Is India Changing

Over the past week , we witnessed a kind of an awakening in India that I haven't witnessed in my lifetime.

Over last year or so , we have seen one scam after another coming out of the cupboard and probably more to come in the future. With everybody around losing hope in the system and becoming cynical that probably everything around will be plundered by the power mongers , but it took a quiet bespectacled leader to change the point of view.

We witnessed a mass non-violent mass movement around the breadth of the country with people of all age, community holding hands and raising voices for a common national cause - Fighting Corruption. We witnessed what one person can do to inspire and transform an entire nation..

I am hoping this inspires people refusing to pay the bribes they do even to get something small or big done.

The common man is faced with corruption in their everyday lives but I don't see that many around trying to fight it or raise their voices. It might not be easy but most take the easy way out by greasing peoples palms.. I have faced several such instances and never given in to the goons . Something that pops up, is my experience with trying to renew my driving license couple of years back . It took me four rounds of the RTO before I was given the form since i refused to pay the touts the extra bit . The other was having to wait 3 months to get my LAN line transferred when I moved my house ..

Anna Hazare

Comments

Subhadip said…
The thing you call awakening is, in my opinion, a hype created by the media. Once in a while, due to lack of "stories", they create these hypes - point in case, here: between the ICC World Cup and the IPL. Notice, also, how everything was settled the day after IPL started. Don't get me wrong, I am not against Anna Hazare or his demands, neither am I in search of a conspiracy theory.

I am just saying, people like to get in the flow (created by media) once in a while, and it makes them believe in the system and stuff like that. But what happens after that? The hoopla dies down, and everything is back to "normal". The common man goes on to get things done by greasing people's palms, and another set of common man goes on getting their palms greased.

I do agree with you when you say, the common man has to fight corruption and stop paying bribes - at every level. When that happens, that will be a mass movement for me.

P.S: Hope I am wrong; and the Jan Lokpal bill happens soon, and corruption ends soon as well.
9:52 PM
Anuradha said…
I would agree with your thoughts to some extent but even if media had created this frenzy/hype .. people did take time out to protest .. We will have to wait to see if and when things change for the better.. Till then having a more positive attitude helps :)
6:23 AM
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