Monday, April 11, 2011

Handed to us on a platter

You would never guess this one: Apart from architectural marvels, Persian influences, language, culture and religion, what is the all-pervading thing that we Indians have inherited from the Mughals?

Quoted from "The Crimson Throne" by Sudhir Kakar. A work of historical-fiction, the book has some interesting revelations about the Mughal period, most famously the transition of reign following Shah Jahan's rule, and Shah Jahan's sexual exploits.
Indians may be polite and friendly and possess other admirable personal qualities, but their public life is marred by sycophancy and corruption.. The rot starts, as it always does, at the top: as they say in France, 'A fish always starts smelling from the head.'
.. The voice of flattery pervades all ranks of society.

So that's what we have got in a platter from our ancestors of 5000 years - a tradition of sycophancy and corruption. While in the Mughal era words were the flowers people used to adorn their leaders, in today's world it is posters, rallies, plots of land, statues. We get full points for Innovation on the 'S' front.

If flattery is the coin of social discourse, then corruption is the currency of all transactions in the regime. This is easily evident in the number of words they have for a bribe in their language - dastoor, nazrana, baksheesh and so on. It is an established custom throughout the country that without the intercession of influential friends or the payment of bribes nothing gets done; even princes of royal blood cannot get their work done without some kind of payment.

So no one was above the Law of Corruption, it seemed. Very apt, even today. It is a well known fact that a common man looking to register a house, get a ration card, a driving license, a passport, a voter's id or even admission in school for his child, is required to grease all palms along the way. The rot is so deeply entrenched in the system that there is only one way to survive: by becoming a part of it.

Surprisingly, it is not the lack of good laws that is responsible for the state of affairs. If properly administered, the existing laws would render the Indies as eligible a residence as any nation in Europe. But of what use are good laws if they are not observed and when there is no possibility of observing them? The sole aim of governers of provinces appointed by the king is to amass as much wealth as they can in the time they have left in their appointments before they are removed by the whim of the monarch or the machinations of enemies at the court.

Nothing more needs to be said. If there was an award for "Best set of Laws ever written for a country" India would win it hands down. For a poverty stricken country torn by strife and turmoil in 1947, we had a clear set of heads at the cusp of independence and with them dreams of a better, better world. That we are far from being true to their letter is glaringly obvious.
But what can we do if it's in our genes, right? We can't just throw the errant chromosomes out of our system. Or can we?



Stare into space, chew over it. Or chew through the next person who dares to extend their hand out for unwarranted cash.