It is a rant post. Nothing about my usual stories or splinterlands gaming but connected with a real-life incident.
Without revealing a lot of actual details, I want to write about the despicable state of affairs in the local governing bodies in our villages. I am not sure if it is different in other states in the country, though.
Yesterday, Mr. X went to the village office to get some paperwork done. Two of the officers who work there were busy trying to learn how to use the computer there and a queue of more than two or fifteen people who were impatient and irritable because the heat during the noon is unbearable of course, it was unbearable.
When Mr.X's turn came, the officer said that the email had not been got and he had to send it again. Mr.X had to call the sender to send the email once again to another ID that the officer gave and to his annoyance, the officer gave an ID with two @. It clearly shows that the guy does not even know that an email does not contain two @. If officers who work in the village do not even know the basics of using a computer system, one wonders how they must have got the job in the first place.
By this time, the people waiting in queue became impatient and shouted and the whole scene looked ugly. Ah well, government offices, you would say.
I am not sure when the situation will improve but it should otherwise this country will not progress. When there are scores of qualified candidates who are more than competent, I am wondering why the meritless incompetent ones are being selected on the basis of their being dear to some political parties.
It is high time, that political parties are removed from influencing local governing bodies and instead leave the recruiting to central agencies. Hopefully, they will do a better job.
Last year, there was a huge uproar by the people who had appeared for the PSC exams and passed with merits but still not got jobs because they did not have the right political connections. Each year, the drama repeats but nothing is done about it.
Corruption cannot be uprooted within a day but something has to be done about the way political parties and their goondas try to bend rules according to their whims and fancies.
It is also high time that the people who take bribes are dealt with severely.
Recently, a guy who tried to force a teacher to come to a hotel was caught red-handed because the teacher reported it to the vigilance. People should be like her and report such crimes immediately instead of giving in to such dirty people. It is high time, people reacted, and then only we can make the country a better one and not always depend on other countries to give us charity or alms.
Life gives us opportunities only a few times and if we do our duties with dedication and also stick to righteous action, then this very same righteousness will protect us.
Please read this story regarding Dharma from the Bhagavad Gita
A powerful story illustrating that no duty is ugly or impure, and it is only the consciousness with which we do it that determines its worth, was told to Yudhishthir by Sage Markandeya, in the Vana Parva of the Mahabharat. The story goes that a young sanyāsī went into the forest, where he meditated and performed austerities for a long time. A few years went by, and one day a crow’s droppings fell upon him from the tree above. He looked angrily at the bird, and it fell dead on the ground. The sanyāsī realized he had developed mystical powers as a result of his austerities. He became filled with pride. Shortly thereafter, he went to a house to beg for alms. The housewife came to the door, and requested him to wait a while, since she was nursing her sick husband. This angered the monk and he glanced angrily at her, thinking, “You wretched woman, how dare you make me wait! You do not know my powers.” Reading his mind, the woman replied, “Do not look at me with such anger. I am not a crow to be burnt by your glance.” The monk was shocked, and asked how she knew about the incident? The housewife said she did not practice any austerities, but did her duties with devotion and dedication. By virtue of it, she had been illumined and was able to read his mind. She then asked him to meet a righteous butcher who lived in the town of Mithila, and said that he would answer his questions on dharma. The sanyāsī overcame his initial hesitation of speaking to a lowly butcher, and went to Mithila. The righteous butcher then explained to him that we all have our respective swa-dharma, based upon our past karmas and competence. But if we discharge our natural duty, renouncing the desire for personal gain and rising above the fleeting happiness and misery coming our way, we will purify ourselves and graduate to the next class of dharma. In this manner, by doing the prescribed duties and not running away from them, the soul gradually evolves from its present gross consciousness to divine consciousness. The lecture the butcher delivered is known as the Vyadha Gita of the Mahabharat.
This message is particularly applicable to Arjun because he wanted to run away from his dharma, thinking it is painful and miserable. In this verse, Shree Krishna instructs him that by doing his prescribed duty in proper consciousness he will be worshipping the Supreme, and will easily attain perfection.