns a transporter can muster. We cannot digest a simple fact that not paying for a service is illegal. We are so accustomed of free lunches, that we have forgotten when we last paid for them. Corruption is running through every vein of ours. Breaking the queue is the latest fad. Don’t like waiting in the queue for the electricity bill? Just go in through the back door, pay the man at the counter some extra dough, and there! Nice and easy, hassle free bill payment!

There’s more, believe me, there’s a lot more. Don’t like your call rate plan? Call up customer care, threaten the Customer Care Executive that you will discontinue their services if they didn’t cut your call rates, and the hapless CCE, looking at weekly customer retention numbers, slashes your call rate to 30 paise/min. Welcome to 3g mobile telephony.

Take another instance. Didn’t get admission in a reputed college? No worries, management quota is your man! Parents keep a fixed sum aside, ‘for the better future of their kids’. All of us have friends who are in different reputed colleges, by virtue of the friendly greenback.

Once you get into college, a whole new chapter in Corruption 101 begins. Didn’t score well in the university exams? No problem! We have that inside guy who helps clear ‘backs’ and whitewash tainted degrees. From top to toe, we are drenched in corruption. And then we cry ‘mera neta chor hai’.

We have to realize that corruption is not 5000 crore scams, it is the damage done to the nation’s character when a tourist is duped for 500 bucks. Patriotism is not about attending protest marches, it is about the extra mile we go just to ensure that we are not tempted to bribe that official at the counter. We have to take pains to get rid of corruption. And real pain is not about a candle flame burning our palm. The real pain involves listening to our conscience, if we have any of it left.

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Comments

-2 #5 Anupama Sharma 2011-09-03 16:41

Very true! Very nice! All support :)

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-3 #4 2011-04-11 13:33

good article

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-2 #3 2011-04-11 08:49

cleansing is required at both the levels, TOP as well as BOTTOM.. but so much has been written about the TOP level cleansing, and so little about the BOTTOM/PERSONAL level, dats why i chose to give it the foremost thought:)

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-1 #2 2011-04-10 18:18

Straight forward,honest and well written..It is easy to join the masses and shout out slogans, but what truly remains to be seen is how we deal with it when it comes down to individuality, and all things personal.Do we have the courage to say 'no', and opt for an unusually trying,longer but morally right route to get things done? A question not many will have an answer to..

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0 #1 2011-04-10 16:07

Very true. It's the bitter truth of every Indian. We really need to change our value system, and it is very important that the younger generation is led to the right path.

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