"Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it
extort from us", and, "I saw that evil was impotent ... and the only
weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it"
-- John Galt, the central character of Atlas Shrugged authored by Ayn Rand.
As I sat down to ponder the words above and relate it to the almost depressing torrent of scams and unabated loot which our country is facing, I had an epiphany. I saw it. I saw a pattern to the chaos that is reining in my India.
What is starkly visible to the naked eye is the series of scams breaking out at regular intervals and the mind-numbing chatter of the media and party spokies. An immediate logical step would be to see further, a step deeper, maybe even stumble on the causes for all that is going wrong. The pattern that I saw in the process was this – it is not just about exposing corruption, the real game was of cleansing institutions..!!!
Name one institution of the country which has not been exposed in the past few years. Let me list a few institutions of importance to our country –
1. Legislature (Political establishment i.e. the Parliament ) (Politicians are considered immoral by default; Cash-for-votes reinforced that perception)
2. Executive aka the Babudom (need I even list the scams here??? Cabinet secretaries!!! Shame!!!)
3. Office of the President (Two words – Pratibha Patil)
4. Office of State Governors (many names here,sample these, Kamla Beniwal, N.D. Tiwari)
5. Attorney General (reading up on the Coal Scam,anyone???)
6. Central Vigilance Commission (remember Mr.Thomas???)
7. Central Bureau of Investigation (no words for these geniuses)
8. Armed Forces
9. Police
10. Chief Ministers’ offices
11. Universities
12. Schools
13. Municipal Corporations
14. Panchayats
15. Main Stream Media (Radia tapes…Paid news…)
16. Judiciary
17. Banks
18. Family/Society
19. ……
20. ……….
Name an institution and it is falling/failing. There are multiple institutions which are failing their mandate and betraying their sacred trust with the people of the country. Whether these are failing because they are collapsing under their own contradictions or are they being systematically cleansed, I do not know.
I think it is the latter case. I have to rule out the option of the institutions collapsing on their own because there is always someone to provide the crutches for these institutions to hold on to. There is always a fig leaf behind which all the wrong-doings could be hidden. There is always the Dual-Opium of Cinema and Cricket to lull the people into being Zombies. Manoj Bajpayee’s character in Gangs of Wasseypur said it best – Jab tak Hindustan mein filmein bante rahengi, public…..
None of the contradictions,individually or together, ever broke an institution.
What was needed to stem this corrupt rot that has set-in was something else. Someone or something had to take the contradictions of the institutions and use them to
a. first break the monotony,
b. show the world the naked truth about the institutions and then
c. leave it to the people to do the cleansing…
What is this ‘Something’? Or who is this ‘Someone’?
A few potential answers do come to mind – The Supreme Court? The CAG? The EC? Subramaniam Swamy? Ramdev baba? Anna Hazare? Lokayuktas?
I think all these people were not the ‘Source’ but rather they were the ‘Medium’. An army of strategically placed foot soldiers in a complex game whose primary aim is to show the naked truth to the society;to be the agents of transparency who would lift the veil of ignorance from people’s eyes. These people are not the ‘agents of change’, they are more of an appetizer before the main meal. The real game of change is yet to unfold.
These ‘agents of transparency’ or ‘mirror agents’ (as they show the mirror to the corrupt institutions) are working overtime to plough the field and expose the underground vermin to the bright sunshine. They are just preparing the ground for the ‘Source’ to take center-stage and play out the decisive battle. Who or what that ‘Source’ is beyond my comprehension.
What could compel people to go on such a cleansing drive? If our institutions are like us, then we as a society are as corrupt as the institutions. The institutions are thus mere ‘Symbols’ of what we are as a nation. And if the picture looks corrupt, then we are. What then can compel someone to take up the cudgels and embark on a mission to change this corrupt system? Religion? Nationalism? Desperation? Pride? Or is it plain Ego?
Maybe a combination of many factors. Whatever maybe the case, these people are doing their job with ruthless efficiency and like a Tata tea commercial says – Desh ubal raha hai…Ab isme chai aur shakkar milani hai…
Who or What is the ‘Source’? Who is the next ‘agent of transparency’? Or would we now get to see the ‘agent of change’, the person(s) who would cleanse the vermin? Who would it be?
Some say it could be the clear headed,decisive and able administrator; the lion of Gujarat, NaMo and the decisive battle will play out in the general elections. Is he another agent of transparency or is he an agent of change? Or is he just a ‘set-piece’ player designed to lure the vermin to one place from where the real agent of change will do the cleansing? Will the general election be the time when the set-piece will be played out? As the cliché goes, only time will tell…
I have no idea when this will play out. But when it will, all the institutions that we bemoan today will rise again from their collapse and when they do, we will become the greatest of the nations. Until then, let us watch the field getting ploughed, nay help in the ploughing and bring out the vermin from their deep underground pits…Let the sunshine on them..!
If you are one such agent of transparency, rejoice, you are a rare breed of people committed to the idea of Bharat.If you are a clueless bystander, wake up, you are missing a great cleansing ritual. If you are a neutral observer, cheer up, you are witness to either a grand illusion or a grand awakening. And if you are the ‘agent of change’,welcome, you are long awaited..!
I end with a quote, again from John Galt, the central character of Atlas Shrugged authored by Ayn Rand–
“Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.”
--- Abhishek Muglikar
-- John Galt, the central character of Atlas Shrugged authored by Ayn Rand.
As I sat down to ponder the words above and relate it to the almost depressing torrent of scams and unabated loot which our country is facing, I had an epiphany. I saw it. I saw a pattern to the chaos that is reining in my India.
What is starkly visible to the naked eye is the series of scams breaking out at regular intervals and the mind-numbing chatter of the media and party spokies. An immediate logical step would be to see further, a step deeper, maybe even stumble on the causes for all that is going wrong. The pattern that I saw in the process was this – it is not just about exposing corruption, the real game was of cleansing institutions..!!!
Name one institution of the country which has not been exposed in the past few years. Let me list a few institutions of importance to our country –
1. Legislature (Political establishment i.e. the Parliament ) (Politicians are considered immoral by default; Cash-for-votes reinforced that perception)
2. Executive aka the Babudom (need I even list the scams here??? Cabinet secretaries!!! Shame!!!)
3. Office of the President (Two words – Pratibha Patil)
4. Office of State Governors (many names here,sample these, Kamla Beniwal, N.D. Tiwari)
5. Attorney General (reading up on the Coal Scam,anyone???)
6. Central Vigilance Commission (remember Mr.Thomas???)
7. Central Bureau of Investigation (no words for these geniuses)
8. Armed Forces
9. Police
10. Chief Ministers’ offices
11. Universities
12. Schools
13. Municipal Corporations
14. Panchayats
15. Main Stream Media (Radia tapes…Paid news…)
16. Judiciary
17. Banks
18. Family/Society
19. ……
20. ……….
Name an institution and it is falling/failing. There are multiple institutions which are failing their mandate and betraying their sacred trust with the people of the country. Whether these are failing because they are collapsing under their own contradictions or are they being systematically cleansed, I do not know.
I think it is the latter case. I have to rule out the option of the institutions collapsing on their own because there is always someone to provide the crutches for these institutions to hold on to. There is always a fig leaf behind which all the wrong-doings could be hidden. There is always the Dual-Opium of Cinema and Cricket to lull the people into being Zombies. Manoj Bajpayee’s character in Gangs of Wasseypur said it best – Jab tak Hindustan mein filmein bante rahengi, public…..
None of the contradictions,individually or together, ever broke an institution.
What was needed to stem this corrupt rot that has set-in was something else. Someone or something had to take the contradictions of the institutions and use them to
a. first break the monotony,
b. show the world the naked truth about the institutions and then
c. leave it to the people to do the cleansing…
What is this ‘Something’? Or who is this ‘Someone’?
A few potential answers do come to mind – The Supreme Court? The CAG? The EC? Subramaniam Swamy? Ramdev baba? Anna Hazare? Lokayuktas?
I think all these people were not the ‘Source’ but rather they were the ‘Medium’. An army of strategically placed foot soldiers in a complex game whose primary aim is to show the naked truth to the society;to be the agents of transparency who would lift the veil of ignorance from people’s eyes. These people are not the ‘agents of change’, they are more of an appetizer before the main meal. The real game of change is yet to unfold.
These ‘agents of transparency’ or ‘mirror agents’ (as they show the mirror to the corrupt institutions) are working overtime to plough the field and expose the underground vermin to the bright sunshine. They are just preparing the ground for the ‘Source’ to take center-stage and play out the decisive battle. Who or what that ‘Source’ is beyond my comprehension.
What could compel people to go on such a cleansing drive? If our institutions are like us, then we as a society are as corrupt as the institutions. The institutions are thus mere ‘Symbols’ of what we are as a nation. And if the picture looks corrupt, then we are. What then can compel someone to take up the cudgels and embark on a mission to change this corrupt system? Religion? Nationalism? Desperation? Pride? Or is it plain Ego?
Maybe a combination of many factors. Whatever maybe the case, these people are doing their job with ruthless efficiency and like a Tata tea commercial says – Desh ubal raha hai…Ab isme chai aur shakkar milani hai…
Who or What is the ‘Source’? Who is the next ‘agent of transparency’? Or would we now get to see the ‘agent of change’, the person(s) who would cleanse the vermin? Who would it be?
Some say it could be the clear headed,decisive and able administrator; the lion of Gujarat, NaMo and the decisive battle will play out in the general elections. Is he another agent of transparency or is he an agent of change? Or is he just a ‘set-piece’ player designed to lure the vermin to one place from where the real agent of change will do the cleansing? Will the general election be the time when the set-piece will be played out? As the cliché goes, only time will tell…
I have no idea when this will play out. But when it will, all the institutions that we bemoan today will rise again from their collapse and when they do, we will become the greatest of the nations. Until then, let us watch the field getting ploughed, nay help in the ploughing and bring out the vermin from their deep underground pits…Let the sunshine on them..!
If you are one such agent of transparency, rejoice, you are a rare breed of people committed to the idea of Bharat.If you are a clueless bystander, wake up, you are missing a great cleansing ritual. If you are a neutral observer, cheer up, you are witness to either a grand illusion or a grand awakening. And if you are the ‘agent of change’,welcome, you are long awaited..!
I end with a quote, again from John Galt, the central character of Atlas Shrugged authored by Ayn Rand–
“Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.”
--- Abhishek Muglikar
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