"Inaamdaar" Indians

Yesterday my mother told me that our new landline phone is active and she has paid Rs. 200 to the lineman. On asking why, I was told that the lineman was asking for some “Inaam” for the new number we have got. This whole episode got me thinking, that we Indians are one of the most creative race on planet earth. We have even created unique ways of being corrupt.

What will you call the “Inaam” this lineman took from my mother? Was it a bribe? My answer will be “no” if I strictly follow the definition of a bribe (as per dictionary.com), which will be “Persuade (someone) to act in one's favour, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement”, she paid him after the line was activated, he never told her that the line will not be installed until she pays him, there was nothing illegal which he was doing nor we were getting the phone installed out of turn. But, at the same time I am sure all of us will agree that this is some sort of corruption. Let me try solving this puzzle, I will call this something similar to extortion. Let’s examine the scenario, if my mother have not paid him, we would have been subjected to frequent disconnection of phone line, noisy lines, faulty instruments, late redressal of complaints etc. etc. anyone who have dealt with our public owned phone companies will know what kind of harassment I am talking about. Please keep in mind, I am not justifying my mother’s action here, she acted in a way, whatever felt right to her based on past experiences. But, this whole incident surely points in a direction which we have very conveniently ignored amidst our so called fight against corruption. The point being, that corruption has become so much part and parcel of our culture that at times we don’t even realize, what we are doing is something illegal or unethical.

If I ask any average Indian, “Have the levels and instances of bribery gone down since Anna Hazare started fasting?” I am sure many will answer “no”. But how is that possible, if we all are against corruption and support Anna Hazare? I am sure the traffic policeman who asks for Rs. 100 as bribe is also supporting Anna, in same way as the person paying him. I am very sure that all the government officers who ask for bribe are also supporting Anna in same way as we all do. This means we all are against corruption, then why still we are ranked amongst the most corrupt nations? Maybe because all our politicians and high ranking officers are corrupt and a lokpal bill is required to take care of them and that’s what Anna hazare and all of us are fighting against, correct? I don’t think so.
The politicians are mere symbols of our society and the corrupt ones represent exactly what is wrong with us. We all are corrupt in our own ways, but we don’t want to accept that. Will the lineman ever accept that he took a bribe from my mother or the traffic cop will think that because there is an old man fighting against corruption let me not take bribe from now on, or for that matter will anyone of us choose to pay Rs. 1000 fine instead of bribing policeman with Rs. 100 and get away with it. I am sure most of us will answer these questions in negative (if we be honest). But even before asking these questions if I ask who is corrupt in our society, I am sure many will point fingers towards politicians and high ranking officers.

People are comparing Anna hazare with Mahatma Gandhi because he is fighting for the people of India. I do not agree with this comparison, MKG fought and won a battle against British along with the people of India. All Indians fighting with him had their objectives clear and were ready to sacrifice their own interests for the larger cause, whereas Anna is fighting a battle against corruption along with people who are equally corrupt as the people they are fighting against, I am sorry to say, but I don’t give him much of a chance in this battle, unless we follow what MKG said “Be the change you want to see in the society”.