It means more than just a cup of tea
CORRUPTION BY NAYEEMA AHMAD MAHJOOR
The time has come in my life when the mention of tea makes me sick and I feel taken over by its new connotation in the society. So, I have decided to give up my habit of drinking tea altogether. No matter if I smell Assam tea, Darjeeling or English Breakfast or the noon chai I used to drink to release my tension and soothe my nerves I will not let myself get carried away by its fragrance any more. Giving up tea is a hard decision for those who use the beverage to calm nerves and relax. The reason not to drink tea is very simple….chai now symbolises every form of bribery, big or small, cash or kind, in Kashmir. The word has become common in offices to service centres to hospitals for giving or taking bribes from customers and needy people. The mention of chai makes me vomit. To live in Kashmir, one is forced, against one's will, to accept the custom of chai.
chai culture has become very popular in the Valley. It has received acceptance as part of our daily life. For every business adventure, work or service chai is an important element of the sums one plans to invest. It can be five percent to ninety percent, depending upon your naïveté and how much you can be exploited by the party claiming a bribe from you.
Gone are the days when Kashmir was known for the hospitality or compassion shown towards the needy and the helpless. The more vulnerable you are the more you will be looted in the present circumstances. Everything is done under the guise of chai. The new phenomena have bankrupted us mentally and physically and have turned us into Frankensteins rather than human beings or citizens of a responsible nation. Alas! The genuine enjoyment of chai with friends and acquaintances has been lost for ever and every time somebody mentions chai the eyebrows start rolling.
Earlier, my day started with hot cup of tea. It now starts with a knock on the door which I hardly open. Because I know somebody has come to ask for chai for services I have already paid for. No matter if I use electricity on meter or phone line as per rental contract or read newspaper after payment, I am forced to follow the custom of paying additional few hundred rupees as chai even if it kills me inside and my conscience. If I have a genuine case pending in an office, from peon to director I have to pay chai and I am being asked audaciously for it. Recently, a fourth grade employee looked straight into my eyes and without a blink claimed five hundred rupees for the job that was worth two hundred only. When I started to reason with him, instead of feeling ashamed he outrightly rejected my arguments, saying that “it doesn’t work without chai in my department. If you wish you can talk to my boss also”. I felt chill through my spine at his tone and mood chai, a euphemism for bribery, no longer causes unease to those who used to be crusaders against bribery. They have been forced either to accept the custom or risk alienation and exclusion from normal life. I heard a sordid story of one of the most honest people in the Valley who found himself utterly helpless when he refused to pay chai after an essential service to his home was disconnected. Next day he had to beg the employees of that department to restore the service after he paid two thousand rupees in addition to genuine fees. Not to stop at two thousand only, he was asked to make a promise of paying two thousand rupees monthly to get uninterrupted service.
It is no wonder that an employee earning ten thousand monthly can afford to buy a car, build a house and send his children to private school. Everybody deserves all the comforts in life but the comforts have to be earned by toiling and sweating, not by grabbing other people's property or by unfair and corrupt means.
When more than half of the population desires to become wealthy overnight by looting the other half, can such a community deserve to survive long or prosper? No! Can such a community claim to be pious, God fearing or honest?
One cannot expect miracles to happen in Kashmir where every facet of life is ruined and we won't become an honest race overnight. However, one should hope for a little bit of mercy for those who are being looted, plundered and pillaged under the guise of chai. Our traditional brew which acted as a stimulant for this unfortunate nation has become so tasteless and colourless that it is no better than poison for the hard-working majority who are forced to support the comfortable lifestyles of a rapacious minority.
Although the implementation of the Right to Information Act was a step in the right direction, and the State Chief Information Commissioner has demonstrated excellent initiative and skill in inculcating a culture of transparency in public institutions, the state still needs its own empowered and independent Lokpal (or Muhtasib) to defend the vulnerable classes from the menace of bribery. Most of all, people need to stop this chai culture before it engulfs the whole population.
Source: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Nov/3/no-more-chai-24.asp
CORRUPTION BY NAYEEMA AHMAD MAHJOOR
The time has come in my life when the mention of tea makes me sick and I feel taken over by its new connotation in the society. So, I have decided to give up my habit of drinking tea altogether. No matter if I smell Assam tea, Darjeeling or English Breakfast or the noon chai I used to drink to release my tension and soothe my nerves I will not let myself get carried away by its fragrance any more. Giving up tea is a hard decision for those who use the beverage to calm nerves and relax. The reason not to drink tea is very simple….chai now symbolises every form of bribery, big or small, cash or kind, in Kashmir. The word has become common in offices to service centres to hospitals for giving or taking bribes from customers and needy people. The mention of chai makes me vomit. To live in Kashmir, one is forced, against one's will, to accept the custom of chai.
chai culture has become very popular in the Valley. It has received acceptance as part of our daily life. For every business adventure, work or service chai is an important element of the sums one plans to invest. It can be five percent to ninety percent, depending upon your naïveté and how much you can be exploited by the party claiming a bribe from you.
Gone are the days when Kashmir was known for the hospitality or compassion shown towards the needy and the helpless. The more vulnerable you are the more you will be looted in the present circumstances. Everything is done under the guise of chai. The new phenomena have bankrupted us mentally and physically and have turned us into Frankensteins rather than human beings or citizens of a responsible nation. Alas! The genuine enjoyment of chai with friends and acquaintances has been lost for ever and every time somebody mentions chai the eyebrows start rolling.
Earlier, my day started with hot cup of tea. It now starts with a knock on the door which I hardly open. Because I know somebody has come to ask for chai for services I have already paid for. No matter if I use electricity on meter or phone line as per rental contract or read newspaper after payment, I am forced to follow the custom of paying additional few hundred rupees as chai even if it kills me inside and my conscience. If I have a genuine case pending in an office, from peon to director I have to pay chai and I am being asked audaciously for it. Recently, a fourth grade employee looked straight into my eyes and without a blink claimed five hundred rupees for the job that was worth two hundred only. When I started to reason with him, instead of feeling ashamed he outrightly rejected my arguments, saying that “it doesn’t work without chai in my department. If you wish you can talk to my boss also”. I felt chill through my spine at his tone and mood chai, a euphemism for bribery, no longer causes unease to those who used to be crusaders against bribery. They have been forced either to accept the custom or risk alienation and exclusion from normal life. I heard a sordid story of one of the most honest people in the Valley who found himself utterly helpless when he refused to pay chai after an essential service to his home was disconnected. Next day he had to beg the employees of that department to restore the service after he paid two thousand rupees in addition to genuine fees. Not to stop at two thousand only, he was asked to make a promise of paying two thousand rupees monthly to get uninterrupted service.
It is no wonder that an employee earning ten thousand monthly can afford to buy a car, build a house and send his children to private school. Everybody deserves all the comforts in life but the comforts have to be earned by toiling and sweating, not by grabbing other people's property or by unfair and corrupt means.
When more than half of the population desires to become wealthy overnight by looting the other half, can such a community deserve to survive long or prosper? No! Can such a community claim to be pious, God fearing or honest?
One cannot expect miracles to happen in Kashmir where every facet of life is ruined and we won't become an honest race overnight. However, one should hope for a little bit of mercy for those who are being looted, plundered and pillaged under the guise of chai. Our traditional brew which acted as a stimulant for this unfortunate nation has become so tasteless and colourless that it is no better than poison for the hard-working majority who are forced to support the comfortable lifestyles of a rapacious minority.
Although the implementation of the Right to Information Act was a step in the right direction, and the State Chief Information Commissioner has demonstrated excellent initiative and skill in inculcating a culture of transparency in public institutions, the state still needs its own empowered and independent Lokpal (or Muhtasib) to defend the vulnerable classes from the menace of bribery. Most of all, people need to stop this chai culture before it engulfs the whole population.
Source: http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Nov/3/no-more-chai-24.asp