YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that
our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not
pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the
railways are a joke, mails never reach their destination. YOU
say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the
absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take YOURSELF on your way to Singapore. YOU walk out of the
airport and you are at your International Best. In Singapore,
you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the
stores.
In London you would not dare to buy an employee of the
telephone exchange at 10 pounds a month to, "see to it that my
STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else."
In Washington you would not dare to speed and then tell the
traffic cop, "Jaanata hai saale main kaun hoon?" Why don't you
spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't you buy fake
certificates in Boston?
We are still talking of the same YOU YOU who can respect
and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot
in your own. If you can be an involved and appreciative
citizen in an alien country why cant you be the same here in
India?
In Singapore or London or Washington, you don't say
anything. You DO.
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet
has done his business. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen
do that here? We expect the railways to provide clean
bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of
them.
When it comes to burning social issues like girl child,
dowry and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and
continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? "It's the
whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I
alone take action?"
So who's going to change the system? What does a system
consist of? Very conveniently for us, it consists of our
neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities
& the government. But definitely not ME and YOU.
Bribery, tax evasion, unlicensed business, unethical
practices, etc. have not reached the same dimensions anywhere
as they have in India, thanks to each citizen's sense of
involvement with the country. Everybody is out to abuse and
rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our
conscience is mortgaged to money.
Does this article prick your conscience? What are you going
to do about it?