From Masters to Servants

‘This part of Pondicherry is neater, not like the rest of the town. Cleaning and garbage collection is done regularly’, the French owner of the hotel we stayed at Pondicherry helpfully informed me, marking the area on the map with a pencil.  ‘This Part’ referred to the region that housed the Aurabindo ashram, the French quarters and the Governor’s bungalow. She was indeed right. A small island of tranquility and order within the usual, dusty and dirty town of Pondicherry. You cross the line evidenced by the heritage buildings and hit the promenade abutting the seashore and the filth stares you in the face. Even in the most touristy place of Pondy.

Things are the same across the country. Civil Lines or ‘posh areas’ or ‘upmarket places’ or by whatever name you call them-all have some common features. Well-maintained roads, better drainage, prompter response by the personnel of electricity, telephone and police department. Invariably, these parts of any city or town are occupied by the ruling elite-ministers, politicians, bureaucrats and other rich people. This is some kind of a sanitized area which creates a feeling of ‘all is well’ among the inhabitants who also happen to be the rulers.

When we hardly face power outages, smell no stench from gutters, glide over newly paved (and repeatedly repaired) roads on a public-funded vehicle (upgraded regularly), can we expect the rulers to be considerate to the everyday tribulations of the public? When the administrators (I strictly refer to the bureaucrats here as it is they who plan and implement schemes on the ground) do not face any hardship in completing daily chores of life, there is bound to be a total disconnect. Only exceptions for this are those officers who are empathetic by nature. But they don’t make them these days in good numbers!

A few years back, while in Raipur, I used to regularly visit Shastri market with my wife for purchasing vegetables. The condition of the place, to put it mildly, was appalling. ‘If the municipal commissioner of Raipur or his/her spouse were to visit the market at least occasionally, would the condition be like this?’, we used to wonder. Similar is the case of sabji mandis in Bangalore too - Russel market, KR market, Madiwala, Yeshwantpur. If the BMTC officers in Bengaluru, including the Managing Director travel in city buses at least once or twice a month, they would come face to face with instances of rash driving, abusive behavior of conductors, parking on the middle of the road, working conditions of the staff, mad evening rush and the plight of school children. This could possibly result in improvement in the service of the BMTC and also some welfare measures for the benefit of the staff.

As an occasional driver, I find it extremely annoying and difficult to drive in the night because of high beam used by many. If the city police commissioner or senior police officers themselves drive in the night once in a while and if they experience the terrible trauma of ordinary drivers, would they continue to be indifferent? Less likely, probably.

One more reason, which I feel makes the babus apathetic to the plight of fellow-citizens is the inflated ego they carry around their person. This air of self-importance blankets us (my salute to the rare but extant exceptions) with such conviction that it blurs our vision. Let me explain this. Can you imagine any public servant addressing an ordinary person as ‘sir’? But should this be not the way? When a person with a grievance goes to the police station to file a complaint, will the constable request him to sit on the chair and ask him, ‘sir, what is your problem?’ When the revenue inspector visits a farm to verify the boundaries, can we expect him to be friendly with the farmer, instead of forcing him to arrange a feast for the ‘sahab’? The very possibility of such a behavior shocks us because of its incredulity. But we are supposed to be the public servants and not masters. Since when the masters started sirring the servants?

We, the babus, irrespective of the service and grade, have a terrible weakness for being sirred. It is said that when two officers meet for the first time, they try to sniff each other’s tail to find out their relative seniority to arrive at a grave decision- whether to sir or to be sirred! Let me quote one instance here. Once, a district collector asked a district forest officer, who happened to be his batch-mate to address him as sir. ‘At least give respect to the chair, not me’, he pleaded a bit feebly with the shell-shocked forester with whom he had trained together for three months in Mussorie.

On a more serious note, I have heard about a police officer who works in a south Indian state, laughing and telling his friends how once an old woman was trying to explain to him her litany of woes in the local language and he could not understand a single word of what she was saying. He felt it funny. Just imagine, had it been mandatory for that apathetic police officer to address the old lady as ‘ma’am’ or something similar, would he have been so indifferent? It is more likely that referring to the ordinary people with respect in their day-to-day functioning (not while the police deal with criminals, or an officer with his staff), will have some sobering effect on the government servants. This in turn could lead to more alacrity in responding to the problems faced by the citizens.

I feel that the mere act of addressing another, especially less-privileged person as sir or ma’am will bring the master and the servant on an almost equal pedestal. This is not leftist or rightist but a humanist approach which the bureaucracy of India needs. Imagine for a moment, any government officer worth his salt in the feudalistic set-up of some parts of India calling a labourer or a tribal as 'aap' instead of 'tum' or 'tu'.

The government has in the recent past come out with a series of measures on bureaucratic overhaul to increase its efficiency. It is my silent wish that in the near future, we are asked to behave like true public servants and not masters.

Happy New Year wishes to all.