One day my PT teacher announces: Tomorrow everyone must come
in canvas shoes. The ‘canvas’ shoes had been made a compulsory wear. We were a
lot of boys who found joy in coming to school only for kicking a ball around,
throwing it in a basket or hitting it over. We didn’t bother about the shoes we
wore for that. It didn’t really bother us that the school uniform would be
soiled.
But now the canvas shoes have been made compulsory. The real trouble would be to convince my dad
to buy for me one. It’s not that we were
poor. But he always needed an extra dose of cajoling to convince him. I being
very self conscious wouldn’t want to be picked out and made to miss the once in
a week PT class. It’s not that I were a good sportsperson. It’s just that I
loved athleticism and still do.
So I would have to start the usual round of tantrums,
sulking, hunger strikes unti he takes me out to buy the shoes. And yes he did
take me one day to the local market. Mind you, it didn’t even closely remember
the air conditioned fancy stuffs you see today. It’s just small dingy shops with a noisy
salesboy and innumerable shoes arranged amazingly like the compartments bee
hive.
The boy fetches out a white shoes with blue stripes. The
name is “Adibas”. I was confused. Is it the world famous Adidas which makes the
sportspeople run fast? “It’s orginal’ the boy exclaims. I fall for it.
I run faster, jump higher and it takes me months to realize
that Adidas is not Adibas.
The scene has changed. Today everything comes in extra-
Bikes, Cars, Girlfriends, Boyfriends, Boobs, Butts, Houses. There is a surplus
of everything everywhere.
The projects have also increased their volumes. The government departments have funds in the tune of hundreds
of crores. Then there are vultures who
are ready to make their cut. I get so reminded of my manager’ There are so much
money out there. Go get it’
The old bad thing ‘commission money’ has been rechristened
to fees, gifts, sweat money etc. There is a lot of money waiting to be earned
and even there is even more eager people ready to spot a chance and sell off
anything
Today we no longer have the old playgrounds. The empty plot
is worth crores.
Well the scam volume hasn’t come down too. But there is
perfect legal setup to resolve if caught. You will get a clean chit, enough
publicity and happily live ever after. And there is this mediasyndicate which erases the public memory with a magic wand.
Last day I was reading an article on democracy movements in
Vietnam. Why the hell? Here we fight corruption by legalizing it
