'Only the change is persistent' is the popular saying encouraging to induct and accept potentially positive changes in the system in the favor of collective welfare. It's a lesson that very few of my fellow countrymen seem to have ever followed in real sense. The 'change' mentioned here is not in the context of mundane changes to accept technologies, like that of cell-phones, without which we are left behind in time. We are good at that. It's a change related to culture, attitude, habits, policies and administration.
The issue of corruption remains unarguably the foremost problem of our society and I do not assume any need of elaboration on this. However, I find the the irony of morals very striking. I recalled how my parents narrated a story of a young police officer visiting my home for the back-ground inquiry of me joining as a class I officer in a central government institution. The officer removed his shoes outside the main door and when my mother told him not to bother and come inside with shoes. He arrogantly said "hamare sanskaar hume anumati nahi dete" (my morals do not allow me). What would have happened during the inquiry checkup is a no surprise. My parents had to pay bribe multiple times in order to keep the inquiry report OK. It was not as if they were willing to pay, they feared the sabotage which could create problems for me. It was clear that asking for bribe was not in his morals. Examples goes on. Mundane and rather irrelevant things like going to temple, touching our elders' feet, keeping the home tidy are in morals, but littering, spitting and peeing in public, abusing, jumping red light, taking bribe etc are all OK. If we trace back the history of this attitude, I will not be surprised that such attitude would have escalated after British liberated us. We still cherish the festivals, which are sexists: Kadwa-chauth, Raksha-bandhan, Bhaiya-dooj and Lohri (vibrantly celebrated when a boy is born) to some extent. These festivals are tightly hardwired to our society and emotions and are here to stay for centuries to come. The least damage these festivals do is to remind at-least a few times a year that the males are superior to the females through several different interpretations. One could argue on correct or incorrect interpretation, but the fact remains that the the celebrations are gender-biased. My brief experience as a scientist in India taught me that the new institutions follow work culture and policies of existing age old institutions, as if those had been great examples. It is immaterial to discuss the whole repertoire of cases. More important is the quest why is that so? Carrying over the faulty ideas from generation to generation is the bottleneck, which needs to be broken collectively through immense courage and effort. Ideas of our constitution deserve more respect and should be implemented as antidote to faulty morals. One would say this can best be achieved through our politicians. Well, another faulty idea that we inherit! If that was to happen, 68 years of independence was sufficient enough time. This will only happen through us, the people. We need to change. Change ourselves, change our politicians through our votes or in less likely scenario through joining politics ourselves. One reason why Imran Khan is my all-time role model and why I appreciate Arvind Kejriwal and team. Not for what they could achieve, but for something that they dare to attempt.
The issue of corruption remains unarguably the foremost problem of our society and I do not assume any need of elaboration on this. However, I find the the irony of morals very striking. I recalled how my parents narrated a story of a young police officer visiting my home for the back-ground inquiry of me joining as a class I officer in a central government institution. The officer removed his shoes outside the main door and when my mother told him not to bother and come inside with shoes. He arrogantly said "hamare sanskaar hume anumati nahi dete" (my morals do not allow me). What would have happened during the inquiry checkup is a no surprise. My parents had to pay bribe multiple times in order to keep the inquiry report OK. It was not as if they were willing to pay, they feared the sabotage which could create problems for me. It was clear that asking for bribe was not in his morals. Examples goes on. Mundane and rather irrelevant things like going to temple, touching our elders' feet, keeping the home tidy are in morals, but littering, spitting and peeing in public, abusing, jumping red light, taking bribe etc are all OK. If we trace back the history of this attitude, I will not be surprised that such attitude would have escalated after British liberated us. We still cherish the festivals, which are sexists: Kadwa-chauth, Raksha-bandhan, Bhaiya-dooj and Lohri (vibrantly celebrated when a boy is born) to some extent. These festivals are tightly hardwired to our society and emotions and are here to stay for centuries to come. The least damage these festivals do is to remind at-least a few times a year that the males are superior to the females through several different interpretations. One could argue on correct or incorrect interpretation, but the fact remains that the the celebrations are gender-biased. My brief experience as a scientist in India taught me that the new institutions follow work culture and policies of existing age old institutions, as if those had been great examples. It is immaterial to discuss the whole repertoire of cases. More important is the quest why is that so? Carrying over the faulty ideas from generation to generation is the bottleneck, which needs to be broken collectively through immense courage and effort. Ideas of our constitution deserve more respect and should be implemented as antidote to faulty morals. One would say this can best be achieved through our politicians. Well, another faulty idea that we inherit! If that was to happen, 68 years of independence was sufficient enough time. This will only happen through us, the people. We need to change. Change ourselves, change our politicians through our votes or in less likely scenario through joining politics ourselves. One reason why Imran Khan is my all-time role model and why I appreciate Arvind Kejriwal and team. Not for what they could achieve, but for something that they dare to attempt.
