Well, let’s face it, we all hate corruption and wrong doings, right? We all dream of that one day when we will wake up and realize the very existence of the word corruption or wrong are only to be found in the dictionary. But how many of us even try to do anything about it rather than just avoid it or to just go along with it. Yeah, it’s a very clichéd kind of a thing which we have probably heard many times in our lives or Bollywood movies. We hear it even from our parents, but still how many of us take it seriously? Yes, you guessed it right. No one.
“It’s common, when no one else is saying anything, then why should I take any headache? Only me saying is not going to make any difference, leave it, we don’t have that much time to waste”, these are the common things which we feel, we say when we witness or realize a wrong doing. Just recollect any one day of your daily life, where you witnessed a wrong doing or corruption, but raised your voice against it. Well, I am no Jesus, even I admit I avoided many a times but tolerating corruption and going along with it is also a crime. Right? Going along with it does nothing else apart from giving it a hard push to continue further.
Day before yesterday, I was giving a final look at my assignment which was due to submit the next morning. Later at that time I heard my nosy neighbor having a ruckus with his wife and later on, I even heard the lady scream and sounds of hard thrash. I went to the door, and as I was about to leave, my mom asked me where I was going that late at night. I explained her the whole thing and said I was going to stop my neighbor but she restricted me from doing so and said “It’s their family matter there’s no need for you to get involved in it”. And that was not the first time something like that had happened, it was like an everyday thing. I was stopped but I didn’t see any other house owners taking any step to stop it, where as physical abuse of women is a serious offense which everyone knows. I couldn’t sleep properly that night, the scenes kept circulating in my mind, and I don’t even remember when I passed out.
The next day I reached the station from where my college is at a distance of two or three kilometers. I took an auto. After I reached my college, the auto driver asked for 15 rupees unnecessarily when the actual fare was 10 rupees only. I argued for a few minutes, but he kept on saying that the fare has increased which was nothing but a big lie. Some of the passengers also accused me of wasting their time. Sadly, I had to pay 15 rupees. It was not the money, the thing which was totally weird to me was that no one else even said a thing about it. They just went along with it.
These were just two simple examples from my daily story because if I sit to explain each and every incident, the article would turn into a full novel.
Corruption or wrong doings have been a part of our daily life for many years, but lesser people realize that corruption is 100% wrong, and that our people are also 70% responsible for it or at least for its continuation because none of us even try and take a step against it. And if one does then there are 10 others who participate along or stay ok with it or state mute about it.
From bribing an official for taking out some papers to paying an extra fare to completely avoid something; you name it, done it all, seen it all, and felt guilty for it too.
How could we expect a bright sunny day, if we the responsible citizens as we refer to ourselves participate along in knitting a black shroud of corruption which covers the light. If someone even tries to raise a voice, the usual reaction he gets is that “who the hell has the energy to go through all that case, police, court etc.”. Out of 100 if only 20 people decide to tolerate no more, it can make a difference. I am not saying it will happen overnight, but every good thing takes time to happen. So why not start from now.
