One of my favorite Tamil movie scenes is a comedy routine, performed by the actor Vivek. In that scene, Vivek is traveling on a motorbike, when he is stopped by a cop for speeding. The cop asks him to dismount and starts writing up a ticket. Vivek is all braggadocio and he blusters to the cop, " I know the Police chief!". The cop immediately stops writing the ticket and starts groveling. Vivek then puffs up his chest and cannot stop himself from saying, "BUT, he doesnt know me!" To which the cop responds by thrashing him.
It is a hilarious scene, but also a sad scene, because that is the true state of affairs in India. You get by, by who you know. And you get by, by bribery. Your business runs on whose palms you can grease. You can get off the hook by paying. You can land jobs, movie tickets, seats in restaurants, big contracts, anything, by paying money. And in the Govt. there is a fixed price tag for every job that your elected officials are already paid to do. You need a passport? No problem, just pay an extra Rs 500 along with the passport fee. Everyone down to the office peon gets a cut. You need get approval on a real estate form for building your factory? No problem, just pay Rs 100,000 and it will get done.
Money just doesn't talk in India, it sings.
And people are so desensitized that bribery is no longer something to be ashamed of, corruption is no longer "under the table". In India bribery is a blatant, "Sur la table"! In your face!
So when I read the screaming headlines of the past two days: "Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich busted in an early morning operation because he was caught on tape negotiating to sell Barack Obama's old Senate seat" I felt a sense of deja vu. Been there, seen that.
But what I hadn't seen before was the media frenzy at Governor Blagojevich's brash and open misuse of power. As I watched the news media cover the whole sordid tale, the one thing that emerged was the indignation of everyone in Illinios at the fact that everything was "Sur la table". They couldn't believe that Blago, as he is fondly referred to, had lost all sense of dignity of his position, all sense of shame, any honor and any respect for the people he was representing. Blago so believed he was above the law that he openly taunted the FBI to investigate him and place wire taps.
As a fairly recent transplant from India to the US, I revel in and enjoy the cultural differences between the two countries. I found that one of most striking cultural differences is between the way Indians speak and Americans couch their words - it is simply the polish. It is a refined and genteel way of saying the unpalatable. Whatever Indians say bluntly, the Americans I know, will pretty the same thing up, and arrive at it in a roundabout manner.
Going by the media frenzy, especially on CNN, it appeared that Blago's crime was not just the fact that he was corrupt. There are other corrupt politicians. Especially other corrupt Governors from Illinois. Blago's heinous crime was that he was blatant: his every demand was open. His misuse of power was rampant. True to American form, the media came up with a "sound bite" in order to spare our sensibilities. Pay-to-play!
2 comments:
Hi Jaya,
You must understand that in most American's minds we don't have that kind of bribery and abuse of the office that we are seeing in Illinois. We don't want it either. We know that at some level it creeps in the system, but what we want is honesty. I am still amazed by the level of corruption in India. It is alive and well in the Christian communities where we visit and work and after over ten years of experience over there we are still "stuck" when it comes to understanding why it is so. Why do decent people lie to us and why is no one ashamed when caught in a lie? I guess Americans are naive in some ways, but we really cannot fathom living life in that way. Can you help me to understand? I have spent many hours going through these questions.
Hi Jan,
Thank you for comment. I do understand your frustration because bribery and corruption is rampant in India.
I also agree with you: the average middle class American is honest and upright.
However, I respectfully differ on one point: I believe people are the same everywhere. Corruption exists in America too - but on a larger scale and with much more at stake. Here, corruption has the ability to destroy many lives. Case to the point is how large scale corruption and greed has now brought the American economy to its knees. I also believe that "lobbying" is a fancy word for the dreaded B-word. It helps corporations become ruthless against the common man.
Corruption here is not just localized to Illinois as we would like to believe. I can cite more examples: Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, Ex Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno who has been indicted of corruption... Jan, the only difference is we just dont see it "in our faces" here as often as we see it in India.
And that maybe because the middle class in US is much better off than the middle class in India.
I know you and your husband are doing fantastic work in India. I applaud your commitment, caring and selflessness. As you live longer in India, I hope you'll find good things about India - I know they exist. And that might help you accept the bad.
Jaya
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