Nothing in particular

I'm back finally, after a brief hiatus filled with deadlines, the odd bash and intermittent showers. Since the last time I wrote on these pages Chennai has been inundated by cyclone Nisha, Mumbai taken hostage by a bunch of morons and my place besieged by my family. It has been a period of great turmoil and instability and the readers would hopefully understand my absence.

Instead of making this post a meaningless ramble because I am totally jobless on my last day of work for the year, I would instead like to focus on nothing in particular. As I stare out of my 7th floor office window wondering what to write I notice this guy crossing the road as cars come to a screeching halt around him. He nonchalantly avoids all insults thrown in his direction and is off on his way. I tear my gaze away from the window and wonder about the world we live in. People are not prepared to even give away a centimeter to fellow beings even if it is a matter of the least importance. Standing at a petrol bunk to refuel, you will invariably find this guy who believes refueling his bike at the cost of jumping the queue and attracting cold stares from people around is definitely worth it.

People believe that time wasted these days is directly proportional to the amount of money they could be making instead. Wasting 2 minutes at a queue could instead earn you 20 rs? Yes, I understand that 20 rs to person 'A' might mean a lot more than it is to me but is it still worth being a rude selfish person? Maybe it is not my place to judge him because I'm not perfect either. Hell no one is, that I can assure you. But there in lies the unavoidable conclusion, no one cares because no one has any values remaining. Years of surviving in a dog eat dog world erodes at the value system meticulously crafted by our parents over endless bed time story sessions or by teachers during moral science classes, not that we gave 2 hoots anyway back then.

But face it or lace it with skepticism, we need to agree that we are an inherent part of this corrupted system. We might rave on and on about how imperfect the systems is but in turn we are only finding faults with ourselves. Corruption is rampant in all walks of lives, sooner or later we become a part of the systems while the few who wish to stand against it are branded as working against the system. My father told me there was a time when you knew everyone in Adyar by name. People would not think twice before doing you a favor, money was secondary. Today everyone knows no one, people will think twice about thinking of doing a favor and its all about the money!

I can truthfully say that until today I have not bribed anyone, at least to my knowledge. But will I be this strong the day such a situation arises? Or will I ditch those values, whatever little remains, and decide to take the easy way out?