Saturday, July 09, 2011

Innocent, invisible waves of corruption!

Are stories in folklore for real? So it seems, going by recent happenings in Indian political scene. Story goes like this:

Once upon a time, there was a corrupt official in King's royal staff. King came to know of this official's dirty track record but then this official was so powerful that even King could not actually throw him out or mete out any severe punishment. The meek King, caught in helpless plight caught between his own conscience to act up on the evil and his own 'very human limitations', transferred the official to an apparently innocuous assignment. That is, he was assigned the task of staying put on a seashore at the country's border and counting every wave. He was neutralized, or the king thought thus. But then, as always, devil's hands were at play and corrupt official came out with innovative ways of converting innocent waves into private wealth. He stopped every boat passing by and threatened with punishment. His argument was every boat passing by was preventing him from complying with royal command, and exhorted money from each passer by in this pretext.

Times have changed but second generation waves is now getting converted into private wealth! Innovative, yes.. but unfortunately in the wrong place.... Is history repeating itself?

An old joke

Recent turn of events in Indian political scene reminded on of an old joke.

The joke falls in genre of Namboothiri jokes. These, a private pride of every malayali, have multiple levels of depth to a discerning listener and are, often, more than a joke.

Well, the joke that I am reminded of is that there was a theft in some Namboothiri's home and he came to report the same to the king. Listening attentively to the story, the king remarked that it was so sad. To this, Namboothiri replied that his wife too said the same. King is reported to have got the message and taken appropriate action to nab the thief and return money to the victim.

I hope our leaders now would also rise up to the occassion