The next time when I criticize government or politicians for corruption I better be careful and dare not do that unless I my self prove to be a good citizen. Yes I am in complete conscious and not drunk when I make this statement.
Last Sunday I (with 3 younger brothers) was getting back home from Tirupati after an unsuccessful visit to see the Lord. It was almost 8 in the night and I had no other means of transport back home than a Bus. So I decided to enquire about the buses available for immediate departure so that I could get back home early. No prizes for you to guess that the government officials there in the bus depot were not giving proper answer and were asking us to go from one counter to the other. While there was a conductor outside a Chennai bus talking to passengers, he had a list in his hand with details about occupancy in the bus. I just went ahead and asked him if there was any space left in the bus for 4 people and with 5-6 other people around he unhesitantly replied “No, this is a reserved bus and tickets are already sold”. I had only one thing in mind which was to find some other bus in which I could board to depart for Chennai, but none was in sight to me nearby.
I again went to the counters to see if there was any new info this time around, but again with so many people around I did not get a turn to talk to the authorities. While I was trying hard, an unknown person from behind asked me “Chennai a”, I was quick enough to respond to him. I told him that yes I wanted to go to Chennai but I need 4 tickets, so he replied saying “ok, you can get it”, then I asked about the time when the bus will depart and which one was the bus he was talking about, so he showed me the same bus about which I had enquired, so I told him that I had already enquired about that bus and the conductor had told me that there was no space in that bus. Then he said “you need not worry about it, I will get you the tickets, but it will cost you Rs.200 per ticket”, I agreed immediately and asked him, was that the rate of each ticket, and he replied saying “the rate is 150, but I need 20 bucks for myself and 20 for the conductor to get you the tickets”. He saw agreement on my face, as I had only one objective which was to get back home ASAP, so he asked me to shell out the money, so I did and asked him for the ticket in exchange immediately, he said “go inside the bus and occupy the last row, I wont run away just wait for some time and you will get the ticket”, so I did trust him but stood outside until I figured out whether he was lying or not, then once convinced after seeing him talking with the conductor, I with my brothers boarded the bus waiting to get the ticket so that we don’t end up in a trouble. And in some time the bus was about to start and the conductor came to me and gave the ticket and to my surprise the rate of each ticket was only Rs.135, I was puzzled that I got cheated by another 15 bucks, but then I did not bother much cos I was only thinking about getting back home.
The journey started normally, the conductor started checking tickets and everything was normal, while the bus got stopped with in 10 minutes from its start and the Branch Manager of the transport company entered the bus to check tickets for special enquiry and as he was checking tickets he kept asking each passenger how much they paid for their ticket apart from the 8 people in the last 2 rows all others had paid the correct amount as they purchased the tickets from the counter, while the 8 of us in the last 2 rows purchased from the conductor or so and we told the manager that we had purchased the ticket on a higher rate (initially I had told that I purchased it for 135 only fearing that the conductor will be screwed, later screwing me), the 4 people in front of me had purchased their tickets for 150 from the conductor and I purchased it for 200 through some broker who was a partner in crime of the conductor. So the manager asked us to co-operate and help him stop all such happenings and assured the 4 people that they will get their money back but did not tell me a word as I had purchased it from a broker and I did not mention to him that the conductor was involved as he did not ask. So he went outside and stopped the Bus to enquire about all this with the conductor and kept the bus on hold for about 20 minutes and the passengers got furious about this and started yelling at the driver to take off the bus. While the manger came inside again and assured the 4 about their money and took their number for future enquiry and help and got off the bus.
The journey went on and in a while the bus stopped again and another manager entered to sort the issue out as the conductor claimed to the branch manager that he was innocent and he did not over charge any one. So this new manager asked us questions about the way we obtained our tickets and I clearly said that I had paid to some unknown person to get my ticket, but one important question on which I lied to him was “whom did you get the ticket from?”, to which I answered that I had got that as well from the broker irrespective of the fact that it was the conductor who gave me the ticket as he was a partner in the crime with the broker, but I got piteous on thinking about the consequences to the conductors life and career and some how did not get the courage to tell the truth. And finally I gave a written statement to the manager which claimed that the conductor was no where involved in all this and he was innocent (the conductor some time back and was explaining to us that he did not want to do all this but the broker who gave me the ticket was a part of a rowdy gang and because of that he had to get involved in it, to keep his job going, which was the primary reason which made me lie to the manager).
So in summary I feel that I ended up being a partner in their crime, by not speaking the truth when I was required to, which was an attempt by the authorities to make the system efficient and corruption free. I feel guilty and shameful when I think about it and strongly also feel that I don’t have any right to raise a question against others when I myself did not have the integrity and became a party to this corrupt act of the conductor, just for the sake of saving his job and livelihood (he looked to be above 55 years of age). I am still not sure whether it was worth helping the conductor or not, but at that moment my conscience did not allow me to spoil his career that too after he explained that he had to do this due to the pressure from the rowdies.
Just let me know what you feel about the entire episode and how should I have acted.
Last Sunday I (with 3 younger brothers) was getting back home from Tirupati after an unsuccessful visit to see the Lord. It was almost 8 in the night and I had no other means of transport back home than a Bus. So I decided to enquire about the buses available for immediate departure so that I could get back home early. No prizes for you to guess that the government officials there in the bus depot were not giving proper answer and were asking us to go from one counter to the other. While there was a conductor outside a Chennai bus talking to passengers, he had a list in his hand with details about occupancy in the bus. I just went ahead and asked him if there was any space left in the bus for 4 people and with 5-6 other people around he unhesitantly replied “No, this is a reserved bus and tickets are already sold”. I had only one thing in mind which was to find some other bus in which I could board to depart for Chennai, but none was in sight to me nearby.
I again went to the counters to see if there was any new info this time around, but again with so many people around I did not get a turn to talk to the authorities. While I was trying hard, an unknown person from behind asked me “Chennai a”, I was quick enough to respond to him. I told him that yes I wanted to go to Chennai but I need 4 tickets, so he replied saying “ok, you can get it”, then I asked about the time when the bus will depart and which one was the bus he was talking about, so he showed me the same bus about which I had enquired, so I told him that I had already enquired about that bus and the conductor had told me that there was no space in that bus. Then he said “you need not worry about it, I will get you the tickets, but it will cost you Rs.200 per ticket”, I agreed immediately and asked him, was that the rate of each ticket, and he replied saying “the rate is 150, but I need 20 bucks for myself and 20 for the conductor to get you the tickets”. He saw agreement on my face, as I had only one objective which was to get back home ASAP, so he asked me to shell out the money, so I did and asked him for the ticket in exchange immediately, he said “go inside the bus and occupy the last row, I wont run away just wait for some time and you will get the ticket”, so I did trust him but stood outside until I figured out whether he was lying or not, then once convinced after seeing him talking with the conductor, I with my brothers boarded the bus waiting to get the ticket so that we don’t end up in a trouble. And in some time the bus was about to start and the conductor came to me and gave the ticket and to my surprise the rate of each ticket was only Rs.135, I was puzzled that I got cheated by another 15 bucks, but then I did not bother much cos I was only thinking about getting back home.
The journey started normally, the conductor started checking tickets and everything was normal, while the bus got stopped with in 10 minutes from its start and the Branch Manager of the transport company entered the bus to check tickets for special enquiry and as he was checking tickets he kept asking each passenger how much they paid for their ticket apart from the 8 people in the last 2 rows all others had paid the correct amount as they purchased the tickets from the counter, while the 8 of us in the last 2 rows purchased from the conductor or so and we told the manager that we had purchased the ticket on a higher rate (initially I had told that I purchased it for 135 only fearing that the conductor will be screwed, later screwing me), the 4 people in front of me had purchased their tickets for 150 from the conductor and I purchased it for 200 through some broker who was a partner in crime of the conductor. So the manager asked us to co-operate and help him stop all such happenings and assured the 4 people that they will get their money back but did not tell me a word as I had purchased it from a broker and I did not mention to him that the conductor was involved as he did not ask. So he went outside and stopped the Bus to enquire about all this with the conductor and kept the bus on hold for about 20 minutes and the passengers got furious about this and started yelling at the driver to take off the bus. While the manger came inside again and assured the 4 about their money and took their number for future enquiry and help and got off the bus.
The journey went on and in a while the bus stopped again and another manager entered to sort the issue out as the conductor claimed to the branch manager that he was innocent and he did not over charge any one. So this new manager asked us questions about the way we obtained our tickets and I clearly said that I had paid to some unknown person to get my ticket, but one important question on which I lied to him was “whom did you get the ticket from?”, to which I answered that I had got that as well from the broker irrespective of the fact that it was the conductor who gave me the ticket as he was a partner in the crime with the broker, but I got piteous on thinking about the consequences to the conductors life and career and some how did not get the courage to tell the truth. And finally I gave a written statement to the manager which claimed that the conductor was no where involved in all this and he was innocent (the conductor some time back and was explaining to us that he did not want to do all this but the broker who gave me the ticket was a part of a rowdy gang and because of that he had to get involved in it, to keep his job going, which was the primary reason which made me lie to the manager).
So in summary I feel that I ended up being a partner in their crime, by not speaking the truth when I was required to, which was an attempt by the authorities to make the system efficient and corruption free. I feel guilty and shameful when I think about it and strongly also feel that I don’t have any right to raise a question against others when I myself did not have the integrity and became a party to this corrupt act of the conductor, just for the sake of saving his job and livelihood (he looked to be above 55 years of age). I am still not sure whether it was worth helping the conductor or not, but at that moment my conscience did not allow me to spoil his career that too after he explained that he had to do this due to the pressure from the rowdies.
Just let me know what you feel about the entire episode and how should I have acted.
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