All men are equal in the eyes of god. But then some men think they are gods and that makes them above others. Gurgaon is full of men who think they are gods. Being god comes easy here. You need just one of the three 'p's, 'paisa', 'patronage' or 'pagalpan'.
With land being sold like it is, paisa is flowing like a river and flooding bank accounts, especially of those that never bothered to evolve and still think that honour killing is a sign of civilisation. Little wonder that these nouveau rich baboons strut around thinking they are gods.
Patronage, a hydra headed beast at best, takes on many forms. All you need is the remotest link to a politician, the police or a bureaucrat, past or present, and that gives you the license to be more than 'men', especially when it comes to any kind of rule.
And if you are one of those that neither has paisa or patronage and you still wanna be god then you can always fall back on the one thing that is natural to this region, the good ole 'aisi ki taisi' sort of 'pagalpan'. This path to being god is the preferred choice of the down and out BPO cabbies and the more down and out construction vehicle drivers.....
I have none of the three, certainly not in any measure that would make me feel like a god. And that makes me firmly a lesser man and if ever I forget my unequal equality, all I have to do is get into a car and step out on the streets. Nowhere else is the god-man divide wider than on the divider-less roads of Gurgaon. The divide stares at you, daring you, every inch of the chaotic maelstrom that passes for traffic in this city. The other day I couldn't brake in time for a rick that suddenly decided to take a left turn, right bang in the middle of my path. The traffic cop roundly dusted my knuckles. So what it was his mistake, he is a poor fellow and I should know better than to argue whose mistake it was. I ended up paying for the rick's repairs and also had to pay some 'chai pani' for the cop. A few weeks later I was patiently waiting for the lights to turn green when this massive SUV rear-ended me out of the blue. I was immediately reminded of that cop's 'rick' logic. Surely I am the 'poor' man here. So I frantically waved to the cop assured that I will get justice. The cop took one look at the Beemer, promptly saluted the unseen behind those black tints and asked me for my license !!!!!!!
Talk about unequal equality. You can never win on the streets of Gurgaon.
So now, every time I step out on these gods filled roads I take a deep breath and pray that my path is clear of all the gods and their brethren. Doesn't work all the time, but thats life.
With land being sold like it is, paisa is flowing like a river and flooding bank accounts, especially of those that never bothered to evolve and still think that honour killing is a sign of civilisation. Little wonder that these nouveau rich baboons strut around thinking they are gods.
Patronage, a hydra headed beast at best, takes on many forms. All you need is the remotest link to a politician, the police or a bureaucrat, past or present, and that gives you the license to be more than 'men', especially when it comes to any kind of rule.
And if you are one of those that neither has paisa or patronage and you still wanna be god then you can always fall back on the one thing that is natural to this region, the good ole 'aisi ki taisi' sort of 'pagalpan'. This path to being god is the preferred choice of the down and out BPO cabbies and the more down and out construction vehicle drivers.....
I have none of the three, certainly not in any measure that would make me feel like a god. And that makes me firmly a lesser man and if ever I forget my unequal equality, all I have to do is get into a car and step out on the streets. Nowhere else is the god-man divide wider than on the divider-less roads of Gurgaon. The divide stares at you, daring you, every inch of the chaotic maelstrom that passes for traffic in this city. The other day I couldn't brake in time for a rick that suddenly decided to take a left turn, right bang in the middle of my path. The traffic cop roundly dusted my knuckles. So what it was his mistake, he is a poor fellow and I should know better than to argue whose mistake it was. I ended up paying for the rick's repairs and also had to pay some 'chai pani' for the cop. A few weeks later I was patiently waiting for the lights to turn green when this massive SUV rear-ended me out of the blue. I was immediately reminded of that cop's 'rick' logic. Surely I am the 'poor' man here. So I frantically waved to the cop assured that I will get justice. The cop took one look at the Beemer, promptly saluted the unseen behind those black tints and asked me for my license !!!!!!!
Talk about unequal equality. You can never win on the streets of Gurgaon.
So now, every time I step out on these gods filled roads I take a deep breath and pray that my path is clear of all the gods and their brethren. Doesn't work all the time, but thats life.
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