Corruption in India is a cultural aspect

Corruption in India is a cultural aspect

Indians seem to think nothing peculiar about corruption. It is everywhere.

Indians tolerate corrupt individuals rather than correct them.

No race can be congenitally corrupt.
But can a race be corrupted by its culture?

To know why Indians are corrupt, look at their patterns and practices.

First:

Religion is transactional in India.
Indians give God cash and anticipate an out-of-turn reward. Such a plea acknowledges that favours are needed for the undeserving.

In the world outside the temple walls, such a transaction is named - 'bribe'.

A wealthy Indian gives not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such baubles. His gifts cannot feed the poor. His pay-off is for God. He thinks it will be wasted if it goes to a needy man. In June 2009, The Hindu published a report of Karnataka minister G. Janardhan Reddy gifting a crown of gold and diamonds worth Rs 45 crore to Tirupati. India's temples collect so much that they don't know what to do with it. Billions are gathering dust in temple vaults.

When Europeans came to India they built schools. When Indians go to Europe & USA, they build temples. Indians believe that if God accepts money for his favours, then nothing is wrong in doing the same thing. This is why Indians are so easily corruptible. Indian culture accommodates such transactions morally. There is no real stigma. An utterly corrupt Jaya Lalitha can make a comeback, just unthinkable in the West.

Second -

Indian moral ambiguity towards corruption is visible in its history. Indian history tells of the capture of cities and kingdoms after guards were paid off to open the gates, and commanders paid off to surrender.

This is unique to India.

Indians' corrupt nature has meant limited warfare on the subcontinent. It is striking how little Indians have actually fought compared to ancient Greece and modern Europe.

The Turks' battles with Nadir Shah were vicious and fought to the finish. In India fighting wasn't needed, bribing was enough to see off armies. Any invader willing to spend cash could brush aside India's kings, no matter how many tens of thousands soldiers were in their infantry. Little resistance was given by the Indians at the 'Battle of Plassey’. Clive paid off Mir Jaffar and all of Bengal folded to an army of 3,000.

There was always a financial exchange to taking Indian forts. Golconda was captured in 1687 after the secret back door was left open. Mughals vanquished Marathas and Rajputs with nothing but bribes. The Raja of Srinagar gave up Dara Shikoh's son Sulaiman to Aurangzeb after receiving a bribe.

There are many cases where Indians participated on a large scale in treason due to bribery.

Question is: Why Indians have a transactional culture while other 'civilized' nations don't?

Third -

Indians do not believe in the theory that they all can rise if each of them behaves morally, because that is not the message of their faith.

Their caste system separates them. They don't believe that all men are equal. This resulted in their division and migration to other religions. Many Hindus started their own faith like Sikh, Jain, Buddha and many converted to Christianity and Islam.

The result is that Indians don't trust one another. There are no Indians in India; there are Hindus, Christians, Muslims and what not.

Indians forget that 400 years ago they all belonged to one faith. This division evolved an unhealthy culture. The inequality has resulted in a corrupt society,

In India every one is thus against everyone else, except God and even he must be bribed.

Bike hazards..!!

Different scenario..!!

1. A rich guy has allergy problem (Allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis). After taking proper history and examining him, I realised that his problem can be solved if he stops riding bike or two wheelers and start using car with AC because he can afford an AC car.

He told me that he has to move around in short distances and in smaller streets where taking a car or parking it would be a problem.

He has to take medicines to control his allergy problem.

2. A sweeper of our hospital (Obviously he earns very less) gets severe pain in legs, specially on his left leg. He goes to various orthopedic surgeons for check ups and treatment. He got all the possible investigations done but none of the them revealed anything specific problems. I used to observe him coming to my hospital for work and I realised that his bike was proportionately bigger than his height. When he stops his bike, his wife's, bike's and his own weight comes on his left leg and that's why he gets the pain. I advised him to stop using his bike for some days and use his brother's moped. His pain reduced in 2 days and vanished in just 5 days.

His compulsion was that he can't use his brother's moped for a long time, his bike's installments are still going on and he can't afford the new vehicle.

He has to take medicines to control his pain.

What would you suggest?

Just to say hello...!!

Its been a very long time since I wrote something...!!

Just dropped by to say hello...!

Recently I have been trying to edit and upload my papa's articles on net. He is the senior most surgeon of Rajkot. He writes about his experiences or  if he has committed some mistakes or something which is useful to his junior colleagues.

He is writing these articles in local Indian Medical Association journal, 'IMAX', since past 3 years. He names it as ST Stand. (His name is Dr S T Hemani and hence the name.)

Check out http://drhemani.wordpress.com

Rage of an angel

I always thought that giving a death sentence is the worst thing I can do but yesterday when I entered the theater complex, I realized that there is something even worst then telling someone that you are going to die soon.

Around 15-20 people came to me before I entered the operation theater complex. I could see anger, frustration, quantum of grief and pursuance. Millions of questions were clearly seen in their eyes. The anger towards almighty, request for me and many more feelings...!! 

"Will you please try to save my son's voice box? Please do something to save it. Please please at least try. If it reoccurs in some time, you go ahead and cut the whole thing. But for now, please save it. We can't see our son getting speechless forever." The father of patient told me.

I tried to console them and explained them again... this was my millionth futile try to explain that nothing more can be done except removing the voice box. The type of disease is bad. We can't afford to wait or do trials on him. There is a battle between the cancer and your son.

Two weeks back a very cute, 17 year old boy, 11th standard science student with the dream of becoming an IT engineer came in my clinic with a thick file of case papers and depressed parents. I thought that this boy might have cough, cold or something similar. 

I started asking questions but in stead of answering anything I was given that big thick file. I usually ask the history properly, examine the patient thoroughly and then check the other papers and reports to avoid being influenced from previous doctor's diagnosis.

This boy had change in voice since a year and gets breathless frequently. There were no other symptoms. But when I asked him about the addiction, he reluctantly revealed that he used to smoke since he was 10. When I examined him I found that he had some growth below his vocal cords. I kept silent till I see the other reports.

He was being treated by some general physician as asthma for almost 8 to 9 months but then they went and showed to one of my senior colleague. He found out this problem around 3 months back and referred this patient to Mumbai for further treatment. And the story of unlimited futile exercise of going from pillar to post continued for another 2 months.

Finally when they gave up, they came back to Rajkot and started consulting whoever they think can solve this boy's problem. And finally they reached to my clinic.

After explaining them what is the situation, I convinced them to go for endoscopy and biopsy of the mass (tumour) I saw. The scopy was done, the extent of disease and the biopsy was taken from the site and sent it for histopathological examination.

The report came to be Adinocarcinoma of larynx. It was shocking. Shocking because Adencarcinoma is not at all common in Larynx and such tumours do not respond well to other modalities like radiotherapy or chemotherapy. So, the only option left was the surgery, removal of voice box (Laryngectomy). The removal means that the boy will never speak again and he will have a permanent tracheostomy, the hole made on the neck for breathing.

It was tough to break this news to the parents. and then the rounds of talks and explanations started. Almost every hour I get a call from someone asking about this poor kid. For me, it was like yet another case I deal day in and out. They went on to show this boy to almost all the cancer surgeons of Rajkot but everyone's opinion was the same... the surgery.

Finally the day was fixed, patient was in the operating table and the relatives were all around me and still asking, requesting and praying.

When I saw this cute boy on operating table I asked him if he is afraid of surgery? I ask this question to all my patients just to relieve their stress a bit. This boy gave a faint smile and did not speak a word as if he has already started practicing his speechless life. This was the time I realized how tough it would be for him to accept the truth.

I was miserably sad and devastated after the surgery. I soon actualized that to tell someone that you are going to die soon and we can't do anything about it is probably easier than to tell the young boy that you will be speechless forever. I could not see the him staring me. I could not see in the eyes of the parents. 

I am still in the state of shock and devastated. Why was I selected for this work? When God has given the powers to heal, why didn't he give full powers? Why this small boy? What are we doing for such a harmful tobacco? Can't we even stop producing it? Can't we pressurize the government to do something? Can't we teach our children to stay away from tobacco? Can't we do something?

Reactions and Response

Suddenly, a cockroach flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. I wondered if this was the cockroachs response to all the glory that was spoken about it!

She started screaming out of fear. With panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group got cranky to what was happening. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach to another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed and threw it out with his fingers. Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering!

Was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior? If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos. It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies. I realized even in my case then, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss that disturbs me ,But its my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

Its not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, its my reaction to the problem that hurts me. 

The Take-Away :

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

We should not react in life, we should always respond.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always intellectual

Humanity

Today morning at 8.30 I got a call from my hospital that somebody wants to meet me. I asked if there was any emergency, but this person just wanted to meet me. I usually go to my hospital at 9 so I told them to wait and I should be there in another 30 minutes. But he is in such hurry that I reached my hospital soon and met him...

He thought I would remember him but I did not. I asked him who he is and he told me that I treated his son around one and a half year back and did some surgery on him. He said I saved his son's life. But I really did not remember it at all.

I checked my records and I found out that his son accidently inhaled a peanut and that obstructed his windpipe (Foreign-body Bronchus, for my medical friends). I did the procedure called Bronchoscopy and foreign-body removal in emergency.

While checking the records, I was asking what he is doing? And he was broken and told me his story.

He is a selling fruits on the streets of nearby village and he hardly earns 2000 Rupees a months and from these money, he has to run his household. He had his parents, his wife and two kids, and his brother who is handicapped. He was literally in tears while telling me his story. His son whom I treated got some kidney infection (Nephrotic Syndrome) before a year and now he is in treatment for the same under a very famous kidney specialist and my respected senior Dr Sanjay Pandya.

I asked him what the emergency was, to which he said that he wanted to give me my money which he could not pay when his son was discharged. And after this he had to rush to Dr Pandya's clinic for his son's follow up. I hardly ever keep records of that kind of credit money unless its a big amount. In fact, his credit was just Rs 1000 according to him. Obviously I didn't remember it.

He removed some crumpled Rs 10 and Rs 50 bills and gave it to me saying that he had a big tension of returning this money and again requested me if its okay if he gives only Rs 500 this time.

Now it was my turn to be emotional. I returned this money to him saying that the credit is debited and he has no debt now.

I told him not to worry and I called up Dr Pandya to treat him free or with nominal charges.

I am still thinking... Are people still so trustworthy?

Humanity and trust are still alive.

Are only Doctors responsible?

In the discussion with my twitter friend about a recent death of a child due to money problems I thought of writing it.

I want to emphasize a few things here... All the doctors are not bad, the media plays too negative role for the doctors so as us, the common man.

Let me narrate some incidences...

Case 1: A patient comes to a very well know and very very efficient doctor who needed some surgery. He is very poor so the doctor decides to treat him free. During surgery, there was some complication.

The patient's relatives destructed this doctor's hospital, they had beaten up the doctor and sued him a huge sum.

The media supported the patient and did all the possible things to damage doctor's reputation. To the extent that the reporters asked the hefty sum of 5 lac (Rs. 500,000 from the doctor not to damage more).

The court of law found out the truth and gave the judgement that the doctor is right and he should not be sued.

The Doctor decides.....

Case 2: A complicated and serious patient comes to the hospital who needed the ICU care. Patient's relatives assured that they will pay everything. Patient became alright and they absconded. The doctor had to bare a huge sum himself.

The Doctor decides...

Case 3: Almost dead patient was brought to the hospital. The patient needed emergency surgery and there was only chance that the surgery might give him life but the chances were only a few percentages. Patient's father agreed for the surgery and given the informed consent.

Inspite of the successful surgery, the patient died on 2nd day of surgery. Patient's relatives had beaten up the doctor to death and threatened that they would kill doctor's son too. (an eye for an eye, a son for a son...!!)

Doctor paid Rs. 10 lac (Rs one million) to spare his son, for no fault of his own.

And the doctor decides...

These doctors finally decided not to serve free or on concession to the community as the society don't deserve it.

I have a number of such cases but I really am in no mood to write more.

Show me one place like multiplex or a restaurant where you go and bargain on humanitarian grounds that you should get free ticket or food because you are poor...??

Why general public hates doctors?

I am not saying that all the doctors are good. Some are bad, corrupt or inefficient. But show me one profession or business where people are not bad, corrupt or inefficient.

Inefficiency of some doctors is due to their mindset and attitude. There comes the issue of reservation but I don't want to touch it now.

Most of us do not have a health budget. So when suddenly one gets illness or ailment, the doctor's bill seems to be huge. We may go out for a movie or the restaurant and spend a lot but when it comes to our health, we don't have money allocated and that's why we hate doctors. (I know a lot of arguments will come on this point but if you really think from the mind and heart, you will support me.)

Someone will say that they have a mediclaim (Medical insurance, I mean) but do you know that majority of the mediclaim companies don't pay you when you really need the money unless you have cashless mediclaim. The money comes only after a few days to months after a millions of questions and hassles. You need to face it to know how tough it is to get your own money back from the insurance companies.

My final request today is not to be judgmental that all the doctors in this world are bad because media writes anything.

Oh God...!!

When you feel that you know everything or you are a master, God gives some complication to let you know that you still need to learn a lot of thing.

Its quite humbling. Isn't it?

Why crib?

Listening to aisi sazaa from gulal.

Which idiot did not promote it?

Then we crib today we don't make great songs.

I still can't understand, if "Mera naam chin chin choo" or "Ina mina Dika" etc were too famous then but what about lyrics?

Weekends

I always wonder why weekends are for?

To rest and unwind

or

To meet friends and freak out?