Calm at the Centre of the Storm

It’s calm at the centre of the storm.

Some say so. I don’t know, but I can apply it to daily life.

I believe that a majority of the readers of my blog and a majority of the people I know live relatively peaceful lives. The wake up and sleep normally, go to office, enjoy their weekends, or maybe work excessively through the weekends, put in extra work at the office and generally either live peacefully or stress themselves to eventual death. I am not discussing this. It’s the calm, irrespective of its cyclical disruptions. And in my opinion, it’s the centre of the storm.

What storm? Well, my imagination flows. And I believe that very few of us even know the people who are a part of this storm around us. I know a few of them. At least most of the policemen and almost all the politicians.

They are pretty well organized – all of them.

Let’s start with the local goons on every street corner. They may eve-tease and indulge in fist fights between colonies. Almost every teenager in every colony has been a part of this some time or the other – except the geeks.

Then those stealing on day-to-day objects. Music and video piracy – yes, thieves according to me. And yes, I rate them after the “galli ka goonda”.

And a little further on, those who bribe in normal and abnormal situations day in and day out. Include the cheaters of tax. Then the millions of stall owners who sell stuff without paying tax – and their local policeman, shop act officer, sales tax officer, excise officer and almost the entire government machinery that is tied to a “hafta” system where no one is ever apprehended or tried. The great Indian parallel economy. Not just one type of tax, but every kind of tax. Since the list will run into many pages, I’ll leave the infringements (meaning violations here) alone.

So far, I believe, we are all a part of the wind – maybe it doesn’t even seem like there’s a storm out there. I go further on, in the storm.

There’s the land mafia, those who collect debts from lenders and the likes. Maybe they are lurking somewhere else in between, but their mention is necessary, even if the list in this blog is merely indicative and not exhaustive.

In the immediate periphery, I see the petty thieves, pickpockets and the likes. A little further on there are the robbers and beggars. Then the guys who steal cars and sell remodeled versions, their friends who do the same to other household stuff.

Then (or maybe before them) the brewers of fake alcohol. Then the smugglers. Well, include the petty ones bringing non-duty paid stuff and delve deeper into explosives, drugs, arms, wildlife and the like. Need it be mentioned that wildlife is the easiest means to fund terror networks? Drugs and prostitution being the next? My police and politician friends, with their inherent greater knowledge of the system, would like to correct me on this, but let my imagination flow, even if it errs.

Now, it gets murkier. I take just one example. Human trafficking. Children are lost or kidnapped every year. Some are transferred to childless couples – the lucky ones. Those that can be maimed are pushed off into begging. Some reach terror camps. And some reach prostitution rings. I saw a movie, “taken” where an ex-serviceman father saves his daughter, who goes missing in Paris, from a prostitution ring run by illegal immigrants who carry out their business by bribing immigration officials and the police and who sell “special” children to “special” clients. In life, few are able to reach their lost children. See (for example) www.missingindiankids.com to see the tip of the iceberg.

There are endless possibilities of what goes on in the storm around you. Thank your local politician. I believe he is very much a part of the storm. You are lucky that he insulates you from it. And you keep complaining that he is corrupt. Corruption is his one tool to absorb the guilt and keep the storm at bay. You sleep peacefully because of the politicians and the policemen who shield you from the storm.

But beware; you are at the CENTRE of the storm. It won’t be too difficult to become a part of it.