Another ‘Tehelka’: Don’t rationalize, introspect!

Did you watch ‘Question Time

India’ on BBC last week? If you did not, you missed something. It was a

program with a difference.

The topic was potentially

explosive–‘the tehelka.com defense expose’. The

participants–representatives from the ruling party, the main opposition party

and the third front (whatever that is supposed to mean!).

What would you expect in a

setting like this? Lots of fireworks, I am sure. Well, for once they proved us

wrong. There was no mud slinging, no accusations, and no high decibels. Rather

unusual, what?

When a decision was taken to

telecast proceedings of the parliament, one expected that politicians would put

up their best behavior for the small screen. That hope was soon belied. One

finally gave up all hope, branded them as incorrigible and kind of logged off.

So this episode of Question Time

India was a pleasant surprise from all least one angle. The ruling front’s

candidate was obviously defensive after the defense deals expose. Surprisingly,

the opposition fronts’ representatives were not on the offensive. The former

was understandable. After all corruption in high places was a major plank for

the ruling alliance in the last elections. It was their trump card, which they

had been using at will to put their main rivals on the defense. Losing that high

moral ground was obviously a major set back.

It was interesting to see the

main opposition party adopting the big brother approach. (‘See child, such

things do happen in life! Just that it happened with us earlier. Now, it has

happened to you. Tut, Tut. Don’t you cry!) And so it was like two long lost

brothers, (or shall we say estranged brothers) coming together.

What is supposed to be the taken

away from all this? Well, one certainly that, such things can happen in life,

and therefore, in matters like these ‘One’ needs to rise above party

politics (read: stop condemning each other; we are all the same!) Now that we

have ‘discovered’ that corruption is not just restricted to politicians, but

runs deep in the system (how shocking!), one must go about setting the

‘system’ right!

From what I can remember, the

earlier occasion when the politicians sunk their so-called differences and

rallied around a point was when remuneration for the members of parliament was

to be enhanced. (Who says we are not pragmatic/practical?) Now we have agreed

that the system is at fault. (At least we have managed to identify the culprit!)

And it is for the politicians to bring the guilty to book. (Holier than how!)

Couple of things I do not

understand. I never saw any ‘system’ accepting bribes, or offering bribes.

Did anyone of you? I have also not heard of any ‘system’ committing any

other crime. So how are we to set the system right?

How easy it is for us to blame

the system and move on? And since nobody can catch the system, are we to accept

that this state of affairs will carry on unabated?

Let’s not fool us or hoodwink

others. Crimes like these are a result of the individual greed and no system can

set it right. There is no answer to ‘how much is enough, and it applies to

buyers and sellers alike. This is not something that can be addressed by

society. It is something that has to be addressed by the individual. Societies

and systems do not commit crimes. Individuals do.

And there is no point trying to

find out why an individual is ‘forced’ into committing the crime. We have

heard enough of pressure of the society that force individuals to adopt

unethical practices. No one can force you, if you do not wish it. And that is

where one will keep coming back to the question–‘how much is enough’?

The reason why this question

becomes more pertinent is because the people involved in the crime are quite

affluent to start with. So whom do you want to earn for? For yourself and your

family, for your children and their families, or for the generations that are to

follow? It is not for society to correct this, nor for any system. It is the

individual.

Naturally, it is about values.

But where do you start. When you start off admitting your children to a good

school by giving donations, you have started off on the wrong foot. And what

moral ground can the school operate from when the children are only too keenly

aware about all this. I recall a Raymond billboard, which said, ‘How do we

expect our children to listen to what we say and ignore what we do? Prophetic!

The debates for cleansing the

system will go on. There will be hidden agendas. New laws will be enforced.

There will be fear preventing such crimes and scams for sometime. New solutions

to circumvent the hurdles will, never the less, be found. And the world will go

on.

As I have said in my book,

‘The Corporate Circus’, the world would be a very dull place if everyone was

a good guy. Living a lifetime calls for variety and who better than the almighty

to understand this. We have certainly got variety in plenty. But that is

probably where He too failed. He could not create variety using only good guys

and positive thoughts. So even he too took the easy way out! (Considering that

he just had six days in which to create the world, you possibly could not blame

him!)

See. I have managed to give the

baddies' an excuse to continue to operate the way they do.