Life in India is an obstacle course. Every day we face thousands of hurdles which make our life more and more difficult. And most of these impediments are the handiwork of people trying to make money by making our lives uncomfortable. These range from politicians swindling off crores of public money to hawkers occupying public spaces. What do you do to alleviate these problems? You complain to the authorities who are supposed to make your life safer and easier. And in these days of technology, it is only too easy to register a complaint. But what happens after that?
A writer and journalist in Mumbai, also a rail fan, tried complaining about the hawkers occupying railway overbridges in Mumbai thereby totally jamming the already narrow walkways making it difficult for the thousands of commuters passing along these bridges everyday, making it so bad that there is now a threat of stampede. Forget action being taken, in only one day after he made the complaint, he was approached by a man who “very firmly” asked him to withdraw the complaint. He did. You cannot fight and win against these lobbies, they are everywhere. You can read the whole story here.
So be careful who you complain about. Influential people can get your details very easily, they have people everywhere. No one, no Twitter or Facebook people will come to your help if you are targeted by the rich and influential goons ruling us. Saw a luxury SUV with black tints? Desist from taking a pic and sending it to the cops. Better be safe. Those tints are still there because he knows that nobody will ask him to remove them. Meanwhile, the good “aam aadmi” continues with his obstacle course so that the powerful can live their charmed lives.
