Banjari

Dedicated to the girl who taught me about Wanderlust, a very strong innane and irresistible impulse or desire to travel the world.

Banjari

Her feet know they must not stop

her awe-inspired eyes won’t let them

For she is the traveler,  who lives multiple lives

when the rest can’t get enough of one

She knows no possessions and seeks no wealth

but friends on the way and a word or two kind

Her treasures are her memories bereft of theft

her ambition only to see another Sun shine

Some say she leads a lonely existence

she thinks of the world as her mate

Her rucksack is her constant companion

her constant source of strength and grace

Seldom grows she weary of walks

yet she can’t help but move on

For this path demands enslaving her

and she unquestionably submits to its will strong

For to see new sights is not a diversion she bears

Wanderlust is all but this

She lives to see earn experiences and live more

than you or me have ever dreamt

It’s not her need or want or desire or call

It’s the only way she understands life

For when we live seeking time from life

She lives to seek life from time

Vishal Gupta

November 30^th, 2014

Legalizing Corruption

Sitting idly on a silent summer night, my mind goes back to the boy who was asked to bribe a “policewaalaa” 4 years ago. Now that the elections are done and the country has elected its champion, I ask one of the evangelist’s supporters why they love him so much.

‘He tells his bureaucracy to get the work done, when they take bribes. It’s at least better than other states where you pay bribes and still can’t get the job done.’

It felt equally astonishing and fantastic to me that we’ve arrived in an age where giving bribes is a for-granted absolute which everyone knows and no one minds. It’s something which an economist would eloquently describe as “tax”. But of all people, economists understand the costs of taxation.

The premise of taxes are to build a civilized society. Each penny of tax which reduces the country’s economy, has to be compensated by producing goods and services which citizens can take as their own as a whole. At some point, wealth, not goods and services, came to be seen as a measure of civilization and taxes were levied on the rich to help the poor. Later, civilization came to be understood by equality, not of opportunity but in living conditions, and taxes meant helping those who were in need. But no economist was appointed to lay the definition of need. And we came to live in a country when one is “needed” to pay to prove his innocence. Irrespective whether a crime has been committed or not.

But this new leader. He promises that you will be granted your share of space when you pay. Once you pay the tax, you’re entitled to what you bought. I wonder, is this just a way of legalizing corruption? The activists may have their day fasting in the scorching sun. But to me, to the bribe-payer, the bribe is nothing but an additional tax. The only difference being that my income tax doesn’t hurt my conscience and bribe does. But why should it? After all, it’s going in to the same pocket. Yes, the income tax gives me a fair amount of paperwork to prove that my debt to the nation has been paid. An equal amount of paperwork goes in to allow that debt to be paid to someone else’s account, who really doesn’t give a damn about national welfare. The bottom-line remains, that both legal taxes, and bribes are extorted by the same means for the same end. So why should I be ashamed of one if not the other?

An argument which comes to my mind is that the policy-makers have not prescribed bribery. That’s what makes it immoral. I have 2 arguments against that. Who are these policy makers? The people responsible for leading the country to a staggering rate of inflation and unemployment? Even a novice like me understands that the economy is in distress and it’s only a matter of time when it collapses. Secondly, who cares what these policy-makers have prescribed in theory? As long as I have to pay to keep the motor of my life running, I don’t care if I’m paying what is prescribed or more.

My mind goes back to a time when I was running late to catch a train and I had no time to buy a ticket. My alternative was to bribe the official to allow me to board the train. At that point, I wished corruption was legal. It would be convenient to simply bribe the TC without worrying about his morality and principles. I wished bribery were just like another transaction where I could simply buy the corruption I required. And I found nothing wrong with that. As long as a man is willing to pay for a service up for sale, why should he be denied of it? The only question which remains is, is the service really on sale? What is “to sell?"

Yes, I thought that because I could afford corruption. But how long can I afford it? And how long can the nation afford it? How long would it be before the nation collapses under the weight of excessive taxation?

Loveless

I  remember the night,

I’d asked you to go

you were much surprised

I was yours no more.

You kept calling me back

I did not return

I wouldn’t you knew

Alone your heart had burnt.

I had promised you,

To never let you go

Still I know it was me

How could I be so low.

I lost your trust

I lost love

I lost a friend

It all came to an end.

Now I have broken you

and you have gone afar

Still I don’t know why

Misses you my heart.

But you did not leave alone

A part of me went with you

Now I smile no more

What have you done to me.

Thinking of your eyes

Still makes me cry

And those lovely moments

Ask if it all was a lie.

Now I walk alone

On the roads of life

I find no one else

To fill my heart’s void.

I feel unready

to find someone new

Just so that I don’t hurt her

As I’d hurt you.

It feels alone

I’m not used to this

Without you by my side

I have no shoulder to cry.

But I can’t call you back

I can’t find someone else

I don’t know how it’ll be

I can’t go on like this.

I am mush ashamed

for what I have done

but even you understand

my intents weren’t bad.

I can neither go on

Nor can I stay

I can just lament

On the blunder I made.

Now I don’t find trust

Not even for myself

And all I ask you

Is pardon for me.

Please forgive me

And be my friend

Just as it used to be

We can have it you’ll see.

We’ll be back

Just as before

And be merry again

and be assertive of self.

And be not alone

We’ll be there

for one another

And we’ll be back

as we were before.

Be passionate again

and work wonders

‘cause only when we’re over grief

we can work our best.

Now I take thy leave

Saying all I had

Now I feel a burden

lifted from my back.

I bid you goodbye

Only to find you back

And I would love to see

Once again, you smiling back at me.

Vishal Gupta

June 28, 2010