By Rudi Warjri
Lately, astronomical space ,be it in the print media , electronic media , social media etc has been monopolized only by the subject of corruption of politicians or the popular metaphor ‘High Level’ . Mezzanine level being the civil servants of the Government . Church leaders have also been dragged into the controversy because they brokered between politicians and God at exclusively arranged prayer meetings before the swearing in. Spare the politicians for a change. Here I am writing about those among the corrupt public and the people of Meghalaya .
Take the last elections. Kudos to the exceptional few who have won largely because of crowdfunding. Otherwise, the money collected from illegal mining ,scams , etc have been well spent . Winners who benefited from this money pipeline were able to buy voters in droves . Why? Because voters have become easily purchasable . A farmer who worked on my farm boasted how he was given a blanket , agricultural tools and 5000 in cash . My retort was that he himself had said that the cost of a calf was 20, 000 but his price was 5000. In other words he was cheaper than the calf . He retorted saying that the entire village was being bought and he didn’t want to be a pariah. Polling personnel in some constituencies had told me how money was being openly distributed to voters while queuing for voting and even after the voting . The offices and residences of some candidates were like open houses for eating , drinking and God alone knows what other services are being extended . A non- wealthy candidate, also an academic described her astonishment to me , the day she filed her nomination. Several calls were received from respectable community and church leaders pledging to work for her but for a sum of money. Some candidates openly disclosed how constituents approached them for money ranging from buying books for their children to requesting for buses for picnics.
Coming to daily lives. Getting out of the house means a journey in hypertension. I mean the driving culture, not just the traffic. How many drivers of vehicles really went through the process of obtaining a license as officially required? The theory as well as the practical part! Most motorists don’t even know about the Zebra sign or how to dim the high beam at night. Taxis, maroon buses and some private motorists are a law unto themselves . Stopping anywhere , anytime , any moment , without attempting to side the vehicle even if there is space . The conflicting signal which is always on the right regardless of directions. So second guessing about the vehicle in front is a necessary skill for survival. No parking means exactly the opposite – to park. Congesting the space that makes it worse when larger vehicles are moving . The hapless pedestrians have to squeeze their way through. Rule enforcement works only under police presence and at times even that fails .
I had just returned to Shillong after a few decades away from my then pristine hometown. I was constructing my house. Transporting material was a major part of the process. The idea of acquiring a Mahindra Pick-up struck me especially after having inaugurated a couple of them abroad. Self-driving it for a while was fun but quite taxing. So I looked around for a driver. A local youngster appeared; I Interviewed him and among other things he also claimed to be an orphan and instantly won my sympathy. I then instructed him to take the wheel of the Pick-up and asked for his license . He replied that it had been seized by the police a few days ago while he was officiating for his brother’s taxi. The reason according to him was the fauji passengers in uniform had carried bottles of liquor. The police punished him instead of the fauji passengers. I reacted and asked which station the police were from. He said Madanrting. I said ‘lets go there.’ The Officer in charge welcomed me. I told him the problem and meanwhile he hosted me with some chai. He got his colleagues to search for the said license in a basket full of seized licenses but it was nowhere to be found. Then the experienced officer started asking my driver some questions which were quite probing and I realized that my driver had cooked up a story . While I took leave the officer said that he would call me if the license was found .
Outside the police station I harangued the young driver why he lied to me. Without batting an eyelid he changed his story. He said that he had paid three thousand rupees to a dalal but had not got the license yet. Again my naïve milk of human kindness led me to believe him. He gave me the dalal’s number and I called and shouted about the license. Two days later my driver brought the license with his photo but with a different name. And even more shocking was that it was issued in Manipur. I was dumbfounded for a while. Then I surmised that the society had become deeply rotten. I needed a driver and if the guy could drive, so be it. The blighter drove and did his quota of denting and scratching of the Pick-up. After a month I gave him his salary and thanked him for his services which was also a bitter lesson to me .
The longer I stayed the more I learned that obtaining a driving license through a dalal was normal. And even more normal was the bragging about it. And somebody like one of my sons who obtained a driving license by going through the official process and was tested by the Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) was ridiculed as a moron.
My story is about the corrupt and ready to bribe public, which concerns the Transport Department. It is, however, an illustration of the malaise, the vicious cycle and venality in the system. This also applies with some variation in public dealings with Government Departments like PWD, Urban Department, Excise , Food & Civil Supplies , Police , Mining , Power, etc .
Now my humble request to the churches of all denominations is to firstly, please stop being hierarchical to politicians in the church. The then US President Barack Obama and his family who would occupy any vacant seat irrespective of the rows in a church. More importantly, do get out of the box for a change. Some data about the disconnect between the spiritual Christian faith and the day today practical Christian faith would help. Conduct a polling with secret ballots about bribery. I am ready to draft a brief questionnaire. An apt moment for being proactive by the Churches in this holy week. The Bible says that on day 2 after Jesus entered Jerusalem, he went to the Temple. He found the courts full of corrupt money changers. He began overturning their tables and clearing the Temple, saying “My temple will be a house of prayer , but you have turned it into a den of thieves” – Luke 19:46.
A blessed Good Friday and a Happy Easter greetings to all !