The holy Quran declares the humans as ujoola meaning hurry-mongers. God is said to be with the ones who exercise restraint and have patience. Patience, I have experienced, is also the key to success in ones resistance to corruption. I have always believed that one of our national weaknesses as Kashmiris has been to see, somewhat impatiently, that our jobs are done very quickly and this national trait often, if not always, becomes the main reason of our indulgence into paying and receiving of a bribe wherever the job-accomplishment involves the hands of others. I do not intend to denounce my fellow nationals by declaring them as the only impatient and corrupt people as I am not sure about the traits of the people living elsewhere. My sole objective in sending this write up for publication is to inspire my friends towards having enough patience and not budge and thus get prompted for paying a bribe for getting their jobs done.
As the latest sequel to my resistance steps I, in a nutshell, waited for three complete years and, as the fruit of patience, succeeded in getting a job (shifting of the electricity line running through the lawns of my residential house) done without actually greasing the palm of the public servants who created hurdles in the accomplishment of this genuine piece of public service. The end result made me tell a friend that the anxiety for the diversion of this line turned my head grayer and if this joy could reverse the hue of my hair to their pre-2008 status I should be having completely black hairs now- on- wards. Anti corruption measures such as stringent legislation like Public Services Guarantee Act, Anna-giri ( of Team Anna) and vigilant policing are measures that are somewhat collective and objective in nature and certain things need to be done purely on our respective individual levels to create and strengthen a corruption-free environment. They say that the bother is worth taking if the long term objective is of some worth. If we intend and honestly crave for making ours a corruption free society we shall have to take a bother and make a choice. A choice between a patient wait and a quick disposal. Let us wait and instead not pay a bribe for getting our jobs quickly done at the hands of the people who refuse to move without a bribe. I firmly believe that a collective resolve in this direction shall change the scenario for better, albeit after some wait again.
Some friends often complain that it is always the small rung Government officials that are at the radar of the society and the anti- graft agencies while as the big officers and bureaucrats get scot free. That can be an uncontestable fact as the big corruptions are always well concealed and professionally planned although it also needs to be quickly added and appreciated that God-conscious persons exist in all ranks. I wrote somewhere that avoiding corruption is just a normal thing for some while as for others it requires a lot of emancipation to come to a mental stage where they actually start believing that some people do things for others without indulging into corrupt practices. So avoidance of corruption is associated not with big or small positions and statures but rather with big or small intelligence levels. (Elaborations with respect to THIS intelligence, God willing, shall be made in some future conversation).
Anyway, my small rung employee friends shall pardon me if I might have sounded biased to them in this discourse. They alone, in my case, were trying to create an impression that shifting this line was as difficult as defusing the Sun. on the other hand at least three of the Chief Engineers,   four Ex. Ens., quite a few Assistant Engineers and ultimately the concerned Minister (to all of whom I owe a salute of gratitude) were convinced on helping me out and wishing to see that the potentially dangerous electric supply line is diverted from the lawns. The SMS I sent to all these friends on the redressal of my grievance conveyed some portion of my gratitude.  “A/A sir my unflinching faith in the supremacy of JUSTICE got a boost/ thanx for your role”. I shall pray that these friends stayed blessed and all of us - the public servants, both at the top as well as the small field employees (as they are commonly called) are bestowed with the spirit of real and selfless public service for which we are adequately paid.

(The author is principal govt. degree college for boys Anantnag and can be reached at dryaseenashah@gmail.com)

Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST