Interesting systems

It's the birthday of one of our family friends, and I was just talking to her, when she told me of an interesting incident.

Their family of 3 decided to get passports and applied for the same, through all the proper channels. The police said that they would have conduct proper verfifications for all the three and made two trips to their house.

Not very surprisingly, on the first trip, the police officer arrived on the day of Dussera. He asked all the required questions and then stood up to leave - although continuously asking "Aap kuch bhool to nahi rahe?" (Aren't you forgetting something?)

His next trip for verification included formalities pertaining to the lady of the house and the son. This time around, his visit was two days before Diwali! He conducted his operations with efficiency and verified that the son had a good character and lived at the specified address. Now comes the cherry on the icing - the son - Abeer.......happens to be 1 year old!!! And this time too, he repeated the question - "Aap kuch bhool to nahi rahe?" (Aren't you forgetting something?)

It is sad to see that the systems in India are so outdated and at times completely senseless; there is an absence of logic. How would anyone judge the character of a one year old?

The fact that inspite of proper education, we are not willing to withdraw support from practices like bribery, is a cause for worry. But then, complete blame cannot be placed on the civilians either - because there is an inherent fear in the minds that if the bribe is not offered, things might end up in a soup. If you don't give the postman his Diwali baksheesh, your mails might end up in the colony sewer or if the phone company guy is not given sweets on Holi, your land-line might end up dead forever!