Thru the lenses of a Common Man..2

The common man is confused… completely!!

He couldn’t comprehend the power of the press, the mouthpiece of public…. Almost overnight, all the pot-holes adorning Delhi streets, vanished, replaced by smooth tarmac like surfaces.. Wow!!! Surely, with all that bashing the government (albeit, the organizing committee of Sri Kalmandi & Co.) got from the public outcry, couldn’t have resulted into this, he wondered… “After all, we are middle class, and what can a middle class common man do to the big and powerful”, he thought…

The middle class in our country has a peculiar character…they are the intelligentsia, the “pada-likha babu” class… they snigger down at the majority of politicians who adorn the highest seats of power in the country, but consider our PM and ex- Home Minister PC as intellectuals … they rub shoulders and tend to equate themselves with the more elite, civil servants or members of the armed forces…So, at the first opportunity, they shoot down the politicians, holler for their blood, but not the bureaucrats (unless they are blatantly exposed in wrong-doings – “but aren’t they pitifully paid for the kind of background they come from and the responsibilities they shoulder?” our common man asks) ..

Take for example, the 26/11 incidence…. The largest city, the icon of our financial status, was held at ransom by a handful of gun-tottering terrorists, while the entire state machinery (barring a handful of the bravest) stood immobilized.. look at these incidences:

1. The Fire Brigade, when called in to evacuate the 6^th floor of the Taj, where the family of the hotel’s GM and, on another floor the entire global top brass of Unilever plc and their Indian bosses were stuck, argued that they had no mandate to rescue people and merely shrugged as they “didn’t have the orders “… orders from whom??  By the time things did clear, all was left were the corpses of the hapless family… mercifully, no harm came on the way of the Unilever Chairman or any of his Directorial Borad members..
2. The Police merely stood at guard, while people were mercilessly getting killed inside. stating they were ill-equipped to tackle such hostage situations and that the army should be called in...
3. The army, when called in, threw a ring around the hotel and made tall claims to the media that had little relevance to truth… they fought over who should have the control and authority, rather than spring into action..
4. Someone called in the Navy’s commandos… but when they arrived, they would not enter the hotel until they had a written request from the state government..
5. The RAW, our prided intelligence wing, had prior intimation of the possibility of such an incidsence happening… in fact, they had intercepts of messages from the sea (from the boat the terrorists were travelling) … but it seems that the vital information got lost under other information flowing in…
6. The hero of the event were, undoubtedly, the little acclaimed NSG, who came out with flying colours from the episode..  

Doesn’t our bureaucracy take “responsibilities”??

Sure, they do…. The aftermath resulted in the intelligentia going after the politiciands and not the bureaucrats/army chiefs …. the CM and Dy CM of the State resigned… so did the Home Minister of the country …. Many heads in the bureaucracy and the armed forces were expected to roll, too… but interestingly, none did .. not a single one !!!

Interesting saga of our bureaucracy and the elitists, isn’t it??? our common man muses, too….