A Few Good Men

As the Tarun Tejpal controversy creates such outrage and spirals out of control in social media, I begin to wonder. It's shameful and though it terrifies us, depresses us, makes us question our beliefs and morals, aren't we in some way responsible for allowing such acts to happen in alarming frequency? Right from the time a child is born, the conditioning and discrimination begins. This divisiveness is not just restricted to the nationality, religion, caste, skin color, or the language one speaks but extends to gender, class, wealth and power too.

Folks are quick to blame the not so fortunate literates or those from the so called lower classes (yes, these class distinctions still exist in this land of an ever increasing gap between have and have-nots), but what do they have to say when the educated of our land with degrees from IITs, IIMs, and even Oxford, Stanford and Harvard engage in horrific misdemeanors and criminal activities such as corruption, exhortation, and exploitation of others. Can we really blame and pinpoint one social class when crime extends across all boundaries? The perpetrator can be from any background.

Now onto powerful men like Tejpal! History has been filled with powerful men who have choices! Some of them choose to use the power bestowed to them responsibly, whereas some misuse and twist it to meet their own desires. Aren't there thousands of Tarun Tejpals out there? In recent weeks, news of the judges and lawyers exploiting interns have rocked the nation. Now what makes them commit such acts? Does the heady sense of power intoxicate them and make them feel like they can manipulate and control anyone. And when they get away with their misdemeanors, does it make them more brazen that they continue their acts without fear and a care in the world as if they are kings of the world.

I think the need of the hour is to set up proper and adequate committees for every sector and organization to address any kind of issue, even those concerning folks at the top. After all, absolute power does make some folks immune to the system and that can be dangerous.

And do we really need a comparison with the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky episode as I've seen in some tweets? While I am not here to preach on the morality and personal integrity of a person's character, and why they choose to cheat on their partners, wasn't that a case of mutual consent? It cannot be compared to this Tejpal incident where the young journalist repeatedly said no, but yet he persisted. For more on the case, check this link:
http://delhidurbar.in/tehelka-editor-facing-sexual-assault-allegations/

Hasn't it always been like this? Just as in the animal kingdom where the beasts stalk their prey, in the human kingdom, the rich and powerful prey on the weak or vulnerable sections. Some fight back, some don't.

As reports state, Tarun Tejpal's introductory speech during the THINKFEST 2011 had the lines, "You're in Goa, so eat, drink, make merry & sleep with whoever you want." What about consent, Mr. Tejpal?Irony is one of the taglines at the THINKFEST 2013 stated, "The beast lies within us."

While these beasts exist, it's also important to differentiate between the beasts and the few good men that exist on this planet. With similar incidents of molestation and abuse being reported in the media everyday, a friend of mine was lamenting that he's ashamed and scared of being an Indian man. I get that. It's important not to cast everyone in the same mold. We need to remember that for every beast out there, there also exist a few good men and men can be victims too.

Be Very Very Angry

Mumbai. July 13, 2011. A series of blasts ripped through the city killing many dreams, extinguishing hope, and driving citizens to the brink of despair. To vent, we can blame Pakistan and the numerous terror outfits active in the country or ask a question - who is responsible for protecting us?

No points for guessing, it is The Government of India.

As parents, employees, or business persons most of us have jobs and we have tasks to perform as part of that job. If we do not perform, we are either fired or our careers take a nose dive. All jobs come with responsibilities.

The Government of India (GOI) is an institution of failure. And who constitutes the GOI? Politicians, bureaucrats, quasi government bodies, and elected institutions like panchayats. From cradle to the grave and after (death certificate), the government plays a role in our lives. And in every step, for most people the GOI fails us – it fails to provide us with hygienic hospitals, clear airy classrooms, good roads and buses to go school, educated teachers who show up for work daily, a higher education system that makes us market worthy and jobs when we finally pass out.

The GOI fails to safeguard us from corruption, bureaucratic apathy, delayed justice and an inefficient, brutal police system.

So to bring in change, we need to change the government. How do we change the government? By doing something, perhaps exercising our right to vote?

Each time we are angry with the government, we must ask ourselves, do I have a voter’s ID card? If you do not have one, get one done. The struggle to get that voter’s ID is part of the struggle to give yourself a government you want. We have to stand up for our rights and the struggle begins with procuring a voter’s ID card. This is your card to freedom.

I have got my card. Now what? Who do I vote for? Everyone is corrupt. Think what is most important for you. What is it that you want the government to provide you? It could be anything – safety, security, job, free healthcare, infrastructure, education, and the freedom to aspire and look forward to a future.

Identify what existing political party would provide you with some of these basic requirements. If you find it easy to relate to a party, I am happy for you. If not, identify the party closest to your dream political party and vote.

There are 200 million people above 18 years living in Indian cities. Most share common aspirations - for a reservation less education system, a robust market economy for jobs, a corruption free efficient administration, women friendly cities, an efficient healthcare system, cities where no mortal fear of being ripped apart in terrorist bombings exists, cities where the judicial system is quick and cops don’t rape and murder citizens.

The first time you vote, your party might lose. But then you have another five years before you can vote again. If each one of us can convince five people to vote along with us, that will be 40 million of change agents. In a country of 1.2 billion, 40 million is not an impossible figure.

We should give ourselves a name. We should go the green peace way. We can organize ourselves into a movement. If you have control of 40 million urban votes, you will definitely catch the attention of the political parties. If you have influence on 200million votes, the politicians cannot ignore us any longer.

When we vote to power the candidates that we want, then we get to choose what we want from the government. And it all starts with being angry, very angry at the government.

Tatkal Scam at Hyderabad RPO - Personal Experience

To the Ministry of External Affairs,

We have been trying to contact you through Speed Post, email and a networking site (Twitter) but since you prefer not to respond to our queries, thought will address all of you here. What I am going to describe is perhaps the most horrifying experience that citizens need to suffer to get a passport, a document I am entitled to in all respect. We have been trying to renew our passports through the Tatkal Scheme via the Hyderabad RPO but thanks to the efficiency of the system, even after a week we are nowhere.

Please explain to us what is the procedure at the Hyderabad RPO and why does it contradict with the information provided on the site. My friends have been asking me why I have not applied online as it seems to be a breeze in their respective cities. I don't know what to tell them. We did exactly what your Passport site tells us to do. We applied online, got an online token and was at the RPO in Hyderabad much before the stipulated time on Monday, 25 April only to find a huge queue for Tatkal applicants. On further enquiry, we found out that online tokens are not accepted in the Hyderabad RPO and people queue up for days to get a manual token.

We were approached by several local touts who claimed that they can get us past the cops into the hallowed precinct of the passport office for 4000 - 8000 rupees per person. Not willing to pay a bribe, we came back empty handed that day. The only other option was to stand in the queue so we went back at 2:00 AM the following night and waited for the passport gate to open at 9:30 AM. There were over 500 people in the queue and the passport office allows anywhere between 75 to 200 people everyday from the queue and the rest have to wait for their turn the next day even if they have to continue waiting for 48 hrs at a stretch. If they leave the queue and go home, they will again be relegated to the back of the queue so it is a hopeless situation. That day the office opened at 9:30 AM as usual for barely an hour and allowed around 50-60 people in before the cops came over at 10:30 smirking and happily telling the waiting crowd that the day's quota is over.

Questions:
1. Why do I have to stand in a queue for such ridiculous hours in the open to get my own passport renewed?
2. Why are citizens harassed and treated like criminals at the passport office, both by officials and cops?
3. Why can't the passport office employ additional employees to meet the high volume of Tatkal applications?
4. Why should the local passport officer be given so much discretionary power that allows him/her to blatantly create processes that overlooks basic tenets of civilized dignity?
5. Why do they not allot dates so that people don’t have to wait for days for lady luck to strike and get an entry into your esteemed RPO?

Also, the RPO supposedly has to issue 300 tokens a day. However, after a 9 hour wait from 2 AM till 11 AM your office finally opens at 9:30 AM and closes at 10:30 AM allowing around 50-60 people in.

Questions:
1. What are the number of tokens that should be issued and if the number is 300 tokens, what happens to the remaining tokens?
2. What are the actual working hours of the Hyderabad RPO when applications can be accepted? Is it only one hour?
3. How do you monitor the timings and productivity of the passport officials? Is there a register to keep track of the number of hours they put in and is there a minimum number of applications that they can each individually process?

According to this Times of India report, online tokens were stopped as the passport office website for Hyderabad was hacked into by agents. The article is attached here for your reference: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-06-05/hyderabad/28299734_1_passport-agents-tatkal-applications.

Now please let us know:
1. Why are agents and bureaucrats being given the chance to misuse the system?
2. Why is nothing being done to stop this nexus between agents and the officials inside?
3. Why should we pay a bribe for a passport that we are entitled to as citizens of this country?
4. In every other city, the Tatkal scheme seems to work. Why is this scheme so difficult for the people of the twin cities?
5. Why are citizens being harassed due to the misuse of the system by agents?

Would really appreciate if you can address this pathetic bureaucratic high handedness and mismanagement.

Another question my friends have been asking is why am I not submitting Tatkal application through e-Seva. Now Ministry of External Affairs, please explain why you do not accept Tatkal applications through e-Seva. Your site says "Tatkal applications must be submitted at the Regional Passport Office only after online registration." If there were more passport offices across Hyderabad or if you started accepting Tatkal applications in e-Seva centres, the load on the Hyderabad RPO would decrease and people would not have to wait for days in the queue. You can have a competent authority at all these centers to evaluate Tatkal applications.

So here are a few suggestions to increase efficiency:
1. Please have more employees in the Hyderabad RPO to process high volume of Tatkal applications.
2. Reintroduce a secure online slot allocation for entry into passport office.
3. Have separate queues for renewals.
4. Increase the application submission window to 4 hours or 1000 applications per day as opposed to whatever is the number now.
5. Open more passport offices across Andhra Pradesh and start accepting Tatkal applications across all e-Seva centres to reduce the load on Hyderabad RPO.

A citizen of India

It's Polling day!

Being Indian has a new meaning! Joy and I were determined to exercise our voting rights this year so we got ourselves registered two years ago. Since we've been living in this city for over 6 years, it was a simple affair getting ourselves registered in the AP electoral process. This is the city where we live and work, so the development of this city is close to our heart.

Usually, we are lazy beings and nothing in wild horses can wake us up early (atleast not before 10:30 for Joy). However, polling day we wake up at 6 am and with all our mixed emotions of excitement, anger against the corrupt politicians, frustration at their inefficiency we set off. Luckily, it's just a 5 minute walk from our apartment. Once we reach the polling centre, we first go off to get the slips to find our serial number.

Once we get the slips, we stand in a queue to enter the ballot area. The person at the entrance calls out our serial number. There is a desk which has five people shuffling through papers. As our serial numbers are called, you see five hands shuffling in unison.

Once they find our numbers, we go forward to sign and get our finger stamped. We are handed across 2 slips. One for the Parliament and the other for Assembly. Finally the moment we have been waiting for. We enter the booth and cast our votes. The whole exercise takes around half an hour. Guess that's coz we went early.

While walking back home, we spot this restaurant selling North and South Indian breakfast. It's 8 am so we decide to have some breakfast. Joy orders Aloo Poori while I order some dahi vada and buttermilk. The food finally arrives. Joy seems pretty disappointed as he gets 3 pooris with one tiny bowl of subji that has one aloo in it and a bowl of coconut chutney. I guess they have demand for pooris and chutney here but that's not for Joy. He keeps ordering more sabji till he finishes all 3 pooris. So breakfast done and all happy with ourselves we head back home.

We have no idea if things will change, whether our roads or the city's infrastructure will improve or will there be all round development ... But we live in hope...that maybe, maybe someone might come along and think about the nation rather than filling their own coffers.

Let's hope so. After all hope is what makes the world go round.

Bureaucratic Cancer

I must say my Mom-in-law is one brave lady. Last year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctors had given up all hope as the cancer spread to her liver and lungs. As she had her first chemotherapy session there was a reaction and she slipped into a coma. The doctors then informed us that she would not survive the night and it was only a matter of time. The whole family kept a night-long vigil at different locations. There were prayers conducted the whole night. Joy’s colleague along with 18 other members performed Reiki for her recovery. It was truly moving to see total strangers coming forward to help.

The next morning, she opened her eyes as if nothing had happened and asked my father-in-law whether he had eaten. Her recovery was miraculous. I remember the first time I visited her in Delhi a month later. I was feeling awkward and didn’t know how to react. The moment Joy and I saw her, she came towards us with a big smile on her face. It was like nothing had happened and she made everyone feel at ease. She still goes on about her normal routine including the religious rituals morning and evening. Her faith in God is unwavering and seems to have increased further. Despite the ailments (I say ailments because she is suffering from 8 major diseases) her zest for life is truly admirable. She has tremendous patience and I have never seen her getting annoyed or flustered at anyone. She truly lives and let lives!

Well, my story begins here. Since my in-laws moved back to their home in Assam it has been very difficult for them to get the medicines that are required for her treatment. Since we live in the city, we buy the medicines from a Cancer hospital nearby and mail it to them through our Indian Postal Service (Speed Post). We never faced any problem sending it till a month ago.

Joy visited our local post office and the guy at the counter absolutely refused to accept it. When Joy asked him the reason, the surly counter guy mentioned that they do not send and accept any Speed Post packets for Assam. Joy mentioned that we have been posting and sending several packets in the past too through that same post office. Mr. Surly started getting annoyed and asked him to get the receipts (how many of us ever save the receipts).

So off Joy went to the neighboring post office where the Postmaster politely accepted it and sent it without a whimper. After posting the package off, Joy went to the main GPO to lodge a complaint. He informed the Officer at the Grievances Cell about the issue. The Officer informed us that Indian Postal Service can be sent to every part of India irrespective of the geographical location. Joy decided to teach Mr. Surly a lesson for the simple reason that nobody should take their jobs for granted and hold customers to ransom based on their whims and fancies. How many times have we kept quiet and suffered?