When I first heard of Anna Hazare going on a hunger strike, I was inspired. One man would again lead the crusade against the establishment as the father of our nation had once done. It captured the imagination of a billion people, and I was no exception. But at that moment I didn't realise what I was getting into. The movement has been a huge success, and as the truth sinks in, I realise the how erroneous my judgement was.
After this, I shall never be able to go out on my bike without a licence, papers or helmet and then pay the traffic police 50 rupees and get away with it. I shall not be able to break traffic signals even when no one else is around. I shall not be able to get licences without learning how to drive. I shall not be able to bribe the licence inspector.
Now, if my GRE is up in a fortnight and I dont have a passport, I will have to postpone my date. I will not be able to pay the official at Shastri Bhavan or pay a good sum to an agent to get me the passport before that.
Now, if some government offiicial refuses to do work, without me giving him 200 rupees, I will have to walk out without getting my job done. Yeah, I cant pay him money.
Now, for any job that I need to get done at some Government Office, I will have to stand in queues and do it myself. I cant get it done through some inside man there.
I shall not be able to come out of a shop without collecting a bill even if it means I will have to wait for it for sometime. Not doing that would mean contributing to black money which I have myself fought against.
Not just government offices. Personally, I shall never be able to give a leave letter feigning illness, get On-Duty and go to a movie, or even bunk classes telling the teacher that I am doing project work, when I am actually going to play football.
In what may seem far more trivial, I can never get my paper selected for a technical symposium by using the influence of a friend who is organising it. When I am organising the symposium, I cant make a deal with the first prize winner to give me half his money. I cannot take away cash from the funds for my personal use.
I will always have to follow the rules. No, not because some patriotic proponent of this anti-corruption movement will come and slap me for it. No one will. I will have to follow the rules because my conscience will slap me every second if I dont stand by the high standard of principles that the movement has set for me.
Winning the battle against corruption is a complex process. It certainly doesn't end at marching with people who are on hunger strikes. It may begin with the entire nation, but ultimately ends at the individual. Our nation is corrupt, because we, the people, are corrupt. And the fight against corruption shall not end until we decide to get rid of the corruption that lies within us. If two days down the line, we get back to our old ways of bribing and influencing and favouritism and shortcuts, the Struggle would have been for nothing.
Today, we may rejoice that we have forced the establishment to make a change. But what we havent realised is, no amount of changing the establishment will help the fight against corruption. What we actually need to change is our own self. We have fought to bring change to the country. But are we ready to change ourselves?
