"Corruption" in India is as pervasive as the air.

Corruption In India:-

Whether it is hiring an auto-rickshaw after a tiresome return journey to your city, or getting a police verification done for your newly tenanted apartment, you are not going to get away without spending some extra bucks- anywhere from an excess hundred to five hundred rupee note. Now, hundred rupees is not much to most of you today, who might prefer to spend it on a cup of coffee at Barista, or gormandizing a Pizza, or watching another hopeless Bollywood movie. This goes far beyond the hundred rupee note.

It's a disease. It's a disease which is there, but there is no apparent way to combat it- you just accept it. Everybody around seems to be obsessed with money. From petty auto-rickshaw drivers charging 150-300 Rupees for a journey where it should have only been 100, to Policemen, Lawyers, and Government Officials demanding anywhere in Thousands just to get your work done- Mind you, a work which they're being paid to do in the first place by the government.

Something so simple as reading a police verification form and assessing that the said tenant comes from a good background and/or isn't liable to cause nuisance or engage in any activity deemed criminal or antisocial, and attesting a stamp and signature on it as a way of approval, you'll be charged Rs. 100. Actually, it's not a rule or an obligation. You've to pay so the police official would comply and get your form approved. What happens if you don't comply? Well, the usual. The typical Indian way is to just make excuses and delay your work  The renowned Economist Partha Dasgupta in his "Economics-A very short introduction-Oxford University Press"  makes a point that the reason most Indian government offices are overcrowded and there's the usual "queue" mentality is that they have managed to define people's existence by way of  this mentality of the queue- If you want to get ahead of the queue, start paying. First to the peon, then to the middle clerk, and then to the officer. He also goes on to quote some statistics about how it takes a significantly more time in India to Register a business, and every other commercial activity than "developed"
countries.

What is the reaction?

Indians from all social, economic and educational backgrounds are well-aware about the "pay a note" trend. I saw petty people and unrefined people alike who visited the station to get a police verification done. They were all being delayed and had been visiting 2nd, 3rd, or 5th time in 3 days. When I finally got mine done, I was clandestinely notified that I'm supposed to give "one". Thankfully for me, it meant one hundred and not one thousand- and mind you- this gesture came after my agreement was stamped/attested. I could've retreated without responding to the gesture.  Besides me was a Real estate agent guy(another dime a dozen lowly fellow) I knew, getting his stacks of police verifications stamped.                          

It seems to me there are two kinds of people when it comes to it- A)Those that are either too lazy to visit the particular govt. office(this is a major reason why it has become a vicious cycle) and thus would rather pay 400-500 Rupees from something as simple as getting their Tenanted property or Leased Property agreement verified to just meeting the "Senior official" without having to face any queue. B)Those that are genuinely affected or bothered by the existence of this trap, willing to visit the office and wait for the glorious venerated officials, so they won't have to pay any unnecessary amount of money- Including myself- and yet end up paying it. It does feel like you've just slept with a hooker and are paying her some money- only in this case- you were the whore. You pay everywhere to get governmental work done which you shouldn't have to pay for.

                    

Most Indians damn well know they would much rather spend 100-200 bucks than deal with these officials or make at least 2-4 visits to the said office-in this case- the police station. In fact, the trend around here(in Pune) is for Real Estate Agents to get the "police verification" done for their clients, in most cases the owners have no idea who their own tenants are, and the official will take anywhere between Rs. 200-500 to stamp stacks of these "police verification" forms. Is it any surprise why India is where it is?

What can be done? 

At this time, most of the better-off Indians are typing away on their Iphones or Tablets, or sipping an expensive cup of coffee at Barista, munching a sandwich at Subway. I refuse to be another hero to the millions of The (great) Unwashed, half unaware,  half unknowing, in these times and culture of ours where Pornstars such as Sunny Leone are being Imported from abroad, given movie roles and are further being glorified as symbols of movie stardom. Good luck tweeting, cheering for your favourite cricket stars, and wondering how bold and audacious Sonam Kapoor must be for donning a damn bikini. You might as well cheer for new-age heroes such as Anna Hazare and Narendra Modi- I remain unconcerned. I still feel disgust and abhorrence for the paid 100-Rupee note. Unlike you, I am not accustomed to carelessly spending 100 Rupee-notes on Indian movies featuring the talents of Emran Haashmi and Sunny Leone.
Live it up.

The Never-ending Journey.

Life is different things to different people. However, life is largely the same for a majority of doomed souls in this sad, scurvy and disastrous World of ours. There's the vegetable vendor , the plumber, the electrician, the telephone wireman, the Customer Service Fool at the call centre. There were some Italians during the Renaissance who got immensely wealthy on account of trading pepper and cloves. Today there are hundreds of thousands of these traders spending their entire life trading a bunch of chillies or stocks. They all have one thing in common. They all wake up each and every day to repeat what they did the previous day and Heaven Forbid something should deviate them from their customary activity.

Now I'm not suggesting everybody should pick up a violin or pluck the Strings of a Spanish Guitar. Live and let live!
I, however, have a different ideal and virtually no limits to my desire to excel.
These are just some of the things which are to be done or accomplished immediately:-

1. I need a rechargeable Fan because I hate power cuts and cannot afford my sleep to be interrupted or disturbed. I possess overly acute and sharp sense of hearing which means if the ceiling fan halts, the noisy, uncouth, uncivilized outside world becomes unendurably penetrating to my ears.

2. I need to learn French, Italian, Spanish and progress through Foundation German. Language shapes Geography and Lifestyle which in turn shape History. Without knowing the languages, one can't truly learn the history, geography and culture of a nation.

3. I have to peruse the 15 or so Vocabulary building books I own and master a large chunk of the English vocabulary while also utilizing the dozen English Dictionaries I own. I also have an intention to write the most ultimate and definitive Vocabulary Guide/Building book published or written till date. I cannot claim to be an English scholar yet, but a time will come. I know the task is arduous and exciting.

4. Until yesterday, I couldn't tell you the difference between an Ocean and a Sea, nor did I know what latitude and longitude meant. Today, I do on account of my recent acquisition and perusal of just own four ICSE-pattern geography textbooks.There are still a few more of these Textbooks I should possess within the next few months and a Glossy photopapered illustrative geography encyclopedia published by Dorling Kindersley. On account of my efforts of late,  my grasp of history has never been better.

5. I've to finish reading a book on Blogging, and also read a  couple of books on Journalism.

6. There are a dozen history books lying on my table eager to be perused by their master. Half a dozen history of English Literature and an expensive book solely devoted to the history of American Literature entitled "From Puritanism to Postmodernism" .

7. I've to prepare for a paper on Stylistics and I've barely just begun.

Pilot.

Why would I make this ridiculous blog? For many reasons. Primary reason being the innate human need to communicate, to connect, to conquer, to conjure, to talk, howsoever garrulously, but talk. Out in the real world people are talking to each other about various things, most of which are mundane jabber and brutally banal bores (yes, I did it. World Record for most number of B's in a sentence).

Another reason being ADHD-induced Hyperactivity. A dumb girl who once claimed she had a degree in psychology made a dumb mistake of calling ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Well, a disorder can't be HYPERACTIVE. It's Hyperactivity, I corrected her.

Yes, I'm so hyper. I realized things as I was making a cup of tea. Shinedown used to be an awesome band. I feel such an energy while listening to their old stuff. And a bonus song from their diamondiferous record Sound of Madness called "The Energy" was playing in my imagination with muffled intensity. I begun playing it. While I type this, it is being played for the sixth time in twenty five minutes.

Yet another reason, Why are there so many DUMB personal diary blogs out there? WHY? (I know I'm going to be considered rude, blunt, or downright uncivilized for the capslock, but WHO CARES?).
Why should people be interested in someone's elses life? The sandwich they had that morning? The dog they caressed? The poop they cleaned? But, sadly, these questions are open-ended and absurd. Let the people be, quoth all the normal people out there. Live and let live. Die and be dead.

So, I'm claiming my piece of the blogosphere pie where even I shall use this fucking keyboard to whatsoever end or purpose I derive vitality from.  But I won't bombard the blogosphere with girly images of girly clothes and girly shoes with the intention of becoming yet another severely, blasphemously, wickedly popular "blogger" and become an internet millionaire. This is just a madman. This is just an endless mania. This is just an arrogant display of energy combined with typal talent combined with nil/nothing/zero/zilch. This blog, this post will not yield me a dollar, and all of this textual barrage will not result in stomachs fed, hungers sated, and alcoholic drives destroyed.

The only good thing I should hope to come out of this fruitless endeavour is somewhere out in the blogosphere, somebody might discover the band Shinedown, or at least summon sufficient energy to youtube the song "The energy". But, since most of the world out there rests in lazy ponds unmoved due to sluggish limbs, I'll allow them the benefit of hearing it right here:-