From childhood, there is one lesson undoubtedly taught to
each one of us- “Speak Truth”. Despite of this lesson being taught, we still
have so many corrupt politicians, dishonest administrators, fraud businessmen
in our country. Prima facie, there isn't any direct link between these two
statements. I am not certain how these
two can logically be linked, but here is what I think.
Let us go back to the age group of 3-5 years and try to
recall some of those incidents where our parents lied about our age to evade
the expense of our tickets for cinema halls, trains, buses, museums, etc. Though I do remember some of mine, but would
like to cite an incident which I observed as a third party at the age of 24. We
were standing in a queue to buy tickets at a Cathedral in Scotland and there
was a couple (Indian) along with 2 boys (one in stroller and one of his own)
right before us. Now this lady at the ticket counter politely asked the man,
“What is the age of your son in the stroller sir?” The man replied, “2 years”.
His innocent wife shouted angrily (thinking his husband doesn't even know the
age of their son), “No. He is 3 and a half”. The man got furious hearing his
wife say that and starting yelling at her (in Hindi off course), “Can you
please keep your mouth shut”. Turning back to the lady at the counter, he
firmly reiterated, “He is 2”. The lady nodded and asked him to pay for 3
tickets. Now what got unnoticed here was the reaction of the elder kid standing
petrified next to his fighting parents. What lesson he learnt there? That to
lie is not a bad thing and in fact a necessity if it save your family money.
This learning continues throughout our lives when we see our
parents faking our age at the birth certificates, making false certificates,
evading taxes, leveraging jacks to get us college seats, jobs, etc. But then why we, the same people, criticize
and accuse the politicians, officials and administrators of being dishonest and
corrupt. After all, they are also human beings, who have gone through the same
circle of life wishing good for their families. Only the additional angle is
that they are little lucky ones to be at a larger helm of things. The scale of
their operation may be enormous for them, but the modus operandi is the same. Be dishonest
for the benefit of your family.
Moreover, such people earn great reverence when they belong
to our own social circles. We look up to them when they leverage their official
perquisites for their family’s welfare (deploying official servants at home,
using official cars to drop their kids to schools, etc.)
May be our criticism should come with an asterisk – “terms
and conditions apply”. If we are the ones getting benefited with the
dishonesty, it’s requisite, else we hate it. Can we please take a step towards
at least being honest in our opinion first? Do we encourage it or we want to
contain it? Can we please be honest on our stance that if given a chance, wont
we be corrupt?
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