Most of my teenage was spend aloof from the system of
government. Until 18 I didn't knew where to deposit electricity bill, where to
fill income tax or even where to go to get a license for 2 or 4 wheeler
vehicle.
I wasn't allowed to ride bike outside the safety region till
my 18th birthday. As I stepped into my 18th year, my wise
and law abiding father tossed the keys of a bike in front of me so that I can
ride my way to college contentedly. But the first thing to do was to get a 2
wheeler driving license by Rajasthan transport office, piece of cake! I repeated in my head at first.
My father always told me that the right process is the
easiest one, so I went into the RTO building and got a form filled with a
driving safety guide book. As per the law I got into the queue and waited for
my turn to submit my papers to the officers.
“You don’t have this paper, you don’t have that proof, this
spelling isn’t correct, that name isn't correct” these were words of the
inspector who tested my papers before cutting me off the queue. There, I was
out of queue before even getting a learning license.
“Tough luck, I must get all papers but that would take
forever” I thought for a while and I saw a guy smiling at my condition.
“She will throw you out even of your papers are 110%
watertight, you’ll get your license sitting out of the queue effortlessly if
you get help from right person” he spoke conveniently.
“How?” I shrugged.
“That would take 1000 bucks and you’ll get your full proof
permanent driving license easily”
It wasn't that tough, I gave him a little advance and he
wrote some symbols on the back side of my documents. I went back in the queue
and surprisingly the lady inspector allowed me to give a learning license test.
I got my permanent
license as the guy told me, in a plain painless manner.
So was the 4 wheeler license process. I was failed at the
driving exam when I took my own car in the field. But when I rented a car from
one of the agent, even the worst driver would get a license if he drove a car
from those agents, although my driving was pretty impressive.
What I or any teenager would have learned at that time was
simple. “The bribe way is the right way”
The government pushes
people to give bribe or else our work won’t get done in time and we’ll be stuck midst of the queue forever. Ever seen that movie? The gangster put a rat in a
can and put the can over bare pot belly of one of his foul employee. He heats
up the metal can by flaming it up, and the rat digs his way inside out through
the belly of that foul employee. What’s my point is that government is the
gangster and we are the rats. They don’t leave us any other choice but to dig
our way through deceitfulness and then they brag about demolishing corruption
from this country.
This is what a
common, a mango man learns in his life.
Today I am 21 and am applying for passport. I am already
rejected once for submitting a birth certificate that wasn't up to government’s
criteria. What’s my mistake if the birth certificate has not executed surname
of my father correctly on that shitty piece of pen written paper? They would overlook completely every other
full proof genuine document, like my driving license, citizenship card or my
marks sheets which have intact description of my eternity.
They want bribe but they won’t say it because security
cameras are on, they might get trapped in some sting operation. Why is that?
Why does they play with our lives, isn't their salary enough to feed them? The next time I’ll apply for a passport, I’ll
hire an agent beef him up and get my passport done.
Get it people, In Rome you live like Romans and in country
like mine, the bribe way is right way, this is how system works here...
PS. I may get arrested to blog this post,
democracy is just in papers in this country….
democracy is just in papers in this country….