Kenneth J. D’Sa
As one keeps observing things going on around us, one cannot but be grateful to our governing authorities for the good times they have been giving the people who they govern. These governing authorities have indeed been truthful and honest in their dealings with the common people!
Let us take for example, those responsible for the supply of electricity. They insist that Goa is a power surplus state and that most consumers have electricity. Of course, what remains to be said is that this is interrupted power supply! Then you have the telephone department, especially the broadband services. Repeated breaks in broadband transmission, extra slow speed and of course, to complement these services, you have their customer services centre. Try calling up 2423741 or 2423800 and one can spend hours of leisure time listening to the phones ringing and no response. When one finally gets through, the consumer is made to realize at the very outset, that the fault lies with the consumer. It has nothing to do with BSNL. When the consumer gets insistent, the broadband helpline shifts the blame to the telephone exchange and vice versa, and this little game goes on till the consumer can only accept the sad fact – yes, the fault was indeed with the consumer – for trusting BSNL to provide good service!
Add to that the perfect coordination between the electricity department and the broadband services. When there is electricity, the broadband service is off and vice versa.
Add to this the bad condition of the roads we travel on. Someone asked me “But don’t ministers also travel these roads? Don’t they feel anything? What if their vehicles get spoiled, or if they suffer any injuries?”. I thought over it and replied “Of course, their vehicles will get spoiled. But these vehicles are driven by chaffers. And we, the common people must bear the cost of repairs of their vehicles and the chaffers. If they get injured, we must help pay their medical bills! And when they complete their terms in office, we must help fund their pension! As for us, the common people, we must risk driving/riding our vehicles by ourselves. If our vehicles get damaged or if we get injured or die, we have to bear our own expenses and have to fend for ourselves. And if any one dares to expose any of their faults, they make sure that they shoot the messenger in the foot!”
At the end of it all, one can safely come to the conclusion that there is indeed deep-rooted corruption. But then, most of those governing always insist that they are innocent. Then the realization hit me, that by default, the biggest culprit, the most corrupt person, the person to be blamed for ever ill that afflicts society – yes, the real culprit is the consumer, the common man! The aam aadmi! And out of pure guilt and shame, it is our duty to fund the mess that one calls “governance”, for it not they, but we, the common people who are responsible!
