Do you really think you can live in a bribe free society?

She is a traffic policewoman. During peak office hours, on the busy roads of Gurgaon, her intelligence, aggression and Haryanvi dialect is much needed. During the non-rush hours, she visits the offices near-by, sits in the ac corridors and shops from the retail stores which the company has exclusively opened for its employees. No one can stop her from entering, after all the road just outside is manned by her.

He is the night guard of the society. When residents drive in their cars late at night, he gets into a warm conversation with them talking about Delhi heat and increasing cases of car thefts. He ends by making the resident guilty of going for a party for eating good food while he stands there guarding their houses with no food and water. Most of the residents have started carrying packed food for him, after all at night their safety is in his hands.

Keeping the office courier boy happy by offering him sweets, making the maid work extra by giving her some ration or giving the driver our unused clothes- are these all examples of being humane or giving cashless bribery to ensure the other person continues to do the job the way you want them to?

Delhi got swept away by Anna movement and then later by AAP because paying bribes to government officials for getting files passed had become intolerable. But the same people still continue to influence behaviours of others by doing things to keep them happy. We ourselves can’t differentiate when we are being nice v/s when we are bribing.

It is not always about money or fancy cars. As per the dictionary meaning of the word bribe- it is “something offered to induce another to do something”.

Bribery is a deep rooted menace, which has now become a way of life. You can’t expect a 100% commitment from the people whose services you take without giving them something extra in return. We may, one day, with the efforts of socially conscious people, still be able to eradicate high value bribery from the system. But what about these innocuous acts we all do every day?

These non-recorded, low value transactions which we do to get an extra care or attention would continue to be part of our life because one can’t put laws or policies around this. No owner would do a video recording of giving pastries to the maid or paying fifty Rs. tips to the parking agent. And no child shall ever complaint of getting an extra ice-cream for behaving politely during a social party at home.

It is the way we live now, it is the way we have always lived and I am sure this is the way we would forever be living. However, we would continue to raise our voice against the high value bribery we give to people in power because after all, we can’t afford to pay that much in bribe, smaller cashless transactions are still alright.