Nowadays, even a child would have heard of "corruption", thanks to the media and the tea-time chit-chat in houses. We all seem to be so concerned about it that we all have our own theories for what the government ought to do. But have you ever thought that perhaps even you are a contributor in decaying this nation? How much have you contributed to the country? No, don't take me otherwise and think I am asking the reader to donate all riches to some charity. No!! We are no anna hazare to donate all we inherit and own; to the development of our village and its people. What I am asking has a simpler yet complex meaning attached to it. What kind of a citizen are you? Selfish or Selfless? If you fall in either of the category then you are either exploited or are exploiting others..Aren't you? Shouldn't we follow "Give nothing, take nothing" policy and be NEUTRAL in our approach? But to get realistic and honest, once in a blue moon do we come across the such people.
And this brings me to what I want to talk about-Corruption: In simpler and basic terms, or call it "corruption of common man". I am not gonna mention the CWG Scam or 2G Spectrum here, we all have read and heard much about it, thanks to the popularity it gained. So much so that while browsing books at Universal's last week I came across around 5 books titled- "All about 2G scam", "What is lokpal bill", "India and scams" and similar. Imagine!! But corruption at higher level gets attention, and high minds discuss it but we have no right to abuse it until and unless we ourselves are corruption free. This reminds me of a simple example from Gandhiji's life I read years back and am sure you all would have read it too-
A woman had a child who loved eating "Gud" and ate it excessively. The woman took the child to gandhiji and asked him to tell the child not to eat it excessively as it is not good for health. Gandhiji asked the woman to come after a week. When she visited again, gandhiji simply called the boy and only asked him not to eat "gud". The woman, confused asked gandhiji as to why did he took this long just to say this simple sentence. And then came smiling Gandhi's reply: "I myself love to eat "gud" a lot, so how can I ask him to stop eating when I myself was eating it."
He could have said that without quitting consuming "gud" himself. Who would say a thing? But then, the real honesty is to one's own self and not the world. What this story teaches us is that before you point out a finger make sure that your hands are clean!
Corruption is not at lower level, higher level, personal level or mass level, its at HUMAN LEVEL!! Pause and think about it for a while!
Its a game where one person's victory ensures the other's loss! Talking in simpler terms, have u ever pondered on the root cause for corruption? Isn't it mere human GREED! Wouldn't our lives be happier if we only knew that the dudhwala bhaiya won't mix water or that traffic wale uncle won't give *illegal-dhamki* anymore or that some less deserving rich brat won't get admission to that seat which could have been mine! Isn't skipping tax a form of corruption? Money comes to NGO's but the poor are still poor. Pick up TOI dated 9th Nov 2011 and have a look, I was almost dumbstruck after reading that the freedom fighters aged 98 & 86 haven't got their pension even after 64yrs of independence. What a pity! And cherry on the top: they were asked to bribe in order to get what they are entitled to! And why am I telling this to you? Because behind all this is a "common man", a human being; oh yea 2 eyes and 4 limbs!
Eradicating corruption follows a bottom-up approach. And trust me; no government, no official, no anna hazare or lokpal bill can help weed it out but u and me!
I would love sharing my papa's words "He who is cheating others might get more than he ought to, but what he cannot get is PEACE: Of the mind and the heart. I might not be able to purchase the best of things, for human demands and desires are never ending. But, at the end of the day I go to the bed peacefully with self-satisfaction and divine pleasure as there is no fear in my mind about getting caught for something I shouldn't have done!"
And finally gandhiji taught me this very valuable thing: If you are doing anything that you can't tell to people as you fear of getting caught, then for sure that thing you shouldn't do..for its wrong! :)
(Here, gandhiji's or my papa's words aren't the exact as I wrote it myself for I remembered the deeper meaning only! )
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