Corona would change us

All eyes are now on the Corona or the post Corona scenario. Whether the lockdown gets over on the 14th, is extended fully or released partially in phases is what the over 1300 million inhabitants of India have on top of their minds these days.

And I do not envy the sarkar. It has done a great job so far, yet this mother of all decisions will never find favor with everyone, either way and therein lies the tragedy. 

In any case what is certain is that it would not be the same world anymore. The feeling of being a master, an absolute one at that would indeed be shattered even for the high and mighty and the presence of a supreme power would stand ingrained. 

Never before has the human race felt so helpless, confined to their homes for the fear of being infected by a virus that cannot be conquered even by the mightiest guns of the universe. Never before the movers of the nation, the great indian railways been grounded for so long and never before the planes had been lined up all over the airports even on the runaway. And runaways are meant for a takeoff not for lining up grounded planes that would not be taking off till god knows when. 

The world would indeed be a changed place. People apprehensive of travel, those who hardly set their foot on their own soil afraid to go beyond the shores for fear of a lockdown or being quarantined that one never imagined in the past. And the migrant labor may not remain migrants anymore thereby impacting the informal economy more than what can be assessed. And having lived this scenario, a precedence has been firmly set, and after all is life not only about precedences.

How one wishes that all this turmoil, the fear and the apprehensions, the realization of being minuscule in face of the unknown reality of the universe converts this human race for the better, devoid of false vanity, pride and ego and deeply rooted in the welfare of humanity.

Amen!   
   

Heed the voice of conscience!

The incessant babble – of voices imploring one to act or not to act is often maddening and at times dangerous, if one indeed acts on them. This babble is often so overbearing that lesser mortals which  most of us are, find it difficult to set aside.

We Indians are great at advising others, while at the same time often guilty of inaction ourselves. And therefore we have all these cases of blatant corruption, loot and rapes in glaring public view. People watch and walk away, wishing that someone else would pick up the straw and yet later grumble about the sorry state of affairs in the society, a society that is rapidly going bereft of men with spine.

We look the other way when the powerful custodians have their hands in the till. We continue to look the other way even after our Prime Minister, the greatest that this nation has ever had, exhorts us to rise above the “Mera Kya Mujhe Kya” syndrome. The top guy realizes, yet we do not, that a thief is hurting us irrespective of the ownership of the cauldron he is busy emptying. It is our nation and also our railways after all.

Often in life one encounters situations when a bigger general good is tipped against a petty personal gain or loss and unfortunately the latter tips the scale. Personal discomfort or comfort takes overriding priority over the need to be on the path of righteousness and the general good. Giants become pygmies on such occasions.

The very fact that organization and nation building does not come cheap needs to be grouted firmly and straight, in the inner recesses of our mind. The thought that good shall always remain good and shall always be the right thing to do even at the pinnacle of “Kalyug” needs to settle firmly in the collective psyche of the nation. Will it ever be so I wonder, yet the thought that now we have a true leader at the helm gives solace.

While we are all separate bodies with different likes, tastes, preferences, attitudes and actions, the fact remains that at the sub-conscious level, we are all one having emerged from the one single root of energy in the universe. Our conscience is therefore our best guide at such moments in life when the voice of reason starts wavering in the face of petty personal gains or losses. Brutal suppression of the voice of conscience that invariably emerges whenever there is a subconscious battle between good and evil is definitely not in order. Gautam Buddha the great, advocated looking within as the best means to lead a life, yet in the land he spent most of his life in, we have moved away from our souls towards materialism that really does not matter in the short or the long run.

Spiritualism needs to be at the core of all our actions and activities if the glory of this great nation or the great organization is to be restored. 

Bankruptcy To Billions And Back

In the not too distant past, railways story of moving from bankruptcy to billions was being efficiently and effectively touted in various forums. The scenario reversed in a short time and now the common talk is how an organization that dealt in billions has reverted to bankruptcy.

Laloo’s turnaround was not exactly a turnaround as it happened without any change whatsoever at the ground level. Service, infrastructure and morale remained where it was, almost in the pits, yet the figures showed a marked upwards trend. Theoretical increase in wagon capacity and many other similar stunts that are bound to inflict wounds in the future enabled a marked improvement in the financials.

But, do financials really matter, if the finances so generated are not ploughed back into the system for systemic and infrastructural improvements? The answer is a big NO. A healthy balance sheet that does not result in improvements in services and infrastructure is as good or as bad as a diabetic balance sheet. Moreover a turnaround that falls flat on its face in a short time is at best a farce. The turnaround was therefore not what it appeared and was being touted at that time.

What is worse, financial bankruptcy or bankruptcy of vision? The latter it is, for how does one explain the precarious condition of a so called commercial organization that is in monopoly in a sellers market. Well we the bureaucrats of the great Indian Railways seems to have achieved the impossible.

Bureaucracy is the issue. An overbloated bureaucratic machinery with archaic decision making and contractual mechanisms does not really gel in the twenty first century. The problem is therefore not political but primarily bureaucratic in nature and unless the bureaucracy wakes up and starts working in a unidirectional manner for the organization and not for self perpetuation, there seems to be no direction of travel except downwards, aiming for the pits.

Amen!

Dividing the nation!

With the proposed division of Ulta Pradesh, four new states are in the offing in the country. One state divided into four apparently to facilitate growth, but actually for political gains. Whether such divisions help the economy or not is debatable but one thing is certain that they help the politicians and bureaucrats alike by giving them new opportunities to loot the nation. More Chief Ministers and Ministers, Chief Secretaries and Secretaries and a full complement of hangers on is definitely what this division shall result in.

Sometime back the (not so)great Indian Railways also went through a similar exercise thereby increasing the number of zonal railways from 9 to 16. The gains or the losses are there for everyone to see. While the railway bureaucracy has definitely gained by virtue of more posts resulting in improved promotional avenues, the railways as a whole have lost out terribly. As it is, the headquarters offices handling only negative functions were always redundant bodies, the need to further proliferate them had absolutely no rationale whatsoever. So now we have a number of zonal railways that have only three divisions to supervise, one general manager in the rank of a special secretary and a fleet of additional and joint secretary level officers, to supervise three functionaries. How superfluous and how ridiculous.

The irony of the situation is that the public, the naive public generally fails to see through such games of the politicians and initially regards such measures as being beneficial for the masses. It is only with the passage of time that the damage caused by such exercises is experienced and by then it is always too late to redeem the situation.

Anyway what can a common man do against the machinations of powerful politicians and a faceless bureaucracy?

It is a hopeless scenario of the fence eating the crop!

Maintaining sanctity of processes!

Sanctity of processes and procedures is what all of us strive to maintain at the railways, irrespective of whether deliverance happens or not. It is true that deliverance in the railways has emerged as a by-product that may or may not take place, but we should always have at hand our excuses and reasons of non-deliverance for that keeps us safe, alive and climbing.

Somehow I am unable to appreciate the way railway works, despite being on the hot seat of Delhi for almost two years now. The way most of us railway men think and act foxes me completely. The penchant for the mundane coupled with the tremendous focus on penning down inspection notes and other A4 documents for others to read and improve matters has created a scenario where most of us are wasting their time without even knowing about it. The servile attitude that officers are more prone to display the higher they climb on the organizational ladder also does not help. Obeying orders is fine but restraining oneself from speaking out the truth and the ground reality just because it may be inconvenient for the powers that be, is something that is plainly unacceptable.

Tethering on the verge of bankruptcy, Railways is presently passing through a very crucial phase. Ever increasing volumes of traffic and the rapidly rising staff costs, coupled with the long stay on increasing passenger and freight fares has brought us to the verge. Any further period of inaction on resolving this imbroglio would see us nosedive into an abyss from which it would be almost impossible to emerge.

Despite the financial bankruptcy and the tremendous complexity of procedures, railways still manages to deliver in the form of running its quota of trains, a task that any other organization in the country would have miserably failed at. It is also gratifying that after a very long wait, there is also a silver lining in the form of a committed and humane bureaucratic leadership at the apex level.

Perhaps all is not lost yet, and we may yet emerge from the shadows.

Insha Allah!

Over vigilant vigilance!

That the Anna brigade has brought the issue of corruption centre stage in one of the most corrupt and backward nation of the world is absolutely true. What the brigade however does not know or realize are the complexities of the tantra, complexities that can be appreciated only after experiencing them, not otherwise.

The organizations responsible for eradicating corruption or for catching the corrupt have also moved to the hyper-active zone. Spurred by Anna and also the rising prices, the various vigilance set-ups have also raised their consideration fee. After all the vigilance inspectors and the vigilance officers are also part and parcel of the same corrupt society, so why blame them if they also partake of the loot.

Jokes apart, it is an established fact that the various vigilance set-ups in the nation have with passage of time emerged as the fountainheads of corruption. They thrive on corruption and therefore have no stake whatsoever in its eradication. When corruption thrives, the mandarins of the vigilance set-ups rule the roost and if ever corruption were to be really eradicated, they would not know what to do.

Some organizations like the one to which I belong have taken the vigilance business to absurd and ridiculous proportions. Every single act that is even a minor deviation from the prescribed rules and procedures is sufficient to issue a charge sheet followed by subsequent long drawn out investigations. And the rules and procedures are also many. The massive building that many call as the ministry is busy churning out rules and procedures for specifying almost everything under the sun. Perhaps placing a ban on supply of A4 size paper to the over bloated ministry may be the best thing to do.

Why do we need a separate vigilance set-up is what I have been unable to appreciate in the over thirty one years of my service career. Is it not the primary function of an executive to remain vigilant and prevent corruption in the organization and men under him? Is the executive not to be trusted and every single act of him is to be put under the minutest scrutiny for even a miniscule deviation from the books?

I always wonder what sort of organizational culture we are brewing? Is not deliverance more important than anything else? Or is babugiri the numero uno priority? Let us first be clear and then suitable results that would need to be accepted will follow accordingly.

Having been out of my mother cadre for over a decade, I could never have imagined the extent to which systems have gone rotten in an organization that often calls itself commercial. And amongst the many departments that the mother organization is divided in, vigilance perhaps takes the cake. The best and the most striking example of dishonesty in the garb of honesty.

May God help us!

Output sans input

The scenario amazes me no end.

The most common folly of all of us is expecting “output sans input”. If only output could be achieved without any tangible input, our nation definitely would have been one of the most progressive nations of the world. Alas, that is not to be!

Mere advice, suggestions, observations and reprimands are definitely not the only tools available with us for ensuring delivery. This is to be experienced as well as understood, yet it is unfortunate that while we appreciate that for us any output needs a commensurate input, we fail to apply this principle when deailing with others.

And so we have an oft repeated scenario of the officialdom demanding output from the system and also their subordinates without either being prepared or being able to give commensurate input.

Hawa mein nangi talwar chalakar system aur utpadakta improve karna chahte hain. Idiots!

How silly. Besides the so called yearning for deliverance often turns out to be hollow and if probed further is found to be borne out of a desire to impress some bloated ego superior.

And as a bonus we have our vigilance setups. One more naka that often demands deliverance every day from the field staff in the form of hard cash to be delivered to the die-hard inspector and if that is not done, the employee who finds himself tied in a vicious circle suffers. The vigilance setups have with passage of time grabbed a major role in perpetuating corruption, especially in the railway system. Yet we regularly have our shams in the form of vigilance week, pledge on integrity and what not.

The system stinks. What stinks even more is total apathy of the senior management towards administrative issues, even those like the ones described above that are nibbling at the vitals of the organization. I wonder whether we shall ever wake up from our "Kumbhakarani" sleep and then overcome the inherent reluctance to do anything that can even remotely be of help in setting the system right?

Corruption calling!

Time to rejoice, we have been certified as numero uno in the nation by the CVC.

Rejoice because we are now the certified number one in atleast one field, how does it matter that it is corruption that we are talking about. We have beaten the PWD’s, State Governments, DDA and many other veterans in this sport and therefore celebration is definitely due.

India being a nation of crabs, many of the spoilsports from amongst us would try to belittle this achievement by citing many flimsy reasons. They would say that the railways treats malafide and violation of rules and procedures on similar footing and hence the high score. Such spoilsports deserve to be shown their rightful place by all of us who through their rightful and not so rightful actions have brought honor to this great organization.

Jokes apart, the fact remains that we have achieved almost the impossible. And therefore it hardly makes a difference that we continue to have our minor follies that make us the butt of jokes almost all the time.

A once great organization brought to its knees by its own masters, how painful and also how pathetic. A classic case of achieving self destruction by non-stop shooting ones own foot.

Are we really that corrupt? Having served the railways for over three decades, I must have been an idiot of the highest order to have been oblivious to this great reality. I always thought that despite all our ills and there are many of them, the railways are still the finest example of dynamic delivery in our nation where every government department, without fail has achieved perfection in the art of often absent and at times inadequate delivery.

A plethora of rules and procedures, almost all of which border on the ridiculous have brought the railways to this pass. I am presently preparing a compendium of idiotic rules and procedures and am almost certain that the compendium in its final form is bound to be as fat as the Britannia Encyclopedia.

Jokes apart, I must confess that concluding railways as the numero uno can at best be called distorted. Being surrounded by a highly motivated team of brilliant and committed youngsters, almost all of whom do not display any symptoms of being on the take whatsoever, I find it a bit difficult to digest the conclusions of the CVC. The CVC is also not wrong as it is only the railways that has classified every minute deviation from its silly rules and procedures as an act of malafide, leading to the high score that we earlier ridiculed.

Our penchant to structure every single triviality has landed us in this soup.

Corruption crusade - a holistic view

Anna Hazare is a crusader, a crusader against corruption, the most common virus afflicting the country at present. His mission is indeed noble and has caught the fancy of the masses. That Tihar has now become home to many of the erstwhile powerful and corrupt is sufficient evidence of both the widespread corruption as well as the recent efforts of the government in tackling the same.

The moot point however is whether the proposed Lok Pal bill would be adequate to eradicate the deep rooted corruption in the nation. No doubt, it shall help by instilling fear of god in members of the sarkari tantra, but will that be enough?

The answer is “No”. Corruption cannot be eradicated without going into and then eliminating the systemic causes of the same. The root cause of corruption in the sarkari tantra is its complexity. This tantra was designed by the british to rule over untrustworthy slaves. It is unfortunate that the same old tantra is still flourishing and new complexities are being added with each passing day. How can therefore one expect trustworthiness from a tantra based on mistrust? The complexity of the tantra attained through the web of thumb impressions on files provides a shield to the financially as well as the professionally corrupt. Besides it also adds heavily to inefficiency and consequently low productivity, thereby retaining the nation forever in the developing category.

Corruption, complexity and productivity have a direct bearing on each other. The earlier it is understood by the powers that be, including the crusaders, the better it would be for all of us. Trying to tackle corruption in isolation, howsoever good the intentions may be, would not yield the desired results.

Thanedar certifies!

Thanedar ne achha character certificate de diya.

Yes. The division is on a new high after receiving hearty appreciation from a most unlikely source, the office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. The CAG in its much awaited report on the "CWG loot" released on the 5th of August, while severely castigating every department involved with the games, has found sufficient reasons for showering lavish praise on the railways for the work done in improving the New Delhi Railway Station.

After the National award conferred by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India for the excellent work done at the station, this praise has further reinforced the belief that despite the rampant sloth, all is not lost yet and sarkari agencies that appreciate good work have not yet ceased to exist.

My skeptism on sarkari matters may also reduce in due course, courtesy the objectivity of the CAG observations.

And this new high has the possibility to spur us to achieve further excellence in the various spheres of activities indulged into by the Delhi division of the Indian Railways. Insha Allah!

Change or Perish!

Deep introspection is the need of the hour.

Simultaneous beating on many fronts is what the railways is now getting everyday without exception. The recent accidents have brought the issue of safety in full public glare and the railways needs to urgently do something in this regard. The public clamor for improving punctuality is also becoming louder by the day. Rapidly rising disposable incomes are also leading to higher expectations about passenger amenities and services.

While it is true that the railways is still the most visible symbol of dynamic delivery in the nation, it is also true that its working systems and procedures are archaic and totally unfit for the twenty first century India. This is the crux of the problem, and needs to be addressed, if the railways is serious about its role as a transport service provider and also its image perception. Mere lip service to issues that we have become adept at, shall not carry the railways any further in the present rapidly changing world.

That the malaise is a symptom of a deep rooted disease borne out of our inability to change with the times is a fact that needs appreciation by the mandarins of the railway bureaucracy, the earlier the better. Merely flogging the system and indulging in drives, counseling and punishments without giving any concrete inputs has time and again proved to be counterproductive for the system. How can, in the present times, deliverance be expected from a system that has succeeded in only created fear, not pride and commitment in its constituents? Yet, our over indulgence in cosmetic and peripheral handling of the organization is borne out of a mediocre mentality that seeks solace in following the simpler and the oft trodden path that leads nowhere. Our archaic decision making and contractual mechanisms that are based on mistrust towards one and all have also been failing with predictable ease in the present times.

We need to change. Any commercial organization that has achieved the impossible by going almost bankrupt despite being in monopoly in a sellers market needs to change its processes and systems in totality.

Perhaps the time for change is now knocking at our doorsteps. Insha Allah we may respond!

Misplaced Loyalties!

I often wonder why the sarkari kind of people are generally not loyal to the organization they work for? Why other considerations almost always take priority over loyalty to the organization that provides sustenance to the employee and his family?

Sacrificing organizational interests at the drop of a hat is what we all tend to do almost always. And there is always sufficient justification to indulge in the same.

Loyalty to the organization does not imply merely sticking to the rules and procedures. In essence it means making a positive contribution to the organization that pays for ones daily bread. It is tragic that most of us who make a living out of the organization pay no heed to its welfare. The concern of the bureaucrats, especially the senior railway bureaucrats confines itself to the welfare of the self.

Loyalty to the organization should always take overriding priority over everything else. It is sad that loyalty to the "boss in the chair" has emerged as the focal point in the lives of most of us railway officers. And this loyalty is also temporary. The boss remains relevant only as long as he occupies a vantage chair and so is the loyalty of his subordinates to him. Loyalties switch on the day of retirement.

The crop and the culture that we are breeding sickens me!

The unforgettables - Corruption!

It is about corruption all over the newspapers, every day. After Anna Hazare, it is Baba Ramdeo who has jumped on the bandwagon. The Prime Minister also everyday displays his steely resolve to stamp out corruption. The march to the abode of the thieves, the Tihar jail, has also started in right earnest, though it is yet to pick up speed. The concern is whether one Tihar shall be adequate for the fleet of corrupt men(and women) in high places that this nation can flaunt? All good intentions no doubt but shall these measures really help?

Not much really! All these measures including the oft repeated expressions of a steely resolve against corruption definitely make a good headline, but that is about all. Like all good intentions that are not backed up by action, a sight so often witnessed by bureaucrats like me, the present euphoria against corruption shall also fade away with time. Forgotten shall be the Kalmadi's, Kanimozhi's, Raja's and Behura's and their place shall be usurped by a young and dynamic team of plotters who shall not disappoint the citizens by leaving no stone unturned in milching the nation.

When shall the nation, including its well intentioned bigwigs realize that corruption is not a disease, but a symptom. When shall we appreciate that it is not only the CWG and the 2G that we have to fight against, but the entire sarkari tantra, each and every single kalpurja of it, that has gone absolutely rotten. And if corruption was a disease, the nation is so highly infected by it that there is no chance of survival. And if it is a symptom, we only have to look for the disease and cure it.

The archaic decision making and the over complex contractual processes that throng the entire sarkari system, cutting across sectors and state boundaries are the culprits. These processes lead to diffused accountability and no responsibility whatsoever. The oft touted symbol of dynamic delivery in the nation, the Indian Railways is no different. Despite being a small player in the gigantic railway network, I am amazed at the rot and the sloth that these two archaic processes have led to. Deep rooted corruption, down to the grassroots, and yet the management, the top management chooses to be oblivious of the same and finds solace in mundane chores that are rapidly pushing the organization downhill.

We from the hindu religion believe in destiny and I am therefore convinced that it is the destiny of this nation to forever continue to occupy the prime spot in the list of the most corrupt societies of the world. Amen!

We the bureaucrats!

We are the largest employer in the world, yet have minimal concern for HR!

We talk about doing big things, yet end up not doing even small things!

We talk about clean stations and clean trains, yet maintain dirty offices!

We want the field staff not to drink on duty, yet fail to ensure it in our offices, right under our noses!

We criticize the police for rape in the cities, yet do nothing about sexual harassment in our offices!

We talk about staff shortages at work, yet unfailingly misutilize official staff at residences!

We talk about shabby treatment by seniors, yet unfailingly misbehave with our subordinates almost always!

We talk about loading, revenue, world class stations, mega projects, postings and transfers, yet have no time to discuss the welfare of our men or value systems that need to be a part of the organization's culture!

We want everyone else to be honest, hard working and committed, yet do not apply the same principles on ourselves!

We talk about the rampant corruption in the nation, yet do nothing about corruption right under our noses, in our own domain!

We blame the politicos for the mess, yet leave no stone unturned in complicating matters ad-infinitum!

We blame the unions for the mess, yet have no concern for staff welfare ourselves!

We want the organization and the nation to improve and have plenty of ideas for others, yet do nothing about it ourselves!

No wonder, our downhill speed is growing faster by the day!

Amen!

Concern for clients!

In the wee hours of the day, three coaches of the Mumbai Delhi Rajdhani express train caught fire and the truncated train arrived New Delhi late afternoon. Officials from the railways and hordes of media were at the station to receive the passengers.

Occasions like these, when the members of the public come face to face with an event that could have turned into a disaster are often laced with frayed tempers. This occasion was however surprisingly different. Instead of frayed tempers, the passengers of the affected coaches were almost unanimous in their display of gratitude for the railway staff on the train who by their prompt and also courteous action were able to avert any injury to passengers. The prompt assistance and facilitation by the officers and staff at the New Delhi railway station added to the feel good factor for the passengers.

Yes, the sarkari tantra can be extremely prompt and also courteous, almost at par with the private sector, especially during testing times. Something to feel good about.

Protocol even in death!

A very senior railway officer suddenly passed away recently due to an unexpected cardiac arrest. A very fine officer and an equally fine human being, he left many of us who knew him well, teary eyed for days.

What really disturbed me, more than the death itself, was that the top echelons of the organization (with an exception of course) remained totally unmoved even by the death of a senior officer and did not care to pay even a fleeting visit to the residence of the diseased.

Should not an organization, represented by the very top management, just be there when a soldier and that too a senior one dies? Is it asking for too much to expect the presence of the top management at the death of an officer or are there other things that are more important. If so it would be interesting to know what can be more important than the death of your own men!

I find it demeaning when I find senior officers kowtowing before the powers that be. The birthdays of men in power are occasions to witness the presence of almost all the top officials marking their attendance with amazing ease and in high spirits. Yet the absence of top officials at the death of a senior officer of their own ilk! Is it not a disgusting and demoralizing state of affairs?

Amazing Railways!

Indian Railways never ceases to amaze me. The most visible symbol of dynamic delivery in the nation is perhaps facing one of its most severe financial crunch in recent times. A commercial organization that is in monoply, is in the sellers market and whose produce is something for which the common masses and commercial bodies are forever queing up, finding itself in financial distress is something that one is unable to digest.

And therefore expenditure control has become the buzzword, without realizing that revenue maximization, not expenditure control is the open secret of success of all forward looking commercial organizations. Expenditure control implies a clampdown on all aspects of expenditure with the exception of the bloated salaries that the federal government servants have undeservingly become accustomed to.

That all expenditure is not wasteful and thus cannot and should not be controlled is a realization that is conspicuous by its sheer absence. Such a measure that does not differentiate between investment and wasteful expenditure is bound to lead the railways into a downward uncontrollable spiral. The sad part is the total absence of an appreciation of the ground realities and the basic understanding of running an commercial empire. If only our focus was on revenue maximization and not expenditure control, things would have been very much different and easy.

Yes, empire we still are, but an empire lost in a time warp. Unfortunately we are slowly emerging as the most visible symbol of how not to run a commercial organization. It is equally unfortunate that the fundamental constraint in running a commercial organization, with constant selling prices and upwardly spiraling input costs, is not handled the way it should be - head on.

It is not that everything is wrong with the railways. We can still boast of one of the finest workforces and highly responsible trade unions in the nation. We still have reason to be proud of the non stop criss-crossing of thousands of trains across the subcontinent continuously, non stop despite all sorts of imaginable constraints.
One is equally proud of the fleet of outstandingly capable officers who are brilliant individuals but find themselves as a helpless cog in the system.

Yes, we somehow run trains, but we are equally capable of running the system with ease and then spend the spare energy in high quality physical growth of the system, something that is the call of the nation, the India of the twenty first century. If only we thought and also peeped out of the box!

Dancing Symptoms

Dancing to symptoms. A malaise common to almost all bureaucrats, indian of course. Unfortunately the railway bureaucrats are more smitten by the dancing symptoms disease than their colleagues in other parts of the sarkari tantra.

Easy it is, to react to symptoms and therefore the dance emerges as a natural corollary. Difficult it is to identify the disease behind the symptom and almost impossible it is to put in place the treatment required to eliminate the disease, and the bureaucrats are known to take the easy path.

And so the disease remains intact and the symptoms keep on resurfacing one after the other, with variations ofcourse as the diseases that are many in number and still growing are never treated and therefore likely to manifest in many different ways.

And so today the dance may be inspired by symptom A, tomorrow it may be because of symptom B and so on and so forth. The bureaucrats are busy dancing to symptoms and their superiors expect that this dance shall rid the organization of the disease. Well they remain busy of course.

Foolish appears to be a mild word for this bureaucratic behavior. The situation is ridiculous to the extent of being hilarious!

Advice not Support

I wonder why people are hell bent on giving advices? Perhaps it is the easiest thing to do, besides conferring on the advisor a mistaken sense of superiority.

And that is why the bureaucratic world to which I belong, is smitten by the advise bug. Unsolicited advice, normally bordering on the "I told you so" syndrome is generally freely available, especially from the quarters from which one tends to expect support, least of all advice.

Giving support is generally difficult, for one has to stick his neck out while dispensing it. And neck is the most precious thing for bureaucrats like me. And so our subordinates who come to us looking for support are generally turned away with an advice, that generally tends to convey that the subordinate has not been doing his job well. The subordinate who with passage of time becomes the superior continues the tradition forward.

We bureaucrats, especially those who belong to services have to start respecting the clan to which they belong, not just themselves. After all it is only the D.O.B that differentiates us and just being born a couple of years earlier should not give one any credit.

Railways especially is the flag-bearer of this tradition of "giving advices". The higher the person is in the hierarchy, the more smitten he is by the "advice bug". In an earlier blog I had written about the reign of the mediocrity. Perhaps therein lies the answer. Answer Yes, Solution No.

Leadership blues!

I stand in awe of the British. Could we Indians ever have conceived Vijay Chowk an expanse of over 1000 ft, or the north and south blocks or even the GT road or the bulwark of the Indian Railways. The answer is a big No. Look at all cities built by the Indian Maharajahs or the Nawabs and compare them with cities built by the British. Congested lanes, houses packed like sardines, inadequate civic infrastructure and a mess is what generally symbolizes our own creation.

I shudder to think what would have been the state of affairs had the British not entered India. Yes, it is a fact that they also drained our country of precious resources and wealth, but left to us we would also have plundered and wasted the same, of that I am sure.

A glance at the everyday's newspaper tells everything. There are negative reports encompassing every single sphere of our activities. There are serious shortcomings in every single sector of our nation, especially those where the sarkari tantra is in the leading situation.

If everything is bad, does'nt the answer lie elsewhere. Perhaps it lies in our inability to govern ourselves well. This is the disease and everything else is a symptom. But unfortunately, like a wayside quack, we keep ourselves forever busy trying to treat the symptom, without having even the foggiest idea of the root cause.

I am convinced that when we got independence, we were like a five year old who has been let free by the parents. The child would definitely run amok and ruin his or her life. Same has been our story as a nation. An immature and uneducated society was permitted to govern itself, and look where we are.

Is there no salvation? Is there no hope? The answer is a big NO. There is hope provided we are able to throw up the right kind of leadership that is able to lead the five year old (that we still are) through the ups and downs of life to mature into a human being that one can be proud of.

Will the nation ever get such a leadership? Only time will tell.