Honesty Anyone?

To reach my office, I generally take a train to Kurla and then catch an auto rickshaw (auto or rick in local lingo). People think I’m rich but the fact is I’m too lazy and impatient to wait for a bus and then sit inside it for an hour and a half and then walk for 15 minutes to reach my office especially when I’m already running late (I’m always running late by the way). A rick takes me there faster and right at the gate too! (could be made into good ad copy for the Autorickshaw union..)

Anyways, a few days back, in the usual morning rush I jumped into the first rick I saw (not bothering to stand in the long line at the stand...I told you I’m impatient). Well, just as the driver started the vehicle, a traffic cop appeared. It seems the auto driver should have gone to the stand instead of parking somewhere else and taking a passenger.

So, this cop asks the driver to hand over his license and papers. The boy ( he couldn't have been older than 20) tried talking his way out to no avail. The cop kept asking for the papers. The boy asked him “Kya karoge”, and the cop replied “100 ka fine lagegaa. Chal tu pavti dikha..” And what does the guy do? He takes out…not the documents the cop asked for…but a 20 rupee note. I cant say I was shocked…from the time the cop stopped the vehicle I was sure the guy will have to pay him...but the cool way in which the driver flashed the note before even showing the cop his papers sort of set me thinking where we are headed as a nation. I mean we don’t even think before handing out bribes. Won’t it be better if we pay the fine to the govt. instead of the officials? I mean out of the 100, even if 50 makes it way back to some kind of development any where in the city, state, or country, isn’t that better than paying off an unscrupulous govt. official?

Maybe I’m being crazy to think that way, but c’mon, you’ve broken a rule and the best way to make amends is to help someone needy…not the “friendly” cop who is anyway supposed to be doing his job and gets paid for it! You want to save money? Don’t break the traffic (or whatever) rules in the first place! You save 100 instead of 80.

Well that’s the way I think.. I know it won’t help eradicate corruption or anything.

Coming back to the incident, what surprised me a little was that the cop refused to take the money and instead on seeing the paper he was asking for! I mean I don’t know if that was because he was an honest guy (wow..that would be something!), he didn’t want to take the money coz I was still in the rick (everyone’s scared of sting ops), or maybe 20 wasn’t enough! Your guess is as good as mine…I didn’t stay long enough to find out.