A typical dialogue from Bollywood movies is quite commonly heard in the by lanes of Delhi “Tu Jaanta hai mera baap kaun hai”. I don’t know about others but my instinctive answer is “agar aapko nahi pata to mujhe kaise pata hoga”. Fortunately, for my health, my mouth tends to remain shut in such situations, for consequences of such an answer would probably be borne by my family.
But it brings me to a moot point. Why do we as citizens feel proud to break rules and then flaunt our connections? I remember a long time back when I was a student, a group of friends broke the curfew in Amritsar and were promptly caught by the police. One of my friends blurted out, quite smugly if I may say so, that the DC of Amritsar was his uncle. Believe me, even in that precarious situation, I was pleasantly surprised when the cop replied “toh kya aapke DC uncle ne aapko curfew break karne ko bola hai?”. He was ready to take suitable action, but we pleaded that we were students and had erred without realizing the consequences, and he took a sympathetic view.
Unfortunately, in Delhi, as I am sure in other parts of the country, this refrain of breaking the law and getting away due to connections is all too common. The pride we get by defying authority and doing wrong along with a sense of entitlement is unparalleled. Doing the right thing seems boring, and mundane, for the commoners. But underneath it all, when a youth behaves in such a manner, there is often someone in the family, ready to condone and justify such boorish behaviour. Did we not witness it in the recent Porsche accident in Pune and the famous BMW case in Delhi many years ago?
What we all tend to forget is that someday, however powerful and entitled we may be, we can also be at the receiving end. Such boorish behaviour and brash attitude can lead to serious consequences for all concerned. An example of that was seen recently in GK2, when there was a fire in the market. While all concerned, including the police, the RWA and TWA as well as parking attendants along with volunteers were trying to ensure smooth passage for the fire brigades, a brash youngster in his Thar decided to break all rules, come from the opposite side and block the way. When asked to move, he expectedly flaunted his connections and refused to budge. Fortunately, deft diplomacy and cool heads defused the situation and the vehicle cleared the way. What the person in Thar probably forgot is there could be his near and dear oes also in the premises where the fire broke out. Had there been any tragedy, then would his connections clear his conscience as well?
We quote other nations about their citizens following rules, but unfortunately, we are the first ones to break them and then find our “Mai Baap” to bail us out.”
Time to think and rethink about our actions and flaunt our “connections”!!
