A little scene occurred in front of our house the other day, which reminded me of how we have allowed ourselves to be disinherited of our rights. Something of this nature can be seen in the local courts all the time. Nothing moves without some gratification under the table. I give here an innocuous example to avoid libel.

The current supply went off. The Lord of Repairs to arrived. Ours is considered a posh colony and this has some merits. Posh means moneyed and this is not lost on the service providers. This is how the conversation went.

Repairman: Hum, Ha. This is a very bad jumble of wires.

This comment does not bode very well.

Resident: It can’t be much. It was just a spark. You have to simply join the wires again.

The repairman cannot tolerate this trend of thought. He was expecting a hefty something to be gained out of the situation.

Repairman: It is so high (as if this is the first time he has seen a pole) and the jumble makes it very difficult to reach. I will go and get a proper ladder (which they don’t really have) and a colleague to help me.

Terror seeps into the tone of the residents ( If he goes, who knows if he will return or not or if he does, when.) This cannot be permitted.

Resident: No, no. We can see that you have identified the problem. You are obviously the right man for this kind of job. We can see that climbing up the pole will be child’s play for you. Don’t bother about getting a colleague. We shall help you.

All the others: Yes, Yes.

Now this is what the repairman was waiting to hear. The repairman did a job which he is already being given a salary to do. He is also under some constraints to report back to his superiors. Had the residents left the state of affairs well alone, they would have got their electricity earlier and saved themselves Rs 200.

This is what I mean when I say “We are so busy being clever, that we have no time to be intelligent”

What have we done to ourselves? We are ourselves to blame. Over the years through our long and chequered history we have taught the public servant that we are prepared to pay extra for everything as along as our selfish interests are served first. Their salary is an acquired right, guaranteed by the constitution and more so by the public. We break most minor laws with impunity knowing or at least hoping that we shall pay our way through and avoid any official action. The bigger industrial houses with vested interests made this a regular practice with payments under the table on an acquired right basis. Then the democratic style of government learnt the trade, so much so that today everyone has rights except us, ourselves. We have given ourselves up for ransom and are now totally under threat of the system. So much so, that it has even permeated into our personal relationships. We are so ever ready to get into the groveling mode.

Can we reverse it? I wonder.

“We are so busy being clever, that we have no time to be intelligent”

By LawZ Bureau,