Life in an honest city of distant island
Raju gets job in a distant island
Raju was only son of his parents. He had good academic record. He passed M. Sc. in First Dovercroivision topping the university. He applied for job in many universities and colleges. One day, he got an appointment letter from Redland, a little known island country. He was to report for duty at Dreamland City, capital of the island. Raju was thrilled as he had often fancied going to distant lands. He was so excited as he would get opportunity to travel by sea and air and also work among people with different culture and customs.
He was very happy with the appointment but his parents were a bit sad. Raju had never been away from family since his very childhood. They tried to persuade him to get some job in the local surroundings only. But Raju convinced them that one cannot achieve in life unless he moves to places. He also promised that he would communicate with them more frequently and also visit home at the earliest.
Raju accepted the offer. The company helped him get passport and visa at its cost. He was also sent ticket for air journey followed by sea route. He reached his destination within a fortnight. Raju was assigned to teach Science in a college owned by the company. His students were mostly sons and daughters of the company employees. The company was situated in Dream Land city, capital of the island country
Life in the city
Raju was offered accommodation in the company campus. But he chose to live in the city. Living in city would give him opportunity to see life of the city more closely and enjoy the stay more. He would daily attend his college commuting by local train and taxis. He found that the taxis, buses and trains were over crowded. The taxis would overload. The buses also overloaded. In fact, there was grave problem of corruption in the city. The taxis owners would pay 'monthly premium' to traffic police and freely overload and also ply on unpermitted routes.
Corruption- a way of life
He found that corruption had become a way of life in the city. He wondered how he got job there without paying any premium. Some colleagues told him that they had to pay for transfer/ posting to good station. It was very difficult to send children to professional colleges unless you could manage to pay heavy premium to management. You had to bribe for almost everything.
Anti corruption movement begins
Some political workers and socal activists began agitation against corruption. Many gathered in the meetings regularly. The movement leader Mathew stressed on the need to appoint Peoples' friend, who would receive all complaints from people and also have power to prosecute the guilty. The government did not agree in the beginning. But constant pressure and agitation forced the government to appoint an independent Peoples' friend.
How appointment of Peoples' Friend misfired
People were very happy with the appointment of Peoples' friend. If corruption was proved, the guilty would be stripped of the benefit that he had got, imprisoned and also given fifty mandatory lashes. It was expected that such strictness would eradicate corruption. For some days, there was improvement but ultimately things moved the same way as usual. Corruption in all walks of life increased manifold. What really happened? In most cases, the bribe giver got some benefit and so corruption was consensual. In a few cases, some complaints were made. But some funny things happened. A railway employee was charged with getting bribe for reservation in train. The railway employee found the details of compainant. The complainant was a builder. The employee made complaint against the builder that he used substandard material in construction. Both compromised and complanits were withdrawn. As every one was corrupt, there was no way but to compromise. How can pot call the kettle black.
A Holy man arrives
One day, a holy man, Joseph came to the city. People gathered in large numbr to hear his sermon. He was there for one week, He gave an opportunity to the citizens to put their questions to them. Some one from audience told him that they were very tired of several ills like wide spread bribery, illegal gratification, food and drug adulteration and traffic problems. It seemed every thing was unregulated. The holy man asked- Does the government not take any action? He was told that government had taken several steps to eradicate corruption and other criminal activities but of no use.
The Holy man said- "The root of the problem is that every one wants to end corruption but makes an exception of himself. There is only one solution. Let every one decide that he will not do anything unlawful and not indulge in corruption. So, I ask all of you to take an oath in name of Sea God that you will do no wrong knowingly from this very moment." All took oath. The people in the island worshipped the sea god and nobody would break the oath taken in name of sea god. They feared that if they did any wrong, some calamity will definitely occur. Although the island residents were mostly Christian, they had been worshiping Sea God since time immemorial. No body would take false oath in name of Sea God.
Life in the corruption free city
No doubt, religous faith is powerful. The oath in name of Sea God made wonders. Everyone began working honesty and lawfully. In the beginning, many were uncomfortable as their illegal income had finished. But they learnt to live within honest means. Many had to take unusual pains to persuade their wives and children to adjust with reduced money. Some consoled themselves with the thought that in the changed environment, they would be spared the ordeal of having to pay bribes. They would not receive bribes but also not bribe others.
For a few days, all was okay. But gradually some side effects of corruption free society also surfaced. One day, Raju was annoyed as he could not get tea in the college canteen. He was told that there was huge shortage of milk as well tea in the market. On week end, Raju idly roamed in the city. When he got tired, he thought of moving some distance by city bus. Bus he found that there were big queues of men and women but they could not easily get space in bus or taxis. The transport facilities were same as before. But now taxis and buses followed rules strictrly. No overloading and hence lesser space. No vehicle would move on unauthorized route. Raju requested a taxi driver to take him to a particular destination. The driver refused saying that he could not overload. Raju insisted that just one passenger more would not matter and that he would pay more. But the driver was adamant. He said that he could not bring misery in his family by annoying Sea God. Then Raju tried to relax by taking tea and snacks in a tea shop. But he was disappointed as the stock of milk and tea leaves had exhausted. Same position was in other tea stalls also. He wondered how milk was in such short supply. He also saw big gathering before a medicine shop. Many essential drugs were not available.
Raju somehow reached his residence. When he reached his college, he saw a colleague in very sad mood. His colleague was in a very sad mood as his son could not get admission in college. There was shortage of seats in college and the authorities no longer accepted capitation fee for admitting child. The admission were only by merit.
Side effects of honesty
Raju wondered what actually went wrong. where had all medicines gone? Where milk gone? What hapened to seats in colleges? The government was also astonished. It was revealed after some survey that smuggling, adulteration, illicit and unlicensed production, duplication of foreign and local brands met most of the demand. Number of milch cattle had not decreased but in absense of adulteration, the excess production had stopped. So now there was no element of synthetics or any unwanted substance or even water in milk. So overall supply of milk decreased. In fact, supply of everything was now less. Similarly there used to be colleges without adequate faculty and other facilities and permission. All such colleges closed.
The lock industry suffered. As there were no more any thefts, there was no need for lock. The security staff lost employment. Most police stations were without work. Even rapes and molestation ended. Nobody would do any crime or anything wrong. This also shows how the fear of the unknown is strongest. One day, very funny incident happened. A youth was ill famed for molesting and raping. He stopped these things. One day, he picked some courage and very politely asked a young woman- "Madam, will you allow me some liberty? Let us have some good time this evening. Luckily for him, the woman was very pleased and she agreed. She went with him and gave him good time. Molestation and rape ended but an era of prostitution and liberal sex relation began. This was obviously not corruption or crime or sin in eyes of residents in the island.
Raju returns to India
After serving in the island for a year, Raju decided to quit the job. He returned to India and got appointment as Professor in a local college. He ever remembered the days in the island city. The proverb- Ati sarvatra varjayet (Excess is bad every where). Even too much honesty has adverse side effects.
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this article on other bookmarking websites.