Aah, A little bit of moral Adjustment

I have had the good fortune of having some very able Gurus at appropriate junctures in life. Their guidance to tide over moral dilemmas from time to time has been worth its weight in gold. The dilemmas sometimes present themselves as deceptively simple alternatives, when all other right choices seem Himalayan climbs. Sometimes the lure of immediate gains (with the clever thought that nobody is looking at you) becomes an overpowering desire under the garb of being practical.

But a Guru of mine (a senior officer in the Air Force, whose many one liners are my treasured possession), would say about these matters, ‘Well, one always has to decide one way or the other. You cannot be partly immoral, like you cannot be a little bit pregnant. Either ‘you are’ or ‘you are not’.

Indian society has come a long way since those times, when people were simple and steadfast in the way of thinking and living. The definition of morality has received many amendments (very much like the Indian constitution, and with the similar purpose, that is instant gratification rather than long term benefit of the society).

Politics:

A little bit of ‘adjustment’ is the order of the day. It is not considered amoral by the politicians to lie ‘a little bit’ during elections and still anoint yourselves as the sole inheritors of Gandhian virtues. A couple of other adjustments in the political lifestyle of today,

1. No need to resign on minor issues. Wait ‘a little bit’ till everyone knows what you did. (You may get intervening years or decades to continue enjoying spoils of war…er.. power.
2. In fact no resigning as long there is a ‘little bit of leeway’. (Considering resigning on issues an old fashioned stupidity, last heard of in Lal Bahadur Shastri days).
3. OK to reserve ‘a little bit’ out of public assets for sons, daughters, in laws or even far relations. (It should not exceed 90% of the whole). Even if, the scheme is called Adarsh (Ideal) society and is meant for war widows, don’t let that come in the way. After all, politicians are fighting a war every day and come from the same species as ‘widow spider’.

The other sections of the society are faithfully “following the leader”, our politicians. Be it business, government servants, general public, households, “adjustment” is the order of the day. No one wants to live by ‘rule of law’, social responsibility or moral obligations. Convenience rather than conviction is the new guideline. Wherever we look around, the examples abound.

Business:

The Indian business have honed the skill of ‘managing’ the legislative and administrative machinery to let them have unfettered monopolies in most areas of business and fleeced the hapless denizens for a long time. Last twenty years of ‘opening up’ have given India more economic growth than the previous forty. The business is finally becoming ‘customer friendly’. But old habits die hard. The ‘QoQ’ profit growth still rules the business strategy. Bending the rules ‘a little bit’, preferring ‘personal gains ‘a little bit’ over the interests of many, seeking political patronage ‘a little bit’ to get ahead of others rather than employ fair competition, ‘a little bit’ laundering of accounts and assets are still the norm rather than the exception. Long term excellence and social responsibility is still a distant dream. Narayana Murthys and Ratan Tatas are outnumbered by Rajus of many hues.

Public Servants:

The most potent group of people holding India back from being ‘Sone Ki Chidiya’ (the golden sparrow) again is the entrenched power brokers, called bureaucracy, who will like to have ‘a little bit’ out of your progress every time. (Sometimes it may be 90%, reminiscent of the 90% income tax levied in earlier days.) These people are supposed to earn their living by practicing ‘facilitation’. Instead they have mastered the art of ‘getting in the way’. Out of the 10 barricades that the society or businesses face in development, 9 are erected by these functionaries. Thankfully, public opinion is now modifying the way these people work. But the nuisance value of Indian bureaucracy remains high and their facilitation value remains abysmal.

General Public:

General public remain mired in low education levels and outdated religious and social dogmas. Indian public is still swayed by caste and religion and is apathetic to development issues. The result is a pin-pong voting in/out of two major parties who do not have any need/desire to move away from playing ‘who will be the next PM’ roulette. ‘A little bit’ of incremental improvement in the lot of populace and ‘a lot bit more’ gain for the politicos continues.

Some Adjustments that the general public lives by,

1. ‘A little bit’ of reservations, by caste, ‘son of the soil’ preference, political connections, or plain threatening the decision makers.
2. ‘A little bit’ of encroachment of land, public utilities, public money or positions of power by other than fair means.
3. ‘A little bit’ of evasion of responsibilities by avoiding taxes, not declaring obligations and/or surreptitiously transferring obligations to others.
4. ‘A little bit’ of ……………

Indian Family:

The home scenario is no different. Parents routinely tell their kids to answer the telephone call, and tell inconvenient callers “Papa/Mama is not at home”. Thinking that a little bit of ‘smartness’ can save them the inconvenience of having to answer the callers’ queries. The lessons learnt are practiced by children to use this ‘smartness’ for bunking schools, and sowing wild oats, while parents blissfully dream about their children being ‘pure honey’. Most social problems have their genesis in skewed upbringing by these ‘worldly wise’ parents. A little bit of ‘moral adjustment’ turns into a ruinous social debasement.

I guess, to turn the tide against present day ruinous social depravation, we need to go back to the old-time values of truth, compassion, mutual respect and service. Mahatma said it in so many words.

Are we listening?