Note: this blog might borrow themes from popular tamil movies, but it surely doesnt require a tamil-movie fan to understand. If any part of you is Indian, you will surely understand its import.
You saw the movie "Indian" and said "ya. That’s the way to go...every bribe-giver and taker must be punished". then, you saw Ramana (remade in telugu as Takur) and felt a little bad in the stomach at the thought of killing ppl in cold blood if they are found to be the highest bribed person in that particular department...but still, you went with the underlying theme of the movie - eradicating Bribery...then you saw mudhalvan (made as Nayak in Hindi) and the hero was a pretty slick operator and you liked it a great deal...now there will be anniyan (to be released in Telugu as Aparichidhudu) and you will love it for what its underlying meaning and of course its stunts and strategic killings and ambushes...great going, isnt it?
I too liked all these movies, but then there is this fundamental question that begs to be asked when i see such movies - Do they mean anything at all? No! Not in terms of how cute the heroine was or how well-made the hero's muscles were or how good or bad the music was? The question rather is - Do they mean anything in real life at all? Of course, I had to get several short lectures on movie-watching from almost everyone i know, saying that movies are for entertainment and enjoyment. They are not for soul-searching or introspection. Nor are they to be taken seriously or be superimposed on real life and to be pondered upon. This is the dose of pragmatism i get whenever i try complaining about a movie...and of course what is being said is correct. But still the fundamental question refuses to be wished away - is eradication of bribery a possibility at all? do we even need to bother about it? As my favourite columnist of Indian Express TJS George once wrote "the shame has gone out of corruption", it seems like there is no longer a stigma associated with corruption...it is an entrepreneurial activity and the better network you have and more smooth operator you are, the more successful you are....somehow, the underlying philosophy of all those films have been overwhelmed by the mass-attracting tricks the wrapped them to ensure their commercial viability. I simply remember one thing from Mudhalvan - after one eventful day as CM, when the hero decides that he would rather remain out of politics, but one of his supporters tries to persuade him and says "What is the modus operandi of the middle class young generation - to study as hard as they can, secure a seat in a govt engg college, get a decent paying job, then save all your life to secure a small plot on the outskirts of the city, build a house after retirement and sit there reading english newspapers and complaining about the state of the nation". For me, that was a definitive moment in the movie. It captured the passivity of a nation’s young generation which seems to think that it has got nothing to do with bureaucracy and politics until the red-tapism and the cancerous nature of it strikes close to home.
Now, this article is simply what I think can be done by every self-respecting Youngman and woman of the nation to add their bit to reduce corruption.Nothing at the rather cinematic (after all that is what they were aimed to be, not to blame them) and draconian levels of retribution as shown in these movies, but at a personal level with dignity and diplomacy. after all, the greatest battles are not the ones fought with daggers, spears, swords or guns, they have been ones that have been fought with quiet dignity of minds that carry the courage of conviction...it is a very powerful one,the heart with the courage of conviction.
As to why I chose to base this idea of movie themes, it is again due to the great tragedy of the nation which seems to willingly ignore and forget its history, with more enthusiasm, than the Germans. Only difference (and a decisive one) being that we have a thousand more reasons to love, study and know our history than the germans do, to forget theirs. We are in as much a hurry to forget what the essence of one Mr.M.K.Gandhi’s work is really as the Germans are, to forget Hitler and his riegn. That is the irony of the times and thus I chose something that deeply affects and influences (but sadly never does it enough to bring about any meaningful social reform). Not to be lost in that, let me come back to the purpose of this rigmarole.
I believe that bribery is much like dowry. As long there are people who are shameless enough (I admit I too am a culprit in this respect) to give up their money and rights to get a job done (that they can in many cases rightfully demand to be completed) , there will be people who will be ready to trade their official powers. I believe that bribery has to stop at the "giver" level and then only can it be contained at the "demander" level. And I must note here that the advent of software, IT and related service providers has brought on an increase in the “corrupting” power of the younger generation just out of college...oops, sorry I meant the “purchasing” power but since purchase, registration always carry an almost inevitable act of bribery, i used the wrong word. Why can’t the young software engr get his driving license in the straight way, instead of going through a driving school that obviously has under-table dealings with the RTO? I know at this stage most of the people reading this might think i am from mars or something, and I write this simply because I have seen first hand a doctor certifying license applicants as having normal vision without even actually looking at them...for 30rs per form...I would really really love to conduct a sting operation and get that doctor to attest a completely blind person's application form and get him arrested. But our act of abetting bribery might simply twist this tale on a disastrous route. As the inspection of driving skills is just a farce played out at the RTO, that blind person might ultimately walk out with a proper driving license and in-order to celebrate his victory over the system might take a short drive and run over your neighbour's school-going kid. How is that for the effects of bribery closer to home? And I hope you would be reasonable enough to understand that this scenario is very much plausible if you simply replace "completely blind" with "partially blind". Why cant the software engr for the sake of his dignity and for the sake of honoring his education and the values taught to him, take a few hours off on a couple of days to get his license the right way? Next time you want to register your bike in a different state, dont think of bribing the occasionally alert cop at the intersection, simply get it registered in the present state...it doesn’t cost you much more than what you spent on your birthday bash on alchols at a swank pub that was established in violation of building rules by greasing palms of a govt servant who in turn has come to occupy the post by rendering similar insincere favors to another govt servant.
Next, would be the act of several software professionals returning home from US with goods worth more than what is allowed. Pretty much excusable if it were simply a case of over-enthusiasm resulting in some dozen dollars worth of goods extra....but it is hardly so...the only limit imposed is by the weight limit on the checkin baggages...they rest assured that it is a simple matter of 20-30 dollars that is to be handed over to one of immigration officers who bothers to ask questions...what is wrong with that, may ask the software engr who has trained his mind on months of coding linked-list logic...nothing really, you are simply strengthening the belief of the officer that what he is doing is not wrong and this belief would one day cover his conscience when he lets through a packet of plastic explosives smuggled by an extremist (because the promised reward for not asking questions about the package were greater than what you offered) who conveniently detonates it in a crowded bus stop of your city tearing your aunt to pieces...cool ain’t it? Or may be this is too far fetched! then sample this - the officer simply takes his reward and believes that a passenger is carrying excessive quantities of medicines while he smuggles in different LSA drugs and it gets into college campuses and your younger sister falls prey to the addiction...”what is the connection?” you might ask, then. It was just a matter of choosing between bribing the officer and paying the 15% duty on the extra goods.
Little might be realized that what goes around comes around. Pretty similar to linked-lists. one thing leads to another, only that life does not happen to be
doubly-linked list for someone to trace where some disaster originated...it does not always give you that option and so my hypothesis stands unjustified and untestable...just some stupid soul crying foul because he had nothing better to do...Hope the lords of logic figure out that mine might be slightly exaggerated but are certainly plausible and positively happenable(if there is such a word) albeit on a less severe scale (if god is with you).
I am not trying to lead you to the utopian thought of a corruption-free land ( although it is only as utopian as the thought of "a successful non-violent Indian freedom struggle" for someone hearing of it in 1910)...but I just wanted to lament on the state of affairs. I might research and give you dozens more plausible and more strikingly “closer to home” scenarios but I believe young people like me get the message pretty fast and this is certainly aimed at those people. Next time you try to code a workaround with the tool of bribery, remember the linked list, you might simply be planting the seed for something very disastrous in the future and moreover, does the discharge of rightful duties of a citizen require the motivation of disaster prevention? Aren’t we even capable of quiet dignity at a personal level? Think it over!
