Disease or symptom

The rot is total. Be it the bureaucrats or the politicians, almost all at the helm of affairs are contributing their wee bit in concretizing the rot, by putting one more nail in the coffin.

A few months back, I remember I was invited to attend a meeting on building world class infrastructure. I experienced a sense of revulsion on hearing the subject. When we are a total and proven failure in even literal sweeping of the muck and dirt, we do not have a right to even debate such issues. When we are aware of the rampant corruption in "State" bodies and often are a party to it, actively or passively, we do not have a right to indulge in sheer rhetoric. But rhetoric helps, in creating a momentary euphoria, euphoria created without an iota of deliverance and that is the beauty of it.

It was only a week back when the Bhopal Management Association invited me to deliver a talk on building India of our dreams.Yes it is true that we shall forever remain dreaming about building India, for we lack the basic competence required to deliver. We as a system and also as individuals lack the guts to decide. Deliberate - Yes, Procastrinate - Yes, Decide - No is our motto.

Some may argue that even developed countries have corruption and corruption is not the IPR/USP of India. Well justifying corruption even if it is justifiable, is an act of dishonesty towards oneself and the nation. Anyway it is only our motherland where every single interaction of its inhabitants with the governmental system, except for the super wealthy and the powerful kind is laced with greasing of palms. And the system of corruption is so strong, that the corrupt does not even spare persons of his own ilk, persons who are part of the sarkari tantra like him. Well this is what I call the pinnacle of corruption and that is what I witnessed after reaching Delhi.

Yet I am convinced that corruption is only a symptom, of a deep rooted malaise called "Lack of Leadership" displayed in abundance by all those who matter in the matter of running the governmental machinery in the nation.

And we talk about building an India of our dreams. What bullshit.