A country of old men
There was a time when we were "ruled" by others. Those were the days when the country came together, and we should see this as the silver lining in the cloud that covered our nation for more than two centuries. Those were the days when the first shoots of leadership germinated in this country. Instead of the Kings of old, who led their men to fight their kin, a new generation of leaders came into existence. Those were the leaders who brought together the masses, for that was the need of the hour. Those were the men who led the people against the "rulers". Some were revolutionary, others were otherwise revolutionary.
History has been a witness that while most other countries gained freedom by war, we did under the leadership of a man who knew how to channel the energy of the mob. The path he followed was "Andolan" instead of armed revolution. He was the "Father of our Nation", he was Mahatma Gandhi.
Ours was a nation of oppressed, suppressed, poor and hungry. Those who were deeply wounded that they were weak to stand up and fight. So our Father took us together and bound us as one unit, just like a bunch of weak sticks bound together in a stack.
Those were the old days, those "Andolan" were against some outsiders and even then our masses did not create any ruckus...
Time flies fast, and we grew into a free country. But, alas we have grown into a country of old men. Men who are steadfastly associated to the old days. A country which takes a lot of pride in it's ancient culture, but unfortunately these same men have kept the ancient wounds, the ancient weakness also intact deep in their hearts. And these men have been passing it on from generation to generation. And unfortunately our youth ends up growing up into ancient, wounded, spineless beings.
Right from our childhood, we are taught not to fight. Not to reply back or question. And when we grow up we never ask why due to the same reason that we were never taught to ask why. We find strength in crowd. For the crowd has no face, no identity.
This all comes up from the recent hot topic on facebook, after our victory in world cup, about Anna Hazare going on a fast to get more powers vested into Lokpal. As ever, most of the Indian facebook community is following, liking and commenting on the topic with more than half of them not aware of what Lokpal is. Moreover the idea of vesting powers into the ombudsman to take up corruption charges against officials is again a worrying factorSome of my ideas on Lokpal bill and this proposal are in the comments section below.
While watching a statement by Anna Hazare, I was rattled by the poignancy with which he mentioned the rail roko Andolan in Maharashtra when he sat on a fast in Anand. Well he is a good man, with noble ideas and good intent. But he is old. Alas we are still a country of old men and he is one such leader of weaklings. I more than expect a similar half-brained reaction of crowd while he puts up the fight for his demands.
What we need to understand today is that these destructive Andolan were fine when we were under an oppressive ruler. But now it is all our own. Isn't it the collective frustration of ours that we bring forth when we burn buses, block traffic, stop trains. Not just a discomfort for the travellers, but the financial loss that it causes is all ours to bear. But we cannot understand that, for we are frustrated and when in crowd we have a shield behind which we can safely vent that.
Someone just posted that "as for taking a bribe it is a chain. we pay ... sometimes to expedite things... for granular level it will take time". Time? That's really what we lack. We have already taken more than 60 years. What more time we need? Liking on facebook will not bring a change. Oh yes we all want change, but when it comes to us, it takes time. Pressing a button on FB didn't take time, why should this?
Why can't we instantly agree that we will not be part of any corrupt practice "now on". No we need time. We need time to grow a spine that was removed when we were born.
Unfortunately, I didn't belong or live in any different environment. I was always ridiculed and am ridiculed for my aggression. Numerous times have I been scolded for putting up arguments. Why did I not bribe the fat, unfit policewomen who caught me with an expired PUC, but rather asked her for a challan when it cost me Rs 200 more. Why did I fight with her when she tried to deter me by telling me that the challan has to be paid in court, but I knew that it was her job? Why did I spend two hours in the Pune sun arguing with her and her collegues until I complained to her senior when he came? Why in the end I was 200 Rs short? These were the questions that many of my friends asked me. Some found her really generous for she was ready to let me off with Rs 50 as bribe. Well, my answer is simply because I am frustrated too. Am frustrated with this mob mentality of ours. And I refuse to accept it.
I am no leader, but this is my approach. I want to see myself as a man who can stand alone on his own. Fight on his own and lose alone, if that be it.
And I only wish, what if we just say "Ok! Now on we won't budge under pressure. We are ready to lose a bit more than we want, for the sake of good", instead of pressing a Like button on Facebook. Isn't that what even our old leaders did. They lost a lot for the sake of what they believed in. But we call them leaders, and we want just to follow. We do not want to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. Really, "Follow" is another one of our favourites on facebook.
If only we stand as individuals alongside our leaders instead of as a mob behind them, will we really need that "old man" fasting. Will we really need a rail roko andolan. Will we really need a mob of weaklings who usually do not even know what and why they are doing what they are...
History has been a witness that while most other countries gained freedom by war, we did under the leadership of a man who knew how to channel the energy of the mob. The path he followed was "Andolan" instead of armed revolution. He was the "Father of our Nation", he was Mahatma Gandhi.
Ours was a nation of oppressed, suppressed, poor and hungry. Those who were deeply wounded that they were weak to stand up and fight. So our Father took us together and bound us as one unit, just like a bunch of weak sticks bound together in a stack.
Those were the old days, those "Andolan" were against some outsiders and even then our masses did not create any ruckus...
Time flies fast, and we grew into a free country. But, alas we have grown into a country of old men. Men who are steadfastly associated to the old days. A country which takes a lot of pride in it's ancient culture, but unfortunately these same men have kept the ancient wounds, the ancient weakness also intact deep in their hearts. And these men have been passing it on from generation to generation. And unfortunately our youth ends up growing up into ancient, wounded, spineless beings.
Right from our childhood, we are taught not to fight. Not to reply back or question. And when we grow up we never ask why due to the same reason that we were never taught to ask why. We find strength in crowd. For the crowd has no face, no identity.
This all comes up from the recent hot topic on facebook, after our victory in world cup, about Anna Hazare going on a fast to get more powers vested into Lokpal. As ever, most of the Indian facebook community is following, liking and commenting on the topic with more than half of them not aware of what Lokpal is. Moreover the idea of vesting powers into the ombudsman to take up corruption charges against officials is again a worrying factorSome of my ideas on Lokpal bill and this proposal are in the comments section below.
While watching a statement by Anna Hazare, I was rattled by the poignancy with which he mentioned the rail roko Andolan in Maharashtra when he sat on a fast in Anand. Well he is a good man, with noble ideas and good intent. But he is old. Alas we are still a country of old men and he is one such leader of weaklings. I more than expect a similar half-brained reaction of crowd while he puts up the fight for his demands.
What we need to understand today is that these destructive Andolan were fine when we were under an oppressive ruler. But now it is all our own. Isn't it the collective frustration of ours that we bring forth when we burn buses, block traffic, stop trains. Not just a discomfort for the travellers, but the financial loss that it causes is all ours to bear. But we cannot understand that, for we are frustrated and when in crowd we have a shield behind which we can safely vent that.
Someone just posted that "as for taking a bribe it is a chain. we pay ... sometimes to expedite things... for granular level it will take time". Time? That's really what we lack. We have already taken more than 60 years. What more time we need? Liking on facebook will not bring a change. Oh yes we all want change, but when it comes to us, it takes time. Pressing a button on FB didn't take time, why should this?
Why can't we instantly agree that we will not be part of any corrupt practice "now on". No we need time. We need time to grow a spine that was removed when we were born.
Unfortunately, I didn't belong or live in any different environment. I was always ridiculed and am ridiculed for my aggression. Numerous times have I been scolded for putting up arguments. Why did I not bribe the fat, unfit policewomen who caught me with an expired PUC, but rather asked her for a challan when it cost me Rs 200 more. Why did I fight with her when she tried to deter me by telling me that the challan has to be paid in court, but I knew that it was her job? Why did I spend two hours in the Pune sun arguing with her and her collegues until I complained to her senior when he came? Why in the end I was 200 Rs short? These were the questions that many of my friends asked me. Some found her really generous for she was ready to let me off with Rs 50 as bribe. Well, my answer is simply because I am frustrated too. Am frustrated with this mob mentality of ours. And I refuse to accept it.
I am no leader, but this is my approach. I want to see myself as a man who can stand alone on his own. Fight on his own and lose alone, if that be it.
And I only wish, what if we just say "Ok! Now on we won't budge under pressure. We are ready to lose a bit more than we want, for the sake of good", instead of pressing a Like button on Facebook. Isn't that what even our old leaders did. They lost a lot for the sake of what they believed in. But we call them leaders, and we want just to follow. We do not want to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. Really, "Follow" is another one of our favourites on facebook.
If only we stand as individuals alongside our leaders instead of as a mob behind them, will we really need that "old man" fasting. Will we really need a rail roko andolan. Will we really need a mob of weaklings who usually do not even know what and why they are doing what they are...
Comments
1. It was a bill passed sometime back in history, when we were still as corrupt. I never remembered dates and never cared for it, for past was past.
2. Currently the bill covers Prime Minister and the members of Parliament. A plaint can be filed against them with an Ombudsman, usually called Lokpal.
3. If a complaint is filed against someone with Lokpal, it nullifies any existing cases against that person in any of the courts. Oops. Additionally if the person is proven innocent by Lokpal, whoosh, all cases against him disappear. In fact all corruption charges related cases are stopped against that person in Judiciary.
Vesting Lokpal with greater power will infuse greater power in the hands of people? Well not exactly. The kind of corruption we encounter in our daily life is not usually by the Administrative Officials. Of course we cannot extend Lokpal's powers to take up complaints against the common traffic hawaldar or a patwari or a tehseeldar. Can we? Those who argue should look at the speed of our Judicial system. Would Lokpal really be able to cope with this? Surely it will be a bottleneck.
Giving powers to Lokpal, to take up cases against Adminstrative officials will be a bigger bet than what we think. It will further lighten the separation of Executive, Judiciary and the Legislature. Adminstrators will be under greater threat of being oppressed by the Legislature for Lokpal is primarily liked to the Legislature and comes directly under the PM.
Also with so many of our current MPs under the scanner, if this bill gets amended, then won't they have already considered the repurcussions and found flaws. No matter how our current political leaders (I just don't like calling them just leaders) be, they are really intelligent at law for sure.