December 7, 2010
The Monoliths
Life does not treat everyone equally well. Some folks get unusually comfortable treatment while some others don’t, despite both kinds not having done anything extraordinary to deserve what they get. But the power of life acts strangely, as it reaches us through the acts of friends, powerful people, relatives, family members and even total strangers.
Take, for instance, the big names in the game of power that have recently had to face embarrassing questions or worse, exit from their comfortable perches. Big names in the fourth estate that were taken with veneration till a few weeks ago, and were included as role models in any discussion about media as a great career. Not only some big names were forced to issue clarifications about their semi-professional or perhaps personal conversations, but some had to actually take a break from their high-profile media appearances lest the allegations became fiercer.
And then there were politicians. Two union ministers, a chief minister, a political operator and a few level-2 operators – these dignitaries cut a sorry figure when live TV showed them walking away with aggrieved looks on their faces as if suggesting… “Why only me?”
Actually this is what troubles people at large and Indians like me. Why should it take a sustained campaign by the media or other agencies to make the New Delhi monoliths stir and make a move? Jumping to conclusions being our national character, it can be justifiably said that probably the monoliths wanted the unsavoury tales to be swept under the carpet but when the carpet refused to accommodate the garbage, it spilled out and then the baggage had to be gotten rid of.
So, this is what governance is all about. Let things get spoilt. Let them go out of hand. Let the unscrupulous elements grab whatever they can. If it goes unnoticed, we must let it be. If someone (the carpet, for example) refuses to keep quiet or still, well, then the dirty head can roll. And then the monolith of governance can take credit for “acting swiftly” against tainted people!
There is no point in saying “if this is true, then probably the leadership thinks the people are fools.” Actually, the leadership does firmly believe that people are fools. Otherwise the demand would have been for the bigger and the “thinking” heads to roll, rather than the dirty ones.
Since people don’t have the guts or voice to raise a stir, we wait for the next big scam to happen. And the leadership waits for the people to act like fools again. If they don’t, well another small dirty head would be rolled, and the monolith would remain intact.
Long live the monoliths.
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