India against Corruption....is it ???

Today I went to apply driving license. Unlike you, I thought I will directly go to RTO office and apply it myself which will save some bucks, which goes in pocket of some agent. The lady on the counter was in her sixties, I was surprised to see that in this age also she was not yet retired. The news of general V.K.Singh’s age dispute just flashed to my mind. Ignoring her age I asked for the application form for me and my friend, who was accompanying me. Looking at both of us she gave a weird look, I guess she was just used to watching agents. She handed over two forms saying ten rupees each. My friend saw two rupees printed on the corner of the form and said to the lady ‘but madam form is of two rupees only’ and we got a an immediate and almost perfectly scripted sentence in response ‘son, who is forcing you to take it, if it feels it is costly, leave it, it’s a free country’ the tone was so rhythmic, as if she was having patent of the sentence. We looked at each other and smiled, it was a smile of helpless and powerless common man.

Next moment we were in front of assistance clerks table and he was looking at the door instead of us. Seeing his disappointment I felt like saying that there was no agent coming, and you have deal with us. When he was sure that no one else was there with us, he took the form and said ‘seventy rupees, two forms, one forty rupees’ my friend poked me showing the instructions painted on the wall just behind clerk’s chair, ‘Applying for driving license is free, don’t pay any money to agents’ I ignored him, anyway it was better that nine hundred rupees, which was a fixed amount charged by all agents. I paid. He took the money and rang the bell. A man entered the room in khaki dress. ‘Take their test’ he shouted.

 We both were sitting in a room with a question paper in hand. Our faces disappointed. ‘Do you know what is signal 17?’ ‘I know only red, green, yellow’ ‘in what case you will hand over your driving license to traffic police?’ I repeated the second question and with any time lag I got reply from my friend ‘as soon as the cop asks for it, what option do we have anyway’ I saw the man in khaki smiling. ‘Can you help?’ I turned to him. ‘No one can, only he knows the answers’ we both looked at each other, disgusted. ‘Two hundred rupees’ he said, ‘that too if you had come directly to me’ he added. ‘Now it is three fifty’ he gave a broader smile. Before I could think, my friend counted seven hundred and handed it to him.

He came out of the clerk’s cabin and pointed us to go inside. We were again in front of his table, test papers still in our hand. He stretched his hand to take the papers and dint even look at it. He handed over the application form to us, with a brown stamp showing ‘approved’. ‘Hundred rupees, two forms, two hundred rupees’ without any question, without any reaction, we passed two hundred rupees to him; this is what we can do in our free country, just surrender if you want something to happen. ‘give your photographs at the counter and Come after two days‘

‘Hello, are you there?’ my brother asked me once he was done. ‘Yes, am listening’ I replied. ‘Have you ever watched a TV serial called ‘Office office’, it used to come on SAB TV I guess’ He said. ‘Office office, yes I have seen it and thought it was a fiction’ I said still busy thinking of the situation. These people are everywhere, at every level, situation is better in private sector but public sector is completely out of way and we talk about India against Corruption. Those bunch of people fighting, struggling and starving against the system to achieve a corruption free India. But is it possible? Is there any way we can stop these people?  I guess, no, whom will you complain? The lady taking ten rupees instead of two, will you go and tell this to the clerk? Who himself wants two Hundred rupees?

We live in a corrupt society and between corrupt people. And these people and the society in turns make a corrupt country. A person who is not corrupt, if at all exists, cannot survive.