Arre bhaisaab, ‘Incorrupt’ tak chaloge???

I had a girlfriend a few years back. And, I had no bike at that time. Only a Kinetic Honda. Which is not a bike. And, it was in a bad condition. It has always been in such a state. Every time she’d come to Mulund, out of sheer love and concern, I would drop her back to Khar, where she resides. In a rickshaw. Late at nights. For obvious reasons (and lethargy), I would choose to come back by a rickshaw. The deal was – While going to Khar, she’d pay. Although, I never allowed her to do that. And while coming back, I would pay. And, she couldn’t do anything about it.

I’ve always called her a ‘fighter’. I started off saying that because of the attributes in her. Turned out, she took it literally. The fights were not exactly with me. It was with the rickshaw walas. For the atrocious late night charges. More so, for the rigged rickshaw meters. If the meters are not rigged, their meter reading cards are.

Precisely after 2 or 3 drops in the meter readings, she would know if it is manipulated or not. There has been a case where we have changed 4 rick guys from Mulund to Khar.

Rick 1 – Started from Mulund. Ended at Mulund.

Rick 2 – Started from Mulund. Ended at Kanjurmarg.

Rick 3 – Started from Kanjurmarg. Ended at Kurla.

Rick 4 – Started from Kurla. Ended at Khar.

Phew!

I had to be there with her for all the fights, with all the four rick guys. Like I mentioned before, love and concern, you see.

Anyhow, in all of this, I’ve always noticed that there are gallons of corruption running in the blood of people. It’s bad. It’s disappointing.

Run to the traffic police to complain against the rick guys. They ask you for a bribe. Run to someone else to lodge a complaint against the traffic police. They ask you for a bribe. Run to someone else to complain against the previous someone else, they ask you for a bribe. Try to reach someone else to complain against the someone else in the previous sentence, they ask you to get in touch with someone else. And still ask you for a bribe.

Moreover, if you don’t have a bike or a car, to reach these places you’ll have to travel by a rickshaw. Funny, this life! What can you do? Nothing. I couldn’t. Perhaps, I never tried. I discovered this one thing in me – I fight with that rickshaw guy now. But for once, I might have to give up the fight of corruption.

Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti): "Zindagi jeene ke sirf do tarike hote hai. Ek, jo ho raha hai hone do, bardaasht karte jao. Ya fir jimmedari uthao usse badalneki."

A poem about “the corrupted”, and the ones who live “the corrupt life”!

We see the ‘wrongs’ happening.

Only to blind ourselves from the ‘rights’.

We sense the poisonous death.

Only to try and rediscover aliveness.

We all know about our unworried-ness.

Only to care a little lesser.

We know we are bound by these bastardly laws.

Made only to set the corrupt bastards free.

We have adjusted our settings to live this life.

Only to give them space for adjusting.

For all you know, we live this corrupted way of life, so that “the corrupted” can live theirs.