Monday, April 06, 2009

With You, For You; Always

“This is too much. After sixty years of independence, this cannot go on.” Bilas said after endlessly waiting for the Taluka officer on third consecutive day.

Bilas was the first person who had passed higher secondary in his village. His father had the hobby of describing how he overcame all the obstacles to educate his son. And now he believed that his son would change their village.

So, he had taken Bilas to the Taluka office to apply for an agriculture loan. But it was their third consecutive day, and they still could not locate the Taluka Officer. The usual reply of the peon was, “Sir has gone for a field visit.” His father wanted to wait, as he knew that patience was the virtue needed to deal with government, but he could not tell this to his higher secondary pass son.

“We must do something. These officers take us for a ride only because we let them to. I will go to the highest level.” an angry Bilas said.

Then and there he wrote a request to the Chief Minister (CM) asking him to provide his father an immediate agriculture loan. Before posting that, his father showed it to the entire village and told them that since now they have an educated boy in their village; they can directly send all their requests to the CM.

The CM was an honest man. He wanted to help everybody, and told his secretaries to help everybody. After some days, Bilas’s letter reached the CM office and found fortune of being opened by a CM’s secretary.

And since the CM was pretty strict about helping the poor, his secretary drafted a letter to the District Magistrate of the Bilas’s district; strictly asking him to explain and send an action taken report. The DM was an honest man. He wanted to help everybody, and told his secretaries to help everybody.

So after some days, one of the secretaries of DM forwarded that letter to the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) very strictly asking him to immediately explain and send an action taken report. The SDM was an honest man. He wanted to help everybody, and told his secretaries to help everybody.

This time the letter was seen himself by the SDM. He drafted a letter to the Taluka Officer very, very strictly asking him to immediately, immediately explain and send an action taken report.

The Taluka officer felt grief and pain after receiving that letter. He wanted to cry feeling that a person of his Taluka had to go to CM to ask for the loan and already a year had passed in the process. He decided to take an action at that moment itself and send an action taken report to the CM via DM via SDM.

His action taken report read, ‘Since the loan application must be addressed to the Taluka officer, a letter has been sent to Sri Bilas asking him to immediately come to the Taluka Office and submit the loan application in prescribed format.’

PS: For any confusion that may arise later, I hereby confirm that this is a work of fiction :)

16 comments:

Himadri said...

yaar...nicely construed...
but the ultimate result is a procrastination of a year...I'm not arguing whom to blame but it's a fact.
So far my experience is concerned I'm yet to get my voter ID card after three repetitive corrections made in my name. :-))

chakresh said...

Ok Anurag sir!
that is what we call bureaucracy and its tryst with democracy. Fun to work in that, isn't it? :)

Abhinav said...

:) अबे इतना तो बता दे की फिक्शन मेंं कौनसा पार्ट फिक्शन है.. कई बार फिक्शन जीवन की सत्य घटनाओ पर आधारित होता है :)

vikram singh said...

to submit the Loan Form in Proper format...Bilas would have gone to Patwari / Sarpanch to get his Land Certificate.....then Bank Manager...then Cashier ....

This is why so many poor people are entangled in Money laundering Net for all their lives.

Chandan Dubey said...

This almost reads like Chekhov. "... was an honest man. He wanted to help everybody." Great writing. Looks like we are on our way to know a famous writer too.

Anonymous said...

no doubt,education creates awareness.education is must.and by me the only tool to kick corruption.i have also seen some cases during my visit to some villages under rural health program,they (villagers) dont know what amount of money govt is spenging on primary health care and what facilities are available to them free of cost.they simply like other sheeps go and spent what ever they have in their pocket or savings to private practitioners.they have to help themselves to be got helped by any other body.

Just Simple said...

@Himadri: Wishing you best of luck for getting your corrected card before the LS elections :)

@chakresh: Yes, it is quite fun

@Parate: Sale uske liye call karna padega :P

Waise jeevan ka fiction modified vastvikta hi hoti hai

@vikram: Well bureaucracy is a compulsory evil, my experience says we cannot do without it

@Chandan: Thanks a lot for the appreciation, but comparison with 'Chekhov' is your magnanimity :)

@drchahal: i agree

Melanie said...

reminded me of 'English August'...
but maybe you don't need to read it coz you live it...

Sunil... said...

Hi Anurag Sir,
I have been following your blog regularly.
Please post in your experiences at your work...

Unknown said...

well written...a style of simplicity in ur writing is really impressive..

Gaurav Painuly said...

Hi,
In your profile its written.."the experiences I want to share but when I look around, there are not many people 'I know'. And that is the reason why I blog."

Is the situation same, or have you met those 'many people' you wanted to know?

And yes, is there an antidote for the IAS fever.(I almost left my Job!!)

Cosmic Voices said...

Replace the loan with refund, CM with FM and it could have been my post ;-)

sakshamkatyal said...

bhai to aap kuch kar rahe ho in sab cheezon ke liye?

Anonymous said...

well anurag hope you remeber me and i am not finding you much busy around........its me vishnoi frm knp.........
want your mail id to get guidance regarding training..........
mine is sameervishnoi@bharatpetroleum.in

thanks

habin haridas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Just Simple said...

@Melanie: I bet interiors of India have not changed a bit since English August happened.

@Sunil: I do that at time, but blog is something that takes my mind off my work, so I avoid bringing it back to the blog.

@Shammi: Thanks

@Gaurav: Not exactly, I still do not know many people, but somehow my urge to communicate my experiences is diminishing and thats why my blogs are becoming less frequent :)

@cosmic voices: Of course we are governmental cousins and it shall be sacrilege if government differs :)

@saksham: you are asking too much :)

@habin haridas: Find right people for inspiration, you might be heading for disappointment :)Anyways I have mailed to you

@