Failure of journalism
Follow the path of righteousness. Never commit something wrong, completely knowing that it is wrong. Apologise when you feel you are wrong. Keep the senses open; never take decisions without equally weighing both sides, objectiveness they call it. Bribing is bad. Taking a bribe is still bad.
Apply for a passport. Take crisp prints. Fill up the remaining blanks. Amass the necessary documents. Remind oneself of one’s date and place of birth. Talk witnesses to readiness. Photocopy each document thrice or more times. Carry yourself and the bundle to the nearest passport office. Plastic, weary smiles for the watchman there. Await your turn. Answer putrid questions. “You are not married, no?” pay the dough. Accept nods for farewells and acknowledgements. Await for ‘clearance’.
One fine morning. A gruff but polite telephone call. Summons to the local police station. Passport application verification. Witness one. Questions. Answers. Weary demeanour. Dingy room. Rude awakening. ‘Fees’. 100 bucks. “Will I get a receipt?” Guffaws.
Later, witness two. Questions. Answers. Weary looks. Curtness exhibition. Empty boasts of “You want receipt, I’ll give you receipt.” Police verification done.
Passport almost here.
New phone call. Summons for police verification of dad’s passport renewal application. Today. Dad says he’ll pay if the cop asks for fees. “Why?” “Oh, it won’t be too much.”
“But why? They get their salaries!” “One person not giving in to the cops won’t stop the corruption.” “Doesn’t mean you have to give in too!” “Look, we have had to pay illegally for the house tax papers. Each time we had to get the guy here, we had to bellow his pockets with greenies. Some things are like that. You cannot change them.” “It is because you choose to make things that way.”
I don’t know what to say. What is the fckng use of studying all this bullshit journalism and stuff when you can’t persuade your own father from giving in to bribery? What use is a passport begotten by such means? The visas and the flight tickets that follow the passport would rather fly straight to hell. The passports to hell.
3 comments:
It takes an exceptional courage to go against people whose job is to protect the public. Not everyone is that courageous. Some people, like my dad, seem to think that its not practical to get into bad books of the police. Don't expect everyone to act your way.
Expect everyone to act your way and be stubborn over this. That's the only way they will let you act your way... people detest others who are different from themselves and act differently. So, they pull him down all the time citing tradition, praxis, fate, rationale and emotion. Shun that herd! (on a more defiant note, if you fcukin' please).
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