There was a mail regarding defacing the monuments. Rather than writing about that in the same thread, thought I will branch it out into a separate thread. I could see only two reasons for India going down in almost all the fields right from disobeying to traffic rules to the highest scam you can think of which has happened in India till date
Fear of Punishment / Lack of Personal Integrity and Commitment. But what can we as common man do to this. The best we can do / say is that I do fear for punishment and I do have personal integrity and commitment. But that will not help - As the people on the correct side are out numbered, by the people on the other side. They win hands down and we are hapless witness to what is happening around us. Trust there are software engineers in this group who might have gone through the process of Police Verification when they have applied for passport. How many of you cleared the police enquiry without bribing them? All my records were clear by I had to pay Rs 500/- for the "Other Expenses". Its easier said than done, "Wait. Dont pay money."
Both the parties involved in the above mentioned example lack personal integrity. Why should I pay when all my records are intact? Why should the policeman ask for money when my case is clean? This applies to EB connection / Ration Card / Plan approval. Even though you have all your records in place you cannot get things done without shelling out money for "Other Expenses"
If this is the status for the case where all the records are correct think of a case where it you dont have proper records. Sanction for a building which has deviation / Projects which are dangerous for people / project that is likely to destebilize the eco-system. We see so many such things happening around us. On first place why are they happening -- people who do it dont fear the law and punishment. There are always loop holes to save them. Loop holes should be used to save the innocent not such people.
All of us should have a common agenda, I will not bribe people to get things done. I will not receive money to do my job and I will not encourage ilegal activities. That is possible when we have a Charismatic leader. Do we have such Charismatic leaders who have personal integrity.
To Quote Mr.CHO Ramasamy
"If it was not for Gandhi, there could not have been a democratic India. He was a man who did not speak the languages of the people of many of the states but commanded total and unquestioning faith of all of them. *He demanded struggle and sacrifice from them, while promising nothing, and they obeyed*. This is unimaginable. I have great admiration for him."
This is not possible now a days without promise you cant get things done. So what do we do next ...
mmmm looks like Lady Luck was smiling at me when I got my passport.
ha ha ha. I paid only Rs. 100/- Bribing of lesser intensity???? (Well I am not a software professional, by the way)
Jokes apart, Udanx's message is a very valid one. While I can take an oath that I wouldn't bribe any one like the Old Kamal (ingayumA????) in the movie Indian, will I be able to wait until the good time those guys take, just to frustrate us, to issue the passport? Will my company for me to do it that way. Maybe, they can't issue an order against me. But will I not be on the losing side. "THIS" is precisely what is causing everyone to just give in to the pressure from the ones who take the bribe.
While I do agree that both the givers and takers should be considered as offenders equally, I feel that the givers are to be sympathied against the takers for the only reason that they are forced to give, because of the hapless administrations and rules that we are following.
The worst part is that, there are laws to curb all these. But what is missing is the "Strict Enforcement". And why is it not being done? Purely Political reasons as all of us are aware.
"ThirudanAi pArtthu thirundhAvittAl, thiruttai ozhikka mudiyAthu". This is not the Ideal Factual statement, but the hapless situation that we are in today.
Having said all the above, I join the queue along with Udanx to ask " So what can be done?"
I think every sane person will think about this atleast once in his/her lifetime. Even if we are not liking it, we are forced to do it...soozhnilai kaidhigal..
Getting passport or any official work done without bribe - may be I am more lucky than anyone, I would say. Neither for my passport some 12 years back, or my wife's passport or my daughters passport a few years back, I didnt pay a single paise. For me and my wife's passport I went to the police station and after showing all the records, I just walked out. For my daughters passport, the policeman came to my house, and after verification, just left. There are few good souls, we should admit. And at the same time, I feel, unless we voluntarily ask, 'should I do something', i think we can get away with it.
And for my marriage registration - people spend anywhere between 600 to 1500Rs for getting the marriage registered. Because they go and ask the brokers how much it will cost. I did all the homework, went with all possible proof I can have - my wife name was changed after marriage, we had gazzete records, newspaper ads, and when the clerk at the registrar office was determined to find fault and rounding of each and every line of the application with his pencil, I was coolly saying, the photocopy is attached at the end. He took nearly 15 mins to scrutinize just 15 lines of information but finally failed. And I was about to walk without paying and he scratched his head and said 'formality sir'..I just paid him Rs.50 (which I feel bad even now) ozhinchi tholai (that too because I went to register on my first marriage anniversary and dint want to spoil my mood fighting with him). My neighbour who came to sign as witness was shocked and said ' ada pavi, atleast 100 ruba kudupenu pathen...verum 50 thana?'....
But I am sure, it cannot be a cakewalk for other instances. As shankar shows in Sivaji, we cant escape the red tapism. They will find fault just for the sake of finding fault. And I also should admit, that in last december, just two days before I started to the US, i wanted to give a 'power of attorney' to my father, i paid an agent 1500Rs and didnt even go inside the regsitrar office, because I had no time. We give reasons to be wrong.
Again it drives to our culture and how parents bring up their kids. Some years back, i was watching Visu's 'arratai arangam' in Sun TV. One lady was talking and said 'I paid 2 lakhs to get my sons engineering seat. How will I recover that. I will surely ask my son to take bribe'. Even today if I see that lady, I will kill her. thaya aval...pei... 'nallavar avathum theeyavar avathum annai valarpinile'. But today, annai seldom gets time to take care and the kids grow up in day care centers. No offense meant, but this is what I call 'soozhnilai kaidhigal'. when we have such attitude, we can never prosper. unless we think that others should not suffer as we do, we cant get rid of this situation.
In the other thread - Krishna and Krishna's army fight against each other.. that shows our commitment in earlier days. Loyalty or ejamana visvasam...if Krishna says go and fight with Duryodhana, do what ever he tell you, thats the command for the army. They do just that, nothing more nothing less. Today we find people who are just out of college and saying 'dont ask status to me, I will work as I wish'. Yes this happens in software company, seniors have no control over the juniors, no one can get the job done because there is no commitment. There are exceptions, but exceptions dont make the system. I think people agree on this attitude of the younger generation. They want to earn the easy way.
If we see the black and white movies or even the movies from the 80's we can see the servants are so committed to their masters. Servants fold their hands and wait for the command of the master. Its not slavery, its loyalty...ejamana visvasam...padikatha medhai...characters like Ranga Roa never treats the servants like servants, but still the servants love their master. My father often used to say, whatever I am, whatever I eat, is because of my (uco)bank. Today I might not tell that, because these days we feel that "I am working so I am paid. The company earns more because of me than they pay me. So why should I be loyal'.
When the line between adimaithanam and viswasam was forgotten in our country, we started to doom. We forgot the difference between suyamariyadhai and doing our duty. We feel that protesting others command is suyamariyadhai. If my company pays me and asks me to do something, i should do it. Atleast till date thats what I have been doing. I have lost much by not saying 'NO', but still I dont feel bad about it. Because I have the self satisfaction that I am doing my duty right.
As long as we dont realize what our duties are and have a bit of self discipline, its difficult to prosper.
Dear Udanx and Satish Interesting debate>>. I dont think the current educated younsters go around deface monuments.. What we are are due to our parents...I totally agree ...I learned tamil in second standard as I was in Hunsur and Kannada was my second language...the solution of my dad to speed up my reading skills in tamil Vikatan and Kalki....
My children speak little tamil (only with the grandmother but Akash used to sing all Bharathi songs when 3 or 4....He recited the whole story of Ramayana in his school Diwali Assembly( the North Indian Version of Diwali) and finished off with Asatoma satgamaya...and explained it in English...The headmaster was so impressed he asked us if he could do the same in the Christmas Function....We understood the value of ''Inrapoluthinum.......Kural'' He did it so confidently in a hall full of 500 people..me and Gomathi were almost in tears...He was 5....
We were in Rome seeing the Colosuem and she went on about the tigers and leopards and Akhash states 'but there are no tigers in Europe..''She explains but Romans traded with Indian Kings...so they came from India....Next day we were sseing the Roman expedition to Britain when they were living in caves...as barbarians...My sons first question was if India had Kings and Merchants and traded with Rome..they must have cities...I said yes...but the British lived in caves...I knew where this was going his holiday project said My ancesters lived in cities and traded with rome when the British were living in caves!!!
So its what we teach them.o nursery and day care .btw he has been going t