Will this become a movement do you think? Does it have the power to move 1.2 billion and some beyond India's shores to become a full scale movement? Gandhiji managed to get us freedom without candles in marches! But that’s not the point and don’t get me wrong.... most of the hard work begins from symbolic gestures and these protests too are symbolic of our times – youth turning up at public arenas to increase numbers; those in Anna’s village already on hunger strike; people from all hues of life adding to the already unmanageable crowds outside Tihar Jail, Chatrasaal Stadium and wherever else in the country.... fuelled more so by media which of late always is on the lookout for drama - not news. No, there is nothing wrong in what Anna is demanding. For whatever it may be worth – he has my support.
Yet of late, I can’t get some thoughts out of my head. That when I didn’t want to pay bribe to the man/institution/government body manning my inflated and overcharged electricity bill, I was told – but “this is part of the system... don’t even bother refusing.” I did go and get it reduced but that’s not the point and it still doesn’t take away from the fact that to prevent it from being inflated again, I did have to shell out Rs. 2000. No one, but me, batted an eyelid.
I am reminded of the day when my lawyer friend wanted to get her landline telephone fixed she was more than willing to paying the lineman Rs. 50 who would ensure that her phone would continue to work – through rain-water-flood and sunshine – it still does. When I looked upset, she told me, "Itna na socha kar! This is part of life!" I wonder how much she shells out today. Oh, but times change. The other day I heard her complaining about the corruption around us - because she was standing in a line at the bank and did not know any officer who would allow her to jump the queue! "I tell you, nothing gets done, if you don't know someone. Its horrible!" I agree.
I am reminded of the time when I wanted my driving license and wasn’t confident of driving a car, a man sat next to me – helped control the gear and brakes – drove me up and down twice a 100-metre stretch and said, “Go inside. Meet the gentleman concerned and they’ll give you a driving licence” because the Motor Driving School chap had already taken money: "Its part of the fee ma'm" - to pay the officer inside. I was given my license within the next 10 minutes. It took me another five years before I owned my car and then another two before I was confident of being on the roads – completely on my own and as much a threat to the other drivers as they were to me! Today, I am good, confident driver. I jump lanes, shake my fist at others who hamper my way, once in a while jump lights – if I can get away with it. I do, usually.
The other day some tile work needed to be done along the boundary wall of my house. Within half hour of beginning the work, the labourers were asked to stop, by a posse of five policemen stating that they had to be paid Rs. 5000 if work had to continue. The tiles were moved to the back of house and still lie there because my 70-year old uncle refused to pay up. He is what they popularly refer to as a ‘misfit in society’. I don't know where I fit - if at all.
Yesterday, a colleague walked up and asked casually: “How much does one pay to the cops who come home for verification of the address for the passport?” I replied, “Not a penny.” He smiled and left. In the evening, he planned to leave early and reach India Gate with friends to support Anna Hazare and his friends! Am sure he was part of the anti-corruption brigade.
Welcome to the real world.
Back to Anna. Does he believe that he can stem this systemic rot? Does he believe that by bringing everyone including the Prime Minister under the purview of the all pervasive Lokpal Bill – as and when it gets tabled in the Parliament, he will be able to convince the common man to stop corruption of the mind? Yes, the same common man who rallies behind Anna today and has to go back to his work eventually. Will everyone who is out there today suddenly do a U-turn and start living by their conscience? The trouble, someone mentioned, lies in the education system. Values need to be instilled in children and schools have to do it, so will parents please stop paying bribes er.. donations to their schools and still hope that their child will not be discriminated against? Are they hoping against hope that soon separate classes will be held to teach kids how to approach cops and bribe them surreptiously when they are stopped for a challan for traffic violation?
Will everyone out there who is rooting for Anna (me included) suddenly turn around and become the ideal world we all hoped for? If I refuse to pay bribe to those policemen outside my door, will they allow me to tile along the boundary wall, so that the car doesn’t get stuck in the mud and slush caused by this monsoon rain? More importantly, will I be seen with respect amongst peers and neighbours for standing up against corruption or will I still be referred to as a misfit in today’s world? Will I be shamed for being un-corrupt and not have my self-respect eroded as a result thereof?
Will Anna’s ‘movement’ succeed because he is on a hunger strike or because we, who support him, are willing to look within and start living by our conscience – such as it is.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Two bit worth on Anna Hazare and his.... whatever
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
i love bollywood... we all love bollywood
In this world full of statistics addicts who are forever conducting surveys to prove some point or the other, here is a refreshing incident which needs no survey to prove the ongoing popularity of Bollywood icons – even those that have faded from active memories.
Just the other evening as I cruised down Africa Avenue on my way home at a very leisurely speed of 30 kmph – I was politely waved at and asked to pull over by a couple of traffic cops who took a second out from their rather busy schedules to smile at me (keeping their pre-Commonwealth Games manner workshops in mind) and before pulling out their challan books wondered in the same affable manner, why I had jumped a clean red light.
“Oops!” I said, before wiping a very confused look off my face and smiled, hoping it would help. When the matter didn’t settle, I tried getting away with, “Sorry bhaiya, but the signal was yellow when…” even as both shook their heads one could almost hear the younger one say, “Don’t even try that one!” while the older one in his best official way stated loudly, clearly and with a smile: “Madam, no, the light very much red and you in fact, came down road very carefully, slowly. Madam sorry, we will have to challan!”
“Sorry bhaiya, mistake ho gayi!!”
“No, Madam, the only thing is – we will challan you minimum but challan we will! Pleaes show your license madam!”
“Okay, Bhaiya!” Someone had to give in and they were the ones on duty so… I hunted up my DL and handed it over. It was only then that it hit me - it was all Shammi Kapoor’s fault! He was the one wooing Sharmila Tagore with Deewana hua badal / sawan ki ghata chhaee… on my car stereo! So, just how on earth did anyone expect me to be paying attention to a stupid, old red light?
I turned to the younger guy with a grin and said, “Bhaiya, aapko sach bata doon, kya hua, yeh galti kaise ho gayi?” And rather intrigued, he tilted his head at just the right 30 degrees, partially leaned over to hear what I was saying and continued to make the challan even as he leant an interested ear and partially raised eyebrows - all complementing a look which said, 'No, smart ones allowed.' “Ji, kya hua?” this last as he tore off the challan and handed back the DL alongwith it, while putting out his hand for a Rs. 100 note.
“Mein Shammi Kapoor ke gaane sun rahi thi… isiliye light ka dhyan nahin raha!”
“Arre! Uffohh Madam, pehle batana chahiye tha na!” His clearly apologetic and regretful tone gave me the feeling that he would have earnestly let me go had I let him on the secret earlier but…the deed had been done.
That one challan has been safely filed and saved in the hope that one day soon Shammi Kapoor will autograph it… After all, he is an icon who cuts across generation barriers like no one else and after this one, we certainly need no statistics to prove it!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Words Worth - this blog and its name, has been online since 2006 and though the excuse of busy-ness doesn’t really hold, it was business of life that kept one busy. Bottom-line - not a single post has been added until today - 19 December 2009.
It appears that the time is here to begin a new chapter. Where it shall lead to, I know not. What is known however, is that it shall need a discipline to keep it going and to keep all of you interested enough to come back asking for more. Hopefully, you will be asking for more.
I have written for several years - sometimes on topical issues (such is demand created in the profession of journalism from where I come) other times views and opinions which haven't been fully grasped have been forwarded. A lot of it has been intuitive writing - the words flowing even as they occurred in the head and from the heart. Not all that i wrote on the spur of the moment was fully grasped - even by me. It was only in hindsight or upon a second, sometimes third or even a fourth reading that the meaning And the import dawned!! Tis true. And yet, written I have - often just to finish assignments and in a rush. For what else could I have done?
I have known little else to do. Writing is something that just happened. It wasn't my first choice as a profession. Now that i look back actually there was no first, second or even a third choice. I was one of those completely ambitionless people who think they have goals to achieve, who see themselves in exalted echelons and believe that 'wishing' would make it so. Hard work towards achieving a set goal doesn't come naturally to my kind.
Oh, by the way, that's not to say that I didn't work hard. I worked hard alright - but usually had no clue about what i was doing. It was hard work sans direction. It was hard work for someone else's sake. And so, it wasn't hard work at all - for it was akin to a bricklayer's job who works hard but without understanding how the final building will look like. He is only laying bricks and doing what he knows he can. So the initiative to lift and lay eight instead of two bricks at a time was always there but the vision to see how the placement would affect the entire structure remained a hollow thought. Such was the nature of my hard work.
Yet, at no point in time in these last nineteen years can it be said that one lacked the drive to achieve or to reach somewhere. As a result, when one went from being a sub-editor to an editor in the space of some 13 odd years – one had little realization of the power and command at one’s disposal. I was an editor with THE leading National Daily without fully grasping the import of what that chair needed or the demands that came with the chair.
But writing continued. It was something that became the default medium of things that were meant to be. Come to think of it, it has continued since I am too lazy to go elsewhere and explore anew. Oh, not that other things have not interested me - over time. I can count at least 10 things that have waylaid my attention over the years and of which i am convinced that should mind be set to achieve them - they will happen. But laziness is such a draw :). Truly. There's no substitute to just lying around and feeling useless. Blisss is the word... I think.
Yet, when I have written, people have read and, people have commented - mostly favourably. Unless they disagreed with the idea or the opinion expressed, the writing per se has been appreciated. God knows why. It must be a gift that Lord Almighty – unknown to me - has granted. It must be that Lord has plans which I am MOST DEFINITELY NOT AWARE OF. There must be a reason why am sitting here once more and penning candid thoughts hoping that they will connect with someone; that someone out there in the real world would relate to and comment upon these thoughts and write back to me through the virtual world.
Writing is a gift. Through this blog, I wish to share this gift with all of you.
There will be more. But to begin with this is enough.