(published in an in house magazine)
This is stylized version of a few real
life incidents, narrated in the first person.
***
The
‘tring tring’ sound distracted me from my computer. I was trying to shoot a bug
for the past two hours in vain. I took my sight off the monitor and transferred
it to the mobile. A cheerful, familiar face smiles at me, with its name, ‘Ravi’,
superscribed on the top. At 16:15hrs, it was quite unusual for Ravi to call me.
I wondered what would have gone wrong.
“Hello
Ravi, tell me”, I answered.
“Akka, you caused me a loss of Rs. 500/-.
I am just alerting you in advance, so that you can cough it up at the
earliest”.
I
got irritated.Was office time the right one for him to play a prank on me,
especially when I was having a bad day at work? My silence seemed to have hurt
him so he said in a mellowed tone, “Actually, Akka,the police fined me….er…Rs.500/-.”
“What
have you done to invite it?
“To
be true… to be truthful…”
“You
know I don’t waste office time on conversations. Tell me whether it was
unlawfully levied on you, or you actually deserved it”.
“I
was talking on my mobile’….”
“Are
you continuing you talk now?” I asked, enraged.
“No
Akka, it happened just now. One of my
friends had kept calling me continuously, and there was no place where I could
tow my two-wheeler and speak. The beat policeman caught me even as I was
looking around for towing space”.
“What
next? Did the rebel insideyou not rise up, to advise you to cut the corners?”
“My
rebel did not: but the policeman did precisely that.”
“And,
you agreed or what? I asked, in a worried tone.
“No,
Akka,he wanted a hundred, but I did
not have sufficient money in my wallet. I had only Rs.50/-…”
“For
what? To pay the bribe?” I asked, in an almost intimidating tone. That was
reflective of my hatred towards corruption.
“Akka, hear me out completely, won’t you,
please? Let me narrate the incident as it happened. You know that I have had to
answer an urgent call from my friend, Ashish. His father had fainted, and was
being rushed to hospital, and thereby Ash needed my assistance there. In the
meantime, the constable caught me for ‘being mobile’ while driving, and made me
wait aside. When I pleaded with him to let me go because of the emergency, he
made me take out my wallet. When he found only Rs.50/-, he asked me to either
payRs.100/-, and leave the place, to pay Rs.500/- on receipt. I had called
another friend and asked him to bring the fine money at the earliest, as I had
forgotten my ATM Card at home. When he overhead it, he knew his earnings would
get affected, so, he was willing to let me go by paying him Rs.50/-. But, I
refused.”
“Good,
but from an ‘emergency’ perspective, would it not have been better had you paid
him Rs.50/- and rushed off to hospital?”
“Akka, I am your sishya; did you not tell me that if we live night, God will take
care of the rest? I am sure God will take care of Ashish’s dad. Here comes my friend Karthik with the money. Catch up
later, bye. Keep one thing in mind, Akka.
My life is divided into two parts: Pre-Akka and Post-Akka. You
know that”.
I
smiled and hung up, went back to work and successfully shot the bug.
That
evening, after returning from work, my thoughts dug into the mines of my
memories for the name, ‘Ravi’.
***
When
I was studying engineering, Ravi’s family had recently checked into our
neighbourhood. He was studying Class IX. He was a brilliant boy, so he took no
tuitions. But he needed some guidance in solving a few complicated problems.
Though the families were familiar with one another, it was only when they
sought my assistance in problem-solving that he and I knew each other. He would
drop in thrice a week to sit with me and understand the means of resolving
difficult problems in Mathematics. I had noticed that he was not punctual. Here
was a happy- go- lucky student learning from a finicky teacher! I gave him
three chances to reform himself but he did not make use of them. It was now time
to enforce it or him. “Akka, I got
home late, so I could not make it in time,” he replied nonchalantly.
“I
too have subjects to study I am in the III year, so I have to explore all the
options available with me to make a career. Time is more precious to me than
you can understand”, I replied sternly.
“Akka, please understand why I had got
late. The beat constable caught my friends and me as we were riding triples on
a scooty. We had to empty our pockets to pay that corrupt fellow the bribe he
wanted”. Ah, when the legal age for driving ungeared vehicles is fifteen, this
is what one can expect!
“Listen,
he’s not corrupt. You have corrupted him”, I screamed.
“But,
he’s the taker”.
“Yet,
there’s no clap with a single hand, and there is no taker without a giver”.
***
“After
yesterday’s dose, I did not expect that you’d come over to study”.
“Akka, please do not brand me as a
hopeless teenager. Yes, I did face a jolt; I thought it was perfectly normal to
pay a bribe. Even in our casual conversations, we helplessly accept that we
have no option but to bribe those in power - to get things done or to cut
corners. Let me review myself and see where I stand”.
***
“Akka, you are right. One need not be a
helpless bribe giver. I made my first experiment and succeeded. I was turning
from Gazuwaka late in the
evening; near the Zoo, a beat constable stopped me and wanted to check my
documents. Now-a-days, I have started behaving responsibly, so I had all of
them with me. He asked me to cough up Rs.50/-. In my precious Avatar,I would have thought he was asking
for a puff. This time I flatly refused. When he threatened me with dire
consequences, I too told him that I could do the same to him and dropped a few
names just like that. We keep hearing those names in the news, and see their
faces in the newspapers, don’t we? This chappy was scared as a chick and let me
off with a salute. What do you think of your sishya?’
***
“Akka, One more success. I have resolved
our ‘big fat electricity bill’ issue by peaceful means. I had made two rounds
to the office to set right the billing by showing proof of past trends, but to
no avail. This time, when I found the apathy continuing, I did not give up. I
simply walked into the officer’s chamber and sought his intervention. Even government
believes in customer care. He made me wait in the waiting room even as he
discussed the matter with his subordinates. I now have adjustment order on
hand. At this rate, we’ll have an electricity bill holiday for the next six months!
Yeah! I wouldn’t have had this much of happiness if I had bribed my way through
it. Thank you for showing the way, Akka!”
***
I
returned to the present. No matter how I tried to test his complacency, after
the initial hiccups, my sishya always
passed the litmus tests against
corruption and made me feel proud to have been associated with him.
***
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