Sunday, June 11, 2006

Coke De Basanti

The Rang De Basanti magic is fast fading. Few indian motorists gave diabetic 80-year old ministers a second look while manouvering the unending array of potholes. Decades of our indifference and apathy has made corruption and bribe a necessary evil in our country. On one hand you curse a corrupt building contractor who used sub-standard materials to cut corners (and make potholes), while on the other hand you are paying the electrician a 100 rupee 'tip' to make sure he fixes the power connection in time for the cricket match telecast. It is time we realise that corruption is not something inflicted upon us by the government, our predecessors or the beureaucracy- it is very much within ourselves.

What Martin Luther King rightfully pointed out in the context of racism can be extended to how we look at corruption in our country – “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” The very definition of honesty and values is being redefined in our nation. Every time ambition, greed and pure necessity drives me and you to do something that makes corruption gather more foothold in our society, we need to pause and give it a thought. Everytime we accept the loss with silence, which perhaps the outside world will never come to know of or appreciate, a precedent is being set towards a society which regards giving bribe as a criminal activity.

So, those of you who watched the Aamir Khan starrer with clenched fists might as well not let the new sense of resposibility be dampened by a coke bottle (marketed by the very same man) on your left hand. It is going to be difficult, because for some, such forays means more headlines and for others the incentives are far less enticing.

4 Comments:

Blogger RR said...

nice post (and blog). we indians have a habit of blaming everything on someone else, while doing the wrong thing ourselves. lack of honesty among indians is the biggest setback to the progress of India.

9:30 PM  
Blogger James Mumford said...

You Indians seem to think your country is an emerging
"superpower." But in reality, your third world country will ALWAYS be a third world country inhabited by a billion big-nosed, black-skinned, black-eyed, intellectually-challenged, small-brained monkeys. Indians (and for that matter Pakistanis,Bangladeshis,Nepalese and all you black motherfuckers living on the dark subcontinent) are members of a sub-human race. You people are certainly NOT fully-evolved human beings. The privilege of being called fully-evolved human beings belong only to the white European race. Indians and their fellow subcontinent dwellers are closer to monkeys, both in looks and in their intellectual capacity, than to proper human beings. We Europeans look so much better than you dark-skinned monkeys. We are tall,blond-haired,blue-eyed members of the Aryan race. We produced all the important scientific and engineering discoveries throughout the ages. What has India produced? War,famine,destruction,AIDS,polio, and everything that is bad and insidious. Why can't you chimpanzees just start a nuclear war with your friendly neighbour Pakistan so that each of you can wipe out the other. That way,more than a billion apes will immediately be wiped off the face of the planet,which can't be a bad thing.

9:31 AM  
Blogger Woke said...

James,
I must say I am impressed by your superior intellect, vision and grasp of the theory of evolution.

Get well soon.

1:23 AM  
Blogger James Mumford said...

Woke, Thank you for your kind words. I knew someone in that cow-dung covered subcontinent would be impressed by my intellect.I'm also aware that a huge row had recently erupted in the cow-dung covered subcontinent over comments made to one of your actresses who participated in a British reality TV show.This was a major news story here in the UK,too. I'm just wondering: why do you hook-nosed,brown-skinned people bother to come here at all? If your country is such a great superpower-in-waiting, why didn't this darkie actress and the rest of you smelly chimps just stay at home in India, and leave us alone so that Britain will once again belong to white people? I hate everything about you people:your ugliness,your lack of hygiene,your dumb accent,and especially the way you chimps just can't stop talking. I was travelling from Sydney to London on a Qantas flight back in 2003, and the person seated next to me was a darkie.Once he started talking, he COULD NOT STOP. Was he trying to impress an Englishman with his command of English? I wanted some degree of privacy,but this I was denied by the atrocious darkie. I can imagine why we left India in 1957: we just couldn't stand the smell of you folks and the incessant chatter.

1:01 PM  

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