Whenever I go out to booze, eat, shopping or to a trip always I remember my parents.
Going back to my old days, when I was studying engineering our family income was approximately Rs. 30, 000 plus or minus 10K depending on the crop that year. My engineering fee was Rs. 7,500 and i use to take another Rs. 13,000 for other expenses like rent, food, exam fees. Fortunately I bought only one book in my engineering life and i should thank Shreekanth and Guru for helping me with books and notes.
So I always wonder how did my parents manage during that time as they were spending most of the money on me. When i ask my parents, they just say we were spending less that time (even now they do the same ). They cut down on most of the expenses and stopped using labors to work in the field and instead they did most of the work on their own. Reduced usage of inorganic fertilizers also saved them lots of money. They saved every rupee and made sure that I could complete my studies.
Now the time has changed, we get better income from agriculture and me as well earning good money. I tried to change my parents a bit asking them to buy some good some clothes, have food at a good restaurant. They never agree for it and tell me that we are happy the way we are.
When they visited Bangalore recently, I wanted to take them to restaurant and have some nice food. My dad asked me how much they will charge, i said may be around Rs. 1000 for four people. My dad suddenly replied in north karntaka language "manjal hogli ondu savir rupayige dinasi tandre ondu tingalu tinnabahudu, adenu horage hogi tintiya, summane maneli aduge madli iru (If you buy groceries for Rs. 1000, you can eat for month. Why do you want to go out and eat?)
Whereas if we look at us, we freak out every week end and spend lots of money for food, entertainment, travel....while spending freely, I always think about my parents and ask myself whether I am doing right or wrong. At the end I get convinced and the reason is we live in different world and it demands this change. On the other side i also learnt that let us not try to change our parents, its better to leave them the way they are so that they find happiness in it.
I believe this might be the case with most of us........
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Can we do a bit to eradicate corruption?
Can we do a bit to eradicate corruption?
I first time bribed when I was 18 years old. It happened one day at Tahashildhar (Sub registrar) office; my CET counseling dates were nearing and I was running since 2 months to get my caste certificate done. Though I am son of a farmer, I need to submit income tax, sales tax clearance certificates from respective departments along with the family income certificate from Tahashildhar to get a caste certificate. I had collected all other documents except family income certificate and to get that I was waiting in the Tahashlidhar office from morning 8. The peon in the office asked me for some money and I said why should I give when all my documents are perfect. Then he said "Sahebru busy iddare aamele baa" (Tahashildhar is busy and you come later). I went in the afternoon around 2PM and he again said come at 4PM. There was an appointment given at DC office the next day and I had to go to Bagalkot to submit the documents. I thought let me give a last try and came back again at 4PM and I requested him to get the certificate. This time he said, you come tomorrow as the officer is going for some other meeting and he can't see your document now. I almost broke down that time and was helpless, I pleaded him like anything trying to make him understand the effort I had put and also the next day is the submission. At the end he said, you give Rs. 100 and will try to get you family income certificate at 5PM. I just had Rs. 110 and gave him Rs. 100 and kept the remaining for bus charge to my native. When I went there at 5PM, the certificate was ready!!! The money has made the magic but unfortunately I had to stand there for a full day with empty stomach as I had not even taken lunch that day. I felt, should have given money in the morning itself. This was the first time in my life I had to bribe but there was no other way.
After this I did bribe again for couple of times at different occasions and now since few years I have learnt a bit on how to get the work done without bribing and was successful as well. One such incident happened few months back, I wanted to get my EC(Encumbrance Certificate) and went to sub registrar office. I filled the form and gave it to clerk, he asked me for Rs. 150. I politely asked him, sir, what's the govt fees, he said Rs. 35. Then I questioned, why are you asking for Rs. 150? He said, if you want it today then you need to pay Rs. 150 otherwise you come and collect after 3 days. I paid Rs. 30, took the receipt and collected the EC after 3 days and all was well :-).
The point is government has set certain rules and if we go as per the rules then at least we can minimize the corruption. We need to have patience to work with govt officials, if we follow the rules things might take few days extra but we can definitely bring a change.
Let us do our bit to eradicate the corruption in our country.
I first time bribed when I was 18 years old. It happened one day at Tahashildhar (Sub registrar) office; my CET counseling dates were nearing and I was running since 2 months to get my caste certificate done. Though I am son of a farmer, I need to submit income tax, sales tax clearance certificates from respective departments along with the family income certificate from Tahashildhar to get a caste certificate. I had collected all other documents except family income certificate and to get that I was waiting in the Tahashlidhar office from morning 8. The peon in the office asked me for some money and I said why should I give when all my documents are perfect. Then he said "Sahebru busy iddare aamele baa" (Tahashildhar is busy and you come later). I went in the afternoon around 2PM and he again said come at 4PM. There was an appointment given at DC office the next day and I had to go to Bagalkot to submit the documents. I thought let me give a last try and came back again at 4PM and I requested him to get the certificate. This time he said, you come tomorrow as the officer is going for some other meeting and he can't see your document now. I almost broke down that time and was helpless, I pleaded him like anything trying to make him understand the effort I had put and also the next day is the submission. At the end he said, you give Rs. 100 and will try to get you family income certificate at 5PM. I just had Rs. 110 and gave him Rs. 100 and kept the remaining for bus charge to my native. When I went there at 5PM, the certificate was ready!!! The money has made the magic but unfortunately I had to stand there for a full day with empty stomach as I had not even taken lunch that day. I felt, should have given money in the morning itself. This was the first time in my life I had to bribe but there was no other way.
After this I did bribe again for couple of times at different occasions and now since few years I have learnt a bit on how to get the work done without bribing and was successful as well. One such incident happened few months back, I wanted to get my EC(Encumbrance Certificate) and went to sub registrar office. I filled the form and gave it to clerk, he asked me for Rs. 150. I politely asked him, sir, what's the govt fees, he said Rs. 35. Then I questioned, why are you asking for Rs. 150? He said, if you want it today then you need to pay Rs. 150 otherwise you come and collect after 3 days. I paid Rs. 30, took the receipt and collected the EC after 3 days and all was well :-).
The point is government has set certain rules and if we go as per the rules then at least we can minimize the corruption. We need to have patience to work with govt officials, if we follow the rules things might take few days extra but we can definitely bring a change.
Let us do our bit to eradicate the corruption in our country.
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