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A few days ago, the results
of the civil services exams were out and it was quite interesting but not
surprising that so many boys and girls from north India found themselves in the
top half of the merit list. It got me thinking what could be the reason, the
underlying motive if you will, for such a large number of aspirants from this
part of the country who slog day in and day out for this shot at the pinnacle
of achievement in the context of Indian society where a great store is set by
your ability to exercise power and influence over peoples lives. At one level
you can’t help admire the determination and bloody mindedness of these men and
women most of whom come from small towns
and villages of this vast and poor country, who attend so many mushrooming
coaching classes in faraway places like Delhi and other major cities at a great
hardship living in one room tenement and dealing with Shylocks in the form of
landlords who would milk them dry. If they succeed, they would go on to become
part of the so called steel frame, the power elite the very Bramhins of the
establishment.
Make no mistake, it
is still the most impactful way to make a difference in the lives of the
ordinary people if you have joined the Indian bureaucracy because you are the
main interface between the elected government and the people. This gives you
tremendous authority to wield power and curry favours with your political
bosses which in turn will lead to your personal enhancement of every kind. The men
and women who go for a career in civil services have at some point in their
lives seen the power dynamics first hand due to the fact that the tentacles of
the Indian state reach every aspect of their lives in some way or the other
(this could be a topic for another day ). So even though they become the top officers of the government
with a lot of idealism, soon the cynicism gives way and they are co-opted into the
system and get aboard the gravy train and start employing the same method that
they themselves resented when they were mere citizens and not aligned to the
powers that be. And that is the nub; this aphrodisiac of power and pelf to lord
over their subjects in a feudal society like ours. So what if these young men
and women lead their stultifying working life in some remote outpost of the
country. There will always be the wife in big city to indulge in endless
shopping, a son who would get into an Ivy league university with plenty of
resources to finance it not to mention a daughter who will be able to snag a
good match in the marriage market because the father can easily pay off
whatever amount of dowry is needed. When they peer into the telescope of the
future, this I suspect is the vision they see in the harsh glare of reality and
not the kind of utopia which they saw with their Rose tinted glasses when they
were sweating it out in not too distant past in a corner of Mukherjee Nagar in
New Delhi.
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