Freedom to break laws

This is cartoon from DNA, on 26 Jan 2012, when our nation celebrated  the 63rd Republic Day.

In India, if you are a  big shot, you have  to break more laws and with more impunity to prove your worth in the society. It is not as if we live in a lawless area like a tribal belt in a frontier region. We have plenty of laws, as any civilized society should.

Oprah Winfrey, on her recent visit to India, exclaimed, "...No, like, what is it with the red lights ? I mean, does the red light mean stop or not ? or is it just for your entertainment ?" . Ma'm we know what a red light is meant for . It is just that we like to break a few rules wherever we can. It is a land of 'speed breakers' not 'sign posts'. If a motorist is to be stopped it has to be through speed breakers or better still barricades. A 'Chaudhary'  is simply not intimidated by a mere red light.

The higher you go in the social hierarchy, you need to break more laws. It also rubs off on the kith and kin. The children can merrily cheat in their school exams and where else can you find news headlines like "IAS officer's wife slaps cop " ?

Encroaching on public property is a birth right, it is our country, our land, isn't it ? If you own a DDA flat, a one bedroom flat with some ingenuity can be converted into a three bed room flat with overhangs here and there.

Intellectual property is a great joke. IP lawyers can fret and fume, but we reserve our right to buy and sell pirated books and CDs at pavements, railway stations, inside the trains and well, wherever we can. And now  we have become tech savvy.  A computer buyer, demands a long list of software to go with it. Shops selling mobile hand sets in small towns, invariably flash a sign board saying "Downloading done here" . Even simple rural folks are not happy with just the handsets ( having 32 GB, storage capacity, all for under Rs 3000/-). They want their handsets with plenty of songs and Video clips of all kinds !

Not every one can break every law every time. A beggar sleeping on a pavement is promptly chased away. A hawker is tolerated as long as he follows certain 'conventions '(not laws, mind you). Then comes an ambassador  car with a red light on top, and it can be parked wherever for however long. 

When you are really big enough, and when you can get away with a murder, not just figuratively, you are ready for bigger roles in the society. Run out of laws to break, some of the law breakers, even mange to become law makers,  so that they can make more laws  to break!

No harm in dreaming . If only,...if only, every Indian decided to abide by the laws of the land,..atleast there will be wider roads, cleaner pavements and no traffic jams. Revenue collection, in every department will soar, to be used for all sorts of welfare measures.