CORRUPTION IS A WAY OF LIFE
It was the year 1970 or so.
We were staying in the spacious quarters provided by BARC, in Anushaktinagar.
As usual, I was busy with the task of separating the pebbles and paddy grains
from rice grains for our lunch. I get the rice from the ration shop only. Sale
of rice, sugar and wheat had been banned for sale in the open market. In order
to be a honest citizen, I did not try to get good rice from “black” market. My
family was not happy with the taste of the ration rice, but there was no other
go since I wanted to follow the rule. Of course, it swallows my precious
morning time.
There was the door-bell. I
opened the door and welcomed my friend Seshadri of the 6th floor. He
had just returned from Palghat. He stayed in the 6th floor while I
occupied the 8th.
I said, “Welcome back to
Anushaktinagar. How was the journey?”
He answered, “All fine.
There was some tension before boarding the train. But, I could make it”.
“Well, what happened?”
Meanwhile, my wife brought
the milk and curd for him, as per his request by phone yesterday.
“Thanks. By the way why are
you struggling with this ration rice? Can’t you get some better, ready-to-use
variety which is available in Trombay fishermen’s colony? You hav to pay a bit
more.”
“But, Seshadri, sale of rice
is banned in the open market. So, purchasing rice from Trombay colony is
against the law. I wish to be an honest citizen. What if the police catch you?”
“Moorthy, for your
information, there is a nexus between the colony people and the police. The
police tell them beforehand the day of the raid and they com and confiscate a
few sacks of rice as decided between them and the sellers. Afterwards the sale
resumes. The police get their hafta.”
Seshadri collected the milk
and curd and took leave of us saying, “If I were honest and sincere like you, I
could not have reached Bombay this morning. I gave some money to the bus driver
and the conductor at Mannarghat, to take me to Olavakkot station ahead of their
scheduled time, to enable me catch the train. The small ‘bribe I gave the
bus-staff helped me in reaching the station in time
My wife came near me and
said, “Dear, what he says is correct. Why should we fight with the ration rice
when we can buy a better quality?”
“My dear, a good citizen
should be law-abiding. Our Government has prohibited the sale of rice, wheat
and sugar in the open market. They are doing it for the welfare of the people
at large. As an honest citizen, I don’t want to disobey government directives.
Full stop. Is the breakfast ready? I will go to VT and see the availability of
tickets for our trip to Coimbatore next month.”
When I reached Chembur
Station, only one booking window was open in the west side. There were about 20
persons in the queue. So, I hoped to see a shorter queue in the window on the
foot-overbridge. Lo, here too, the queue was quite long. I joined the queue in
the rear.
I saw one railway official
entering the booking hall. I called out to him. He answered my query that they
were unable to open another window because the person had gone for lunch. I
pointed out to him the notice, which said it was not his lunch time. But he
went in without caring to answer me.
Within a minute, I saw a man
approaching one at the head of the queue requesting him to take a ticket for
him to VT. I called out to him and asked him to join the queue behind me. He
implored that his relative has been admitted in the St. George Hospital and the
doctor had asked him to report there early.
The man whom he requested showed his helplessness because of my
objection.
Suddenly, another person
standing third in the line, called him and said, ‘I will take your ticket, VT,
no? Let me see who objects. You have a genuine reason: you have to reach
hospital early.’
Soon, both of them left the
spot with the tickets. I heard the man who received the tickets telling the
other that he was actually going to see a movie at Regal Cinema. The other man
only laughed telling him that he himself had been doing the same trick sometimes.
He could know that the other fellow got the hospital idea only when I asked him
to join the queue. See, how dishonesty pays!
I took a return ticket to
VT, since I could avoid the queue at the booking counter for the return trip.
By that time 2 or 3 trains had already left the station. I got the next train
and thankfully, got a seat also.
Surprisingly, the man sitting
next to me was my friend, Raghavan, with his wife. I greeted them and told the
purpose of my travel. He informed me that they were going for a movie in New
Empire theatre. No, they had not booked the tickets in advance.
“I will purchase the tickets from the man selling
them outside the theatre.” He coolly replied.
“But, that is black market. Should
you encourage it?”
“My dear Moorthy, hear me
patiently. We could not plan this earlier since both of us are working. Today,
we got our afternoon off. Any extra amount I give to the tout is just service
charges. By so doing, I save another
trip to the theatre on another day, we could utilize this ‘off’ usefully, and
save the cost of travel another time. So, it is worth giving that extra.”
“Raghavan, whatever you may
say, I will not approve it. That ticket seller could have got a way of earning
money decently, without resorting to black-marketing. That way, tickets would
be available to more people too from the booking window itself.”
“Moorthy, today’s world is
not for honest people like you. I bet you won’t stand a chance to get your
ticket tomorrow unless you pay to a tout like I am going to do. Anyway, best of
luck.” Another example of how you can be dishonest and corrupt to achieve what
you want.
When I saw the queue at the
only booking window for the Jayanthi Janatha express, I was very disappointed.
During those times, passengers from any part of the city and even Kalyan, had
to travel all the way to the only booking window at VT to have the confirmed
tickets. Also, there was no indication if a confirmed ticket would be available
till you reached the counter.
I approached the last one in
the queue and learnt that I would have to remain in the queue till 10 pm when
one Railway employee would come and number my position in the queue in the
reservation application form, when the counter opened next day at 8 am. After
receiving the number, the person could go home and report at the window at 8
am. He added, “The first five persons in the queue are reserved for a dada, who
books tickets for people having enough money to pay in black.”
It was impossible for me to wait
till night. But, it was what the Railway had decided. We should follow it if we
wanted to book our journey ticket. As I was pondering what I should do, someone
touched me and asked me to move out of the queue and follow him. He took me to
a corner and said, “I will get you the confirmed ticket, but you should pay
double the fare to me.” He asked me to bring the money and give it to him by
night along with the application form.
“No, no. It is against the
rule. I don’t want to encourage black-marketing. You can leave me.”
But he didn’t leave me. He
said, “Sir, it is not black-marketing. I am your agent to get the tickets for
you. You are only paying the wages for my service. I am saving all the trouble
and suffering you would have to undergo otherwise. Sir, we are not as educated
as you because we were born in a very poor family. We too have to live. We
don’t know English, we did not study stenography, we did not get the expertise
and finance to do any business. This is the only way we have to survive in this
city. And, the extra money you are giving me, is not all mine. I have to share
it with many others.”
Perhaps he is right. Honesty
does not help people like him. I took an application form from him and told him
to wait for me before 8 pm. He said, “Thank you, Sir. My name is Manickam. I
will be here waiting for you. My man will be positioned third in the queue
tomorrow morning.”
I proceeded to the local
train for the return trip to Chembur. I was oscillating between the two
proposals: whether to be an honest citizen by remaining in the line till night
and take the risk of not getting any confirmed ticket or to pay the premium
amount extra to that tout and be assured of a confirmed ticket, which is
against the law. That man looked healthy and young and can take some means to
earn a honest living. There are newspaper delivery men, street-food vendors, vegetable-and-fruit-sellers
etc. who lead decent lives without resorting to black-marketing. Finally, I
decided to go honest and dropped the idea to meet that fellow in the evening.
At Chembur station, I was
getting down the stairs when I crossed my friend Menon. On his query, I told
him that I was returning from VT.
“Is it so? Then you have the
return ticket with you? Please give it to me. I can use it for my return
journey”, he said.”
“But, Menon, it is a used
ticket already!”
“Where is it written that it
is a used ticket?”
“I know. I have used it. I
am supposed to hand it over to the ticket collector. But, TC was not in sight.”
“That means the TC was not
sincere in carrying out his duty. He is not honest for the job.”
Menon continued: “Moorthy,
Come to the real world, not the ideal world. Honesty does not pay at present.
Even the Railways are adopting dishonest ways. See, a man purchasing a ‘tatkal’
ticket one day prior to the journey has to pay a premium; he can’t avail
concessions for which he is normally eligible and can’t get any refund if he
cancelled it. And there are trains for which Railway charges dynamic fares
depending on demand. Don’t you think these are dishonest?”
On my way up to my quarters
I called up Seshadri in his house.
He opened the door. “Well,
Moorthy, What happened?”
“Seshadri, when is your next
trip to Trombay fishing colony? I want to purchase some good rice. And, I am
coming with you.”
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