“I say ninety percent of Indians are idiots. You people don’t have brains in your heads… it is so easy to take you for a ride,” said Justice Markandey Katju in December 2012. No, Justice Katju, only 10 percent of Indians are idiots, the rest are smart and corrupt.
Obviously, Katju doesn’t get up at 5.30 in the morning to drive from his house to some park for his morning walk. Had he done this he’d have seen what one feels like when one waits at the traffic inter-section for the light to turn green and 90 percent of Indians zip by as if there were no traffic lights visible anywhere. Some even slow down to peer at me, and probably mumble, ‘Idiot!’
So what I’m trying to say is that those of us who follow rules and live according to some sort of regulation, are actually idiots. The rest, in their self-assessment, are sane, smart, and superior in intelligence. But the truth is that they are allowing themselves to be tempted every moment… and are falling into the bottom-less gutter of corruption. In a recent interview, I asked Arvind Kejriwal if the aam aadmi really understands that jumping a traffic signal makes him just as corrupt as Raja and his scam of crores? So does he think the aam aadmi really understands the essentials of corruption? Arvind Kejriwal answered, and I quote: ‘Two things are there. Corruption is bad and no one wants corruption to be in our midst. So a person jumping red light also needs to be criticised… and if A Raja siphons off one lakh seventy-six crores that also needs to be criticised. This is because an aam aadmi jumping a traffic light does not give licence to A Raja to indulge in corruption. One person’s corruption does not justify another person’s corruption. Both sorts are bad.’
Let me add here that there are two ways corruption can and must be handled. One is the way of the law which should come down heavily on the celebrity scamsters as well as the anonymous breaker of laws. The other is in the hands of the common man…
Now read carefully… if the common man decides to take the straight path. That is, stops at the traffic signals, opts to stand in queues and not bribe his way to get some work done, stops littering the nation, refrains from taking official stuff for personal use… the list is actually endless, but it is a list that has actions that can very well be adopted. Now if the common man does this, do you think the babu or the neta or any other official will even dare to take a wrong step? I think it is time for the common man to stand up and declare, ‘This is my nation and I am not going to tolerate any nonsense. I am not going to allow you to be corrupt now.’
But, coming back to my theory on idiots and idiocy… well, the truth today is that if you’re one of those who stop at traffic signals, never misuse official stationery, stand in queues to buy tickets or pay bills, and let others go stampeding for some unholy offer somewhere, then you’re the idiot that today. Mr Katju, the rest of India, including the ministers and bureaucrats, judges and policemen, businessmen and cricketing stars and all the others are the ones who go around calling themselves sane and smart and those who have the presence of mind to live a life of great comfort! In the India that the world sees today, it is the honest, the follower of rules and the disciplined who is in the vile clutches of idiocy. I am the idiot who stops at traffic lights even at 5:30 in the morning and watch helplessly as motorists, scooterists, motorcyclists, and even thelas and rickshaws sneak past me. These people have the temerity to glare at me and make signs asking me to move on. Yes, I feel like an idiot every morning!
This menace isn’t going away by just tweaking a few laws… who is going to do this anyway? Our legislators, if I understand correctly are already fed-up of even RTI and want to dilute it. They are not budging in to let the Lokpal bill come and create havoc. They are sitting there and smilingly saying, ‘Well, betting laws aren’t a responsibility of the Centre. It is a State prerogative!’ Our legislatures are busy bumping and dumping every sane law that could have been created to give the Nation some respite. No sir, just reading headlines in newspapers about some minister being chucked out or some cricketing official being asked to get lost isn’t going to bring about any tangible change that will rid us all of corruption. The change needs to come from the people.
The people.
Yes, it is the people who need to realise that small actions of theirs are what these big scamsters keep encouraging. They encourage and let you get away with a traffic light jumped or a few A4 sheets from the office supply because they know you are then weakened and cannot stand up to ask them, ‘Why are you so corrupt?’
Just imagine… an entire nation made submissive, an entire nation cuckolded to believe that they enjoy living the life of a petty thief! STOP being a petty thief. Only then can you summon up the courage to look into their corrupt glances and ask them to either shape up or fade away into oblivion!
Stop calling the rule-abiding citizen an idiot! And if this law-abiding citizen is indeed an idiot, I’d rather love to have a nation chock-full of idiots… and this sort of lawful idiocy is what will give us all the courage to tear off the clothes of false honour from our undeserving leaders and opinion-makers. But if you don’t change, then stop expecting a mere vote to change anything.
awazaapki.com_2013_06_11_Of Indians, idiots, and this idiocy called corruption
awazaapki.com_2013_06_11_Of Indians, idiots, and this idiocy called corruption_post
You can also read this article in The Education Post dates 08 July 2013:
2013_07_08_The Education Post_Of Indians Idiots and this Idiocy called Corruption
Arvind Passey
First published in awazaapki.com on 11 June 2013
16 comments
Alka says:
Jun 12, 2013
The tribe of ten percent idiots is also diminishing. Hate to say this but our national character is not the same. We can say that it is all about lack of leadership and corrupt system but this needs further introspection. Mere blaming the state won’t do.
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 12, 2013
A mass movement is nothing but a collection of individuals who have decided to wake up! So yes, blaming the State is not a solution… we, the people of India need to wake up and rid ourselves of our need for temptations to get corrupted.
Sangita Passey says:
Jun 12, 2013
Yes…”STOP being a petty thief”…is the guru mantra to get corruption weeded out of our country! Wish that everyone recites and follows this.
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 13, 2013
I think people must realise that they will always be surrounded by the sort of people they happen to be… the cruel twist of destiny is that if you are a bribe-giver, you tend to keep bumping into those who don’t do anything unless they are bribed! So the first step to making the country clean is to ‘stop being a petty thief’. You will then be surrounded by people who think like you… and this group will grow bigger and bigger… until it becomes a mass movement! No, this isn’t a romantic theory that a naive mind concocted… this is my firm belief.
Akanksha says:
Jun 13, 2013
Recently, I was on a road trip to Wales. Now, I am not proud of what I am going to say, but it so happened that how-much-ever the person who was driving tried, he just could not follow all the traffic rules and zipped and zapped in true Indian style. We entered a no-entry, took a U-turn on a one way, overtook from the wrong side and drove slow while in the fastest lane so this guy even made sure that some Englishmen broke the rules and overtook us from the wrong side!
What I think is that unless each and every individual understands and accepts it as his/her responsibility to follow all rules and be honest, nothing much is going to change.
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 13, 2013
Yes, Akanksha… I agree. The first step to making the country clean is to ‘stop being a petty thief’. You will then be surrounded by people who think like you… and this group will grow bigger and bigger… until it becomes a mass movement! No, this isn’t a romantic theory that a naive mind concocted… this is my firm belief.
Rickie says:
Jun 14, 2013
That is exactly what we are, isn’t it? A nation filled with petty criminals (some, of course, are giant monsters!).
When did we get so bad in this country? After independence? Or were we always petty and conniving, even when the British were around?
And each new generation seems to learn this art while still in the womb. Even the smart, educated kids today see no harm in illegally downloading films, music, books, games from the internet with such brazen impunity, as if everything comes free in this world. Who is telling them that they aren’t being smart but just petty thieves?
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 16, 2013
It depends entirely on those who are aware of the difference to talk about it & write about it. Awareness then spreads like wildfire. One can only hope that this little voice reaches the ears of the petty thief lurking inside each of us and encourages it to change! 🙂
Amin says:
Jun 14, 2013
Passey Sir, really loved reading your post but many a times I wonder where to figure out that thin line that divides this self-professed and self-imposed idiocy from the pragmatism that one needs to infuse, thanks to the saner and smarter people around us.
God has been generous till date but will I still be non-gullible and upright when faced with certain situations – Wait at an intersection and give way. You might end up standing half a day at the same spot until some idiot chances upon you.
Votes change fortunes – only of a certain class of saner and smarter people.
Lokpal & RTI – are broached upon only at convenience when attention needs to be diverted from real issues.
The positive side to all this is that there are still shining examples of idiocy where a 14 yr old help at a roadside eatery earning Rs.2k/pm returns a bundle of 40K and refuses any reward whatsoever OR a petty garage owner donating inherited land valued at Rs.10Cr to build a Charitable Hospital and expecting no returns at all!
India indeed is Shining – thanks to just 10% such idiots!!!
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 16, 2013
Yes, Amin… it is small examples of goodness that keeps the world going…
chaitanya says:
Jun 21, 2013
This was a cup of coffee to my mind- bold, well-brewed and strong!
I’m like you, I feel like an idiot every time I don’t jump the queue or carry a chewing gum wrapper for half an hour till I get to a dustbin.
I agree, we the people need to take the power back into our hands, but that’s going to take some backtracking, some small sacrifices. But it’s only going to hurt the first few times. after that, it’ll become the norm.
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 22, 2013
Yes, people really need to understand that ‘it’s only going to hurt the first few times’ and must come forward to unshackle themselves from corruption. But then I suppose these changes happen when they must.
Richa Singh says:
Jun 21, 2013
Arvind this argument I have been screaming from mountain tops ever since the corruption brouhaha started. Examples of such exemplary behavior is not only mocked, ridiculed and pointed at but even dissuaded for one and all. The essence of being an Indian in a lot circles is what one may call “jugadu” and well a jugadu never plays by the rules. Its just that when we are at the receiving end we begin to scream “corruption corruption hang to death!” the cliche goes as this- when you are pointing at someone the other four point back at you. Its gospel truth for us.
Sorry for the rant but this has been a very sensitive issue on my mind for long…
Arvind Passey says:
Jun 22, 2013
I wish there were many who thought like you… will be so beneficial for India.
ashwinia says:
Sep 19, 2013
How well put Mr.Passey! I was once laughed at by a random stranger for refusing to throw something out of the train’s window. The tracks and their unfortunate sides have become the obvious receptacle for all the crap and I was the eccentric weirdo.
These days, I don’t get annoyed at the people that litter and do a million other things one shouldn’t. i get angry at the ones that follow the act with a sentence about how dirty/corrupt/badly maintained India is relative to certain other countries.
Arvind Passey says:
Sep 23, 2013
True… and yet we all want the nation to be free of corruption! I wish we wake up and first put our own houses in order…