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 can’t 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?