The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Monday 26 November 2012

THE CORRUPT POLICEMAN OF THAT RAILWAY STATION AND HIS VOICE OF CONSCIENCE

LIFE - COLORES INFINITUM (21)

He (or the complainant here) had a fresh cautionary advice on his activism yet again after the recent incident. While en-route to board the train, he came to know that the contractors of the parking space of the railway station (a satellite township near Varanasi) charge even the vehicles that just drop the people and leave the station campus. Now that was not the rule and legally unacceptable. The relative going to drop him had gone through it.

He told his relative not to pay anything this time. After they reached the railway station, he ensured that the parking guys were not paid anything as the relative left immediately though they approached and tried to stop the car.

Once the car had left the station premises, he looked for the railway police personnel to complain about it (now onwards, he is ‘the complainant’). Though the complainant was not very hopeful, what followed was utterly disgusting.



The two policemen on the duty were like mute spectators and willing companions in the racket as they first tried to justify the illegal act saying it was contract of some higher official of the railway and the parking was charged from every vehicle entering the railway station premises, even if it was for 10 seconds. They even named the divisional rail manager behind the contract to shield the parking goons.

On asking their names so that the complainant could tell the higher authorities about it to verify the claims made by them, one of the policemen got abusive and started sounding belligerent. He did all to intimidate the complainant. He said his name was ‘XYZ’ and the complainant was free to do whatever he could do and Mr. XYZ didn’t give a damn to it.

It was not surprising for the complainant. This is the way the whole administrative system in country is functioning these days. He had been to such circumstances many times before and so, had many, many sessions of advising on his ‘activist side’. Though he thinks to be known as an activist (a full-timer) some day, he is not sure whether he should be termed the one today.

Anyway, undeterred, the complainant went ahead with his complaint. The next step to it was yet another dissuading act by yet another corrupt policeman (almost of them are like it). The policeman sitting in the government railway police (GRP) police station (PS) at the platform was least bothered to listen to the complaint and tried all to frustrate the complainant on his queries.

The complainant had to board the train to Delhi and when he saw the time was running out, he sternly told the policeman that he was would lodge the complaint in New Delhi at their headquarters and it was not a big deal to find out his name from the duty roaster of the day. Also he made some calls to make inquiries so as to take the matter further.

This instantly hit the dumb ears of the fellow. Meanwhile, a friend who was in train the complainant was waiting for called him up and said that Mr. ‘ABC’ was the GRP inspector of the PS and that he was in the office. Now there was no way for the dumb fellow and he reluctantly led the complainant to the inspector’s room.

No one can say what effect it was, probably the courage to reach him and lodge the complaint; probably the media credentials of the complainant; probably the use of English language in the Hindi belt; or probably by the reference of reaching to the higher authorities, the complainant was received well.

The erring and abusive fellow was called in. He flatly denied the charges by the complainant and in the typical ways of a corrupt man, started leveling charges against the complaint that it was he who misbehaved. But a slight mistake by him put him in a tight situation and even if the senior was willing, was not able to take sides.

He repeated the same silly logic in the inspector’s room, in front of the complaint, that the parking contract was of some higher official and it was the norm to charge the parking fee to every vehicle entering the station premises even if the vehicle left immediately. It was ignorance or the plain lie, cannot be said, but was more than enough to nail the corrupt fellow.

The senior ordered to take away his rifle and relieved him from the duty of the shift. At the same time, he ordered that the parking guys be brought to the police station.

This was the last scene of the sorrow act that the complainant had seen. He leaved after it as the train was about to leave and he needed to board it. Later, he came to know that similar things happened at the Varanasi railway station where even press reports could not stop the practice.

The complainant knows that no action would be been taken against the erring policeman of the satellite township’s railway station. What all happened in the senior’s room was nothing more than an eyewash as he knew that the complainant was to board the train and was not able to make a written complaint.  

This small incident shows the big rot of the governance system called India where corruption has overtaken every other practiced norm of the social life and is continuing unabated.

Yes, there are voices and there have been voices but the quantum has been not enough to make significant challenge to the shameless run barring few exceptions.

The quantum of corruption needs awakening of the activist in each of us to challenge and oppose every such corrupt fellow to nail the evil elements of the social formation.

The voice of caution is to be heard but the voice of conscience has to prevail. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/