Corruption is a word very familiar in India and made even more familiar by the ongoing satyagrahas, andolans, movements etc. lately. We all have knowingly or unknowingly been adversely affected by it and this would continue until we bring a check on individual greed and revengeful attitude.
One of my strongest views of Corruption is that it thrives due to greed and revengeful attitude of people.
Remember the days when we were kids and we would fight with friends over play. Some of our friends always wanted more and they never shared anything with others. We all disliked them at first but then friends are friends and most of us dont shun them at the drop of a hat, so most of us become like them and only a handful leave. The ones who leave remain alone for sometime and come back to join their friends but rarely anyone won't come back at all.
Thats is exactly the case with corruption in our society. Some of our brothers are greedy and they want everything and would go to any extent to get what they want as well as what they dont want. They were either born this way or they were 'made' this way.
How is one 'made' this way?
One is made this way out of the feeling of Revenge. Someone 'like them' did something 'like that' to 'them' and in the fury of Revenge 'they' became like their Nemesis - Greedy.
Thus, Greed translates into Revenge which further translates into Greed and hence a vicious circle is formed. Many of us are in this vicious circle and are the source as well as the effect of Corruption.
We were affected by corruption and hence we want to hit back those who affected us and in the process we ourselves indulge in corruption. Then this continues throughout generations. We are witnessing the same societal phenomena where morality is declining by the day and humanity is in serious Danger.
Let me put a small story to put my point further:
A young boy just out of college in a non-metro city in India is forced the bribe a babu to get a job in a government department. He works diligently and honestly but not for long as the people around him does not like him the way he is. He works like a slave but with no result, all his deserving and non-deserving colleagues went well ahead of him, with their 'connections' and he is left struggling. He was snobbed, ridiculed and taken advantage of by his colleagues and his seniors. He was pulled in each and every direction until one day he decided to give back. He is waiting for that ONE moment, when he would get his revenge of all that was afflicted upon him and when he gets that chance, he hits back at his new colleagues and the society at large in a manner worse than what was done to him. Hence he joins the 'Bandwagon' and makes the social environment even worse.
This is the story of an aam aadmi of India, who is ridiculed, betrayed and humiliated everyday. He is secretly waiting for that ONE moment when he will hit back and avenge himself.
This is the ground where corruption thrives. It multiplies itself to huge proportions and reaches out to all the directions in the society.
More the afflicted, Bigger it becomes. More number people affected by corruption, more people join it. Corruption proves to them what is a blatant LIE, that this is the way things are run and the innocent people believe it to be true.
So the Empire of Corruption is standing on a myth, a lie. Hence I do not blame the Young Man in the story, his reaction was but natural to the situation.
But then there were few who did not give up and kept dragging themselves and never compromised on societal ethics. Such people are less but they are the ones who have to power to break this circle.
To end corruption only one way exists, that is to break the Vicious Circle. This circle can only be broken if you either stop Greed or You suppress the feeling of Revenge.
Greed can only be controlled by moral education and awareness and Revengeful attitude can only be suppressed by what you call 'Ahimsa'.
As for Greed, it has been injected in our society by the caretakers of our nation in the form of Capitalism, which seems to be a failed economic system. An economic system has to evolve itself over time to change and hence we can only wait and watch.
Ahimsa not only denotes non-violence but also promotes a non-revengeful attitude. Hence it brings us back to the teaching of the Mahatma that an 'eye for an eye makes the whole world blind'. People like the Mahatma are the ones who face all the stones thrown at them but do not hit back and hence break the circle of corruption. They stop this epidemic to spread further and hence spread the feeling of Humanity and Kindness.
To absolve is the most difficult of the tasks in this world but that is what seems to be the only way to break this vicious circle of Corruption.
Through this Article, I would like to urge my dear readers to practice and preach Ahimsa and break this circle of Corruption which keeps on attaching innocent people to itself just like a magnet.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Is India the land of Followers?
Is India the land of Followers?
I live in Delhi, the capital city of India which is the world's biggest democracy. So in a way I am one of lucky few who live in the centre of world's biggest democracy.
I was born in a Brahman Family and from my childhood I was exposed to the teaching of Holy Books like Ramayana, Mahabharata and others. My paternal grandfather was a businessman but he used to serve in the local Temple in Delhi and we were expected to follow what god has taught and to follow the dharma.
I was born in the 80's and it was the time when television in India was at its peak, in terms of content. I was exposed to TV serials like Ramayana and Mahabharata in my early childhood and also to movies which glorified various Indian Men, values, cultures, families and martyrs at different times.
As for an Indian lady in 80s it was expected to respect her husband and husband's Family, cook good food and take good care of kids at home. She has to take care of the house in the absence of her husband, who had to go out to work.
To me, my mother was the epitome of Indian values and motherhood. She always kept a low profile as against my father and always considered my father's decision as right, irrespective of the result. My mother was very similar to what they used to show in those advertisements of products like surf and maggi on TV in 80s. So for me my mother had everything that an ideal mother should have and for her everything was her husband.
I was told to respect my real brother, which i never did and play honestly with my cousins, which I always did. Sachin Tendulkar was our Idol and he still is. We want him to save us from the defeat that would humiliate us and make us more sad. And thankfully he does save us.
In school I was taught the basics of language and then I graduated to what I call as stories.
Stories about our Freedom Fighters, their heroics, their martyrdom, their struggle and our win. Stories of our History, which I disliked, geography, Science and Mathematics etc.
These stories were mostly about someone who did something that helped him in achieving something and that made us proud. Stories of Bravery, love of land, respect, loyalty, intelligence, cruelty, slavery, defeat, victory, grandeur and poverty were most common.
Invariably, these stories had a Villain and a Hero. Hero won at last and defeated the villain and we were expected to appreciate the deeds of the hero.
Hence In home, during play and in school; I was either looking up to someone or learning to look up to someone. Never was I told that I can become what they became, that I can better them, that I was special like them and achieve something big.
My mind was taught to always look for someone who can guide me, lead me and show me the way. I was made to be a follower.
But I am not alone. I have a huge number of people along with me, who were taught the same things in the same way and who saw the things as I saw them. This story isn't restricted to me, a lot of people are like me.
Look around, some people have ripped our lives apart and we are watching like dumbs. We have accepted corruption, terrorism and death as part of our lives. We know who did what and why, but we accept it. We know what is wrong and where, but we dont care and then there are those who do all this. They know that we have short memories and we would forget. Then they do it again and again and again.
Is this because we all are followers, the ones who are lost and who seek help?
I think Yes.
We Indians were shown that our Gods take avatars to save us from ills, so we wait for god's action. When we were shown that Lord Rama came to this earth to eradicate Ravana, so that the People of earth could live peacefully, we were made to think that we have to wait for our lord Rama to come and save us from evils in our times.
When we were taught history we were told how great Akbar and Bahadur Shah Zafar and how good their management was and not how we should manage in our times.
We were taught how Mahatma Gandhi fought Britishers with ahimsa and got us Freedom and we were made to think that again someone like Gandhi would come to this planet to save us from this corruption.
We depend on a Manmohan Singh, an Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a Baba Ramdev, an Anna to sail us through these evils because we see them as avatars of our gods who come to our rescue every now and then.
We are made to be followers, servants and the ones who look up to someone to take them forward and that is what is at the centre of most of the problems with our Youth. Those TV advertisements made us believe that our mother has to follow our father and that only people like Sachin Tendulkar are born once in a century and that Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi are no more and we have to wait for them to come again. We look up to Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan to solve our other problems and give us a message just like they do in the Hindi movies irrespective of their capabilities in real life, just because we see them as our heros. We like to watch in awe when a so called corporate honcho shamelessly announces his grand multi story house, in times when so many people cannot afford to eat meals 3 times a day. We compare them to our gods and heros of the past, to have achieved so much.
Our youth is directionless and suffers from Inferiority complex. Thinking of themselves as a nobody in the middle of all the chaos. They seek a sense of achievement in our so called Leaders. But in fact they themselves should be the strength of our country considering their numbers and India's future growth capability.
From 1947, we were treated like followers by our politicians, they made decisions for us and we were supposed to look up to them. We kept looking at them and after a point some thought that this country was their private property.
We must understand that all our teachings have to be tweaked to make us understand the right thing in the right sense, that our leaders were not magicians that they were mere mortals who did what they did due to their vision and effort. That we dont need a Mahatma or a Lord Rama to come and solve our problems in fact they are present in each one of us. Our Youth must be made confident to follow their dreams and achieve great feats for the motherland.
We should stop making gods out of our heros and start projecting them as mere mortals or otherwise we would end up as a plundered nation ripped into pieces by people acting as the Avatars of God, who have descended to solve our problems.
The time has come when we change our teachings and the way of our teachings. The Academia/ media/ entertainment has to be more encouraging in building Leaders and not followers. Historically, Our country is the land of Leaders. It is just wrong implication by some and taken the advantage of by some.
I await your comments, arguments and POVs.
I live in Delhi, the capital city of India which is the world's biggest democracy. So in a way I am one of lucky few who live in the centre of world's biggest democracy.
I was born in a Brahman Family and from my childhood I was exposed to the teaching of Holy Books like Ramayana, Mahabharata and others. My paternal grandfather was a businessman but he used to serve in the local Temple in Delhi and we were expected to follow what god has taught and to follow the dharma.
I was born in the 80's and it was the time when television in India was at its peak, in terms of content. I was exposed to TV serials like Ramayana and Mahabharata in my early childhood and also to movies which glorified various Indian Men, values, cultures, families and martyrs at different times.
As for an Indian lady in 80s it was expected to respect her husband and husband's Family, cook good food and take good care of kids at home. She has to take care of the house in the absence of her husband, who had to go out to work.
To me, my mother was the epitome of Indian values and motherhood. She always kept a low profile as against my father and always considered my father's decision as right, irrespective of the result. My mother was very similar to what they used to show in those advertisements of products like surf and maggi on TV in 80s. So for me my mother had everything that an ideal mother should have and for her everything was her husband.
I was told to respect my real brother, which i never did and play honestly with my cousins, which I always did. Sachin Tendulkar was our Idol and he still is. We want him to save us from the defeat that would humiliate us and make us more sad. And thankfully he does save us.
In school I was taught the basics of language and then I graduated to what I call as stories.
Stories about our Freedom Fighters, their heroics, their martyrdom, their struggle and our win. Stories of our History, which I disliked, geography, Science and Mathematics etc.
These stories were mostly about someone who did something that helped him in achieving something and that made us proud. Stories of Bravery, love of land, respect, loyalty, intelligence, cruelty, slavery, defeat, victory, grandeur and poverty were most common.
Invariably, these stories had a Villain and a Hero. Hero won at last and defeated the villain and we were expected to appreciate the deeds of the hero.
Hence In home, during play and in school; I was either looking up to someone or learning to look up to someone. Never was I told that I can become what they became, that I can better them, that I was special like them and achieve something big.
My mind was taught to always look for someone who can guide me, lead me and show me the way. I was made to be a follower.
But I am not alone. I have a huge number of people along with me, who were taught the same things in the same way and who saw the things as I saw them. This story isn't restricted to me, a lot of people are like me.
Look around, some people have ripped our lives apart and we are watching like dumbs. We have accepted corruption, terrorism and death as part of our lives. We know who did what and why, but we accept it. We know what is wrong and where, but we dont care and then there are those who do all this. They know that we have short memories and we would forget. Then they do it again and again and again.
Is this because we all are followers, the ones who are lost and who seek help?
I think Yes.
We Indians were shown that our Gods take avatars to save us from ills, so we wait for god's action. When we were shown that Lord Rama came to this earth to eradicate Ravana, so that the People of earth could live peacefully, we were made to think that we have to wait for our lord Rama to come and save us from evils in our times.
When we were taught history we were told how great Akbar and Bahadur Shah Zafar and how good their management was and not how we should manage in our times.
We were taught how Mahatma Gandhi fought Britishers with ahimsa and got us Freedom and we were made to think that again someone like Gandhi would come to this planet to save us from this corruption.
We depend on a Manmohan Singh, an Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a Baba Ramdev, an Anna to sail us through these evils because we see them as avatars of our gods who come to our rescue every now and then.
We are made to be followers, servants and the ones who look up to someone to take them forward and that is what is at the centre of most of the problems with our Youth. Those TV advertisements made us believe that our mother has to follow our father and that only people like Sachin Tendulkar are born once in a century and that Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi are no more and we have to wait for them to come again. We look up to Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan to solve our other problems and give us a message just like they do in the Hindi movies irrespective of their capabilities in real life, just because we see them as our heros. We like to watch in awe when a so called corporate honcho shamelessly announces his grand multi story house, in times when so many people cannot afford to eat meals 3 times a day. We compare them to our gods and heros of the past, to have achieved so much.
Our youth is directionless and suffers from Inferiority complex. Thinking of themselves as a nobody in the middle of all the chaos. They seek a sense of achievement in our so called Leaders. But in fact they themselves should be the strength of our country considering their numbers and India's future growth capability.
From 1947, we were treated like followers by our politicians, they made decisions for us and we were supposed to look up to them. We kept looking at them and after a point some thought that this country was their private property.
We must understand that all our teachings have to be tweaked to make us understand the right thing in the right sense, that our leaders were not magicians that they were mere mortals who did what they did due to their vision and effort. That we dont need a Mahatma or a Lord Rama to come and solve our problems in fact they are present in each one of us. Our Youth must be made confident to follow their dreams and achieve great feats for the motherland.
We should stop making gods out of our heros and start projecting them as mere mortals or otherwise we would end up as a plundered nation ripped into pieces by people acting as the Avatars of God, who have descended to solve our problems.
The time has come when we change our teachings and the way of our teachings. The Academia/ media/ entertainment has to be more encouraging in building Leaders and not followers. Historically, Our country is the land of Leaders. It is just wrong implication by some and taken the advantage of by some.
I await your comments, arguments and POVs.
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