This happened some 17 years back. The septic tank of our huge residential complex had to be cleaned. We saw two men standing near the tank filled with human waste. They wore small dhotis and entered the pit. They started pouring the waste outside manually. The whole place was filled with stench from rotten human waste. I closed the windows.
By evening they had finished the work. I saw the man emerging from the pit. His body was completely covered in sh*# and he was pouring water over his body. The rotten smell lingered. Bars of fragrant soap and perfumes wouldn't have been able to chase it away. We wondered how it must be for him to go home to his family smelling like this. This is his job - so they must be used to this...
Later in the evening I overheard my father discussing this with my mother. The poor man was supposed to have been paid Rs.200 and the official in charge of this refused to pay him if he did not offer him a percentage of this as commission or bribe. The man complained to my father. He said, "Sir, nobody will do such dirty work even for a huge sum. We are ready to do it for such a small amount and from that also the 'big' people want to steal". Thinking about the man I wondered if any of us would do that work even for an obscene amount of money. This nameless and faceless man symbolises the dirty face of corruption all of us are ashamed of.
The over whelming support for Anna Hazare is symbolic of the goodness in people. But will that translate into a real battle with corruption? How many of us will actually have the courage to promise that they will not be involved in any act of corruption, how ever small they think the act is - bribing traffic police, RTO officials, ask government officials for favors (?)...
By evening they had finished the work. I saw the man emerging from the pit. His body was completely covered in sh*# and he was pouring water over his body. The rotten smell lingered. Bars of fragrant soap and perfumes wouldn't have been able to chase it away. We wondered how it must be for him to go home to his family smelling like this. This is his job - so they must be used to this...
Later in the evening I overheard my father discussing this with my mother. The poor man was supposed to have been paid Rs.200 and the official in charge of this refused to pay him if he did not offer him a percentage of this as commission or bribe. The man complained to my father. He said, "Sir, nobody will do such dirty work even for a huge sum. We are ready to do it for such a small amount and from that also the 'big' people want to steal". Thinking about the man I wondered if any of us would do that work even for an obscene amount of money. This nameless and faceless man symbolises the dirty face of corruption all of us are ashamed of.
The over whelming support for Anna Hazare is symbolic of the goodness in people. But will that translate into a real battle with corruption? How many of us will actually have the courage to promise that they will not be involved in any act of corruption, how ever small they think the act is - bribing traffic police, RTO officials, ask government officials for favors (?)...
