Friday, June 18, 2010

The way we are! (Sab Chalta Hai)


The other day I was going on an evening stroll when suddenly a man came running to me.
‘Sir, I was just waiting for you to come this way’ beaming with excitement he said ‘look Sir, do you see this pothole on the road? Why don’t you write something about it? So many people have tripped here, autos and cars bumped in to it, a lady’s backbone got dislocated and still no body bothers to take up the matter with civic authority!’
I noticed that the pothole was right in front of his newly built house. In addition, there was also a wide road cutting across the road for taking the water connection. The newly laid road was dug up to erect a ‘pandal’ on the occasion of the ‘house warming ceremony’! When I coolly blamed him for this, he got a shock of his life. After spending lacs & lacs of rupees on construction, who bothers to cover up the dug up portion and road cuttings with debris if not concrete costing a few rupees only? People’s responsibility ends up with the deposit for the road cutting charges with the civic authority; rest is none of any body’s job.
It is quite normal to observe the office ‘Babus’ discussing office matters and higher ups corrupt practices  sipping a cup of tea in canteen or tea shops but some of them never fail to bring home office stationery like white papers, pen, pencils, carbon papers and erasers for their children. Claiming reimbursement of expenses for conveyance, cleaning materials, doctor’s fee or even LTC on fake receipts is common in Government offices and PSUs.
Good number of people talking about discipline never fails to jump the queue at the bus stops, railway/bus ticket counters or even at temples to get priority ‘darshan’. Youngsters talking about traffic & lane discipline at various forums take short cuts through one way, jump the traffic signal or move their two wheelers on to the footpath in order to go ahead of all waiting traffic.
Talking about the ethics of journalists and TV reporters who keep exposing scandals after scandals too can be found to fall prey to malpractices by politicians, film people and page -3 personalities who entertain them with fat envelopes and 5 star parties. The ills of dowry harassment continues and now cases of ‘harassed husbands’ are coming to light. There are so many issues, issues for thoughts and to write about but the million dollars question is who is listening and who is acting upon?

10 comments:

  1. you are right.. sab chalta hai! it is a pathetic, laid-back approach in order to get out of doing something as minor as tending for public property. we don't have to go out of the way, but yet the question- what is it to us? is more dominant in everyone's minds..
    to care for our environment, is actually caring for ourselves, something we all need to learn.

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  2. COMMENT ON BUZZ BY-
    Padmanabha Vyasamoorthy - Yes, India is a nation of great talkers. I have learned that mass preaching does not help. One to one tackling might bring in a change at least in one person at a time. Worth it, I think..

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  3. We are a people who are used to corruption, non governance and non accountability.If one was accountable, that damn pot hole would not have been there.
    We just don't care nor are we responsible

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  4. Comment on Face book by Iyer Venkat -
    "very true sir! but only a writer and journalist has the passion to bring the necessary shift !! so constructive media is the watch dog of democracy!! even with such a watch dog remaining alert and barking !!! day light robberies take place!! it is a sorry state of affairs but then critical mass is only built by people like your kindself and lets be +ve , a paradigm shift shall take place , it is a matter of time- physicists talk of quantum shifts-well there is evidence of this happening ! u should be knowing better Sir, this is as i understand it and my humble submission,eagerly awaiting your comments.

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  5. Well said, Ayyangar! We are all happy to sit back and wait for "someone else" to take up such issues! We have become a country and a generation of lethargic citizens who prefer to turn the other way when it comes to highlighting or tackling such issues. When we will realise that it is up to each one of us to do our bit if we really want to see a change in our neighbourhood, society and country?

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  6. Accountability is sadly unaccounted for in Indian books of ethics. We love to keep our house clean and dump the rubbish on the road and make it look like someone else' burden

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  7. well laid thoughts on the irresponsible society.

    The question always remains ' who will bell the cat? regarding the civic and social issues.

    the government should take stringent measures and penalise the erring people like in countries like Singapore.

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  8. Thanks for yr appreciation on my post sir. Well as a good samaritan that was my duty to spread awareness. Best wishes for you and for yr blog.

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  9. Good post sir. A line space between the paragraphs will make it more readable...

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  10. बहुत ही अच्छी बात कही है....हमने बहुत पहले एक "Carry A Dam" सब चलता है....पर क्या करें साहब हिंदुस्तान है..मानना तो पड़ेगा...!!!!
    बहुत ही बडियां..शुभकामनाएं...

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